The story of Job begins with the statement that he was blameless and upright. That’s NIV. KJV has “perfect” for “blameless.”

As I pondered that, I wondered, who else does Scripture describe in that way? King Asa of Judah, for one. And that sets the bar awfully low.

So what does it mean that Asa was blameless (or perfect)? And what does Asa have to do with Christian perfection and sanctification?

King Asa

Asa Destroys the Idols / from Petrus Comestor’s Bible Historiale, 1372

The story of Asa’s reign is told in 1 Kings 15:9-24 and 2 Chronicles 14:7-16:14. Both passages begin their description by saying that Asa did right in God’s eyes and enumerate some of his righteous acts:

• He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land.
• He destroyed pagan shrines and idols.
• He deposed his grandmother as queen mother because she had made an Asherah pole.
• He responded to a major threat from probably an Egyptian army by praying for God’s help—this incident described only in 2 Chronicles 15:9-15

1 Kings 15:14 and 2 Chronicles 15:17 both say that Asa’s heart was perfect towards God all the days of his life. Then they immediately describe how he responded to a minor local threat from the northern kingdom, Israel, by taking the silver and gold from the temple treasury to bribe the king of Aram in Damascus to break a treaty. He died of a disease in his feet.

The longer 2 Chronicles account describes how a prophet scolded Asa for trusting in his own cleverness instead of praying to God to save him from Israel. Asa responded with rage and became the first monarch of either kingdom to persecute a prophet.

And the disease in his feet? The Chronicler pointed out that he consulted his physicians about it, but did not pray.

Both accounts describe these failings, let’s recall, immediately after proclaiming that Asa’s heart was perfect toward God all his days.

Christian perfection and sanctification

Bible opened to John 3:16 / photo by Amandajm

Here is one of Paul’s descriptions of his ministry: “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

In discussing grace, we usually consider justification the moment at which a person accepts Christ as Lord and Savior.

We consider sanctification as a process by which we become more and more like Jesus and, in the next life, become perfect as he is perfect.

Well, yes and no.

Paul told the Corinthian church, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). He does not say they were in the process of becoming sanctified. He describes their sanctification as a finished act.

So is sanctification a process or a finished act? Are we becoming perfect, or are we now perfect?

Yes.

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25)

To put it another way, the Bible presents two viewpoints as to whether we’re perfect or becoming perfect. The words translated “perfect,” by the way, mean full or complete, lacking nothing essential. They do not mean flawless.

In Romans, Paul describes his experience of living in the world as a human. As much as he wanted to be flawless, as Jesus is flawless, he can’t do it. That’s the human viewpoint. When he wrote “sanctified” in past tense in 1 Corinthians, he was describing God’s viewpoint.

God sent Jesus into the world in order to restore humanity to the perfection he created in the first place. He regards his work as finished. So in our experience we are going on to perfection, but haven’t yet reached it. From God’s viewpoint, he has already made us perfect in sanctification.

That is the only way it makes sense for the Bible to describe Asa, Noah, Job, or anyone else as perfect. The Bible makes no attempt to cover up anyone’s flaws. They’re on full display for everyone to see. God sees them, but he also sees past them to see his finished work.

I ought to consider all of my Christian brothers and sisters as perfect in Christ, despite their evident flaws. And all of my Christian brothers and sisters ought to consider me perfect in Christ despite mine.

After all, if anyone is not complete in Christ, God will never tell anyone else about it!

Photo credits:
Worship service. Some rights reserved by pikchergirl
Asa destroying the idols. Public domain from Wikimedia Commons
Bible opened to John 3:16. Public domain from Wikimedia Commons