What is perfection? Can we, as Christians, obtain perfection? If so, how do we obtain it?<\/p>\n\t
The Greek word translated as “perfect” is the word\u00a0teleion<\/em>. It means something that is complete, perfect, whole, full-grown, ripe, mature, or adult. Thus, becoming perfect is just another way of saying you have matured. In “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are\u00a0mature<\/strong>; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:6) the old KJV uses the word “perfect” in place of “mature.” The same word is also used in “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be\u00a0mature<\/strong><\/em>” (I Corinthians 14:20). That is the purpose of the church and its leaders. They exist to help Christians grow up to be like Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). Such maturity is gained through experience. “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil<\/em>” (Hebrews 5:14).<\/p>\n Can we obtain perfection or maturity? Yes. “Let us therefore, as many as are\u00a0perfect<\/strong>, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us<\/em>” (Philippians 3:15-17). Maturity is gained by living by the same standard that made us Christians in the first place. The attitude that Paul talked about is in the prior verses: “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become\u00a0perfect<\/strong>, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus<\/em>” (Philippians 3:8-12). You mature by focusing on where you are going and not on where you had been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: What is perfection? Can we, as Christians, obtain perfection? If so, how do we obtain it? Answer: The Greek word translated as “perfect” is the word\u00a0teleion. It means something that is complete, perfect, whole, full-grown, ripe, mature, or adult. Thus, becoming perfect is just another way of saying you have matured. In “Yet we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[513,56],"class_list":["post-2272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-maturity","tag-perfection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9023,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-word-perfect-mean-in-i-corinthians-1310\/","url_meta":{"origin":2272,"position":0},"title":"What does the word “perfect” mean in I Corinthians 13:10?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding speaking in tongues, in the verse that says \"when that which is perfect is come,\" what does the word \"perfect\" mean in Greek? Answer: \"Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/becoming-a-mature-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":2272,"position":1},"title":"Becoming a Mature Christian","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garry Floyd Text:\u00a0Philippians 3:15-21 Introduction: Introduction: Spiritual Maturity Defined What Spiritual Maturity is not Suppression as Strength: Mistaking the avoidance or bottling up of emotions (stoicism) for \"emotional management\". Surface-Level Adulthood: Confusing the trappings of adulthood-like having a high-paying job, living alone, or buying a home-with internal emotional maturity.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/well-nobodys-perfect\/","url_meta":{"origin":2272,"position":2},"title":"Well, Nobody’s Perfect","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: I John 2:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At times a person sins and is caught. He has no regrets about his particular sin, except the embarrassment of being caught. He offers the illogical argument, \u201cWell, nobody\u2019s perfect.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is illogical because it insists that sinning can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-only-become-spiritually-mature-in-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":2272,"position":3},"title":"Can a woman only become spiritually mature in marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have heard it expressed before by a past preacher in a church of Christ that he did not consider single women to be mature in Christ.\u00a0 The implication being that all women must marry if they are to obtain maturity spiritually.\u00a0 This perplexes me and I find myself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-it-always-brought-up-that-prophecy-will-cease\/","url_meta":{"origin":2272,"position":4},"title":"Why is it always brought up that prophecy will cease?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is regarding prophecy.\u00a0 It seems I always get the same answer regarding this question (I Corinthians 13:8), \"Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies they will fail, tongues will cease, knowledge will vanish,\" (not an exact\u00a0quote). But if you take this one verse literally, if prophecies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-reasoning-is-flawed-spiritual-gifts-have-not-ceased\/","url_meta":{"origin":2272,"position":5},"title":"Your reasoning is flawed. Spiritual gifts have not ceased","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have read articles on your site and they are pretty informative. However, your take on Corinthians 13:8-13, stating that spiritual gifts have ceased, is flawed. Verse 8: \"Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}