With these verses before us, we can understand why the Lord concluded His word in Matthew 5 by saying, “You, therefore, shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are not only God’s creatures; we are also His regenerated children, possessing His life and nature. Thus, we are not God’s creatures trying to copy and imitate Him; we are the Father’s children living the Father’s life. How did we become the children of God? It was by the coming of the Spirit of God into our spirit to regenerate us and to make our spirit the very habitation of God Himself (Eph. 2:22, Gk.). Here, in our spirit, we have become God’s children having God’s life and nature. If we walk according to this regenerated spirit, we are the children of God living by God’s life. When we live and walk in the spirit, spontaneously we shall be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Consider a brother who has four children. The more these little ones grow, the more they live like their father. These children are not four monkeys trying to imitate a human being. No, they are children of their father who are growing into the image of their father. The more they grow, the more they live their father’s life. Likewise, we are not monkeys—we are children of God. Although some of us may be rather babyish or childish, we are growing nonetheless. These young ones may be naughty, but they are growing. Wait for a certain number of years, and you will see that all these naughty little ones will be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect. I am so happy that all the saints in the churches are not monkeys, but dear children. Let these children be naughty for a while. Eventually they will grow. We are not trying to imitate God. Rather we are the Father’s children growing in the Father’s life. This is the reason the Lord Jesus said that we should be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Now we can understand why in Matthew chapter five the Lord refers to us as the children of God or the sons of God. He was not giving a word to unbelievers, to those who were merely God’s creatures; He was giving a word to the sons of God. God is no longer merely our Creator; He is also our heavenly Father. Because He is our Father, we have His life and nature. Eventually, through our growth in life, we shall be the same as He is. Wait for another period of time, and you will see that many of us will have become perfect as the Father is perfect.
Some may wonder how the disciples on the mountain could have been regenerated. Since the life-giving Spirit had not yet entered into them, how can we say that those disciples were regenerated? Remember, there is no time element with God. Instead, there is the principle. When the Lord Jesus was speaking with the disciples on the mountain, giving them the decree of the constitution of the kingdom, He spoke according to the principle, not according to the time element. God has no time element; He does things once for all. In our mind there is such a thing as before and after, but not in God’s mind. Yes, one day Christ accomplished the work of redemption on the cross, and one day the life-giving Spirit was formed. But in God’s eyes it is difficult to determine when these things took place, for in God’s economy they are eternal. Both the cross and life-giving Spirit are eternal. Because those disciples on the mountain had believed in the Lord Jesus and had decided to follow Him, in principle they had been regenerated, and the Lord regarded them as regenerated people.