Cwic Clips- Be Ye Therefore Perfect

The of Matthew Chapter 5 ends with 'Be Ye Therefore Perfect' as if ending and ascension or completing a progression through a ritual or temple setting.

and then the chapter ends in in verse 48

here and this is a verse that most of us

have heard or read several times before

and as we said about an eye for an eye

and a tooth for a tooth we are asked

to be perfect here be ye therefore perfect

or asked to be perfect after all these

things that he's just gone through so

he's bringing these disciples through

these requirements to help them to

progress forward through this ritual and

these covenants probably and then he

tells them how they need to act once

they've accepted these covenants and

then he says don't be therefore perfect

but of course the problem with that is

justice because we're not and so how do

we become perfect when we're not perfect

and that's part of the atonement

that's what the atonement is for now an

interesting difference in the Sermon on

the Mount or as John Walsh calls it the

sermon at the temple in the Book of

Mormon is that the word therefore is

moved in the in the phrase and instead

of be therefore perfect it is therefore

I would that she should be perfect so

what this does is this turns us into a

transitionary phrase a transitionary

verse we're okay you've gone through all

of these things now or therefore you're

going to be perfect you need to be

perfect at this point and this is again

a an ascension text as we would call it

'yes you're moving up the glories or

you're moving up the requirements you're

moving through the progression of a

temple until you get to perfection

and as now president nelson covers in

the manual he talks about the word the

Greek word for perfection which is

teleios and there's a couple of

additional things that we might want to

add to this word that gives us a little

bit of meat and that is this is the term

that was used for temple religions

so religions that would have a temple

would use this when they went

through their temple rites as they would

call the mystical rites or the mysteries

we see that term often in the scriptures

mysteries we should think about the

temple when we see that word the

mysteries of God Nephi wanting to know

the mysteries of God that is a reference

to the temple and the covenants that are

there and the doctrine that is in the

temple even more specifically it's a

reference to the sod which is the

council in heaven and the mysteries and

the words that are spoken in the

council in heaven in the pre-existence

and now even the council that's held in

heaven and that is what the mysteries

refer to and teleios-- is a reference to

one who goes through those mysteries or

through those covenants and makes it to

the end of those temple rites and they

then end up perfect and so that is a

again a temple term in a temple

reference a great reference in the New

Testament to compare this chapter to is

the book of Hebrews the book of Hebrews

is where we talk about Christ as the

Melchizedek the new milk ascetic but

this term teleios is used in chapters

five and six and it helps us to

distinguish between what is required in

the lower law and what would be used in

the higher law and directly in Hebrews

chapter 9 this word is used for the

heavenly temple and throughout the book

of Hebrews or the Epistle of Hebrews the

word is used when putting someone in a

position where they can stand before God

or see the face of God or come into the

presence of God so we get a better idea

of what that perfect means in verse 48

be therefore perfect or in other words

reach the reach the endgame here like

the term we heard in the movie Field of

Dreams go the distance

an interesting quote by Joseph Smith

says the following I advise all to go on

to perfection and search deeper into the

mysteries of godliness

so here the term mysteries and the term

perfection which in the Greek would be

teleios are used together by Joseph

Smith here in a temple type of a phrase

so we start off in chapter 5 with Jesus

ascending a mountain like Moses to give

a new law and setting things up and then

we walk through a requirement the

requirements to move forward and then

were addressed directly as to how we

need to act once we receive those

requirements and make those covenants

and then we are told to be perfect which

would be at the end of that ascension or

the end of that temporal progression and

it also transitions us into chapter 6

and chapter 7 with the rest of the

Sermon on the Mount that continue to

bring us through this temple imagery