PERFECTION

PERDITION

OR

We are here confronted with a group of problems which will repay all the time devoted to their solution. The

two words that provide the key to the difficulty are perdition and saving. What is perdition? Does this passage

teach that a believer who does not hold fast the profession of his hope can draw back and finally be cast into hell?

However we may object to the phrasing, that, bluntly, is the difficulty before us. In searching for an answer which

would satisfy the demands of all Scripture, we discovered that there are three sets of passages in which perdition is

used as the alternative to perfection, and this relationship of the words is of itself illuminating. The first Scripture is

this epistle to the Hebrews. It hardly needs demonstrating that the epistle is summed up in the words of chapter 6:1,

`Let us go on unto perfection', and that 10:39 provides the alternative, `draw back to perdition'. It may be objected

that as this emphasizes the very verse we seek to understand, our use of it is biased and unfair. We therefore turn to

the second passage (Phil. 3), where `Let us go on unto perfection' is expressed by the words, `Not as though I were

already perfect, but I follow after' (Phil. 3:12).

`As many as would be perfect' (Phil. 3:15) are exhorted positively to follow the example of Paul; and negatively

to avoid the example of those whose end is perdition. Now it does not seem possible that a church that had reached

such a height of spiritual experience as that attained by the Philippians should need to be solemnly warned not to

follow the example of the ungodly. Those who were more likely to cause a slip and possibly a forfeiture were those

believers who were following the policy expressed in the words, `making the best of both worlds'. These caused the

apostle to weep as he spoke of their walk, and summarized it as the walk of those who were:

`The enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is perdition (A.V. destruction), whose God is their belly, and whose

glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things' (Phil. 3:18,19).

The last statement proves that those enemies are not the unsaved, for how can an unsaved man mind anything

else but earthly things? To believers Paul can write, `Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth'

(Col. 3:2). Such believers as those Philippians referred to in 3:18,19 constitute themselves the enemies of the cross

of Christ, for that cross speaks of separation from the things of the flesh and the world.

Keeping this passage in mind we look at the third, viz. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5 to 7). The

exhortation to endure, to suffer with the reward of the earthly kingdom in view, has only to be mentioned to be

accepted as the main theme of this sermon. Its goal is expressed in Matthew 5:48, `Be ye therefore perfect, even as

your Father which is in heaven is perfect'. The word perdition comes later, in Matthew 7:13, `Broad is the way, that

leadeth to perdition (A.V. destruction)'. The passage immediately goes on to say, `by their fruits ye shall know

them' (verse 20).

Here we have three occasions where these words occurs as the two poles of their respective contexts. Still the

question remains, What is intended by the word perdition? Perdition, as some of its contexts indicate, can mean

utter destruction, as of the Man of Sin, but if we could only find a passage where the word is used without any

doctrinal or theological meaning we could then understand how such a word could be used of so vastly different

subjects. In the providence of God such a passage exists, and moreover is used by Matthew who has provided one

of the sets already:

`There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment ... To what purpose is this

(perdition)?' (Matt. 26:7,8).

Before proceeding, let us be sure we understand the meaning of the alternative, `perfection'. Teleios is cognate

with telos, and telos means the end, the goal. To go on unto perfection is to reach one's goal. That this is innate in

the word, two passages will show. In Philippians 3:12 Paul explains what he means by being perfect, by adding,

`That I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus', and in Galatians 3:3 he places

`perfected' in antithesis to `begin': `Having begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect (ended, as it were, finished)

by the flesh?' Perdition set over against perfectness then means to end in waste instead of in triumph. Therein lies

the tragedy of drawing back. The foundation is laid, the builder will be saved, but he may be saved yet `so as by

fire'. He may not himself be lost, but he may `suffer loss', and see his life's work turn to smoke (1 Cor. 3). This

was the dreadful possibility before the Hebrews.