"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies.... you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:43-48). So what does this mean to you, how do you interpret and apply it? How can we as imperfect creations be perfect?

Numerous interpretations and exhortations are frequently expounded on perfection.
[1] The context of this passage seems to mean that Jesus' followers are to be perfect as God in the ways that they love. God does not lower the standard to accommodate our sinfulness. He gives us the power to keep His righteous standard.

[2] We can be perfect if our behavior is as appropriate for our maturity level in our walk with the Lord--perfect, yet with much room to grow. Our tendency to sin must never defer us from striving to be more like Christ. Christ calls all of His disciples to excel, to rise above mediocrity and to mature in every area, becoming like Him. Those who strive to become perfect will one day be perfect even as He is perfect (see 1 John 3:2,3).

[3] Some believe Jesus didn't really mean "perfect" here, because that would require that we be "without defect, flawless." Instead, they think He was telling us to be "mature." If that were true, then He would be saying, "Be therefore mature, even as your Father which is in heaven is mature." However, calling God "mature" implies that He was once immature. Such a thought is contrary to scripture. God never changes (Malachi 3:6); He has always been perfect and doesn't need to mature.

[4] Being perfect means to triumph over sin. This is a mandate from the Lord. He is just and wise and kind. He would never require anything from His children which was not for their benefit and which was not attainable. Perfection therefore is an achievable goal.

So then in the rest of the Beatitudes (Matt. 5-7) Jesus expounded perfection in thought, word, and deed. He put righteousness beyond the reach of sinful humanity. Nobody's perfect. Yet Jesus says "Be perfect." This makes a definitive implication of worthiness of salvation, i.e the escape from 'outer darkness' or 'eternal hell.' If this is the case, it can only be resolved by means of self-righteousness (being good enough) or the righteousness of Christ (grace through faith). So if by faith, how do we live by the tough standards Jesus gave us that implied danger of the judgment?

So what's your personal opinion, how can we perfect in love, thought, word, and deed, beyond our own capacity? Do we emphasize perfection to permeate our life to be worthy, and thus our blessings are conditional, or do we disregard Jesus' command to be perfect and instead rely on the Holy Spirit to do the work in us? Or is there a middle ground?

Being perfect means its not good or bad its neutral. You can either love someone or hate someone, when your neither your perfect. The reason for that is simple, perfection can only have one direction with no opposites.

You cannot love one thing and hate another and be perfect at same time its a contradiction.

I see perfection as righteousness without being flawed by evil. Evil is imperfect, illogical, and incomplete in a sense.

JigSaw : But that's not true. With the existence of perfection always comes the lack thereof: imperfection. Hating imperfection is a trait of perfection. That's why God hates evil. That's why if you love good, you hate bad. It's unavoidable. It's impossible to be completely neutral, you'll always have bias towards at least one thing in life; it's possible to be perfect. Not for humans anymore, sin has made sure we can't. But in heaven, and before the fall, humans are/were perfect too.

I'll just put it this way, If you believe in a God then the only perfect way is his way but if you believe in no god then perfect is whatever you make it into

In Paul's epistle to the Philippians he said to them to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." Or as in the New Living Translation: "put into action God's saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him" (Philippians 2:12-13 NLT).

Our goal as believers is to grow in our relationship with God and to have our character formed into Christ’s image. The basis for this is in that Jesus said "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34). How does this happen? It is true that God makes us grow, but we also have a role. "Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear."

I think it's important to note that Paul was encouraging the Philippians to develop and work out their salvation, but not to work for their salvation. In other words to focus their attention and devotion on Christ. God has not left us alone in our struggle to do His will. He wants to come alongside us and within us to help. He helps us want to obey Him and then gives us the power to do it.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies.... you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:43-48). So what does this mean to you, how do you interpret and apply it? How can we as imperfect creations be perfect?

I take this scripture literally. I view it as God expects obedience to the commands he has set out. There are things he asks us to do and not to do and obedience to those things is part of what helps to perfect us.

I think in the end perfection consists of perfect obedience to God because of our love of him and our fellow man. We love righteousness and hate sin so much that we avoid sin completely.

I don't think it is attainable in this lifetime though... but I think that it is part of why we are here.