gure to indicate the chief stages in the develop- ment.
Speaking broadly, we may say that the OT idea of moral perfection is distinguished trom the NT one in three respects. It is negative rather than positive, refers to outward act rather than to inner disposition and spirit, and may be summed up in righteousness rather than in love. It will be obvious at once that such a statement is to be taken with qualifications, There are beyond question positive elements in OT ethics, rightness of disposition as well as of act is required, love has a place beside righteousness. Still, we think, careful examination will show that the negative, the outward act, righteousness, are the prominent, emphatic elements in OT, as the other elements arein NT. The higher, spiritual aspects are just mentioned in OT, and then reserved for fuller exposition till the fulness of time.
t the earliest stage the ‘ perfect’ man is simply the ‘upright’ man in contrast to the ‘wicked’ (Job ])- 8 23 820 92 Ps 3787, Pr 27); in Ps 37 and else- where op and 7% are used convertibly. The term is prone applied to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and Job in the same sense Gn 6° 17! 25”, Job 1}, although in Gn 17! ‘Walk before me’ suggests higher thoughts, as also in Dt 1815 ‘ Perfect with the LORD thy God’ does the same. In Gn 17! LXX has ἄμεμπτος. In Dt 6° and Ly 1918 the two great commandments are definitely formulated, but they are nowhere expounded and worked out in detailed poi a (see Lk 1077), In a similar way the forbidding of sins of desire Ex 20", the requirement of inner truthfulness Ps 15? 51%, ‘circumcision of the heart’ Dt 30° (cf. with Ro 2”), preference of moral to ceremonial purity Is 1%, Mic 6°, Jl 2", Jer 318, Ps 17", are germs of great developments ; but they remain germs in OT days.
The growth in the meaning of perfection in the NT isimmense. The goal of the old economy ia the starting-point of the new. The positive side of the law is everywhere foremost, Mt 713.3..3 25, Jn 137 1453 1514 Ja 153: and often. Insistence on inward righteousness is just as marked a feature of NT teaching. This isin great the burden of the Sermon on the Mount, Mt 5°; the beatitudes are blessings on gracious disposition. Outward obedience is too little, nothing but an inner transformation is sufficient, the roots and cla of man’s life must be made new, Mt ΤῈ 15'8, Jn 35. 5, Ro 85 193, 2Co 5", Gal 5%, He 9" ete, Above all, love, which is righteousness raised to the highest power, appears everywhere as the central law of life, Mt 5“, Lk 107-7, Jn 135, Ro 13”, 1 Co 13, Ja 2, 1 Jn 318. 3 47-11-16. Bete, This substitution of love of God and man for righteous- ness involves a complete transformation of the Divine law. The two great commandments of the law are applied in detail to the different relations and duties of human life, Mt 5“, Ro 12", He 18), 2P 17. Such summaries of duty as are found in Ro 12 and 13 are simply different applications of the two chief commandments. The distance we have travelled is seen in comparing the ‘perfect’ of the Lord’s words in Mt 5“ with the ‘perfect’ of the OT. The qualifying clause ‘As your Father,’ the context with its command ‘Love not merely your neighbour but your enemies,’ and the entire strain of precept in the discourse, forbid the fixing of narrow limits. St. Paul’s teaching in Ro 12°" is in the same spirit.
The proposal of Christ Himself as the example of Christian life is very significant. Not merely His teaching, He Himself is the law, the ideal of re- newed man, Jn 13%, Ph 2, Eph 4" 5 (‘Be ye imitators of God’), This suggests the further fact that the new, the Christian type of character is the one in which the mild virtues and graces
PERFECTION
746 prevail, Mt 57° 11”, Jn 13", Gal 5%. 6?, Ph 28 4°, Col 3%.
The apostolic payee and wishes for Christian Churches are full of instruction on this subject. Passages like Eph 1169 3-19, Col 194, 1 Th 5%, 2 Co 13°, are the final expositions of the law of love, and show to what a height the idea of moral per- fection has risen. Nothing has been or can be added to the type of spiritual excellence there de- scribed. The two remarkable words used in 1 Th 5” may be taken as an inspired interpretation of τέλειος, namely ὁλόκληρος and ὁλοτελής ; the former occurs again in Ja 1‘, the latter is a dw. λεγόμενον. The former, Ellicott says, ‘serves to mark that which is entire in all its parts,’ the latter indicates the ‘thoroughness and pervasive nature of holiness’ (see also Trench, ΝῚΤ Synonyms, p. 71, and Light- foot, ad loc.). These passages explain very fully the meaning or contents of the moral pertection, which is to be the aspiration of every Christian for himself, as it was the aspiration of the apostles for the Christians of their day. The natural doubt respecting the possibility of attainment is antici- pated by St. Paul’s doxology, ‘ Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,’ Eph 3”, a passage which reminds us that the believer is kept absolutely dependent on the grace and Spirit of God for the beginning and perfecting of ail that is good in him, Eph 2”, Ph 15.915 Col 23) 1 P 18