The word “perfect” is used to translate Hebrew and Greek terms for ritual and moral wholeness. In the biblical text the terms “whole,” “complete,” and “mature” are related to “perfect.” Often, “perfect” conveys the sense of something reaching its end and therefore its “completion” or “perfection.”
The OT describes an animal or crop intended for sacrificial offering as “unblemished,” “whole,” or “perfect” (Heb. tamim). Though not translated “perfect” in the NIV, the term tamim frequently appears in cultic contexts of Israel’s worship (e.g., Exod. 12:5; Lev. 1:3, 10; 3:1, 6; 4:3). Neither imperfect animals nor priests with physical defects were considered fit for service in the temple because of their lack of wholeness (Lev. 21:16–23; 22:17–25). Wholeness itself reflected God’s holiness through physical wholeness (see Lev. 10:3).
Figuratively, the term tamim (or tam) refers to wholeness of heart and is applied to human action or conduct, where it describes walking blamelessly before God (Noah [Gen. 6:9]; Abraham [Gen. 17:1; cf. Deut. 18:13]; Job [Job 1:1]). God’s way is described as “perfect” (2 Sam. 22:31), as is his knowledge (Job 37:16), and Ps. 19:7 recounts how the “law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.” Thus, God’s perfection or holiness must be reflected in God’s people: “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy’” (Lev. 19:2).
In the NT, “perfect” can refer to something of the highest standard (James 1:17, 25) or to a fully “mature” adult (Eph. 4:13). “To make perfect” often appears with cultic overtones. In Hebrews, Christ, our high priest, is “perfected” through suffering (2:10) and made eternally “perfect” (7:28). God’s love reaches “perfection” when believers obey God’s word: “If anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them” (1 John 2:5). When “perfect” appears in the NT letters as applied to humans, the idea is not of ethical perfection by degrees, but rather it conveys a sense of undivided wholeness of heart before God. The notion of “perfection” in contemporary English conveys the idea of “sinlessness,” but the biblical idea refers more to something that is “whole” or “complete.” For something to be “perfect” means that it fulfills its intended design: a house is “perfect” if it has four walls and a roof and can provide shelter.