Matius 5:48

5:48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ¹ 

Matius 5:1

The Beatitudes

5:1 When ²  he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. ³  After he sat down his disciples came to him.

Kolose 2:6

Warnings Against the Adoption of False Philosophies

2:6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, ⁴  continue to live your lives ⁵  in him,

Efesus 4:13

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ⁶  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ⁷ 

Filipi 3:15

3:15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. ⁸  If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. ⁹ 

Yakobus 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹⁰  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹¹  in what he says, ¹²  he is a perfect individual, ¹³  able to control the entire body as well.

[5:48]  ¹ sn This remark echoes the more common OT statements like Lev 19:2 or Deut 18:13: “you must be holy as I am holy.”

[5:1]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[5:1]  ³ tn Or “up a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὄρος, eis to oro").

[5:1]  sn The expression up the mountain here may be idiomatic or generic, much like the English “he went to the hospital” (cf. 15:29), or even intentionally reminiscent of Exod 24:12 (LXX), since the genre of the Sermon on the Mount seems to be that of a new Moses giving a new law.

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Though the verb παρελάβετε (parelabete) does not often take a double accusative, here it seems to do so. Both τὸν Χριστὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton Criston Ihsoun) and τὸν κύριον (ton kurion) are equally definite insofar as they both have an article, but both the word order and the use of “Christ Jesus” as a proper name suggest that it is the object (cf. Rom 10:9, 10). Thus Paul is affirming that the tradition that was delivered to the Colossians by Epaphras was Christ-centered and focused on him as Lord.

[2:6]  ⁵ tn The present imperative περιπατεῖτε (peripateite) implies, in this context, a continuation of something already begun. This is evidenced by the fact that Paul has already referred to their faith as “orderly” and “firm” (2:5), despite the struggles of some of them with this deceptive heresy (cf. 2:16-23). The verb is used literally to refer to a person “walking” and is thus used metaphorically (i.e., ethically) to refer to the way a person lives his or her life.

[4:13]  ⁶ tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

[3:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “those of us who are ‘perfect’ should think this,” or possibly “those of us who are mature should think this.”

[3:15]  sn The adjective perfect comes from the same root as the verb perfected in v. 12; Paul may well be employing a wordplay to draw in his opponents. Thus, perfect would then be in quotation marks and Paul would then argue that no one – neither they nor he – is in fact perfect. The thrust of vv. 1-16 is that human credentials can produce nothing that is pleasing to God (vv. 1-8). Instead of relying on such, Paul urges his readers to trust God for their righteousness (v. 9) rather than their own efforts, and at the same time to press on for the prize that awaits them (vv. 12-14). He argues further that perfection is unattainable in this life (v. 15), yet the level of maturity that one has reached should not for this reason be abandoned (v. 16).

[3:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “reveal this to you.” The referent of the pronoun “this” is the fact that the person is thinking differently than Paul does. This has been specified in the translation with the phrase “the error of your ways”; Paul is stating that God will make it known to these believers when they are not in agreement with Paul.

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).