We Believe in Being Perfect—in Christ

During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave us the challenging command to be perfect (see Matthew 5:48). But since we are all bound to make mistakes, how does God expect us to keep this commandment? By gaining a correct understanding of God’s expectations for us, we can come to know what the prophet Moroni meant when he said we can become “perfect in Christ” (see Moroni 10:32–33).

What Does It Mean to Be Perfect?

“The Greek word for perfect can be translated as ‘complete, finished, fully developed’ (in Matthew 5:48, footnote b). Our Savior asks us to become complete, finished, fully developed—to be perfected in the virtues and attributes He and our Father in Heaven exemplify.”¹

“The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance. It is the eternal expectation as expressed by the Lord in his great intercessory prayer to his Father—that we might be made perfect and be able to dwell with them in the eternities ahead.”²

“I believe that Jesus did not intend His sermon on this subject to be a verbal hammer for battering us about our shortcomings. No, I believe He intended it to be a tribute to who and what God the Eternal Father is and what we can achieve with Him in eternity.”³