The standing and place in Christ of a believer now is termed “perfection, as dispensationally distinguished from that of a Jewish believer under the law, which “made nothing perfect.” To this Paul refers when he says that he labored that he “might present every man perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:2727To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27)). This I would term positional perfection.
There is, however, a perfection to which even the established believer is urged to press on. But it is what may be termed a moral perfection; his positional perfection and completeness in Christ being the point from which he starts—likeness to Christ, even in body, being the goal towards which he runs and will eventually reach.
Surely it is but meet and right, in seeking this moral state, that he who is perfected forever as to his conscience—cleansed from all his guilt, and saved from wrath to come by the blood of Jesus—should cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Surely, for him whose sins are put away by the sacrifice of Jesus, it is but reasonable service that he should present his body a living sacrifice, in order that in him might be seen the reflex to the glory of Christ on high, produced by the Spirit of God which dwells in him.