In the Old Testament passage often called “The Song of Moses,” Moses taught the children of Israel to sing of the perfections of Jehovah. Near the beginning of the song, Moses proclaimed, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
When Moses wrote of God that “his work is perfect,” the patriarch proclaimed that God is complete and whole in all of His character and doings. The Hebrew word תָּמִים (tamim) is the word that Moses chose on this occasion to express God’s perfection. The root word of tamim means “complete, whole, unblemished,” and “entire.” The form that Moses used in this passage is plural in number, having the –im ending. Therefore, it is proper to speak not only of the perfection of God, but of His “perfections.”
God is perfect in everything that He is and everything that He does. He is not lacking in any virtue. He is perfect in goodness, perfect in power, and perfect in holiness. God is filled fully in every character quality. A thousand million years before the world was created, He was then as complete, unblemished, and perfect as He ever was, is, and ever will be a thousand million years from now!
When God uses the word perfect to describe mankind, He communicates that He is leading us onward from immaturity to maturity. Indeed, God is perfecting us. He is making us perfect in the sense that He is refining our character and maturing us by means of the trials and troubles of life.
However, God needs no maturing in His Own character! He was complete from the beginning. Before there was an Adam and Eve to love, His love was already perfect. Before there was a world to save, His salvation was already perfect.
It is fitting our study of God’s attributes should close with a look at His divine attribute of perfection. Over the course of this series, we have examined twenty-four attributes of God. In the following list, observe how in each attribute God is perfect in every one of them!
- Our God is perfectly eternal, having no beginning and no end.
- Our God is perfect in truth, never contradicting Himself.
- Our God is perfect in love, demonstrating perfect love that never fails.
- Our God is perfect in glory, worthy of all praise from all His creation.
- Our God is perfect in holiness, unblemished in every respect.
- Our God is perfectly spiritual, calling us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
- Our God is perfectly omnipotent, able to do anything, anywhere, and at anytime.
- Our God is perfectly omniscient, knowing all things everywhere in the smallest detail.
- Our God is perfectly omnipresent, filling fully all time and space.
- Our God is perfectly good, always acting in accordance with His Own Word.
- Our God is perfectly one, consistent with Himself and giving glory to no other.
- Our God is perfectly triune, existing forever as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- Our God is perfect in self-existence, relying upon no other creature.
- Our God is perfectly immutable, without change and without flux.
- Our God is perfect in light, for in Him there is no darkness at all.
- Our God is perfect in grace, having a grace greater than all our sin.
- Our God is perfect in mercy, willing to save the vilest sinner who believes.
- Our God is perfectly faithful, keeping all of His promises forever.
- Our God is perfectly longsuffering, showing patience to His children.
- Our God is perfectly independent, depending on nothing and no one for anything.
- Our God is perfectly transcendent, living high above the whims of time and circumstance.
- Our God is perfectly immanent, willing to fill our world with His presence.
- Our God is perfectly infinite, knowing no end, no limit, and no decay.
- Our God is perfectly perfect in all His ways and in all His works!
