Wesley Corpus

‘What, it may be asked, do you mean by “one that is perfect” or “one that is as his Master” We mean one in whom is “the mind which was in Christ,” and who so “walketh as He walked”; a man that “hath clean hands and a pure heart,” or that is “cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit”; one “in whom there is no occasion of stumbling,” and who accordingly “doth not commit sin.” To declare this a little more particularly: we understand by that scriptural expression, “a perfect man,” one in whom God hath fulfilled His faithful word -- “From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. I will also save you from all your uncleanness.” We understand hereby one whom God hath sanctified throughout, even in “body, soul, and spirit”; one who “walketh in the light, as He is in the light,” in whom “is no darkness at all; the blood of Jesus Christ His Son” having cleansed “him from all sin.” ‘This man can now testify to all mankind, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet I live not, but Christ liveth in me.” He “is holy, as God who called him is holy,” both in life and “in all manner of conversation.” He “loveth the Lord his God with all his heart, and serveth Him with all his strength.” He “loveth his neighbor” (every man) “as himself”; yea, “as Christ loved us” -- them in particular that “despitefully use him and persecute him,” because “they know not the Son, neither the Father.” Indeed, his soul is all love, filled with “bowels of mercies, kindness, meekness, gentleness, longsuffering.” And his life agreeth thereto, full of “the work of faith, the patience of hope, the labor of love.” And “whatsoever he doeth, either in word or deed,” he doeth “it all in the name,” in the love and power, “of the Lord Jesus.” In a word, he doeth the will of God “on earth, as it is done in heaven.”