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The
Perfect Man
This
project is a beautiful
unveiling of God’s
eternal purpose: the
Perfect Man
revealed
in Jesus Christ and
His life being formed
within His people!
Jesus Christ—the
Full Measure of
God’s Intention for
Humanity
From the beginning,
God intended humanity
to bear His image,
express His nature
and
exercise His righteous
dominion throughout
the earth. Although
Adam’s
disobedience obscured
that purpose,
God never abandoned
it. In Jesus Christ,
His
eternal intention
appeared in fullness.
Christ came not only
to forgive humanity
but
to reveal the perfect
humanity God intended
from the beginning.
Jesus
Christ is the
Perfect Man
He is
the complete
revelation of humanity
in harmony with
God—the Man in whom
the Father’s
image, will,
character, authority,
and pleasure are
perfectly expressed.
In
Him, we see sonship
without alienation,
authority without
corruption,
holiness without
coldness, strength
without cruelty, and
love without
compromise.
God’s
Original Intention
Genesis
1:26–27 (AMP)
God said, “Let Us make
man in Our image,
according to Our
likeness.”
He gave humanity
dominion over the
creatures of the earth
and created mankind
in His own image, male
and female.
Humanity was created
to reveal God’s heart,
reflect His
righteousness,
administer His will,
and cultivate the
earth beneath His
gracious authority.
Adam
was not appointed to
rule independently.
His wisdom, strength,
and purpose
were
to flow from continual
communion with the One
whose image he bore.
Genesis 2:15 (AMP)
The Lord God took the
man and placed him in
the Garden of Eden
to cultivate it and keep it.
Adam’s stewardship
involved more than
tending vegetation. He
was entrusted with
guarding the sacred
order of divine
relationship. Through
obedience
and
communion, the garden
would remain a place
where God’s presence
governed human life.
When
Adam disobeyed,
humanity’s expression
of the divine image
became
distorted. Dominion
became domination.
Fellowship gave way to
fear.
Responsibility surrendered to
accusation.
Nevertheless, God did
not abandon
His purpose. The promise of
redemption was also
the promise of
restored humanity.
The
Word Became Flesh
John 1:14 (AMP)
The Word became flesh
and lived among us,
and we saw His
glory—the glory
belonging to the one
and only Son from the
Father—full
of grace and truth.
The
eternal Son did not
merely appear to be
human. He entered
human existence.
He
was born, nurtured,
tested, opposed,
wearied, grieved,
tempted, rejected,
and
put to death—yet
remained entirely
faithful to the Father.
The
incarnation reveals
the value God places
upon humanity. His
answer to fallen
human
nature was not
annihilation but
redemption through
union with His Son.
Christ entered
humanity’s condition
without entering its
rebellion.
Hebrews 4:15 (AMP)
We have a High Priest
who understands and
sympathizes with our
weaknesses,
having been tempted in
every respect as we
are, yet without sin.
His
perfection was
demonstrated under the
full pressure of human
testing.
He
obeyed where Adam
disobeyed. He trusted
where humanity
doubted.
He
loved where others
hated. He forgave
while suffering
injustice and remained
aligned with the Father
even when obedience
led to the Cross.
Behold
the Man
John 19:5 (AMP)
Jesus came out wearing
the crown of thorns
and the purple robe,
and Pilate said,
“Behold, the Man!”
Pilate spoke more
profoundly than he
understood. Standing
before the world
was
the Man who had
perfectly fulfilled
the Father’s
will. He wore a crown
of thorns,
yet
possessed the
authority of heaven.
He appeared powerless
before earthly
government, yet upheld all
creation.
The
world judged the
Perfect Man unworthy
to live. God judged
Him worthy
to
receive all authority
in heaven and upon
earth.
Divine perfection is
not measured by
outward success,
political power,
material
abundance, or public
approval. It is the
complete alignment of
human life with
God’s nature and will.
His
wounds did not
diminish His
perfection. They
revealed it.
The
Beloved Son
Matthew 3:17 (AMP)
A voice from heaven
declared, “This is My
beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.”
The
Father’s declaration
came before Jesus
began His public
ministry.
Divine pleasure was
not a reward for
miracles or visible
accomplishment.
It
rested upon the Son
and His unbroken
fellowship with the
Father.
Jesus
lived from identity
rather than striving
to obtain it. Satan’s
temptation
challenged that
identity by suggesting
that He prove through
independent
action what the
Father
had already declared.
Matthew 4:4 (AMP)
Jesus answered that
man shall not live by
bread alone,
but by every word that
comes from the mouth
of God.
The
Perfect Man refused to
use divine power for
self-validation.
He
trusted the Father’s
word, submitted to the
Father’s timing,
and
embraced the Father’s
way.
True
maturity is revealed
when a person no
longer acts
independently
to prove who he
is.
The
Man Who Heard and
Obeyed
John 5:19 (AMP)
The Son can do nothing
independently, but
only what He sees the
Father doing;
whatever the Father
does, the Son does
likewise.
Jesus’ dependence upon
the Father did not
indicate weakness.
It
revealed the
perfection of their
union. Every word,
action, miracle,
rebuke,
embrace, and moment of
silence proceeded from
communion.
The
Perfect Man was
perfectly responsive.
John
12:49 (AMP)
Jesus
declared that He did
not speak on His own
authority, but that
the Father
who sent Him
instructed Him
concerning what to say
and how to speak.
He
could stop for one
suffering woman while
a crowd surrounded
Him.
He
could sleep during a
storm while
experienced fishermen
panicked.
He
could remain silent
before false accusers
and speak tenderly to
a person
overcome by shame.
He
knew when to withdraw
and when to confront
because His life was
governed
from
above rather than
controlled from around
Him.
Perfect
in Love
Matthew 5:48 (AMP)
You are to be perfect,
growing into complete
maturity of godliness
in mind
and
character, as your
heavenly Father is
perfect.
Christ’s perfection
was most fully
manifested through
love.
His
love was not
sentimental
indulgence. It was
holy, discerning, and
transforming.
Jesus
received sinners
without approving sin.
He extended mercy
without
denying righteousness.
He touched lepers,
welcomed children,
restored outcasts,
honored women, and
wept with grieving
friends.
Yet the
same love confronted
religious hypocrisy
and overturned systems
of
exploitation. In
Christ, tenderness and
authority were never
enemies.
Grace and
truth were never
divided.
Luke
23:34 (AMP)
Jesus
prayed, “Father,
forgive them, for they
do not know what they
are doing.”
Jesus
did not merely
instruct others to
love their enemies.
He
loved His enemies
while they crucified
Him.
The
Perfect Man revealed
the mature, undivided
expression of the
Father’s heart.
The
Obedience of the
Perfect Man
Romans 5:19 (AMP)
Through one man’s
disobedience many were
made sinners; through
the
obedience of the One,
many will be made
righteous.
Adam
and Christ represent
two contrasting
humanities.
Through Adam’s
disobedience came sin
and death.
Through
Christ’s obedience
came righteousness and
life.
Jesus
is the last Adam
because He brought the
old Adamic order to
judgment.
He is
the second Man because
He became the Head and
source of a New
Creation!
1 Corinthians 15:47
(AMP)
The first man was from
the earth, made of
dust; the second Man
is from heaven.
Christ entered the
earth bearing the life
of heaven. He
demonstrated humanity
governed by the
Spirit, filled with
divine life, and
submitted to the
Father’s will.
Philippians 2:8 (AMP)
And after He was found
in terms of His
outward appearance as
a man,
He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient
to the Father to the
point of death,
even death on a
cross.
His
obedience was not
forced submission.
It was the
voluntary surrender of
perfect love.
The
cross was not an
interruption of
Christ’s perfection;
it was its
supreme manifestation.
He
overcame evil through
self-giving love,
unwavering obedience,
and
resurrection life.
It
Is Finished
John 19:30 (AMP)
When Jesus had
received the sour
wine, He said, “It is
finished!”
And He bowed His head
and gave up His
spirit.
This
was not the exhausted
cry of a defeated
victim. It was the
proclamation
of
completed obedience.
The Father’s appointed
work had reached its
fulfillment.
Sin
had been confronted,
reconciliation
accomplished,
and
the way into restored
fellowship opened.
2 Corinthians 5:19
(AMP)
God was in Christ
reconciling the world
to Himself, not
counting people’s
trespasses against
them, and He entrusted
to us the message of
reconciliation.
The
Perfect Man did not
come merely to
demonstrate a standard
humanity
could
never attain. He came
to unite humanity with
Himself,
carry it
through death, and
raise it into newness
of life.
The
Gospel is not humanity
struggling to imitate
Jesus through
independent effort.
It is
the announcement that
God has acted in
Christ to create a new
humanity.
The
Resurrection of the
Perfect Man
Acts 2:32–33 (AMP)
God raised Jesus to
life. Exalted to the
right hand of God, He
received from the
Father
the promised Holy
Spirit and poured out
what the witnesses saw
and heard.
The
resurrection was the
Father’s vindication
of the Son and the
beginning
of the New
Creation. Jesus arose
in incorruptible
resurrection life.
Death
no longer had dominion
over Him.
Perfect humanity had
entered the glory of
God.
Acts 2:36 (AMP)
Let all the house of
Israel know with
certainty that God has
made this Jesus,
whom they crucified,
both Lord and Christ.
The
Man rejected by
earthly rulers was
installed in heavenly
authority.
The
Son of David received
His promised throne
within the everlasting
dominion of
God.
Hebrews 2:9 (AMP)
We see Jesus, who for
a little while was
made lower than the
angels,
crowned with glory and
honor because He
suffered death,
so that by God’s grace
He might taste death
for everyone.
Humanity’s intended
destiny is already
realized in Him.
A Man sits upon
the throne. The One
who rules heaven and
earth
bears glorified
humanity within the
presence of God.
The
Resurrection did not
remove Jesus from His
humanity.
It
glorified that
humanity and revealed
the destiny of a
Redeemed Creation.
The
One New Man
Ephesians 2:14–15
(AMP)
Christ Himself is our
peace.
He made both groups
one and destroyed the
dividing wall of
hostility
so that in Himself
He might create the
two into one new man,
establishing peace.
The
Perfect Man is not the
end of God’s purpose
but the beginning
and
Head of a corporate
New Humanity!
At
the cross, Christ
confronted the
divisions and
hostilities that kept
humanity
alienated from God and
from one another. In
the One New Man,
Jew and Gentile
are reconciled.
Religious superiority,
ethnic hostility,
social rank, and
cultural division lose
their
governing authority.
Galatians 3:28 (AMP)
There is neither Jew
nor Greek, slave nor
free, male nor female,
for you are all one in
Christ Jesus.
The
New Creation
(humanity) is not
built upon
nationality, economic
status,
political
identity, or
denominational
tradition. Christ
Himself is its Life.
Jesus
alone is the complete
and flawless
revelation of the
Father,
yet He is
forming a people who
corporately express
His fullness
throughout the
earth!
Until
We Arrive at the
Perfect Man
Ephesians 4:11–13
(AMP)
Christ gave apostles,
prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers
to equip His people
for the work of
ministry and to build
up the Body of Christ
until all attain the
unity of the faith,
the knowledge of the
Son of God,
and mature manhood,
reaching the measure
of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.
This
declaration is central
to understanding the
Perfect Man.
Paul does not
envision isolated
believers becoming
spiritually
impressive.
He sees the
whole Body growing
into the fullness of
its Head.
Christ is already
perfect. The
development is taking
place within His
people.
The
Church is being
brought from spiritual
infancy into mature
sonship.
Immaturity is marked
by instability,
division,
self-promotion,
susceptibility
to deception,
and dependence upon
personalities.
Maturity is
revealed through
truth, love,
discernment, mutual
service,
and every
member functioning
under Christ’s
direction.
The
goal of ministry is
not to make
congregations
permanently
dependent upon
ministers.
Ministry is given to
equip the saints until
the life and work of
Christ
operate
throughout the entire
Body.
A
ministry succeeds when
the saints are
equipped to reveal
Christ!
Christ
Formed Within His
People
Galatians 4:19 (AMP)
My little children, I
am again experiencing
the pains of labor
until Christ
is completely and
permanently formed
within you.
Paul’s concern was not
simply whether
believers possessed
religious knowledge.
His
desire was that
Christ’s nature become
visible in their
understanding,
relationships,
and conduct.
Christ may be present
as life while His
character remains
insufficiently
formed in daily
expression.
Spiritual gifts can
operate where maturity
remains incomplete.
Knowledge can increase
while love remains
underdeveloped.
The
formation of Christ is
the inward work of the
Holy Spirit,
bringing
the believer’s
thoughts, desires,
responses, and
relationships
into
agreement with the
life already received.
Romans 8:29 (AMP)
Those whom God
foreknew He also
predestined to be
conformed
to the image of His
Son, so that Christ
would be the firstborn
among many brothers
and sisters.
God’s
purpose is not merely
to bring people into
heaven after death.
His
purpose is to conform
them to Christ.
Grace
does not merely cancel
the past.
It
creates a new future
by forming the Life of
the Son within His
people!
The
Mind of the Perfect
Man
Philippians 2:5 (AMP)
Have this same
attitude in yourselves
that was also in
Christ Jesus.
The
mind of Christ is more
than supernatural
insight.
It is
the inward disposition
of the Son—the
willingness to abandon
selfish ambition
and
serve others in love.
Jesus
knew that He had come
from God and was
returning to God.
Because His identity
was secure, He could
kneel and wash His
disciples’ feet.
John 13:14–15 (AMP)
Jesus told His
disciples that if He,
their Lord and
Teacher, had washed
their feet, they
also should wash one
another’s feet,
following the
example He had given
them.
The
Perfect Man
demonstrates that
genuine authority does
not need
to protect its
status.
Kingdom authority
serves, restores, and
builds.
It does not
manipulate people or
conceal ambition
beneath religious
language.
Humility is not
denying what God has
placed within us.
Humility is refusing
to use His gifts for
self-exaltation.
The
Fullness of Christ
in His Body
Colossians 1:18–19
(AMP)
Christ is the Head of
the Body, the Church.
He is the beginning
and the firstborn
from the dead, so that
He would have first
place in everything,
for
it pleased the Father
that all fullness
would dwell in Him.
The
Church does not
produce the fullness
of Christ.
It receives and
expresses His
fullness.
No
single believer,
congregation, or
ministry can display
the whole measure
of Christ
independently. One
member may reveal
compassion, another
wisdom,
another
courage, another
generosity, and
another spiritual
discernment.
Yet all are
necessary for the
healthy expression of
the Body.
Colossians 2:9–10
(AMP)
In Christ all the
fullness of Deity
dwells bodily,
and in Him you have
been made complete.
Our
completeness is found
in union with Christ.
Everything humanity
requires
for
reconciliation,
righteousness, wisdom,
holiness, authority,
and life is
present in the Son.
This
is why division
contradicts the
revelation of the
Perfect Man.
Unity
does not require
uniformity,
but it does
require shared
submission to the
Head.
Spiritual
Maturity and Human
Weakness
John 11:35 (AMP)
Jesus wept.
The
perfect man must not
be confused with
someone who never
experiences
weakness,
grief, limitation, or
struggle. Jesus wept.
He became weary.
He experienced
anguish and was deeply
moved by suffering.
His
perfection was not
emotional detachment.
It
was faithful love
within genuine human
experience.
Spiritual maturity
does not make
believers less human.
It restores
humanity to its proper
relationship with God.
Mature
believers may grieve,
yet they do not grieve
without hope.
They
may experience
weakness, yet they
discover Christ’s
strength
within that
weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9
(AMP)
The Lord declared that
His grace is
sufficient and that
His power
is perfected in
weakness.
The
perfecting of the
saints does not always
appear as outward
triumph.
Sometimes Christ is
most clearly revealed
through patience in
affliction,
forgiveness
under accusation,
faithfulness in
obscurity,
and love that
continues without
recognition.
Perfected
Through Suffering
Hebrews 5:8–9 (AMP)
Although Jesus was the
Son, He learned
obedience through what
He suffered,
and having been made
perfect, He became the
source of eternal
salvation
for all who obey
Him.
This
does not mean Jesus
moved from sinfulness
into holiness.
He
was always without
sin. Rather, His
perfect sonship
was fully
demonstrated through
lived obedience.
Suffering did not
create His character.
It
revealed and completed
the course of His
obedience!
God
also uses trials to
mature His people.
He
does not delight in
pain, nor is every
form of suffering
directly sent by Him.
Yet
nothing surrendered to
Christ is wasted.
Through the Holy
Spirit, suffering can
become a place where
endurance,
compassion,
discernment, and
unwavering trust are
formed.
Maturity is often
revealed by how
faithfully we love
when obedience
becomes costly.
The
Perfect Man and
Kingdom Authority
Matthew 28:18 (AMP)
Jesus declared that
all authority in
heaven and on earth
had been given to Him.
Christ recovered the
authority forfeited
through sin.
He
does not wait to
become King. He reigns
now!
Ephesians 1:20–21
(AMP)
God raised Christ from
the dead and seated
Him at His right hand
in the heavenly
places, far above
every rule, authority,
power, and dominion,
and above every name
that is named,
not only in this age
but also in the age to
come.
The
Perfect Man is the
Reigning Man!
His
throne does not await
future earthly
validation.
The
Father has already
enthroned Him!
His
Kingdom advances as
truth is proclaimed,
the Holy Spirit
transforms lives,
and
His people embody the
ministry of
reconciliation.
Christ exercises
authority differently
from the rulers of
this age.
The
kingdoms of the world
maintain power through
coercion, fear,
violence, and
control.
Christ conquers
through righteousness,
sacrificial love,
spiritual power,
and
the transforming
revelation of truth!
The
Church reveals the
Perfect Man when it
exercises authority
in the spirit
of the Lamb.
The
Ministry of
Reconciliation
2 Corinthians 5:17–18
(AMP)
If anyone is in
Christ, that person is
a new creation. The
old has passed away;
behold, the new has
come. All these things
are from God,
who reconciled us to
Himself
through Christ and
gave us the ministry
of reconciliation.
The
Perfect Man produces a
reconciled people who
become reconcilers!
The
Church cannot
faithfully proclaim
reconciliation while
nurturing hostility,
prejudice,
unforgiveness, and
rivalry.
Its message
must become visible in
its relationships.
Former enemies must be
able to share one
table.
Differing people must
learn to honor one
another.
Wounded people must
discover forgiveness,
and authority must
serve
restoration rather
than domination.
2 Corinthians 5:20
(AMP)
We are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God
were making His appeal
through us;
on behalf of Christ,
we urge people to be
reconciled to God.
Believers do not
announce an uncertain
possibility.
They
proclaim God’s
completed reconciling
action in His Son
and invite
humanity to enter its
reality.
The
Bride and the
Perfect Man
Ephesians 5:25–27
(AMP)
Christ loved the
Church and gave
Himself for her so
that He might sanctify
and cleanse her,
presenting her to
Himself in glorious
splendor,
without spot or
wrinkle, holy and
blameless.
The
Church is described
both as the Body of
Christ and as the
Bride of Christ.
The
Body emphasizes shared
life and function.
The Bride
emphasizes covenant
love, devotion,
purity, and union.
The Bride’s
perfection is not
self-produced.
She
is cleansed,
nourished, cherished,
and prepared by the Bridegroom!
The
Perfect Man is forming
a mature Bride—not an
abandoned people
waiting
to
become relevant, but a
glorious Church
learning to
live in faithful union
with Him.
Her
glory is His life
revealed within her.
She
does not replace Him
or act independently
from Him.
She shares His
heart and participates
in His purpose.
The Bride
becomes ready as the
nature of the
Bridegroom
becomes visible in
her.
When
Christ Is Revealed
Colossians 3:4 (AMP)
When Christ, who is
our life, is revealed,
then you also will be
revealed with Him
in glory.
Christ is presently
the life of His
people, although that
life may remain hidden
beneath mortal
weakness and
misunderstood by the
world.
What
is inwardly present is
destined for open
manifestation!
The
glory of the Head will
be revealed in His
Body.
1 John 3:2 (AMP)
Beloved, we are now
children of God, and
what we will be
has not yet been
fully revealed.
We know that when He
appears, we will be
like Him,
because we will see
Him as He is.
The
hope of seeing Christ
is also the hope of
transformation.
The
Church does not merely
wait for an external
event.
She
lives beneath the
present transforming
power of His
revelation.
2 Corinthians 3:18
(AMP)
As we behold the glory
of the Lord with
unveiled faces,
we are being
transformed into His
image from one degree
of glory
to
another through the
Lord, who is the
Spirit.
Every
true revelation of
Christ changes the
beholder!
What
we behold, we become
equipped to express.
Growing
Up Into Christ
Ephesians 4:15–16
(AMP)
Speaking the truth in
love, we are to grow
up in every way into
Christ,
who is the Head.
From Him the whole
Body is joined and
held together, growing
and building
itself up in love as
each individual part
does its work.
Growth into the
Perfect Man involves
the entire life of the
believer
and
the whole community of
faith.
Truth
without love produces
hardness.
Love
without truth produces
instability.
In
Christ, truth and love
become one harmonious
expression of the
Father.
To
grow into Christ is to
move from
self-preservation into
self-giving love,
from
competition into
mutual honor, from
religious performance
into living
communion, and from
independence into
covenant relationship.
It is
to move from offense
into forgiveness, from
control into
Spirit-led authority,
from
spiritual childhood
into mature
discernment, and from
fascination with
destruction
into the ministry of
reconciliation.
The
measure of maturity is
not how many spiritual
experiences
someone can
describe.
It is
how fully Christ’s
life, character,
wisdom, humility, and
love
govern that
person’s relationships
and actions.
Christ
in You—the Hope of
Glory
Colossians 1:27 (AMP)
God chose to make
known the glorious
riches of this mystery
among the nations:
Christ in you, the
hope of glory.
The
hope of glory is not
humanity attempting to
reach God
through
religious achievement.
It is
Christ sharing His own
Life with humanity.
Everything necessary
for maturity is
contained within that
indwelling Life.
The
heart must yield to
the Holy Spirit. False
identities must be
surrendered.
The
mind must be renewed.
Wounds must be healed.
Relationships must be
reconciled.
Gifts
must be awakened, and
love must mature.
Yet
throughout this
transforming work,
Christ Himself remains
the source.
We
are not becoming
independent versions
of perfection.
We
are being perfected
through participation
in the Perfect One.
Colossians 1:28 (AMP)
We proclaim Christ,
warning and
instructing everyone
in all wisdom,
so that we may present
every person mature
and complete in Him.
The
mature Church will not
point to itself and
declare,
“Behold what we
have accomplished.”
It
will reveal Christ so
clearly that the
nations may behold the
Man—
the
crucified, risen,
reigning, reconciling,
and glorified Son of
God!
Jesus
Christ is the Perfect
Man, and He is
bringing His Body
into the unity,
maturity, and fullness
of His own Life.
God’s original
purpose has not
failed!
The
image obscured in Adam
has been perfectly
revealed in Christ
and
is being formed within
a New-Creation people.
• The
Father is bringing
many sons into glory.
• The
Holy Spirit is forming
Christ within His
people.
• The
Church is growing into
the full measure of
her Head.
• The
Divided are becoming
one new man.
Humanity’s true image
stands revealed in
Jesus Christ!
**Behold
the Man!**
What
a glorious
declaration:
Christ is not merely
the example before us—He
is the Life within us!
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