# G5046 - teleios **Strong's:** [G5046](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5046/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** tel'-i-os **Part of speech:** adjective **Root:** from [G5056 - telos](/codex/g5056-telos/), τέλος, "end, goal, completion" **NT occurrences:** ~19 ## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG) The semantic core is **completion / having reached the goal**, *telos* (end / goal) being the root. *Teleios* describes a thing that has *arrived at its intended end-state*: 1. **Brought to completion, finished, fulfilled**, having reached its proper end ([Philippians 3:12](/codex/philippians-3-12/), Paul "not yet *teleioumai*" / not yet brought to completion). 2. **Lacking nothing necessary, complete, whole**, entire; nothing missing for its purpose ([James 1:4](/codex/james-1-4/)). 3. **Mature, full-grown, of full age** (vs *nēpios*, infant / immature), developmental sense ([1 Corinthians 14:20](/codex/1-corinthians-14-20/); [Hebrews 5:14](/codex/hebrews-5-14/); [Ephesians 4:13](/codex/ephesians-4-13/)). 4. **Morally / spiritually mature, complete in character**, the ethical-spiritual application ([Matthew 5:48](/codex/matthew-5-48/); [James 1:4](/codex/james-1-4/)). 5. **(Of God) absolutely perfect, lacking nothing**, divine completeness ([Matthew 5:48](/codex/matthew-5-48/) of the Father). ## Theological force, [Matthew 5:48](/codex/matthew-5-48/) The verse Jesus speaks to His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount: > *Esesthe oun hymeis teleioi hōs ho patēr hymōn ho ouranios teleios estin*, You shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect ([Matthew 5:48](/codex/matthew-5-48/)) The verse generates a major theological dispute: **what level of perfection is commanded?** **Three readings:** 1. **Sinless perfection / perfectionism** (some Wesleyan-holiness traditions; perfectionism in Pentecostalism). Jesus literally commands sinlessness. Defended by appeal to "be perfect" as imperative. 2. **Completeness / wholeness in love** (the Wesleyan "Christian perfection" doctrine, rightly understood, Wesley's *A Plain Account of Christian Perfection*, 1766). The verse commands love-perfected, a heart wholly given over to God in love. Not sinless flawlessness but complete devotion. The context ([Matthew 5:43-47](/codex/matthew-5-43-47/), love of enemies) supports this reading. 3. **Goal-direction / aspirational** (most Reformed). The verse commands the *direction* of the Christian life (full conformity to God's character) without claiming this is achievable in this life. Sanctification is real but progressive; perfection awaits glorification ([1 John 3:2](/codex/1-john-3-2/)). The lexical case: *teleios* primarily means **complete / mature / having reached the goal**, not "sinless flawlessness." Jewish-Greek usage (LXX, Philo, Josephus) uses *teleios* for sacrificial animals "without blemish" ([Leviticus 22:21](/codex/leviticus-22-21/) LXX), for fully-developed humans, for completed buildings, etc. The semantic range tilts toward *completeness-fitting-purpose* rather than *flawless-perfection-in-the-abstract*. The [Matthew 5:48](/codex/matthew-5-48/) immediate context (love of enemies, vv. 43-47) frames it: "be *teleios* in love as your Father is *teleios* in love", His love covers both the just and unjust (v. 45); ours should too. ## Wider NT applications **Maturity vs infancy** (developmental sense): - **[1 Corinthians 14:20](/codex/1-corinthians-14-20/)**, "do not be children (*paidia*) in your thinking; yet in evil be infants (*nēpiazete*), but in your thinking be mature (*teleioi*)" - **[Ephesians 4:13](/codex/ephesians-4-13/)**, "until we all attain… to a mature (*teleion*) man" - **[Philippians 3:15](/codex/philippians-3-15/)**, "as many as are perfect (*teleioi*), have this attitude" - **[Hebrews 5:14](/codex/hebrews-5-14/)**, "solid food is for the mature (*teleiōn*)" - **[Hebrews 6:1](/codex/hebrews-6-1/)**, "let us press on to maturity (*teleiotēta*, the cognate noun)" **Completeness lacking nothing:** - **[James 1:4](/codex/james-1-4/)**, "let endurance have its perfect (*teleion*) result, so that you may be perfect (*teleioi*) and complete (*holoklēroi*), lacking in nothing" - **[James 1:17](/codex/james-1-17/)**, every "perfect (*teleion*) gift is from above" - **[James 1:25](/codex/james-1-25/)**, "the perfect (*teleion*) law" - **[James 3:2](/codex/james-3-2/)**, "if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect (*teleios*) man" - **[1 John 4:18](/codex/1-john-4-18/)**, "perfect (*teleia*) love casts out fear" **Christological / ultimate:** - **[Hebrews 7:28](/codex/hebrews-7-28/)**, Christ as the high priest "made perfect (*teteleiōmenon*) forever" - **[Hebrews 9:11](/codex/hebrews-9-11/)**, "the greater and more perfect (*teleioteras*) tabernacle" - **[Hebrews 12:23](/codex/hebrews-12-23/)**, "the spirits of the righteous made perfect (*teteleiōmenōn*)" **Eschatological / final:** - **[1 Corinthians 13:10](/codex/1-corinthians-13-10/)**, "when the perfect (*to teleion*) comes, the partial will be done away", most read as the eschatological consummation; cessationist/charismatic dispute over whether *to teleion* refers to the canon's completion or the parousia. ## The *telos* connection The root [G5056 - telos](/codex/g5056-telos/) (end / goal / fulfillment) gives the word its character. Christian *teleios* is *purpose-directed* completeness, being what God designed humans to be. The Aristotelian background (every thing has its proper *telos*) feeds into Christian ethics: humans are *teleioi* when they fulfill their imago-Dei design, which is conformity to Christ. ## Patristic / scholarly note Athanasius (*On the Incarnation* 54): the believer's *teleios*-direction is participation in Christ's perfection, the doctrine of *theosis*. Augustine (*Confessions* 10): the believer pursues *teleios* love throughout this life, never fully attaining it until the resurrection. Aquinas (*Summa Theologiae* II-II, q.184): the religious life is the *status perfectionis*, the way of life ordered to *teleios* love. Wesley's *A Plain Account of Christian Perfection* (1766) is the classical Wesleyan-holiness treatment. B. B. Warfield's *Studies in Perfectionism* (2 vols., 1932) is the classical Reformed critique. Modern conservative: J. I. Packer (*Knowing God*, 1973); Sinclair Ferguson (*The Whole Christ*, 2016); the Reformed tradition treats *teleios* as goal-direction rather than achievable-in-this-life. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ ## See also - [G5056 - telos](/codex/g5056-telos/), root noun "end, goal" - G5048 - teleioo, cognate verb "to bring to completion" - [Matthew 5.48](/codex/matthew-5-48/), locus classicus - G37 - hagiazo, "to sanctify"