175 | What you’ve never heard about Perfection
It turns out that “perfection” is a terrible translation of Matthew 5:48. It’s found in the Sermon on the Mount: Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. It’s a typical example of Western English speakers seizing on a word and running with it, while being ignorant of what the speaker is talking about, i.e., mostly you hear ignorant and unhelpful things about this passage. Fortunately, you are here and we can clear this up for you. Yes! It’s the Greek word teleios that is often translated as “perfect.” When you peek into the scholarship around this word and the words in the Hebrew Bible that are translated as teleios, you get a much different picture than the one conveyed by “perfect.” It’s more a matter of wholeness, of whole-heartedness for God, of thriving, of being truly well in all areas of life, as a whole person. Karen and Curtis talk it over! Let’s go.
Resources:
The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary June 2017 by Jonathan T. Pennington
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We are Karen and Curtis Herbert, founders of The Empowered Catholic Podcast. Empowerment is a word we use for getting the whole person in alignment with the Spirit. How could that change your life?
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It turns out that “perfection” is a terrible translation of Matthew 5:48. It’s found in the Sermon on the Mount: Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. It’s a typical example of Western English speakers seizing on a word and running with it, while being ignorant of what the speaker is talking about, i.e., mostly you hear ignorant and unhelpful things about this passage. Fortunately, you are here and we can clear this up for you. Yes! It’s the Greek word teleios that is often translated as “perfect.” When you peek into the scholarship around this word and the words in the Hebrew Bible that are translated as teleios, you get a much different picture than the one conveyed by “perfect.” It’s more a matter of wholeness, of whole-heartedness for God, of thriving, of being truly well in all areas of life, as a whole person. Karen and Curtis talk it over! Let’s go.
Resources:
The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary June 2017 by Jonathan T. Pennington
Want to become more Empowered?
Sign-up for email support here:
We are Karen and Curtis Herbert, founders of The Empowered Catholic Podcast. Empowerment is a word we use for getting the whole person in alignment with the Spirit. How could that change your life?
Start the journey
Learn more about working with us here:
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