The following post is an excerpt from Eschatological Grounding and is a component part of the argument for the perpetual utility of Scripture throughout the Eternal State. At the core of this discussion perfection is understood as being on a trajectory of infinite spiritual progression. This trajectory is fundamentally established on the reality that the glorified saint will forever remain infinitely less perfect than God. Only God and His Word posses both moral and teleological perfection – both are eternal and immutable.
THE BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF PERFECTION
שָׁלֵם: shalem — complete, whole, full, perfect, at peace.
תָּמִים: tamim — complete, whole, perfect, blameless, without blemish.
מִכְלָל: miklal — perfection, completeness, entirety.
teleioV, teleios – having reached the end, term, limit, hence, complete, full perfect.
artioV, artios – complete, capable, proficient, able to meet all demands. Only 2 Timothy 3:17.
The quote that follows succinctly summarizes creaturely perfection and accurately reflects the interpretive breadth of the original language words translated “perfect.” Perfection in Scripture,
is the Christian idea and aim, but insomuch as that which God has set before us is infinite – “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5 48) – absolute perfection must be forever beyond, not only any human, but any finite being; it is a Divine ideal forever shining before us, calling us upward, and making endless progression possible. [1]
Based on this observation, the sections that follow develop the idea of “perfection” as it applies to the eternal state and the idea the teleological gradation of infinite progression.
A theologically accurate definition of “perfect” challenges the common belief that creaturely perfection is a passive, terminal state. In contrast, creaturely perfection manifests itself in a state of infinite progression without an endpoint. Only God and His Word possess eternal, immutable perfection, both in terms of goodness and of completeness. For God and His Word, there is no change: God remains the same yesterday, today, and forever, as does His Word. Divine perfection should be seen as “forever beyond” all contingent and finite beings. For the saint perfection is inaugurated by the positional event of regeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3) after which the saint is placed on a progressive trajectory of infinite progression, glorification an inevitable transitional change on that progressive trajectory.
The next section examines the eternal state concerning both consummation and infinite progression. The aim is to demonstrate that the perfection associated with infinite progression under the curse is “less perfect” than that of infinite progression after the curse is eradicated in the eternal state. This concept of infinite progression will be appealed to later in the volume to support the conception that the impartation of Scripture in the eternal state is “more perfect” than the internalization of Scripture in the current sin-cursed age.
What, then, does the perfection of infinite progression imply for the role of Scripture in the eternal state? Instead of viewing glorification as a final state of consummated perfection, the infinite progression of perfection suggests that Scripture’s spiritual utility remains eternally effective as a vital part of glorification. This proposal, along with Scripture’s own affirmation of its preservation despite the passing of heaven and earth, supports the proposal that Scripture’s Divine impartation is integral to glorification.
ESCHATOLOGICAL CONSUMMATION RECONSIDERED
Eschatological consummation refers to the complete fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan as revealed in Scripture. Everything God does and His word are both good and perfect in terms of being absolutely complete, a truth that identifies His word directly with Himself. When God’s redemptive and cosmic plan is fulfilled in every aspect, that fulfillment is called eschatological consummation. While the cosmos and the redeemed may achieve moral perfection through God’s transformative work of glorification and the eradication of the curse, they will never attain to perfection in the sense of completeness, perfection being a “Divine ideal” that allows for endless progression.
Creaturely or created perfection must not be equivocated with the perfection of the Creator or His Word. The purpose of the new heaven and earth will never reach Divine completion, and heaven, though free from the curse, will never be fully complete as the dwelling place of the redeemed. The sinless perfection of Heaven, as the dwelling place of the redeemed and angels remains infinitely less perfect that God in the sense of its eternal and immutable completion. The glorified saint in heaven will eternally grow in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, never reaching absolute completeness. The physical bodies of the damned will endure eternal suffering in the Lake of Fire, while the redeemed will be glorified, experiencing the eradication of the curse being placed on an infinite journey of learning and growth in the knowledge of God initiated by their salvation.
The following section presents an argument through gradation, comparing the end times under the curse with the perfection of the eternal state free of the curse. The eternal state is the ultimate standard, allowing us to describe the eschaton under the curse as “less perfect.” The methodology involves discussing redemptive history under the curse as “less perfect” than the eternal state, which is “more perfect” than the eschaton still burdened by the curse. For the purposes of this paper, “less perfect” and “more perfect” refer specifically to the trajectory of infinite progression in the eternal state.
AQUINAS’S ARGUMENT FOR GRADATION
The glorification discussed above surpasses everything presently experienced by the saint in this life. Whatever knowledge the saint has of God and His Word will be exceeded in glory through eternal communion with the glorified Lord. No completion in this sin-cursed world can be deemed better than the continuous growth toward the Divine ideal of perfection in the eternal state. The eschatological journey of the saint in glory transcends the limitations of the current fallen state.
To clarify the reality of the eternal state, appeal is made to the fourth of Thomas Aquinas’ five arguments for the existence of God, found in the Summa Theologiae. Aquinas argues from the “gradation found in things,” noting that “some things are more and some less perfect, true, noble, and so forth.” He points out that comparatives depend on their resemblance to a maximum, such as how a thing is considered hotter as it approaches the hottest. Consequently, there must be the cause of all beings, goodness, and perfection which is God. Aquinas writes,
more or less are predicted of different things according to as they resemble in their different ways something which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest, and, consequently something which is most being, for those things are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph. ii. Now the maximum of any genus is the cause of all in that genus, as fire, which is the maximum of heat, is the cause of all hot things, as it is said in the same book. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection: and that we call God.[2]
Aquinas’ fourth proof rests on the absolute perfection of God as the source of all being, goodness, and perfection. For all creatures, perfection is understood in terms of gradation—measured in relation to the absolute perfection of God. Though God’s creation is morally perfect (cf. Gen. 1:31), the manner in which that moral perfection is reflected varies according to each created being’s alignment with its Creator.
The unfolding narrative of redemptive history reveals the moral perfection and goodness of God in contrast to the mutability and fallenness of humanity. Created as mutable beings, humans are characterized by potential, growth, and life. Yet sin introduces a contrary trajectory—one of decay, corruption, and death. Through the imputed righteousness of Christ, the regenerate individual is declared morally righteous, despite remaining mutable. Nevertheless, the fullness of perfection, understood as completeness in God, will remain the saint’s eternal pursuit, as their knowledge of and communion with God expand without end.
This chapter will examine perfection in terms of degrees of completeness rather than moral uprightness. While God acts in perfect wisdom and goodness in all His decrees, in creation, providence, and redemption, created reality—even in its glorified state—can never reach the absolute perfection of the Creator. The eternal state is indeed the maximal environment for the creature, yet it remains categorically distinct from the perfection of God Himself. Even so, the trajectory of redemptive history moves from a state of fallenness toward consummation in the eternal state—a state characterized by the removal of the curse and the full realization of the creature’s capacity to reflect God’s glory.
For goodness, truth, and nobility to be objective and not subjective, they must be measured against a fixed, unchanging reference point of the highest possible quality—namely, the absolute perfection of God. This is the logic underlying Aquinas’s fourth proof for God’s existence. Drawing upon Aristotle’s concept of the great chain of being, Aquinas argues that gradations of perfection observed in the created order imply the existence of a being that is maximally perfect and thus the source and standard for all other beings and goodness. Applied eschatologically, this logic positions the eternal state as the highest possible created environment, yet one that remains infinitely less than the Creator. Fallen creation, by contrast, is objectively and teleologically less perfect in every respect.
The gradation from less perfect to more perfect within redemptive history illustrates that beings and conditions subject to the curse are on the same divine trajectory of infinite progression as those in the eternal state. However, those in glory are free of the curse and thus more perfectly conformed to that trajectory. The Divine ideal of infinite growth in knowledge, love, and communion with God is most fully realized not in the present, but in the consummated eternal state. There, the glorified saint will no longer see “through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12), but will instead behold God more clearly, though still never exhaustively.
Knowing and understanding God is the highest privilege granted to the creature. Only in the eternal state does the saint begin the infinite journey of perfect praise and ever-deepening communion with the Triune God. The current epoch of redemptive history, while rich with benefits, is “less perfect” than what awaits. Glorification ushers in a sanctification that transforms the entire being—intellect, emotion, will, body, and spirit. The “less perfect” of the present age yields to the “more perfect” of eternity.
This is evidenced by numerous Scriptural contrasts, which demonstrate the gradation of perfection within the ordo salutis. For example:
- “That we suffer with him” is less perfect than “that we may also be glorified together” (Rom. 8:17).
- “The bondage of corruption” is less perfect than “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).
- “A natural body” is less perfect than “a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:44).
- “The image of the earthy” is less perfect than “the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:49).
- “Corruptible” is less perfect than “incorruptible” (1 Cor. 15:53a).
- “Mortal” is less perfect than “immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53b).
- “It doth not yet appear what we shall be” is less perfect than “we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).
- “The earnest of our inheritance” is less perfect than “the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:14).
- “For now we see through a glass, darkly” is less perfect than “then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12).
- “Groaning within ourselves” is less perfect than “the redemption of the body” (Rom. 8:23).
The blessings enjoyed by the saints in this present, fallen world—though truly gracious are less perfect than those that will be realized upon the removal of the curse. Glorification involves the sanctification of the saint’s whole person, bringing the relative Christlikeness achieved through submission to the Word and Spirit into its most exalted, eternal form.
What the Church presently knows of Scripture will, in the eternal state, be internalized and experienced in ways that align with the Divine ideal of infinite growth. The glorified saint will continue to learn, grow, and worship in ever-deepening perfection. All present encounters with the Word and Spirit, though genuine, will give way to a more perfect experience in glory, when every faculty of the believer is unencumbered by sin.
[1] W. L. Walker, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 2321.
[2] Anton C. Pegis, “Introduction to Saint Thomas Aquinas,” Modern Library College Editions (New York: The Modern Library, 19480, 26-27.
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