Matthew 5:48 tells us that we must be perfect, but how can we if we all have fallen short of the glory of God?

 

Adam was created perfect. Our original nature is perfect, one with God even as Jesus is one with God. Adam was not just the body God created from the dust of the earth. He was the spirit of God that dwelt or lived in that body. He was a son of God like Jesus Christ who was God living in a human body.

Adam died on the day he ate the forbidden fruit. From being perfect, one with God, he became like what all of us his children are. Compared to Jesus Christ and to all God’s children in the universe, we are not just imperfect. We are dead.

To be alive and perfect, we must be restored to our original nature. That is what Jesus did to everyone who believed him. He filled them with his Spirit, making them God’s peculiar people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Only those who were thus born again entered the kingdom of heaven which he said will