Perfected in Christ

(Hebrews 9:11-14 – Perfected in Christ)

Is it possible to be perfected in Christ? Is it possible to be without sin and have no consciousness of sin?

If you listen to most preachers of Christianity, the answer would be a resounding…No! They state that all people are sinners, condemned under the law, and without the hope of perfection. To many, the very idea of being perfect as Christ was perfect is not something to be achieved.

But that is not what the scripture teaches. In fact, the scripture through the words of Jesus, quite emphatically states that you MUST be perfect. And if you MUST be perfect, there must also be a way through which you can actually become perfect. So, let’s examine this today.

You Must be Perfect

The first thing we have to understand is that Christians have been called to become perfect. The scripture tells us without a shadow of doubt that we must be perfect.

You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

There is no greater standard of perfection than the perfection of the Father. Even Jesus Himself recognised the greater goodness of the Father, and Jesus was without sin and therefore perfect.

To be perfect is to be without sin. Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. He died so that we could enter into His sacrifice to be perfected in Christ.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

So, if Jesus takes away the sin of the world, then perfection is possible for those who come to Christ. You can be perfected in Christ through the power of His sacrifice and the working of the Holy Spirit. And as the first verse shows us, you MUST be perfect. It is not a nice thing to have, it is a necessity for those who want to live with God.

Perfected in Christ in the spirit

In this scripture today, we see the transformation of human nature showing what it is to be perfected in Christ. This is what the verse says:

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:11-14)

The last verse in this section tells us that being perfected in Christ is about purification of the conscience. That is, it is about changes to your spirit. It’s how you think that changes how you act and behave.

Perfected in Christ through Transformation

To be perfected in Christ is the work of transformation that is done by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is not something that happens overnight, as this scripture tells us.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The Holy Spirit works within us to transform our nature until we reach a state of perfection. We cannot do it ourselves because we are imperfect beings, and something that is imperfect can not make itself perfect. Only God can change and remove our imperfections to make us perfected in Christ.

Perfected in Christ through by faith

This is an interesting thing to consider. When Christ died and was raised from the dead, we were asked to believe two things for salvation. First, that Jesus Christ is our Lord and saviour. And second, that God the Father raised Him from the dead. (Check Romans 10:9 to see this truth).

We are told that when we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, God declares us righteous through our faith.

22 That is why his faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:22-25)

Abraham believed God would do what He said and give Him a son by Sarah, which was completed in the birth of Isaac. And because Abraham believed God, God reckoned Abraham righteous. It was not through anything he did, not through keeping the law (which had not yet been given to Moses and would not occur for several hundred years), but Abraham was reckoned or declared righteous because of his faith in God.

To be righteous is to have no sin. And if God declares you righteous, He does not reckon your sins against you, but wipes away your debt of sin. As David wrote:

7 “Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin.” (Romans 4:7-8)

If God removes our sins by faith in the resurrection of Jesus, then we have no sin. And that is what it says in John 1:29 quoted earlier. And if we have no sin, then we are perfect. But it is not by our doing. It is not by anything we do that we are made perfect. It is by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that God the Father carried out so many years ago. Faith in the power of the resurrection removes our sin and makes us perfected in Christ.

But I am not perfected in Christ, am I?

This is a question I am sure you may be thinking around now. You are probably thinking about all of the wrong you do, all of the laws you break, and the sin that still exists in your life.

But here is the power and the wonder of the grace of God. God overlooks all of those things because you have faith in the resurrection of Christ and in God. But He does this for a reason.

No man can claim perfection in His own right, just as no man can claim righteousness without faith in the Lord. But God can forgive and remove sins and declare anyone who has faith to be righteous. He does this for a purpose.

God said that He gave up on man because of sin. If you look at Romans chapter 1, there are three instances where it says God gave up on man (See Romans 1:24, 26, 28). So, if God gave up on man, but then wanted to help man find his way, He needed to provide a way to do that. He needed to define a way where our sins could be removed so that they no longer stand between us and God.

The way to be Perfected in Christ

Recall when Jesus said, “I am the way…” (John 14:6) Jesus is the way by which God put aside the sins of man, of you and I, by faith in Christ, so that He would help those who come to Him for help. He said essentially that if we listen to His Son and believe that God raised Him from the dead, He would overlook our sins, taking them all away, so we could be born anew in the Spirit to start again.

This is the way that we are now perfected in Christ. It is not a means for perfection of the flesh because our flesh is doomed to perish, as does all flesh.

Rather, we are being perfected in the spirit. When we receive the in-dwelling Holy Spirit, it is his role to perfect us in the spirit so that we are not just perfected in Christ by faith, but by every way we think, act, and behave. The Holy Spirit will change us by one degree of glory to the next until we eventually reach “actual” perfection to match the perfection we have by faith.

So, is it possible to be perfected in Christ? Absolutely! If not, the Bible would say that we MUST be perfect as the heavenly father is perfect in Matthew 5:48. As we continue to seek and learn and walk with Christ, it will happen, but no-one knows how long the journey will take.

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