CHRISTIAN LIFE · By Will Wright

Christian Perfection and the Trap of Perfectionism

The call to holiness begins with grace, rather than an attempt to make ourselves flawless.

Be Perfect As Your Heavenly Father is Perfect

Jesus calls His disciples to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Yet we also recognize the practical wisdom of the saying that the perfect can become the enemy of the good. Can these two insights be reconciled?

Interestingly, this passage follows directly after the Christian call to love one's enemies. Jesus calls us beyond a love restricted to those who love us in return. Christian perfection is rooted in the Father’s generous love, and our growth in that love depends on grace.

Can, then, the call to perfection be reconciled with the seemingly ubiquitous notion that the perfect is the enemy of the good? Absolutely! The key is in the view of perfection which Jesus gives us.

Christ does not ask us to be perfect on our own accord. He asks us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. It is precisely by participation with the Divine that we can hope to be perfect. And apart from Him we have no hope. Rooted in the humility of knowing that we are not God, we can begin to grow in self-knowledge. This self-knowledge then leads to personal improvement, if we cooperate with grace.

If you are not a believer, then perhaps what I am saying makes no sense. But, let me put it this way.

You and I are not perfect. If you have any sense of self, you know this is true. In your mind, using your power of abstraction, try to hold in your mind not something that is good or better, but the absolute best. This sheer perfection, the best, is God for whatever quality we are speaking of. This is too simplistic because God is personal, but this might help you contextualize.

So, if God is the absolute best in the virtue in which you are trying to improve, then He is also the goal. And not only that, if He is the Creator and sustainer of all things, then He is the One who moves an act to its completion. To be perfect is to be with He who is perfect, every step of the way. This means that the important thing is not our perfection at any moment, but our striving. By aiming correctly at the goal, and cooperating with the perfect good, then we are on the right track. I would argue that this means more to people, innately, than even achieving a goal. We are more compelled by a hero suffering willingly to overcome an obstacle than we are to even see the hero win.

What is Meant By "The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good"?

The enemy of the Good is not the perfect. For the Perfect One is the Good itself. What is the enemy of the good is perfectionism. Spiritual perfectionism can resemble the Pelagian error when it treats holiness as something achieved by unaided effort rather than received and lived through grace. Simply by trying harder, the perfectionist believes that they can attain perfection.

Certainly, the perfect ideal must always be taken into account, because it gives us our goal, our terminus, our design. If we do not measure up to this perfection, then we have a few courses of action. We can discern that the path that we are pursuing is not the right one. We can continue to "try, try again." We can despair. We can resolutely continue to strive. With all the many courses of action, how can we know what to do?

We can be sure that we are on the right course only if we are sure of what we are aiming at. In the absence of a target, an arrow flying through the air would only be a hazard. If we are certain that our target is worthwhile, then despair is not an option and quitting is not an option. If the target is worthwhile, faithful effort matters, though prudence may require us to change our methods, accept our limits, or ask for help.

Being With the Perfect Rather Than Being the Perfect

Remember, that to be perfect is to be WITH the perfect rather than BEING the perfect. As we seek a goal, no matter how big or small, we need to ensure that it is well ordered to the highest good, who alone is perfect. We should not ask: "what do I want?" Because we will often get the wrong answer. Instead, we should ask "what does God want for me?"

If the notion of God makes you uncomfortable, then ask this subordinate question: "Where does the wisdom of the ages tell me that I should aim?" Human nature does not change and the societies and cultures over many millennia bear with them a great deal of wisdom for us to harvest.

To seek perfection in God is to receive wisdom, accept it, and put it into practice. Those who attempt to make their own perfection inevitably choose wrongly. The perfect is the enemy of the good, when the perfection comes from within us.

Just Do It

We can spend so long trying to perfect a plan that we never begin the good work itself. Often we must start faithfully, learn from what happens, and correct our course.

I am certainly not endorsing doing something dangerous without a plan, but there is a lot of truth to this practical observation.

This really gets to the heart of what most people mean when they say that "the perfect is the enemy of the good." They mean that an idea can die in committee before it ever gets put into practice. A project might continue to percolate until all of the passion is completely gone from it.

By following in the venerable traditions which came before, we give ourselves valuable guardrails. Morality is objective and the convictions of what has always been true protect us from erring egregiously as we press forward towards the good and perfect. Without these guardrails, we will fall headlong off a cliff of moral relativism and subjective narcissism.

The balance gives us this: we must move forward and act. We cannot be paralyzed by fear and a desire for everything to be perfect before it is actualized. But we must constantly refocus our aim at the highest good. For the Christian, this is where prayer comes in. For those of other faiths and even agnostics, this could be called meditation.

By refocusing our aim and working hard, in humility, we can have hope that we will come to the fullness of perfection. Rest assured, that if you get there one day, it will not be because of your own solo merit; it will be because of your cooperation with the highest good.