God tells us in the Bible that we must be perfect to enter the kingdom of heaven.  That standard alone seems impossible to attain.  In fact, it is impossible.  God knows this and for this reason, supplies us with the only possible solution.  The solution was through the perfect life of Christ and his death on the cross.

Now, I am not able to adequately explain how Jesus is both God and man to satisfy human reason, nor able to convince anyone scientifically how His death pardons me.  However, in this one act, God redeemed the whole world.  God, the perfect Judge, passed out a sentence for all of man’s crimes (sins).  Jesus, by being sinless and entirely innocent, satisfied the penalty for our sins and died for all of us.  He took our place.  So, instead of us being sent to the electric chair, Jesus took our place and we are set free.  This was not an act of injustice, but an act of incomprehensible love from a perfect God!

If you have ever wondered why Jesus died for us it is because of the standard of perfection God requires for all mankind to enter into heaven.  God, who is perfect, is incompatible with imperfection and thereby opposed to sin.  Yet, despite our sins, God desires for all people to live eternally with Him.  There lies the problem.  People must be held accountable because their sins can’t be overlooked.  We must be perfect to be compatible with God. 

The Bible teaches that we can never be perfect on our own.  Our situation is too severe.  This is where the life and death of Jesus Christ comes in.  Out of love, God satisfied his own standard of perfection by absorbing within Himself the sins of the world and the punishment which those sins deserved.  In Jesus’ death on the cross, humanity pays for its sin and the record is wiped clean.  When we believe in Christ as our only hope of salvation, Christ substitutes his life and his payment for our sins.  As a result, God forgives all of our past, present and future sins.

The main point of the Bible can be easily misunderstood.  God’s Word is not meant to inspire great feats of self-effort, but to expose our sinful condition and need for God through Christ.  God’s plan of salvation is like a large inheritance sitting in a bank.  It will come to nothing if people don’t come and receive this gift as their own.  This free gift comes only to those who believe.  On the day of judgment, a believer will stand before God with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  With this assurance, we can face God, our Creator and our Savior, with joy, not fear.

For more information, please check out www.gregboyd.org.

The Bible could define Christianity or a believer in Christ as one who is perfect in Christ.  The standard for going to heaven is perfection as the Bible states, “Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly father is perfect.”  It is Christ’s substitute on the cross for us that Christians can consider themselves already perfect.  Faith alone receives this gift from God.  Mormonism, on the other hand, would change one key word.  Instead of “be” perfect, Mormons will say that a Christian must “become” perfect.  One thing about Mormonism is that they have lowered the standards for obedience.  You don’t necessarily have to be perfect as the Bible commands.

I share this post in reference to a Bible verse given in a recent comment by a Mormon on this blog site.  In it he uses Hebrews 8:9.  If I may also include verse 8, here is the following verse.

Hebrews 5:8-9: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.. “  (NIV)

I agree this is a great verse for it gives us insight on the miracle of the incarnation — God’s Son taking on human form and suffers.  Jesus has to be perfect in order to carry out God’s plan to deal with our sins. Jesus became the author of our salvation (Heb. 2:10) by his perfection. His suffering was the cost and his obedience to go the cross as our perfect substitute was carried out during his time in the garden and the wilderness.  And “for all who obey him” matches the thought of Christ’s obedience when we see 1 John 3:22-23 explain, “We obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.”  Faith is obedience to God.

There are other verses Mormons will use to justify their own theology that salvation is faith AND works.  I would like to take a look at them.

“to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”  (Eph. 4:12)  This verse talks about how God equips believers with spiritual gifts for the sole purpose of building up a body of believers. God calls on us to exercise our faith by doing so. These works gives evidence of a living and active faith, but does not justify us nor is a requirement for salvation.  Christians, those with saving faith, are saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone.

Luke 13:32 reads, “He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’” (NIV) This is Jesus talking and he was referring that his life had a predetermined plan that would be carried out and no harm would come to him until his purpose was accomplished (see Luke 4:43 and 9:22). That third day was ofcourse, Christ’s resurrection which is paramount to the Christian faith.

“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God.  (Hebrews 6:1) This verse was a response to those Christians who were not taking steps of maturity in the faith. In fact, they had becoming spiritually sluggish and lazy which is a great danger for one can lose their faith. The only way to mature in the faith is by being in God’s Word. Repentance is turning away from sin. And it is coupled with faith in God. “Acts that lead to death” reminds them of their former unbelief in that they were dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1) and deserving of the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) which was death. Faith alone saves but faith is never alone.

And Phil 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”    Paul is talking about how our Christian lives is all about growing in Christ. Our living for him ought to be a constant striving for perfection or holiness, with the goal and prize of eternal life always kept before our eyes of faith. Here is possibly where Christians and Mormons differ. We are sinners on earth corrupted by sin. On earth, we will never be perfect in our bodies. However, spiritually speaking, which is of the most importance, we have been made perfect because of Christ’s sacrifice.

Consider Heb. 10:10 “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Also Heb 10:14 “because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

So those who have placed their trust in Christ, and his completed work on the cross, are striving to be holy in our condition of sinful flesh, to have a faith that is living and active by remaining in God’s Word, since our status as believers has been secured by Christ. Since perfection is required for eternal salvation, Christ has made us perfect through His obedience and we are to remain diligent to keep that faith.

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus , and you will be saved — you and your household.” Acts 16:31

That is an impossible standard, isn’t it?  It doesn’t even seem fair since nobody is perfect.  If what I’m saying is truth, then nobody can live the life God intended for us.  But that is the standard to go to heaven.  You must be perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48).  Perfection is the dilemma, the fork in the road that determines our eternal destiny.  Essentially, the dilemma comes down to who you trust.  Can we save ourselves from hell by trusting our own ability to be perfect, or do we place our trust in God’s solution for us in Jesus.  Faith is going to be the answer to our dilemma, because believing in Jesus is recognizing our desperate need for God’s solution.

In the Bible, Jesus continually confronted people who thought they were right before God on the basis of how good they were.  Religious leaders who felt it was more important to follow God’s commands to be declared righteous went to great lengths to look good and appear holy in public.  They fooled people but couldn’t fool God.  They certainly didn’t think they needed a Savior, especially when comparing themselves to those “sinners”.  They trusted in themselves, not in God.  This is why Jesus told them that they must be perfect to be right before God.  We have to be perfect because God is perfect.  Being “relatively good” or “pretty good” will not be good enough. 

God knows we can never live up to his ideals.  He wants us to throw our hands up in the air and confess, “I can’t do it!  I quit!  I am a hopeless sinner!”  What is so difficult for our human minds to comprehend is that God does not want us to do anything about our dilemma.  Because it has already been done for us. 

Becoming a Christian isn’t about effort; it’s about trusting Christ despite who we are.  In trusting Christ, not only are we made right before God, through the forgiveness of our sins, but we are transformed.  He makes us a new creation.  By believing in Christ, our attitude changes from trying to do good to responding in thankfulness for what He has already done.  The message of the Gospel removes guilt and fills us with hope, peace and confidence.  We know with certainty where we stand before God.  Our eternal citizenship in heaven is secured. 

Believe in Jesus and allow him to love you as you are.  He doesn’t stand far off until you make yourself clean.  He wraps his arms around you and cleanses you from the inside out.  Trust God instead of yourself and receive the new life found only in Christ.

For more information on this subject, go to www.gregboyd.org.