“But one ought to try to become as good as possible oneself, but not to think that only oneself can become perfectly good — for if one thinks this is one is not yet perfectly good.”
-Plotinus Ennead II.9, Chap. 10 Line 28ff
The dogma of the evangelical church in America today is something like the following: Christians are to be as good as possible, but the journey will be lifelong. We will always struggle with sin and temptation, as humans, until the day we die, when we will be relieved of the flesh, and will be with Jesus in heaven, where “every tear will be wiped away.” The process of sanctification, or becoming Christlike, and loving, under the new covenant, is one that starts on earth but does not finish on earth. We must continually strive for perfection, understanding that we will not see it in this life.
The pagan philosopher Plotinus agrees perfectly with this sentiment. He finds in the above belief, and in the consequent life of the (successful) pursuit of virtue, both solace against the vanity of a life of pleasure and vindication of his rejection of the prideful sort who claim to be godlike and special without having done any work to attain the title (in his day, this was the Gnostics. In our day, perhaps the self-help gurus and positivity psychologists). He finds that the life of bodily pleasure is futile, a running in place and never arriving anywhere, and that the life of self-contented pride is a sitting down or lying down in place, growing fat and self-deceived in passivity. The middle way, the moderate way, the way of salvation, is in running a race, a race that continues until the day of death, but makes progress and does not stagnate. It is a continually striving, and continual success, in improving one’s own moral IQ, while admitting how much more there is to learn.
Jesus said, “You are to be perfect.” Does this mean “you are to be sort of perfect?” Surely not, or he would have qualified. Does this mean, “You are to be perfect in the next life, but you are to be constantly imperfect in the present life?” Perhaps, but why did he not say this explicitly? Does this mean, “Be humanly perfect, which includes foibles and faults and the occasional ‘venial’ sin.” Perhaps, except that he added, “As your father in heaven is perfect.” This seems to eliminate all but the loftiest, most painfully distant and holy, most austere and unapproachable definitions of the word “perfect.” And this is what the divine man commanded his followers to be.
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