The Genesis of Perfection

"Genesis is not only about the origins of sin; it is also about the foundations of human perfection"  -  Gary A. Anderson

Christian perfection is a red herring at best and heresy at worst.  Nobody can live a perfect life with the one exception of Jesus.  Even when we do good, we do it with mixed motives of good and bad.  Even our best efforts are full of sin or so the story goes.  There is much truth in this when it comes to our doing good, our being a religious do-gooder and our best efforts in the flesh.

But ancient Jews and Christians alike held a view of Christian perfection or that God's children can enter a state, even if only temporarily with God's help of being sinless.  We tend to forget that many things we hold dear in our modern churches like democracy, baptism by immersion, and holding the communion elements in our own hands (to name of few) were at one time considered heresy.  What we need to remember and reclaim is even though the flesh is imperfect, the Spirit of God is perfect and continues to perfect us.

So when we walk by the Spirit of God, we are actually walking in perfection.  It is not even us really doing it but God's Spirit ordering and directing our steps doing it.  We may during this process have doubts, fears, or even a sinful moment but God's perfect Spirit is even perfecting that.  Just because we don't have complete understanding does not mean we have no understanding.  Just because we might be troubled in our spirit while we walk in God's Spirit does not mean God can still give us peace in it all.

A fascinating book is Gary A. Anderson's book The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination (Westminster John Knox Press,  2001).  Adam and Eve not only represent us, they represent Israel.  Satan tempts Adam and Eve because he resents the authority that they and their seed (Christ) holds over him.  Christ became the new Adam that not only raises Adam and Eve back up to their Eden paradise state but raises us as well.

The ancient Catholic church liked to call this spiritual revelation of Eden or Paradise "the Beatific Vision."  This is the primal revelation that quickens our spirit in the eternal now and can be experienced in the present moment.  One does not have to die to enjoy the beauty of heaven. God has a feast for us now for those who will come hungry and desperate for Him.  It is amazing that one does not have to wait for the medieval mystical movement to speak of this perfect state of grace where God desires that we all would dwell with Him.  It has been already present in the rabbinic era from the very beginning.