“be careful to do them [my commands] with all your heart and with all your soul.” Dt 26:16
Blessed are those … who seek him with their whole heart, Ps 119: 1
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
These words: have caused people much trouble:
They reject them
it’s impossible
God is unjust.
They become discouraged and give up
I’m a failure
how can God demand this?
God is unjust.
I God unjust? what’s the real demand?
The text gives a hint
τέλειος [teleios /tel·i·os/] … AV translates as “perfect” 17 times, “man” once, and “of full age” once. 1 brought to its end, finished. 2 wanting nothing necessary to completeness. 1
1 James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995).
To understand télos and teléō in the NT one must remember their dynamic character; they denote “fulfilment” (cf. Lk. 22:37).2
2 Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 1161.
Look back to Deuteronomy & Psalm 119
Keep my commands with your whole heart and all your soul.
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
Lent
Jesus gave himself totally, completely, to the end
Lent allows to reflect on the totality of his gift,
and, by God’s grace, to return it with our whole heart.
It’s then that Easter dawns for us with its gift of life to the full.
