{"id":99777,"date":"2023-05-01T20:55:05","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T02:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=99777"},"modified":"2023-05-02T10:45:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:45:42","slug":"on-being-perfect-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2023\/05\/on-being-perfect-part-three.html","title":{"rendered":"On Being “Perfect” (Part Three)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Tissot<\/a>
A depiction of Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount by James Tissot (1836-1902)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 This blog entry is a continuation of the discussions at \u201cOn Being \u2018Perfect\u2019 (Part One)\u201d<\/a> and \u201cOn Being \u2018Perfect\u2019 (Part Two)\u201d<\/a> and should be read in the context provided by those brief entries.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBe ye therefore perfect,\u201d says the King James Version\u2019s translation of Matthew 5:48, \u201ceven as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s first look at the original Greek words that are twice translated as \u201cperfect.\u201d\u00a0 The first, as one might expect, is a plural adjective: \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9.\u00a0 The second, also predictably, is in the masculine singular form: \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03cc\u03c2.\u00a0 The latter is the standard dictionary-citation form.<\/p>\n

\u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03cc\u03c2 is an adjective that is closely related to the Greek noun \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 (t\u00e9los<\/i><\/i>), which signifies a \u201cgoal,\u201d or a \u201cpurpose,\u201d or an \u201cend.\u201d\u00a0 (Compare the derivative English word teleology<\/em>, which refers to the study of purpose in nature, things, etc.)<\/p>\n

Very importantly, in Aristotle\u2019s writings, \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 refers to a natural end \u2014 as in the case of an acorn, the natural end of which (provided that nothing else supervenes or interferes) is to become an oak.<\/p>\n

It might be helpful here to look briefly at Aristotle\u2019s theory of the \u201cfour causes,\u201d which was enormously important for many centuries after he formulated it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll use the notion of a piece of sculpture, in order to illustrate the theory:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Just<\/a>
Osmar Schindler (d. 1927), \u201cDavid and Goliath.\u201d\u00a0 This isn\u2019t Michelangelo\u2019s statue, just in case you\u2019re wondering.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cmaterial cause\u201d of a statue is, quite literally, the material from which it is made.\u00a0 In the absence of the Carrara marble from which it was hewn, for instance, there would be no David<\/em> of Michelangelo.\u00a0 But the marble alone doesn\u2019t make for a statue.<\/p>\n

The \u201cformal cause\u201d of a statue \u2014 for convenience, let\u2019s stick with Michelangelo\u2019s David<\/em> \u2014 is the shape that makes<\/em> it a statue rather than merely a huge, irregular piece of stone.<\/p>\n

How did the statue come to have the form that it does?\u00a0 Here\u2019s where Aristotle invokes the \u201cefficient cause,\u201d the factor that actually shaped the marble into the likeness of the young shepherd, David, son of Jesse.\u00a0 In this particular case, obviously, the efficient cause is Michelangelo Buonarroti.\u00a0 Or, I suppose, if you preferred to view the question a little bit differently, you could say that the efficient cause is Michelangelo\u2019s mallet and chisel, or something of that sort.<\/p>\n

But why<\/em> did Michelangelo carve the David<\/em>?\u00a0 This is the question of what Aristotle called the \u201cfinal cause,\u201d which concerns the end<\/em> or purpose<\/em> or goal<\/em> of an entity or of a human art or craft or action.\u00a0 In this case, the \u201cfinal cause\u201d of the David<\/em> might be identified as, say, Michelangelo\u2019s desire to make a statue of one of the great characters of the Hebrew Bible.\u00a0 Or, perhaps, we might say that the \u201cfinal cause\u201d of the David<\/em> was the commission given to him by the Overseers of the Office of Works of the Cathedral of Florence.<\/p>\n

Absent even a single one of the four causes \u2014 material (the marble), formal (the shape), efficient (the sculptor Michelangelo with his tools), and final (the reason for the statue\u2019s existence) \u2014 there would be no statue, no David<\/em>.\u00a0 All of them are required to explain what it is, and that<\/em> it is.<\/p>\n

Aristotle\u2019s theory of \u201cfour causes\u201d is really quite elegant.\u00a0 I think that it still has analytic value.\u00a0 And yet it must be said that one of the most important steps taken on the road to modern science was the effective bracketing of material, formal, and,\u00a0 especially, final causes in order to concentrate on efficient causation.\u00a0 Overwhelmingly, modern science has given up interest in \u201cteleology,\u201d the study of purposiveness or of objects (whether animate or inanimate) with regard to their possible \u201caims,\u201d \u201cpurposes,\u201d or \u201cintentions.\u201d\u00a0 Evolution is said to have<\/em> no purpose.\u00a0 \u201cMother Nature\u201d is just a turn of phrase, \u201cshe\u201d isn\u2019t really a person, and \u201cshe\u201d has no end in mind.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an interesting topic in and of itself, but it\u2019s also a topic for another time.<\/p>\n

The point is that Matthew 5:48 employs a Greek word that suggests a goal, and that implies that \u201cperfection\u201d consists in attaining that goal.<\/p>\n

I think, in this context, of the grammatical use of the term perfect<\/em>; the perfect tense is a verb tense that is used to refer to actions or states that are completed<\/em> at the time of speaking or at a particular time to which reference is being made.\u00a0 We also commonly use perfect<\/em> or related words to suggest \u201ccompleteness\u201d in non<\/em>-grammatical contexts:\u00a0 \u201cHe was a perfect stranger\u201d and \u201cIt was perfectly quiet\u201d are precisely synonymous with \u201cHe was a complete stranger\u201d and \u201cIt was completely quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The German word that is used to render \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9 and \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03cc\u03c2 (e.g., in the 1545 Luther Bibel<\/em>, the Neue Genfer \u00dcbersetzung<\/em>, the 1951 and 200o Schlachter editions, and the 1980 Einheits\u00fcbersetzung<\/em>) is perhaps instructive:\u00a0 It is vollkommen<\/em>, which rather obviously connotes the state of being \u201cfull come\u201d or \u201cfully come.\u201d\u00a0 Along the same lines, one of the meanings given in the dictionaries for \u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03cc\u03c2 is \u201cmature.\u201d\u00a0 (Remember the notion of the acorn and the oak.)<\/p>\n

James 1:2-4, in the New International Version, reads as follows:<\/p>\n

2\u00a0<\/sup>Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>because you know that the testing of your faith\u00a0produces perseverance.<\/span>\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature [\u03c4\u03ad\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9] and complete, not lacking anything.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the King James Version, the passage goes thus:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; k<\/span>nowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.\u00a0 <\/span>But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Where the NIV has mature<\/em>, the 1545 Luther Bibel<\/em>, the Neue Genfer \u00dcbersetzung<\/em>, the 1951 and 200o Schlachter editions, and the 1980 Einheits\u00fcbersetzung\u00a0<\/em>have vollkommen<\/em>, and the King James translation has perfect<\/em>.\u00a0 In fact, the fuller NIV phrasing is of interest:\u00a0 mature and complete<\/em>.\u00a0 Compare it to the Latin Vulgate:\u00a0 ut sitis perfecti et integri in nullo deficientes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be continued.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Note:\u00a0 This blog entry is a continuation of the discussions at \u201cOn Being \u2018Perfect\u2019 (Part One)\u201d and \u201cOn Being \u2018Perfect\u2019 (Part Two)\u201d and should be read in the context provided by those brief entries. \u00a0 \u201cBe ye therefore perfect,\u201d says the King James Version\u2019s translation of Matthew 5:48, \u201ceven as your Father which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":91012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7767,36048,27521,25640,3757,3634],"class_list":["post-99777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-be-ye-therefore-perfect","tag-completion","tag-matthew-548","tag-perfect","tag-perfection","tag-sermon-on-the-mount"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Being "Perfect" (Part Three)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  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