227. A perfect man
Ephesians 4:13c …unto a perfect man…
The equipping of the saints builds up the body unto a perfect man. This promise says that we shall become a perfect man, not that we will see a perfect man in this life outside of Jesus Christ; but that is where the Lord is taking us. The body of Christ will be a perfect man. Another metaphor for the people of God is the Bride of Christ without spot or wrinkle.
We do not see a perfect man, and unblemished bride, or a pure body of Christ while we live on the earth. The body is now a perfect man, but it is invisible. But since we do not see it, we have this promise that this is what God sees when He looks at the body of Christ. We do not see it now, but we have the promise that we will see it in the Eternal State when the pure Bride marries the holy Christ. God gives us this promise just because we can’t see it. The invisible Church is holy now by faith, and the Church will be holy later by sight.
God created human beings (each one of us) innocent, pure, holy and perfect. It was so in the beginning until sin and rebellion entered the Creation through our Sin. I was complicit in my own destruction: it was not just Adam’s fault; I am guilty. But God still loved Adam, and me too, and set out to get us back, but to bring us back to God we have to be made righteous and perfect. God loved me this way: He sent His Son. He makes me perfect, or whole.
I am today declared to be a perfect man, and the Holy Spirit is continually striving to perfect me. I will later become a perfect man in actual life and behavior. That’s a promise. But it is not just me individually; it is all believers in Christ together as one perfect man. The promise is plural: “Until we all attain….” God loves us and saves us individually, but the primary focus in the Bible is on the corporate “body.” All of us together are regarded as the One Perfect Man. We cannot see with God’s eyes, so we simply believe God’s Word and Promise.
We do not know what a “perfect man” looks like, but we do see Jesus. We do not know what the plural One Holy Christian Church looks like as one “perfect man,” but we are a part of it