[Week 26] Does God Expect You to Be Perfect? (James 1:2-4)

This week, we are memorizing James 1:2-4.

• Check out my latest Scripture Memorization song here: James 1:2-4
• If you're new here, see my introduction to this series here.

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

• James 1:2-4 (CSB)

The First Word and the Last

This is one of my favorite passages in the book of James. It's a powerful opening to the letter and there is so much packed into these three verses.

Many of you likely grew up learning a slightly different version of the verse. There's a lot going on here, but today I want to focus on two things: the first word and the last word. "Consider" and "perfect."

You might be thinking, "Wait, 'perfect'? The verse above says 'mature.'" Good catch! And that's where this gets interesting.

Let's look at the ESV for example, and you'll see a different word at the end of verse 4. Here's how the ESV interprets it:

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

• James 1:4 (ESV)

"Perfect" and "mature" are very different words. And what James was trying to get at changes everything about how you read this passage and, honestly, the rest of the New Testament.

Now, I could probably write an entire book on the middle of these verses, about what God is actually doing through trials and what our role is in that process. If that's something you want to dig into, I'd highly recommend Bruce Wilkinson's teaching on trials. It really helped me understand the whole picture about how God is good and only works for our good through trials and that when we get a trial, it's because we are about to receive blessings. The truths Bruce pulls out of scripture will change your life. Go watch it on RightNow Media, you won't regret it.

But for today, let's focus on those two words: "consider" at the beginning and "perfect" at the end. Let's start with the man who wrote them, because who is saying this matters.

The Brother Who Lived These Words

This letter wasn't written by a theologian in a large, beautiful cathedral. It was written by an ordinary guy from the middle of nowhere, Nazareth. Ya'aqov (the Hebrew name for Jacob), the man we call James, was the brother of Yeshua, the man we call Jesus.¹

Think about that for a second. James grew up with Jesus. Shared meals with him, likely argued with him, and for most of Jesus's ministry, he didn't believe (Mark 3:20-21, 31-35). The Gospel of John tells us plainly, "not even his brothers believed in him" (John 7:5).

So what changed? Paul tells us, he gets a personal callout:

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

• 1 Corinthians 15:7 (CSB)

After that, James became the leader of the entire Jerusalem church. Paul even called him a "pillar" in Galatians 2:9. And in the end, the Jewish historian Josephus records that he was martyred and stoned to death around AD 62.²

I don't care what he believed, watching your brother die is hard for anyone. And yet, this is a man who watched his brother be brutally tortured and executed on a cross. He thought it was over, but then he met him alive. And now, in the book of James, he's writing to scattered Jewish believers who are losing their homes, their way of income, and their standing in their communities for following and teaching Jesus (James 5:4). When this man says "consider it a great joy," he wasn't giving them something to put on their wall, he had earned every word of that sentence. And he wrote it the way he did on purpose.

Consider This

So what is James actually asking us to do?

First, and this is really important, James isn't telling us to feel happy about our suffering. He uses the word that translates consider on purpose.

If we trace it back to the Hebrew, the word behind "consider" comes from the root chashav (חשב).³ It's a thinking and reckoning word and an accounting term. It means to evaluate, to calculate, to enter something into the ledger.

So, this isn't about feelings for James. He's telling you to make a decision. Look at what comes next: "because you know" (v. 3). He's appealing to what you already understand about how God works. Enter this trial in the joy column, because you know where it's headed.

And where is it headed? Right to the end of verse 4: "so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing." Everything in this passage builds toward that destination. And it all hangs on a word that most of our English Bibles have translated as "perfect."

So, let's dig into that: What does "perfect" actually mean?

What "Perfect" Actually Means

Here's where we need to slow down, because this is where our English gets in the way.

When we hear the word "perfect," we hear "flawless." Without error. Never making a mistake. That's what the English word has come to mean. But that is not what the Greek word means.

The Greek word behind "perfect" is teleios (τέλειος), and it comes from telos (τέλος), meaning "end" or "goal."⁴ Teleios is asking a completely different question than our word "flawless." It's not asking, "Does this have any defects?" It's asking, "Has this reached the thing it was made for?" It's a word about purpose and completion, not about inspection and error.

Think about a pot on a potter's wheel. Halfway through, the walls are uneven, the rim is rough, the shape is still emerging. Is it flawed? No. The potter's hands are still on it. It hasn't reached its telos yet.

So what does teleios really look like in Scripture?

In Matthew 5:48, Jesus says "Be perfect (teleioi) as your heavenly Father is perfect." If that meant "be flawless" or "don't make mistakes or sin", that would be terrifying, right? But when we read the context, in verses 43-47, it becomes more clear. Jesus is talking about loving your enemies, and not just the people who love you back. He doesn't even mention sin. And Luke's version of the same teaching (Luke 6:33-36) doesn't say "be perfect" at all. It says "be merciful." Jesus is not commanding us to have moral flawlessness. He's calling for us to have completeness of love.

And even the ESV, which translates teleios as "perfect" in James 1:4 and Matthew 5:48, translates the exact same Greek word as "mature" in 1 Corinthians 14:20 and Philippians 3:15. The word's meaning is clear. Teleios means "being fully what you are meant to be."

And Greek does actually have a word that means "flawless, without blemish." It's amomos (ἄμωμος). And that's not the word James chose here.⁵

Don't miss this: Flawlessness and perfection aren't even on James' radar. Instead, he is telling us that trials will move you closer to becoming complete, mature, fully what God made you to be.

He's the One Doing the Work

So, let's look back at the verse again.

Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

• James 1:2-4 (CSB)

If "perfect" means flawless and without sin, this verse is terrifying. It would mean that suffering is supposed to make you sinless, and if you're still struggling, something is wrong with you.

But that is not what the word means. It never meant that. Teleios means you're becoming more complete, growing closer to the person God made you to be. You mess up. You come back. You grow. You are not sinless, not mistake-free, but to become whole.

And here's the part that makes it land: you're not doing it alone.

I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

• Philippians 1:6 (CSB)

That word "completion"? Same root: telos.⁶ He finishes what He starts. The pot is still on the wheel, and His hands are still on the clay. He's not done with you yet.

You're not called to be flawless. You're called to become whole. And He's the one shaping you that way.

So here's my challenge. Ask God today, "What is the one thing you're working on in me right now?" He'll tell you. He wants you to succeed.

And then: do that one thing. Just today. And then: ask Him again tomorrow.

Because, the truth is this: God wants you to become whole even more than you do. He started this. And He's going to finish it.

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References

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