tāmîm

Semantic range

1. 1unblemished — the technical requirement for a sacrificial animal
2. 2whole, entire, sound
3. 3blameless, of integrity

When the Lord tells Abram "walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1), the word is tāmîm — the same word Leviticus uses for a lamb without blemish. It means whole, complete, undivided, not flawless in the modern perfectionist sense.

The Greek teleios does the same job in Matthew 5:48, and the 3 Nephi 12:48 version of that verse resolves the difficulty Latter-day Saints often feel with it: Christ includes Himself in the standard only after His resurrection — "even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Wholeness is the destination, and it is His completed work that makes it available. President Russell M. Nelson's 1995 conference address "Perfection Pending" makes this linguistic point directly.

See also

• τέλειοςteleios
• שָׁלוֹםšālôm
• קָדוֹשׁqādôš