2 Corinthians 7 “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Does this mean that we have to be perfect in our behavior to be saved?

No that is not the truth. We have to read the context.

When Paul preached the Gospel to the Corinthians, he faced a lot of deceivers entering the Church who taught false doctrines.

One of them told the Gentiles that they could worship idols. So Paul warned them not to be mixed with the worship of pagans. He told them not receive the Grace of God in vain. He told them to truly have faith in Jesus and be saved.

2 Corinthians 6 “As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain…..¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God….¹⁷ Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸ And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

Another deception was from the Jews who entered the Church and taught the law for salvation. So Paul warned them to not be deceived like Eve and not to fall for the “another Gospel” by these “false apostles”.

2 Corinthians 11 “² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. ³ But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough….. ¹³ For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

This is why Paul told them to have PURE devotion to Jesus.

This means to BELIEVE in Jesus alone, and not in pagan gods or the law of Israel.

To perfect holiness is to have faith in Jesus alone.

If you believe in Jesus alone, then you are PERFECT and HOLY by His death on the cross.

HEBREWS 10 “⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.^….when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are made holy.”