Matthew Poole and continuators on Matthew 5:48

48 Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Perfect here is not taken in that Sense, as it is taken in other Texts of Scripture, where it signifyeth Sincerity and uprightness, as Iob 2.3. or where it signifieth a Comparative Perfection, as Paul saith, he spake to those that were Perfect, but for an absolute perfecti[illegible: 1 letter]n, such as is in our Father which is in Heaven, and so much is signifyed by the proposing of our Heavenly Father as our Example. Nor will it therefore follow, either that thi[illegible: 1 letter] is a meer Counsel, not a Precept, or that an absolute Perfection in holiness, is a thing in this Life attainable. But that it is our Duty to labour for it, forgetting what is behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, pressing towards the Mark, for the Prize of the high Calling of God in Iesus Christ (as the Apostle speaks) Philip. 3.13, 14. Pro perfecto est, qui perfecto Proximus. God accounteth him Perfect, who is nearest to Perfection.