There are many verses which we encounter which, if we paused and considered, we might think, “Well, that’s odd.” But the Word of God being what it is, we give the passage a “believer’s nod” and read on. Consider Hebrews 5:8-10:

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, declared by God high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

What do you make of the phrase “when he was made perfect”? The Word of God, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity wasn’t always perfect? We should naturally recoil at the idea. But then again, there it is. Perhaps it is just an awkward translation from Greek into English…nope. That’s not it. This is the point at which one explores the question or nods and reads on.

Interestingly, this is not the first place in Hebrews that perfection is mentioned in association with Jesus – 

“For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist [God the Father], in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader [Jesus] to their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Heb 2:10) 

Again there is a phrase that Jesus (the object of this passage) is made perfect through suffering. The idea needs a little unpacking. The word “leader” is archēgos. Many bibles translate this as “author” but the New American (NAB) more fittingly translates the word as “leader” – and “pathfinder” would have also been a suitable translation; and to my mind closer to the sense of the passage. In any case, when used in the New Testament archēgos solely and always refers to Christ.  As F.F. Bruce notes: “He is the Savior who blazed the trail of salvation along which alone God’s ‘many sons’ could be brought to glory. Man, created by God for his glory, was prevented by sin from attaining that glory until the Son of Man came and opened up by his death a new way by which humanity might reach the goal for which it was made. As his people’s representative and forerunner he has now entered into the presence of God to secure their entry there.” (The Epistle to the Hebrews,1990)

But what is meant by his being made “perfect” through his sufferings? We take it as a “given” that Jesus is perfect in that He is the fullness of his Father’s glory. What is being offered here is that the perfect Son of God has become his people’s perfect Savior, opening up their way to God. In order to become that, he must endure suffering and death. The pathway of perfection which his people must tread must first be journeyed by the Pathfinder.  Only Jesus could, at the same time be the true representative of the people and at the same time be high priest in the presence of God. “In order to be a perfect high priest, a person must sympathize with those on whose behalf he acts, and he cannot sympathize with them unless he can enter into their experiences and share them for himself. Jesus did just this. Moreover, in order to be a perfect high priest, a person must learn the lesson of obedience to God; if he failed in this, he would really need a priest for himself, to enter into God’s presence for him with the assurance of being admitted there. Of Jesus’ obedience there could be no question.” (Bruce) 

The high priest had one specially solemn service to perform: present an atonement to God on his people’s behalf. The high priest must have unreserved identification with the people and at the same time have perfect obedience to the God. There is only one who fulfills these conditions perfectly—the one whose obedience and death fitted him completely to be his people’s representative. He suffered not only with them but for them; his suffering was both voluntary and vicarious. He who suffered was the Son of God, and the “many” for whom he suffered are thus led to glory as sons and daughters of God in their turn.

In what sense, then, did the Son of God learn obedience “by what he suffered”? We know the sense in which the words are true of us; we learn to be obedient because of the unpleasant consequences which follow disobedience. It was not so with him. St. Luke tells us that as a child “And Jesus advanced wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” (Lk 2:52) In his earthly life he learned what obedience to God involved the sufferings that sometimes attended such obedience. Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” always comes to mind:

The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; And I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. He is near who upholds my right; if anyone wishes to oppose me, let us appear together. Who disputes my right? Let him confront me. See, the Lord GOD is my help; who will prove me wrong? Lo, they will all wear out like cloth, the moth will eat them up. (Isa 50:4-9)

The Servant’s willingness to heed the voice of God teaches him that suffering will be inseparable from his obedience (cf. Isa 50:5, “Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; And I have not rebelled, have not turned back”). The sufferings which Jesus endured were the necessary price of his obedience and were part and parcel of his obedience and the means by which he fulfilled the will of God. This is something Jesus points out at his baptism in the river Jordan when John was reluctant: “Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (Mt 3:15)

Baptized along with sinners, Jesus placed himself unreservedly at God’s disposal for the accomplishment of God’s saving purpose and in doing so, he associated himself publicly with sinners, that was something which he was going to do throughout his ministry, until he was “numbered with the transgressors” on the cross. The pathway of public obedience which was inaugurated in the earlier baptism was crowned by the second baptism: the fulfilment of “all righteousness” in his Passion and Death.

The Christians for whom this letter was intended found that the maintenance of their faith and loyalty exposed them to trial and suffering which they could escape by renouncing their confession or dodge by drawing less public attention to it. But the question for them to face was: were they to fall back and lose everything or press on to salvation? Our author urges them to press on, in spite of all the suffering it may involve, and he sets before them the example of Jesus, who set his face “like a flint,” refusing to turn back, and was thus made “perfect through sufferings.” His example and his present aid might well encourage them too to persevere; no hardship could befall them in which he did not sympathize with them.

“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, declared by God high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

---

Jesus Christ Pantocrator | detail from the deesis mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul | PD-US