If you are using the word “perfect” to mean “sinless” the answer is NO. There was only one man who walked this earth who was “PERFECTLY sinless” and that was Jesus Christ. He was born HOLY, as we see in Luke 1:35, “And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God’” (NKJV). Because He was HOLY the Lord Jesus “committed no sin” (1st Peter 2:22), “knew no sin” (2nd Corinthians 5:21), and “in Him there is no sin” (1st John 3:5). Now it is true that a Christian has been born again and has a New Nature that is “perfectly sinless” (see 1st John 3:9), yet the Christian still retains the Old Nature that is sinful. The Apostle Paul spoke of this Old Nature in Romans 7:16-18, “If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” Some believe the Old Nature of sin can be eradicated but this teaching is refuted by 1st John 1:8, “If we (children of God) say that we have NO SIN, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Our Old Nature will not be eradicated until we get to glory where we will be completely “conformed to the image of Christ,” as we see in 1st John 3:2, “But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” In that day we shall be like our Savior PHYSICALLY and MORALLY (i.e. perfectly sinless).

Let’s explore a couple of ways that the word “perfect” can be applied to the Christian. In Matthew 5:48 the Lord Jesus told His disciples, “Therefore you shall be PERFECT, just as your Father in heaven is PERFECT.” What did He mean by that? He couldn’t be referring to “sinless perfection,” for we’ve already seen that this is impossible in this scene. Jesus had just commanded them to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the evil and on the unjust” (verses 44-45). The Lord was NOT teaching His disciples that if they love their enemies they would BECOME sons of God, but that by their love they could MANIFEST to their enemies that THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. This is but one way in which we can be PERFECT (or “spiritually MATURE”), for in loving one’s enemy the child of God is “imitating His Father in heaven” who shows His love to His enemies by blessing them with sunshine and rain. We have a similar thought expressed in Luke 6:36, “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” When we show mercy to our enemies, we are demonstrating to the same mercy extended to them by our Father in heaven. As we imitate our heavenly Father’s love and mercy, we are looked upon as PERFECT.

The next example of a Christian being called PERFECT is in Hebrews 10:12 & 14, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God…by one offering He has PERFECTED FOREVER those who are being sanctified.” Here we have the believer’s PERFECT STANDING before a Holy God based on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The believer now STANDS before God the Father in all the value of His beloved Son and the work He accomplished at Calvary. It is a PERFECT POSITION that will never change, for it is based solely on Christ and the blood that He shed for our redemption. When God looks at us, He sees us “in Christ.” This is borne out beautifully in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” It is in this sense alone that all believers can view themselves as PERFECT.  (356.3)  (DO)