Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 1: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12 by Frederick Dale Bruner

Author:Frederick Dale Bruner [Bruner, Frederick Dale]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bible Commentary
Published: 2009-11-26T23:17:00+00:00

The word teleioi is usually translated "perfect." But the noun "perfect" seems to me too cold to carry the warmth, weight, width, and humanity of teleioi. "Perfect" in English seems often to mean "faultless," "flawless," and other superhuman or semi-fanatical connotations that are neither pleasant for others nor true to Jesus' sense. Luke, in his version of this sermon, heard Jesus say, "Be merciful (oiktirmones) as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36; Calvin) 1:2oo, prefers Luke's rendering to Matthew's). The kind of perfection to which Matthew's Jesus refers, as the context shows, is the perfection of mercy, of wide- and whole-heartedness, not the "high" perfection we associate with impeccability. (Thus the REB) e.g., renders Matthew's verse this way: "There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father's goodness knows no bounds.") Christian perfection is the width with which disciples are corporately able to embrace others; it is not the height to which they are able individually to climb. Jesus' prophetic motto, "I want mercy and not sacrifice," might even be translated, "I want width, not height," or even, "I want social maturity, not individual perfection." (For good discussions of biblical perfection) cf. Bonnard, 76n.i; G. Barth, 101; Grundmann, i8o; Schweizer, 135.)

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