November2024

Is the Bible perfect? Is God’s creation perfect? Was Jesus Christ perfect?

Well now… that depends…

How are we defining perfect? Merriam-Webster defines “perfect as “being entirely without fault or defect: flawless. satisfying all requirements.”[1] Perhaps it is so hard to determine whether or not something is perfect because the definition itself is imperfect. To be entirely without flaw or defect is much different than satisfying all requirements. In my mind, I picture perfect as no improvement can be made. In my mind the only thing perfect is God. God is the standard of perfection by which all other things are judged and will fall short. This article however it not about whether or not God is perfect or to debate whether or not God changes, improves, or grows through the Bible. This question is about the begotten not made son of God, Jesus Christ.

In terms of the US Letter grading system, 70%, a 2.0 GPA or “C (or C+/C-): Satisfactory performance qualifies as “satisfying all requirements” resulting in a passing grade.[2] Are we comfortable giving God a C? If 100% is a perfect score and 70% is satisfying all requirements, this leaves a lot of wiggle room and confusion in identifying God’s creation and even more specifically, Jesus Christ as “perfect.”

We throw this word “perfect” around as if everyone understands what we are talking about. Arguably, every human being is perfectly created, especially if we choose to believe that God is perfect and makes no mistakes. To this author, “perfect” infers no changes or alterations need to or will be made. What is just is. This is not the case with God’s creation at all.

Question One: Is the Bible Perfect?

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.[3] When God began to create the heavens and the earth.[4] Was it in the beginning or just before earth? Did God create the whole universe and everything in it starting with earth and mankind[5] or did God create the universe, then the earth, then the inhabitants of earth?[6] The Bible is full of discrepancies starting with its first two chapters. Does this mean it is imperfect? Is it entirely without flaw or defect or does it just satisfy the requirements? If satisfying the requirements is all you ask for in perfection, than the Bible is indeed perfect but if it’s solid, indisputable facts with no faulty or stretched logic you seek, the Bible is not perfect.

Question 2: Is God’s creation perfect?

According to Scientific American, in 2020, 32 species of orchids in Bangladesh, the smooth handfish, 65 North American plants, 22 frog species, 15% of mite species, a bird called the Simeulue Hill myna, 17 freshwater fish from Lake Lanao Japan, Mindanao, and the Phillipines, a Japanese bat called the bonin pipstrelle, along with several other plant, insect, and small animal species were all declared extinct. Extinction raises perfection into question. If God’s creation was perfect, why have over 99% of all species ever to have existed gone extinct? Why do new species form? Why does mutation, the act of DNA replication that results in changes between individual specimens (including humans) happen?

Mutation is the imperfect replication of DNA. [7] Granted, many mutations still result in satisfying all requirements of life, some could even be viewed as going above and beyond satisfying requirements by giving certain individuals immunity or resistance to disease, incredible athletic skill, and other changes resulting in more successful reproductive capabilities which increase probabilities of replicating more life. These imperfections result in the persistence of life through allowing the ability of God’s creation to adapt to an ever-changing world. Should a world that was perfect the way it was created change? If it was perfect the way it was made, why is it changing? How can you improve perfection?

Arguably, God created a perfect world because it can do just that: change or the dreaded word to creationists, “evolve.”[8] Theistic evolution seeks to bridge the gap between evolutionary theory and creationist theory.[9] The, seemingly to humans, unnecessary biological history of pain, suffering and death, especially that of the young and innocent, challenges the notion of a perfect creation by a loving God. If human beings, considered by human beings to be an integral part of God’s perfect creation, why are they even capable of sin?

Question 3: Was Jesus Christ perfect?

“John Cottingham suggests that we cannot truly expect the world to be fully perfect, because if God and creation are distinct then creation cannot be as perfect as God; therefore God must create something less perfect than Godself. As a result, you can have a perfect Creator and a less-than-perfect creation.”[10]

The Biblical Book of Mark has no record of Jesus’ conception, birth. It offers no explanation as to how Jesus came to be on this earth. In Mark, Jesus is introduced to the world at his baptism and identified as having come from Nazareth.[11] Matthew tells us that Mary was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.[12] Identified as fulfilling the words of an unidentified prophet, The prophet is presumed to be Isaiah and the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (KJV).”[13]

Me, I have settled on this: Jesus Christ was NOT perfect as a human being but once he became fully one, fully united with God, then he was made perfect through faith and discipleship. I believe Jesus Christ lived to show us how to live. Jesus Christ made mistakes! Sometimes he said or did something that was less than perfect but he always redeemed himself and did the right thing. Jesus lived and breathed, God in human form, to show us that mistakes don’t make us imperfect but are actually a part of becoming perfect through our faith in Jesus Christ and the grace of God. We can screw up!

Mistakes are NOT sin. Just as Jesus Christ is fully define and fully human so too is Jesus Christ both perfect and imperfect.

This paper is not perfect. In order to address any of these three questions in enough detail to provide a thoroughly convincing response to any of them would require many more citations and much more interpretation. This is an overview of hopefully three or more articles/posts/papers to come. I believe that viewing the life of Jesus Christ as an unobtainable level of perfection is not healthy or productive to our faith. We must learn by how he lived. Jesus screwed up. It was all okay. He was still sinless. Jesus, grew, learned, and evolved during his lifespan. He started out thinking he came for the Israelites and then later expanded to include all people.

The problem isn’t whether or not Jesus was perfect. The problem is our language, understanding and interpretation. If 70%, meeting requirements, is the same as 100% and everything in between is “perfect” it’s no wonder this is so confusing. We throw around the word “perfect” so much it has lost its meaning. To view Jesus as imperfect does not degrade God but exemplifies the power and compassion of God. God perfected a human being! Jesus was made perfect not begotten perfect.[14] It took a lifetime of errors to make him perfect. This is hope for us as human beings that through faith and allowing that faith to change us God has the power to perfect us too! Our odds of success have improved immensely now that we have Jesus Christ working with God to perfect us!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Broom, Neil, and Robert Mann. “Creationism vs Evolution: But Not Creation vs Evolution.” Stimulus 8, no. 2 (May 2000): 16–22. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000911110&site=ehost-live.

O’Brien, Graham. “Perfecting Not Perfect: Christology and Pneumatology within an Imperfect Yet Purposeful Creation.” Theology and Science 7, no. 4 (2009): 407–19. doi:10.1080/14746700903239577.

Mani Pathak. “American Grading System: From GPA to Letter Grades.” Education Evaluation Experts of America. https://eeeofamerica.com/american-grading-system/#:~:text=The%20American%20grading%20system%20is%20a%20comprehensive%20approach,the%20United%20States%2C%20from%20elementary%20schools%20to%20universities, Accessed on 15 Oct. 2024.

“Mutation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutation. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

“Perfect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perfect. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

---

[1] “Perfect,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perfect, Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

[2] Mani Pathak, “American Grading System: From GPA to Letter Grades,” Education Evaluation Experts of America. https://eeeofamerica.com/american-grading-system/#:~:text=The%20American%20grading%20system%20is%20a%20comprehensive%20approach,the%20United%20States%2C%20from%20elementary%20schools%20to%20universities, Accessed on 15 Oct. 2024.

[3] Genesis 1:1 (KJV)

[4] Genesis 1:1 (NRSVUE)

[5] Genesis 2:4

[6] Genesis 1: 1-31

[7] “Mutation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutation. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

[8] Neil Broom,  and Robert Mann, “Creationism vs Evolution: But Not Creation vs Evolution,” Stimulus 8, no. 2 (May 2000): 16–22. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000911110&site=ehost-live.

[9] Graham O’Brien, “Perfecting Not Perfect: Christology and Pneumatology within an Imperfect Yet Purposeful Creation,” Theology and Science 7, no. 4 (2009): 407. doi:10.1080/14746700903239577.

[10] O’Brien, “Perfecting Not Perfect,” 408.

[11] Mark 1: 9

[12] Matthew 1:18

[13]  Isaiah 7:14 in the NRSVUE translation reads “¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.” The word “virgin is omitted in this translation due to translating almah as “young woman” rather than “virgin.”

[14] The Nicene Creed “And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages,

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made;” Hebrews 2:10; 5:9