With these words Christ introduces the conclusion to be drawn from His six illustrations of the higher, spiritual application of the law of the kingdom of heaven given in vs. 21-47, though v. 48 is perhaps more closely related to the line of thought in vs. 43-47. In all of these illustrations Christ has shown that, in the kingdom He came to establish, it is the inner attitudes and motives that determine perfection of character, and not the outward acts alone. Man may look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).
Perfect.
From the Gr. teleios, literally, “one who has reached the goal,” or “complete,” from telos, “end,”“fulfillment,”“completion,”“limit.” In Greek literature teleioi is used of flawless sacrificial victims, of full-grown or mature animals, of full-grown or mature adult human beings, of trained and fully qualified professional men.
Paul speaks of “them that are perfect” (1 Cor. 2:6) and of “as many as be perfect” (Phil. 3:15). At the same time he realizes that there are new heights to gain and that he himself has not reached the ultimate perfection. Teleioi is also used in the NT to denote physically and intellectually “mature” men (1 Cor. 14:20, “men”; Heb. 5:14, them that are “of full age”). For tam, the Hebrew equivalent, see on Job 1:1; Prov. 11:3, 5.
Jesus does not here deal with absolute sinlessness in this life (see SC 62; EGW RH March 18, 1890). Sanctification is a progressive work.
The Jews were toiling wearily to become righteous by their own efforts, to earn salvation by works. But in their scrupulous legalism they paid so much attention to the minute details of the letter of the law that they lost sight completely of its spirit (cf. ch. 23:23). In the Sermon on the Mount Christ sought to turn their attention from the husks to the wheat. They had made the law an end in itself, something to be kept for its own sake, and had forgotten that its purpose was to lift their gaze to the high ideals of supreme love toward God and self-sacrificing love toward one’s fellow men (ch. 22:34-40). The rabbis taught that righteousness consists in having an excess of good deeds over evil deeds credited to one’s account in heaven.
It is important to note the relationship between vs. 48 and 45 (ch. 5), for to be “children of your Father which is in heaven” (v. 45) is equivalent to being “perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (v. 48).