Interestingly, a few New Testament scholars have begun hinting that the Sermon on the Mount had cultic or ritual significance in the earliest Christian community. Betz, for example, sees the Sermon on the Mount as revealing the principles that "will be applied at the last judgment," and thinks that the Sermon on the Mount reminded the earliest Church members of "the most important things the initiate comes to 'know' through initiation," containing things that "originally belonged in the context of liturgical initiation." Indeed, the word "perfect" (teleios) has long been associated with becoming initiated into the great religious mysteries. (Hans Dieter Betz, Essays on the Sermon on the Mount, trans. L. L. Welborn (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), ix.)
Welch explains how Christ in Matthew 5:48 invites us to become "perfect," or "the Greek word teleios, [which] when used in ritual settings means to become fully and completely initiated and introduced into the sacred experience" of ritual worship.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." (1 Corinthians 4:1)
"Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory ." (1 Corinthians 2:6-7)
In "Temple Motifs in John 17," BYU History professor William J. Hamblin discusses the original Greek and Hebrew version of this Bible text. He shows how some of these meanings were lost in the translation of these texts into English. We discover that Christ was endowed by his Father with the power of the priesthood and that he, in turn, endows his faithful followers with this same power. All of this is done in sacred faith designed to perfect those endowed.
Also See:
LDS Temple Endowment IS Biblical
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