The Hebrew word tam, translated in Job 1:1 as perfect, has a number of different usages. The Hebrew term tam is equivalent to the Greek teleios, which is often translated perfect in the NT but which is better translated “full grown” or “mature” (1 Cor. The meaning of the word perfect in Hebrew But the aim of the law was the supreme love toward God and self-sacrificing love toward men (Matthew 22:34–40). And in the process they lost sight of its spirit (Matthew 23:23). But in their legalism, they focused their attention to the details of the letter of the law. The Jews were working hard to become righteous by their own efforts, to earn salvation by good deeds.

Man may look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart (1 Sam. He taught that it is the internal thoughts and motives that determine perfection of character, and not the external acts alone. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus presented His six illustrations of the higher, spiritual application of the law of the kingdom of heaven (vs. The man who is perfect in the sight of God is the man who has reached the degree of development that Heaven expects of him at any given time. The word perfect signifies, rather, completeness, integrity, sincerity, but in a relative sense. For sanctification is a progressive work. Jesus does not here deal with absolute sinlessness in this life. In this verse the Greek word teleioi or perfect is used to describe a flawless sacrificial victim or a mature adult.

Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount by the words, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).