Jesus was made perfect through suffering

JESUS WAS MADE PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERING
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
For it became him, for whom are all things, and
through whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the author of their salvation
perfect through sufferings.—Hebrews 2:10.
Hebrews 2:10
GreatTexts of the Bible
Perfectthrough Sufferings
For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation
perfect through sufferings.—Hebrews2:10.
1. When we reada biography, when we study the plot of a novel or a play, or
when we try to understand a characterin history, the question we put to
ourselves is—Is it true to life? Is this the man as he really was and lived? Does
he fit togetheras a living whole? The profit and the pleasure of such books,
and certainly the moral interest, lie largelyin their setting forth a vital unity,
in their assuring us of the reality and the individuality of the man or woman
whom we are studying and giving us the assurance thatwe are following the
true story of a human soul. Every greatlife comes to us as something of a
surprise: perhaps the greaterthe life the greaterthe surprises are apt to be.

We begin by saying to ourselves, “He could never have acted so. Why should
he have taken that course? why risk that venture? why court that reverse?
Now, if I had been he,” we say, and begin to reconstructconduct upon the
lines of instinct and of motive most familiar to ourselves. And then we turn
back to our text and penetrate a little deeperinto the secretsprings of
character, and incidents arrestus that do not square with our assumptions,
and lights flash unexpectedly from words or acts which show that he was not
the manner of man that we supposed, that after all it was humility not pride, it
was courage notcowardice, it was simplicity not cunning, it was unselfishness
not self-seeking, thatmade him act as he did. Little by little we discerna unity
that was not there before, that removes inward contradictions, that makes the
hero a consistentand intelligible whole, made up not of conflicting fragments
but of a living and coherentself. And when we return to our first little
criticisms and surprises, they look thin and hollow in presence of the truth,
and we say to ourselves, “Now Iknow better; I understand more clearly what
he was, by what lights he lived. Being what he was, he could not have said,
done, actedotherwise. I have caught the secret;I hold the clue; I feel quite
certain of the truth; all fits so perfectly that I must have hold of the right
interpretation. It becomes him in a waythat no other explanation does or
could.”
2. The writer of this Epistle was addressing himself to Hebrew Christians,
who had not yet quite reconciledthemselves to a suffering Christ. They still
shared in that Jewishconceptionofthe Messiahwhichmade the cross an
offence. Why should the Anointed One, the chosenMessengerof God, pass
through that wine-press of shame and agony insteadof marching on in joyous
triumph and planting His feeton the necks of His enemies? Why all that
weakness andyielding and intolerable suffering, if He was indeed the beloved
Son in whom the Father was wellpleased? How could that awful and
heartbreaking Calvary scene be the sign and seal ofGod’s approval? These
questions, and questions like them, which are sometimes askedto-day, were
answeredin these words:“It became him, for whom are all things, and
through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the
author of their salvationperfect through sufferings.” The writer here

expounds to us the Divine philosophy of suffering, and declares that only by a
suffering Saviour could God’s thought and purpose in redemption be
expressedand fulfilled. It became Him. It was right and reasonable and
necessarythat He should take the way of suffering to reach His glorious end.
Two leading ideas emerge from this text:—
I. Suffering as a Means to Perfection.
II. The Necessityfor the Sufferings of Christ.
I
The Discipline of Suffering
“Perfectthrough sufferings.”
“Perfectthrough sufferings”—we have grownaccustomedto the phrase, but
to any one who heard it for the first time, how strange it would sound!
“Perfectthrough sufferings!” he would exclaim. Surely the writer must have
made a mistake. He should have said perfectthrough joy. Suffering must be a
sign and a cause ofimperfection. Now, it is quite true that suffering is always
a sign of present imperfection. But it may be the cause of future perfection,
which could not be attained without it. On the assumption that the ultimate
end of our existence is the development of a noble character, the necessityof
suffering may be proved. For it canbe shownthat such a charactercould
never be produced apart from the instrumentality of pain.

1. Suffering acts as a check upon our evil tendencies. Of course one may say
that sin could have been prevented, and man savedfrom suffering. Yes, you
can make a man of clay that cannotfeel; you can forge a steelman that an
avalanche cannothurt. But when you have done, your men are only
physical—not moral, not spiritual. They have no volition, no powerof choice,
no moral nature, no spiritual aspirations, and no functions that are fitting
them for an eternal life of love. True, they have no capacityfor joy either; and
they are devoid of those higher attributes of sympathy and love that make
God a Father and a Friend. Even so, if man had been intended to be only a
physical being—a mere body, a machine driven by the resistlessmandate of
an overpowering will, God would doubtless have made him as hard and as
unfeeling as the granite rock. But God’s purpose was to make a man—a being
who by choice and will and struggle should remake himself, and become as
like his Makerin the whole round of his higher nature as it is possible for him
to be. And this purpose, manifest in creation, and reaffirmed in redemption,
alone explains the processes oflife through which He is conducting us, and it
teaches us that every trial and every pang of suffering, if regarded aright, may
bear us ever nearer to God. Evil, then, being a necessaryfact, some suffering
is also a necessity. It is the desire for presentenjoyment that leads men astray;
and they canbe brought back only by the counteractive influence of pain. So
far as suffering fulfils this purpose, it is manifestly the outcome of love.
God has His sanitary regulations as well as man. There are Divine cleansing
forces at work, both in the material and in the moral world. And just as the
tempest scatters the diseases thathave gatheredthemselves togetherfor
deadly work, rendering them harmless, so the sufferings that follow guilt, and
the revolutions of pain that overthrow the tyranny of an evil nature, are
methods for securing the moral health of the race, and act as preservatives of
man’s spiritual life. You have doubtless seenspecimens of our English
weaving machines. Those machines are so constructedand arrangedas to let
the machinist know when anything is wrong, and to call his attention to the
fault in the piece that he is weaving, so that he may correctit before the whole

fabric is spoiled. Constructedon a somewhatsimilar principle is God’s
mechanism of human nature. You put your hand into the fire and you suffer;
the pain makes you draw your hand out of the flame, and thus saves the limb
from being burnt off without your knowing it. Your course of conduct is
injuring your moral life, and your aching head and palpitating heart tell you
so. Surely, then, there is wisdom as well as love manifest in the law that makes
our physical sufferings teachus our moral dangers, and thus save us from
them.1 [Note: J. G. Binney.]
(1) Suffering often acts as an intellectual and spiritual stimulus. The world’s
greaterteachers have usually been men of sorrow.
When Dumas askedReboul, “Whatmade you a poet?” the answerwas
“Suffering.” “If I had not been so greatan invalid,” said Darwin to a friend,
“I should not have done nearly so much work.” We do not know much about
Shakespeare’slife; but we do know, from his sonnets, that he had suffered
vastly. His heart had been wrung till it almostbroke. And in Tennysonwe
have another striking illustration of the educative effects of suffering. In
Memoriam is by far his greatestpoem; there are single stanzas in it worth
almost all the restof his works put together;and this poem was inspired by a
greatgrief—the death of his friend Arthur Hallam.
(2) Suffering is necessaryfor the development in us of pity, mercy, and the
spirit of self-sacrifice—the noblestofall our endowments. Only those who
have experiencedcalamity themselves can understand what it means. And
unless we know what it is, we cannotsympathize with it; nor are we likely to
make any efforts towards averting it. No charactercanbe perfect which has
not acquired the capacityfor pity; for in the acquisition of this capacitywe
receive our highest development, and realize most fully the solidarity of the
race to which we belong.

The Chili palm grows to a height of from forty to sixty feet, and bears
numerous small edible, thick-shellednuts, and yields after it is felled, a syrup
calledpalm honey. “This honey,” Darwin tells us, “is a sort of treacle, and
forms really the sap of the tree. A goodtree will yield ninety gallons, though it
looks dry and empty as a drum. The tree is felled, the crown of leaves lopped
off, and then for months the vessels ofthe tree pour forth their stores, and
every fresh slice shaved off exposes a fresh surface and yields a fresh supply.”
And have we not often found something akin to this in human experience?
Have we not all knownmen apparently cold and hard, and utterly unfitted for
the gentlerand softerministries of life, looking as sapless and empty as the
Chili palm when standing in its native soil, but when they have been felled by
some unforeseentrouble, and the cold iron has entered their souls, they have
become even womanly in their capacityfor consolation, yielding sympathy
and love and helpfulness in measurelessamount. Ah, yes; it often takes the
sharp axe of suffering to open up in us the fountains of sympathy and healing
love. Chili palm-like, some of us need to be felled and well slicedbefore the
honey will flow; but—
Unto the hopes by sorrow crushed a noble faith succeeds,
And life by trials furrowed bears the fruit of loving deeds.
How rich, how sweet, how full of strength, our human spirits are,
Baptized into the sanctities ofsuffering and of prayer.1 [Note:J. G. Binney.]
(3) Suffering appears necessaryfor the development in us of self-reliance, self-
respect, and all that is implied in the expression“strengthof character.” And
it is only saying the same thing in other words to maintain that, without

suffering, we could not attain to the highest happiness of which we are
capable. Justthink of the advantages to be derived from the struggle for
successin life, painful as that struggle must often of necessitybe. We cannot
be born successful, and it would be a greatpity if we could. Goodfortune and
prosperity are worth most when they have been achievedin spite of
hindrances and difficulties. The happiness that we have obtained by effort is
far sweeterthan that which we have inherited, or that which has come to us
by chance;and the very effort we have made to acquire it has tended to our
own self-development. And what is true of individuals is true of races. It
would have been a grievous disadvantage had they been createdfully
developed. The possibility of developing themselves is their grandestand
noblest prerogative.
John Stuart Mill argues in his Posthumous Essays thatthis would be a better
world if the whole human race were already in possessionofeverything which
it seems desirable they should have. But surely it is infinitely better for races
to struggle up to material prosperity and to spiritual perfectionthan to have
been createdincapable of progress. In the latter case they might have been
comfortable and satisfied:but their comfort and satisfactionwould have been
no higher than a brute’s.1 [Note:A. W. Momerie, The Origin of Evil, 22.]
I am one of those bright angels
Passing earthwards, to and fro,
Heavenly messengers to mortals,
Now of gladness, now of woe.

Might I bring from the Almighty,
Strength from Him who maketh strong;
Not as alms I drop the blessing,—
From my graspit must be wrung.
Child of earth, I come to prove thee,
Hardly, sternly with thee deal;
To mould thee in the forge and furnace,
Make thine iron tempered steel.
Come, then, and in loving warfare
Let us wrestle, tug, and strain,
Till thy breath comes thick and panting,
And the sweatpours down like rain.

Man with angelthus contending,
Angel-like in strength shall grow,
And the might of the Immortal
Pass into the mortal so.
2. The virtue of suffering lies in the spirit of the sufferer. There is nothing in
suffering itself that can bring a sense ofits use or its nobility. It will
strengthen the will, testthe endurance, call out the pity, quicken the
sympathy, serve the love of men only if men carry into it a convictionof the
moral purpose with which it is fraught. Suffering itself, as we so often see, is
unable to ennoble; suffering of itself often dulls, and blunts, and stuns, and
exasperatesthe nature which suffers. What gives the powerof suffering is not
suffering itself, but the faith that discerns the purpose which lies behind it. So,
then, if that faith were put to the strain and were lost, if anything were to
happen to us that would make it reel when most we wanted it, then suffering
alone might only cripple or overwhelm our characters. We wantto know then
where is the warrant for this faith that behind our suffering there is a purpose
of the love of God. Where is the warrant? It is written in the cross ofJesus
Christ. The sufferings of Jesus, we are prompted to think, went far beyond
what was necessaryas an acceptanceofpunishment of sin. It seems that He
meant to go out into the very farthest reaches ofhuman pain and to know and
to understand them. It was part of that long self-sacrificeby which humanity
in Jesus was learning to offer itself againin perfect obedience to the will of
God. He was learning obedience through the things He was suffering, and not
only accepting punishment of sin; He was perfecting His human life by the
bearing of pain and sorrow. He was being made perfect through sufferings.

Eachpain of body or of mind was an offering of a Son’s love to God, and of a
Brother’s sympathy to His fellow-men.
The most useful agents in nature have sometimes the most deadly effects. The
atmosphere, which is essentialto life, is the chief source ofputrefaction and
decay. The sea, whichbears one mariner safely to the desired haven, buries
another in a watery grave. Electricity, which carries a messageacrossthe
world at the bidding of one man, strikes anotherdead. So the very
circumstances ofwhich a goodman makes stepping-stones to heaven, a bad
man will turn into a pathway to hell. The responsibility for this, however,
rests not with God, but with men.1 [Note:A. W. Momerie, The Origin of Evil,
52.]
Crossesare blessedto us only in so far as we give ourselves up to them
unreservedly and forgetting self. Seek to forget yourself, else all suffering is
useless. Goddoes not lay suffering on us merely that we may suffer, but that
we may die to self by dint of putting it aside under the most difficult of all
circumstances, viz., pain.2 [Note: Fénelon, Spiritual Letters to Men.]
Suffering borne in the Christian temper has often incidental effects upon
character. Forit induces tenderness, and strength, and spirituality of life. The
man who has suffered much has a keenerinsight into the sufferings of others,
and therefore a more appreciative sympathy for them. His very voice and
glance and touch gaina magnetic powerfrom his pain. Nor is this tenderness
purchased at the costof weakness, forsuffering indurates and strengthens the
entire person. Under all his apparent weakness, the man of sorrows is strong.
And thus his own sorrow helps him to alleviate the sorrow of the world; while,
besides thus enhancing his socialefficiency, suffering refines and purifies the
inner man, as a necessaryconsequenceofthe closercommunion with the
spiritual world to which it calls him.1 [Note:J. R. Illingworth.]

But if, impatient, thou let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again,
Nor in another; here, and here alone,
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake.
In other worlds we shall more perfectly
Serve Him and love Him, praise Him, work for Him,
Grow near, and nearerHim with all delight;
But then we shall not any more be called
To suffer, which is our appointment here.
Canstthou not suffer then one hour, or two?
And while we suffer, let us set our souls
To suffer perfectly; since this alone,

The suffering, which is this world’s specialgrace,
May here be perfected and left behind.2 [Note:E. Hamilton King, The
Sermon in the Hospital.]
II
The Necessityfor Christ’s Sufferings
“It became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things.”
1. The phrase, “it became him,” speaks ofa moral necessitylying upon God, a
necessityspringing from the requirements of the Divine nature and
government. Of course the word is one of much broader application. We can
speak of a comelyface and of a becoming dress, as wellas of “that which
becomethsaints.” There is a physical as wellas a moral fitness. We may also
say of anything that it becomes a man of wisdom, righteousness,truth—
meaning by this only that it is not opposedto, though not absolutely required
by, such a character. But, manifestly, that which in any circumstances is
perfectly suited to the requirements of perfect wisdom and spotless rectitude
is absolutely obligatory. To do anything else than this, while circumstances
remain unchanged, would be folly and sin. Moralfitness runs speedily into
moral obligation. Christian propriety is strictestlaw. How much more, then,
Divine propriety—that which becometh God!
2. The statement here is not “it became God,” or “it became the Father,” but,
with impressive emphasis, “It became him, for whom are all things, and

through whom are all things.” The sufferings of man’s Saviour fit into the
whole characterof Jehovahand all His infinite perfections:they form an
essentialelementof the Divine counsels and operations. Either the whole
scheme of the Divine creationand government is loose and contingent, or the
perfecting of the Captain of salvationis basedon a Divine necessityof
wisdom, righteousness, and love. The question has sometimes beenput,
whether or not sinners might have been savedin some other way than through
the incarnation of the Eternal Word, and the atonementof the cross. Here we
have an answerto the question, as direct as the occasioncalls for: “It became”
the All-Perfect, that the work should be accomplishedevenso.
3. The revelation of His Fatherhoodrequired it. Humanity was His own child.
Humanity was a child of many sorrows, familiar with tears, and the tears
were, in part at least, of His ownordaining. Sin had enormously increasedthe
sorrows;but apart from sin there were the pangs and travail of creation,
there was everywhere the pain and struggle and bereavement, and the
bleeding and breaking heart. How could He join Himself to humanity without
sharing human tears? If He really loved and pitied His sad and guilty world,
how could He send His saving messageto us otherwise than through the life of
a suffering one? How could He prove to men His Fatherhoodexcept by
bearing their infirmities? How could He become incarnate save as a Man of
Sorrows?
4. The rôle of “Captain” which Jesus assumednecessitatedsuffering. The
word translated “captain” in the Authorized Version, which occurs only four
times in Scripture, means literally one who leads or begins any course or
thing; hence it comes to mean a commander (or a prince, as it is twice
translated); and then again, with a very easytransition from the notion of
leading to that of origination, it comes to mean cause (orauthor, as it is once
translated). The conceptionof author is the dominant one here, but the word
is probably chosenas prolonging the metaphor in the previous clause. This
greatprocessionofsons up into glory, which is the object and aim of God’s

work, is under the leadership of Him who is the Captain, the foremost, the
Originator, and, in a profound sense, the Cause, oftheir salvation. So, then,
we have before us the thought that God brings, and yet Christ leads, and that
God’s bringing is effectedthrough Christ’s leadership.
This Captain needs to be made perfect through sufferings. We are not to
suppose that the perfecting through sufferings which is here declaredto take
effectupon our Lord means the addition of anything to, or the purging away
of anything from, His moral nature. We are refined by suffering, which
purges out the dross if we take it rightly. We are ennobled by suffering, which
adds to us, if we submissively acceptit, that which without it we could never
possess. ButChrist’s perfecting is not the perfecting of His moral character,
but the completion of His equipment for His work as the Captain of our
salvation. That is to say, He Himself, though He learned obedience by the
things that He suffered, was morally perfect, ere yet one shadow of pain or
conflict had passedacrossthe calm depths of His pure spirit; but He was not
ready for His function of Leader and Originator of our salvationuntil He had
passedthrough the sufferings of life and the agonies ofdeath. Thus the whole
sweepof Christ’s sufferings—boththose which precededthe cross, and
especiallythe cross itself—is included in the generalexpressionof the text;
and these equipped Him for His work.
It may be that under other conditions the discipline of suffering would have
been unnecessary. To be a perfectking of angels, forinstance, there would
have been no need for Christ to suffer. To be the joy and bliss of unfallen
spirits there would have been no need for Christ to suffer. To be the light and
life of a sinless heaventhere would have been no need for Christ to suffer. But
to be a perfectleader for broken, stricken, sinful men, Christ had to suffer. To
be able to emancipate them from their bondage and to lead them out of the
prison-house, Christ had to suffer. To be an adequate Saviour and Redeemer,
Christ had to suffer. The suffering was meant to fit Him for leadership. It was

as the Leader of men’s salvationthat Christ was made perfectthrough
sufferings.1 [Note:J. D. Jones, The Unfettered Word, 209.]
It is recorded of Captain Hedley Vicars that he singularly won the hearts of
the soldiers under his command. Whilst keeping his ownposition he put
himself into theirs. An incident in connexion with his life in the Crimea will
illustrate the verse before us. In those bitter winter nights, which even now we
can hardly bear to think of, when our brave soldiers slept out in an almost
Arctic cold, they naturally gave way to some murmurs; but when the men
under Captain Vicars learned that he absolutely refusedto avail himself of
specialprotectionand comfort so long as his men suffered, and that he
preferred to share their trials, all murmurings ceased. How could they
complain when their captainfor their sakes volunteeredto share their
hardships! As regards his sympathy with and his relationship towards the
men, their captainwas “made perfectthrough sufferings.”2 [Note:J. W.
Bardsley.]
(1) The Deliverer of man must be a Man.—The leadermust have no
exemption from the hardships of the company. If He is to be a leader, He and
those whom He leads must go by the same road. He must tramp along all the
wearypaths that they have to tread. He must experience all the conflicts and
difficulties that they have to experience. He cannotlift us up into a share of
His glory unless He stoops to the companionship of our grief. A man upon a
higher level cannotraise one on a lower, except on condition of himself going
down, with his hand at any rate, to the level from which he would lift. And no
Christ will be able to accomplishthe Father’s design, except a Christ who
knows the fellowship of our sufferings, and is made conformable unto our
death. Therefore, becauseHe “took nothold to help angels, but the seedof
Abraham, it behoved him to be made in all things like unto his brethren.”
And when the soldiers are weary on the march, footsore andtired, they may
bethink themselves, “Headquarters were here yesterday.”

We cango through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
and where He has stretched Himself on the coldground and bivouacked, we
need not be ashamedor afraid to lie down. The Captain of our salvationhas
shared all our hardships, and plodded with bleeding feetover every inch of
the ground over which He would leadus.
(2) He must learn compassionin the midst of suffering.—BeforeHe suffers,
He has the pity of a God; after He suffers, He has learnt the compassionofa
man. And though in the fight the generalseems to have gone up the hill, and
left the army to struggle in the plain, He has gone, like Moses to the mount, to
lift all-powerful hands of intercession, and bearing in His heart tender
compassion, a fellow-feeling ofour pains. No Christ is worth anything to us,
suffering and bleeding and agonizing here, unless it be a Christ of whom we
know that His heart is full of sympathy because He Himself has felt the same,
and that He has learnt to haste to the help of the miserable, because He
himself is not ignorant of misfortune.
A German theologianfinds the unparalleled powerof Jesus in the unlimited
range of His sympathies. He stands apart from and above all men in
greatness.He is absolutelyunique. He is, as Bushnell said, unclassifiable. But
is not His uniqueness this, that He is not provincial, local, and narrow, but
universal; that He knew what is in man as no other has known, and that He
had powerand sympathetic union with men and women of any nation and any
religion? He whose uniqueness made Him the Son of God was He whose
universality made Him the Son of Man 1:1 [Note: George Harris, Inequality
and Progress, 147.]

Every believer realizes by experience that Christ is the only perfect
sympathizer. “I’m not perfectly understood,” says everybody in fact. But if
you are a believer you are perfectly understood. Christ is the only one who
never expects you to be other than yourself, and He puts in abeyance towards
you all but what is like you. He takes your view of things, and mentions no
other. He takes the old woman’s view of things by the wash-tub, and has a
greatinterest in washpowder; Sir Isaac Newton’s view of things, and wings
among the stars with him; the artist’s view, and feeds among the lilies; the
lawyer’s, and shares the justice of things. But He never plays the lawyeror the
philosopher or the artist to the old woman. He is above that littleness.1 [Note:
Letters of James Smetham, 297.]
It was the need of a Divine assurance that there is a heart of sympathy at the
root of things which Christ came to satisfy. He not only declaredthe Divine
sympathy, He enteredthe human struggle. It was not enough that Godshould
declare the Divine sympathy in a word: He chose also to declare it in a Life.
There can be no doubt of a sympathy which issues in self-sacrifice;and we see
the Heart of God in the Cross ofJesus Christ. He who ordained the hard law
of the Cross, Himself submitted to it, to prove by His self-sacrificethat it came
from a will of love: and He transformed it by bidding us not only to take it,
but to take it after Him. It is through the fellowship of the Cross that He
comes mostcloselyto us. When we see and greetHim there, supreme and
calm, He gives us His own supremacy and calmness. We conquerour crosses
by bearing them with Him.2 [Note: Cosmo GordonLang, The Miracles of
Jesus.]
In Christ I feelthe heart of God
Throbbing from heaven through earth;

Life stirs againwithin the clod,
Renewedin beauteous birth;
The soul springs up, a flowerof prayer,
Breathing His breath out on the air.
In Christ I touch the hand of God,
From His pure height reacheddown,
By blessedways before untrod,
To lift us to our crown;
Victory that only perfectis
Through loving sacrifice, like His.
Holding His hand, my steadiedfeet
May walk the air, the seas;

On life and death His smile falls sweet,
Lights up all mysteries:
Strangernor exile can I be
In new worlds where He leadethme.
Not my Christ only; He is ours;
Humanity’s close bond;
Key to its vast, unopened powers,
Dream of our dreams beyond.
What yet we shall be none cantell:
Now are we His, and all is well.1 [Note:Lucy Larcom.]
Perfectthrough Sufferings

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
PerfectionThrough Suffering
Hebrews 2:10
W. Jones
For it became him, for whom are all things, etc.
I. THE PERFECTIONOF THE REDEEMERWAS ATTAINED THROUGH
SUFFERING. "Perfectthrough suffering." The perfection here spokenof
does not refer to his characteras Son of God, but as Mediator - "the Captain
of our salvation." "The perfecting of Christ was the bringing him to that glory
which was his proposedand destined end." Made "perfectthrough suffering"
is similar in meaning to "because ofthe suffering of death crownedwith glory
and honor." Only through suffering could he enter upon his mediatorial
glory. Two thoughts are suggested.
1. Before he could attain unto his mediatorial glory his characterand work as
Redeemermust be complete.
2. Suffering was essentialto the completenessofhis characterand work as
Redeemer. He must suffer in order that he might
(1) sympathize with his suffering people (ver. 18);
(2) present a perfect example to his suffering people (1 Peter2:21-24);
(3) reconcile sinners to God.
The exhibition of infinite love - love that gives up life itself, and that for
enemies - was necessaryto remove the alienationof man's heart from God,
and to enkindle love to him in its stead. And the exhibition of perfect

obedience - obedience even unto death - was necessaryto establish and honor
in this world the Law of God which man had broken. So our Saviorwas
perfectedthrough suffering; he passedthrough sharpesttrials to sublimest
triumphs.
II. THIS MODE OF REACHING PERFECTIONCONSISTSWITH THE
CHARACTER OF THE GREAT GOD AND FATHER. "It became him, for
whom are all things, and by whom are all things," etc. God the Father is here
representedas:
1. The great first Cause of all things. "Bywhom are all things." He is the
Source and Origin of the entire universe.
2. The great Final Cause ofall things. "Forwhom are all things." All things in
the universe are for his glory. Creation, providence, redemption, are all
designedand all tend to promote the glory of the greatFather. The words
under considerationare sometimes usedof the Savior, and they are true of
him; but they are even more applicable to God "the Father, who sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world." "Forof him, and through him, and unto him,
are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen."
3. The great Author and Designerof salvation, with its agents, means, and
methods. Our Lord is spokenof in the text as the "Captain [RevisedVersion,
'Author'] of salvation." But, traced to its source and origin, salvationtakes us
up to the eternal Father. And "it became him" that he should so order the
agenciesand methods of salvationthat the Saviorshould be perfected through
suffering. Such an arrangement was not fatalistic or arbitrary, but suited to
the objectin view, the means being adapted to the end, and in thorough
harmony with the characterand perfections of God - his wisdom,
righteousness, andlove. The Hebrew Christians, whom the writer is
addressing, felt the offence of the cross. There were times when in some
measure "Christ crucified" was still "a stumbling-block" to them, or at least
they were in danger of this. And so the writer argues that the attainment of
the crownby the endurance of the cross was an arrangementworthy of God,
and therefore the fulfillment of this arrangement could not be unworthy of the
Savior. We have said that the means were adapted to the end; the perfection

could not have been attained without the sufferings. But, more, the sufferings
were in complete conformity to the being and characterof God. He is not a
cold, impassive Beholderof human sin and misery. He suffers by reasonof
man's sin and woe (cf. Isaiah63:9; Hosea 11:8). Christ in his sufferings
reveals to our race how God had felt towards us in all preceding ages.
III. THIS MODE OF REACHING PERFECTION IS EXEMPLARY FOR
ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS.
1. The exalted relation of true Christians. They are "sons" ofGod, not simply
because he is "the Father of their spirits," but also by adoption (cf. Romans
8:14-17;1 John 3:1-3).
2. The vast number of true Christians. "Manysons unto glory." There have
been ages whenthe number of the true and goodhas been comparatively
small. But, as the result of Christ's mediation, the saved will be so many that
no human arithmetic cancount them, no human mind graspthe glorious
total. Many things encourage this belief; e.g.
(1) the inexhaustible provisions of Divine grace in Jesus Christ;
(2) the immense numbers of the race who die in infancy, and through the
Savior are receivedinto glory;
(3) the prevalence of true religion throughout the world, which is being
rapidly accomplished, and the triumph of Divine grace overhuman sin, which
may be continued for many long ages before the end of this dispensation; -
these and other things encouragethe belief that our Lord will lead to glory an
overwhelming majority of our race.
3. The inspiring relation which our Lord sustains to true Christians. He is
"the Captain [RevisedVersion, 'Author'] of their salvation." The word in this
place certainly has a deeper significance than "captain" or leader. Salvation
originated in the heart of God, but it was accomplishedby Christ. He
redeemedus unto God by his blood; and now he inspires and empowers and
leads us onward to complete victory.

4. The illustrious destiny to which he leads true Christians. "Unto glory." This
is the crowning result of their salvation. They shall be sharers in the
blessednessand majesty of God to the fullest extent of which they are capable
(cf. John 17:22-24;Revelation3:21).
5. The pathway by which he leads them to their destiny. Like himself, they
also must be made "perfect through sufferings." "If we endure, we shall also
reign with him" (cf. 1 Peter 5:10, 11). Wherefore, let us not be afraid of
suffering. Only let us be sure that we suffer with our Savior and in his spirit;
so shall we ultimately share his bliss and glory. - W. J.
Biblical Illustrator
For it became Him.
Hebrews 2:10
The scheme of redemption by a suffering Saviour, worthy of God
P. Hutchison, M. A.

I. IT IS PROPOSEDTO ILLUSTRATE THE CHARACTER OF JESUS
CHRIST AS THE CAPTAIN OF SALIVATION. This word in the sacred
language signifies Prince, Captain, or Chief Leader, and is highly expressive
of that distinguishing characterwhich our Redeemersustains, and of His
gracious and powerful agencyin the scheme of salvation.
1. He was chosenand appointed to be the Captain of salvation, and to be the
head and chief conductorof this glorious scheme.
2. As the Captain of salvation, He purchased salvationfor His people, and
overcame their spiritual enemies.
3. Christ is the Captain of salvation, as He heads His people in the spiritual
warfare, and conducts them to victory and triumph. He possessesinfinite skill
to devise the most advantageous plans, to discern all the strategems ofHis
enemies, and infinite power to defeatthem, and make them recoilwith
redoubled vengeance upontheir heads. He knows the weakness andtimidity
of those who fight under his banner and conduct, and will afford them
strength and courage. He knows their doubts, and candispel them. He knows
their dangers, and can deliver from them, and can enable them to resistthe
attacks ofan host of adversaries. He furnishes them with the various pieces of
the spiritual armour — the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the breast-plate
of righteousness, prayer, watchfulness, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the Word of God. When thus clad in the whole armour of God, He enables
them to manage it with spiritual dexterity, so as most effectually to wound
their enemies, and defend themselves from their attacks.
II. THAT THE CAPTAIN OF SALVATION WAS MADE PERFECT
THROUGH SUFFERINGS.In treating this part of the subjectit will be
proper first to speak a little concerning the sufferings of Christ, and then
show how He was made perfectthrough His sufferings.
1. Concerning His sufferings, the following observations may be useful.(1) He
suffered, as the surety of His spiritual seed, the proper punishment of their
sins.(2)Though Jesus Christ endured the proper punishment of His people's
sins, the mode of this punishment, and the duration of it, belongedto God the
righteous Judge.(3)The Redeemersuffered an awful suspensionof the light of

the Father's countenance, andof the former sweetand endearing sense of His
love.(4)Besides being forsakenby God, and the extreme sufferings of His
outward man, He was, in another respect, brought into deep waters, where
there was no standing. He endured much positive punishment, arising from
the awful views which He had of the sins of His people, and of the wrath which
they deserved, and felt all those inward and painful sensations whichsuch
views communicated. In these things, more especially, the sufferings of His
soul consisted, and they far exceededHis bodily agonies on the Cross, though
these also, from the nature of His death, must have been very great.
2. We shall now show how the Captain of salvationwas made perfect through
sufferings.(1)Jesus Christ was made perfectthrough sufferings, as by them
He became a perfect Saviour, having finished the work which the Fathergave
Him to do. It was by fulfilling all righteousness, andperfectly performing the
stipulated condition of the new covenant, that He purchasedall the blessings
of it, acquired a right to hold the possessionofthem, and to conveythem to
His spiritual seed.(2)The Captain of salvationwas made perfect through
sufferings, as under them His human graces and virtues grew up to
perfection, and shone forth with the most amiable lustre and glory.(3) The
Captain of salvation was made perfectthrough sufferings, as these were the
perfect antitype of all that typified them, and as all the predictions concerning
them were perfectly fulfilled.Lessons:
1. Here is a glorious person presentedto our view, a Saviourmade perfect
through sufferings; to whom both saints and sinners may commit their
salvation, with the fullest assurance thatthey shall not be disappointed.
2. Believers may be inspired with courage to persevere in the spiritual
warfare, because theyfight under the conduct of the Captain of salvation. He
possesses everypossible accomplishmentas a Leader and Commander of His
people.
3. Let us study m become more perfect in holiness, under all those sufferings
and tribulations appointed for us in the adorable providence of God. The
Captain of salvation was made perfectthrough His sufferings. In this He has
furnished us with a noble and excellentpattern for our imitation.

(P. Hutchison, M. A.)
Bringing many sons unto glory
P. Hutchison, M. A.
I. A FEW OBSERVATIONSCONCERNING THE MANY SONS THAT
ARE TO BE BROUGHT TO GLORY, THROUGH THE SUFFERINGS
AND DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST.
1. They are sons who obtain this great privilege. The relation here mentioned
is not that natural relation in which men stand to God as their Creator, for
that is common to the human race, as they are all His offspring. Neither is it a
mere external relation to God, as the members of the visible Church, for thin
exterior and visible adoption belongs to all baptized and professing
Christians, and equally belongedto the JewishChurch, as a visible body, or
nation of men professing the true religion. But the characterofsons specified
in the text is expressive of a spiritual and saving relation which is peculiar to
true believers. This greatprivilege, like the other blessings of the glorious
gospel, lays a foundation for humility and gratitude in all on whom it is
bestowed. Theycan never be too grateful to God for such an honour and
blessing, or sufficiently humble under a deep conviction that they do not
deserve it.
2. In connectionwith the privilege they possessthe Spirit of adoption. By His
saving operations upon them they are endowedwith all the graces and
tempers which become the children of God, and correspondto their privilege
of adoption. They are habitually prepared for all gracious exercisesand the
acceptable performance ofall holy duties.
3. The sons of God to be brought to glory form a vastnumber. This is a great
and consolatorytruth; and it should be the concernof all me,, to have this
glorious truth realisedin their own persons.
4. All the adopted and regeneratedsons ofGod shall be brought to glory. The
various griefs and afflictions of believers in the presentstate of discipline and

mortality shall terminate in the felicity of the heavenly state. There the
redeemedshall not only be entirely freed from all those sins and temptations,
griefs and afflictions, to which they are subjected in this life, but they shall
attain perfection in knowledge, holiness, glory, and immortality, togetherwith
the full and eternal enjoyment of God.
II. The bringing of many sons to glory, through the sufferings of Christ, Is
WORTHY OF GOD, AND BECOMING HIS CHARACTER.
1. The redemption of sinners of mankind, through Jesus Christ, is worthy of
Jehovah, as it illustrates, in the highest degree, the glory of His moral
perfections. How brightly shines the Divine wisdom in the plan of redemption!
In devising this g, eatplan, in connecting and harmonising all its parts, Divine
wisdom excels in glory. Here the holiness and justice of God shine forth in the
most resplendent glory. His hatred of sin, and the punishment of it in the
Cross of Christ, are a far more glorious display of the justice and holiness of
His nature than could have been given if mankind had never sinned, or,
having sinned, had never been redeemed. Here the love of God is displayed in
a manner the most amiable and engaging, in the gift of His only-begottenSon,
and in subjecting a personso dear to Him to unparalleled grief, ignomony,
and affliction. Here is displayed the Divine goodness in supplying the natural
and spiritual wants of good men. Here is exhibited the Divine mercy in the
full, free, and everlasting remissionof sins.
2. The scheme of redemption, through the sufferings of Christ, is worthy of
God, and becoming His characteras the moral governorof the world. The
Redeemer, in His whole mediation, actedin, a subserviencyto the holy law of
God; He magnified and made it honourable by rendering to it perfect
obedience, as a covenant of works, and by enduring its awful penalty. He
furnished His disciples with an amiable and perfect example of that obedience
which the Jaw requires of them. He hath also procured and promised the aid
and energies ofthe Holy Spirit, to qualify them for every part of Christian
obedience.
3. It was worthy of God, and becoming His character, not to suffer Himself to
be deprived of worship and obedience from the whole human race;nor them

to be cut off from a participation of His goodness andthe enjoyment of Him as
their portion.
4. The scheme of redemption is worthy of Godbecause it reflects the highest
honour on His adored SonJesus Christ. He has the honour of repairing the
breach which sin had made betweenGod and men, and hath reconciledthem
to Him by the blood of His Cross. He has the honour of performing the
condition of the covenantof grace, wherebyall the blessings ofit were
purchased, and the promises of it ratified and made sure to the heirs of
promise. He has the honour of being the grand repositoryof the covenant-
blessings, the administrator of them, and of sending down the Holy Spirit to
apply them. He has the honour of being the Head of the Church, and of
administering the whole affairs of Divine providence for the goodof the
Church. He has the honour of beholding a numerous seedas the fruit of His
unparalleled labours and sufferings. He will. have the honour of presiding in
the final judgment, and of awarding the retributions of that solemn and
eventful day, both to the righteous and the wicked. And He will be the
honoured medium through which all the blessednessofthe heavenly state will
be communicated to the redeemedfor evermore.
5. The method of redemption, by the death of Christ, is worthy of God,
because it is, in a variety of respects, more excellentthan the constitution
establishedwith the first Adam for obtaining life to himself and his posterity.
The perfections of God are more glorified by the gospel-methodof salvation,
and particularly His mercy, for which there was no place under the first
covenant. According to that constitution the goodness ofGod might have free
egress towards menwhile innocent and obedient; but no provision was made
in it for the remission of sin. or for purification from it, when he became guilty
and polluted. By the constitution of grace His law is more magnified; for
Adam could only obey it as a mere man, but Christ obeyed it as the Lord from
heaven. The sinner's tide to life by the gospelstands upon a more glorious
foundation. Thoughthe covenantof works had been kept, man's title to life
would only have been founded upon a perfecthuman obedience;but
according to the gospel-schemeit rests upon the divinely perfect righteousness
of the Son of God. Gospel-holiness is also conveyedinto the souls of men in a
more excellentchannel Adam receivedthe principles of holiness in the

channel of creating goodness;but gospel-holiness is communicatedas the fruit
of the Redeemer's purchase, in the channel of redeeming love. The worship of
the redeemedhas something in it more excellent. In the state of innocence
man could adore Godas his creator, preserver, benefactor, and governor;but
the redeemedcan worship the adorable Trinity, not only in the above
respects, but also in their economicalcharacter, in the plan of redemption, as
a reconciledFather, a Saviour from guilt and misery, and a Spirit of
sanctificationand comfort, whose office it is to apply the blessings of
redemption and put the chosenof God in possessionofthem. To all these ideas
add that the future happiness of the redeemedwill be greaterthan man's
happiness could have been by the original covenant. Fornot only will it be
conveyedto them through the mediation of Jesus Christ, as purchasedby His
blood, but they will have more enlarged and endearing discoveries ofthe
perfections of the Godheadas displayed in the scheme of redemption, which
will prove an inexhaustible and everlasting source ofenjoyment; while they
will have the additional felicity of reflecting, that though once they were
sinners and sunk in perdition and misery, yet they were rescuedfrom the jaws
of destruction by the power and grace of the greatRedeemer, and raised to
unmerited and undecaying honours and enjoyments. This considerationwill
sweetenand accentthe song of the redeemed, and fill them with joy
unutterable, and full of glory.Lessons:
1. Since the method of salvation, through the sufferings of Jesus Christ, is so
worthy of God, it must be worthy of us to embrace it as all our salvationand
all our desire.
2. Our hearts should be deeply impressedwith this important truth, that the
only way of salvationfor sinners is through the mediation and sufferings of
Jesus Christ.
3. If sinners of mankind can be savedonly by the death of Christ, how
aggravatedis the guilt and how deplorable is the condition of our modern
infidels, who with profane mockeryand insolent contempt reject the gospel-
method of salvation, togetherwith the inspired oracles by which it is revealed
and proposedto the acceptanceofmen?

4. This subjectshows us that in subordination to the glory of God it is the
greatend of the gospeland of the death of Christ to perfect the state,
character, and felicity of goodmen.
5. Let sinners and saints be carefulto improve the method of salvationset
before them in the gospel.
6. To conclude: Let me callyou who are the children of the MostHigh to
adore and admire that unsearchable wisdomwhich devised a scheme of
salvationso worthy of God in all the possible attitudes in which it canbe
viewed, and so happily adapted to your characterand circumstances.
(P. Hutchison, M. A.)
Christ appointed Captain of salvation
John Owen, D. D.
I. A reasonis rendered in the words of what he had assertedin the foregoing
verse, namely, that Jesus the Messiahwas to suffer death, and by the grace of
God to taste of death for all. WHY HE SHOULD DO THUS, ON WHAT
ACCOUNT, WHAT GROUND, NECESSITY, AND REASON THERE WAS
FOR IT IS HERE DECLARED — it was so to be, "Forit became Him," &c.
II. THE DESIGN OF GOD IS EXPRESSEDIN THIS WHOLE MATTER,
AND THAT WAS — TO BRING MANY SONS UNTO GLORY.
1. The eternal designationof them to that glory where. unto they are to be
brought is peculiarly assignedto Him. "He predestinates them to be
conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:28-30).
2. He was the spring and fountain of that covenant(as in other operations of
the Deity) that was of old betweenHimself and His Son, about the salvation
and glory of the elect(see Zechariah6:13; Isaiah 42:1; Proverbs 8:20-30;
Isaiah50:4; Isaiah53:11, 12; Psalm16:10;Psalm 110:1, 6).
3. He signally gave out the first promise, that greatfoundation of the covenant
of grace, and afterwards declared, confirmed, and ratified by His oath, that

covenantwherein all the means of bringing the electto glory are contained
(Genesis 3:15;Jeremiah 31:32-34;Hebrews 8:8).
4. He gave and sent His Son to be a Saviour and Redeemerfor them and to
them; so that in His whole work, in all that He did and suffered, He obeyed
the command and fulfilled the will of the Father.
5. He draws His elect, and enables them to come to the Son, to believe in Him,
and so to obtain life, salvationand glory by Him.
6. Bring "reconciledto them by the blood of His Son," He reconciles themto
Himself by giving them pardon and forgiveness of sins in and by the promises
of the gospel, without which they cannot come to glory (2 Corinthians 5:18-
21).
7. He quickens them and sanctifies them by His Spirit, to " make them meet
for the inheritance of the saints in light," that is f r the enjoyment of glory.
8. As the greatFatherof the family He adopts them, and makes them His
sons, that so He may bring them to glory. He gives them the poweror
privilege to become the sons of God (John 1:12), making them heirs and co-
heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17), sending withal "into their hearts the
Spirit of adoption, enabling them to cry Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).
9. He confirms them in faith, establisheth them in obedience, preserveththem
from dangers and oppositions of all sorts, and in manifold wisdom keeps them
through His powerto the glory prepared for them (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22;
Ephesians 3:20, 21; 1 Peter1:5; John 17:11.
10. He gives them the Holy Ghost as their Comforter, with all those blessed
and unspeakable benefits which attend that gift of His (Matthew 7:11; Luke
11:13;John 14:16, 17;Galatians 4:6).
III. THERE IS IN THESE WORDS INTIMATED THE PRINCIPAL
.MEANS THAT GOD FIXED ON FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF
THIS DESIGN OF HIS, FOR THE BRINGING OF MANY SONS TO
GLORY; IT WAS BY APPOINTING A CAPTAIN OF THEIR
SALVATION. All the sons of God are put under His conduct and guidance, as

the people of old were under the rule of Joshua, to bring them into the glory
designedfor them, and promised to them in the covenantmade with
Abraham. And He is calledtheir Ἀρχηγος, "Prince, Ruler, and Captain, or
Author of their salvation," on severalaccounts.
1. Of His authority and right to rule over them in order to their salvation.
2. Of His actualleading and conduct of them by His example, spirit, and
grace, through all the difficulties of their warfare.
3. As He is to them " the Author or cause ofeternal salvation," He procured
and purchasedit for them.
IV. There is expressedin the words, THE ESPECIALWAY WHERE BY
GOD FITTED OR DESIGNED THE LORD CHRIST UNTO THIS OFFICE,
OF BEING A CAPTAIN OF SALVATION UNTO THE SONS TO BE
BROUGHT TO GLORY. To understand this aright we must observe that the
apostle speaks nothere of the redemption of the electabsolutely, but of the
bringing them to glory, when they are made sons in an especialmanner. And
therefore he treats not absolutelyof the designation, consecration, orfitting of
the Lord Christ unto His office of Mediator in general, but as unto that part,
and the execution of it, which especiallyconcerns the leading of the sons unto
glory, as Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan. By all the sufferings of the
Lord Christ in His life and death, by which sufferings He wrought out the
salvationof the elect, did God cons crate and dedicate Him to be a Prince, a
Leader, and Captain of salvation unto His people, as Peterdeclares the whole
matter (Acts 5:30, 31; Acts 2:36).
1. The whole work of saving the sons of God from first to last, their guidance
and conduct through sins and sufferings unto glory, is committed unto the
Lord Jesus;whence He is constantly to be eyed by believers in all the
concernments of their faith, obedience, and consolation.
(1)With care and watchfulness (Psalm121:4).
(2)With tenderness and love (Isaiah 40:11).
(3)He leads them with power, authority, and majesty (Micah 5:4).

2. As the manner how, so the acts wherein and whereby this Antecessorand
Captain of salvation leads on the sons of God, may be considered;and He
doth it variously.
(1)He goes before them in the whole way unto the end.
(2)He guides them and directs them in their way.
(3)He supplies them with strength by His grace, that they may be able to pass
on in their way.
(4)He subdues their enemies.
(5)He doth not only conquer all their enemies, but He avenges their sufferings
on them, and punisheth them for their enmity.
(6)He provides a reward, a crownfor them, and in the bestowing thereof
accomplishes this His blessedoffice of the Captain of our salvation.And all
this should teach us —
(a)To betake ourselves unto Him, and to rely upon Him in the whole course of
our obedience, and all the passagesthereof.
(b)To look for direction and guidance from Him.
(John Owen, D. D.)
The expediency and propriety of appointing a suffering Captain of our
salvation
John Logan.
When Christianity was first published to the world, the earliestobjectionthat
was raisedagainstit arose from the low and suffering state in which its
Author appeared. It is then a subject worthy of our contemplation to inquire
into the reasons that might move Almighty God thus, in &reefopposition to
the prejudices and expectations ofboth Jews and Greeks, to appoint the
Captain of our salvationto be made perfect by a state of sufferings.

I. If we considerour Saviour as THE AUTHOR OF A NEW RELIGION, His
appearance in a suffering state frees His religion from an objectionwhich
applies with full force to every other religion in the world. Had our Saviour
appearedin the pomp of a temporal prince, as the Jews expectedHim; had He
appearedin the characterof a greatphilosopher, as the Greeks wouldhave
wished Him, often had we heard of His powerand of His policy, and been told
that our religionwas more nearly allied to this world than to the other. But
when we bear the Author of our faith declaring from the beginning that He
must suffer many things in His life, and be put to an ignominious and
tormenting death, these suspicions must for ever vanish from our mind. Thus
our religion stands clearof an objection, from which nothing, perhaps, could
have purged it but the blood of its Divine Author.
II. If we consider our Saviour as A PATTERN OF VIRTUE AND ALL
PERFECTION, the expediency of His appearing in a suffering state will
further be evident. One great end of our Saviour's coming into the world was
to set us an example, that we might follow His steps. But, unless His life had
been diversified with sufferings, the utility of His example had been in a great
measure defeated. It is observedby an historian, in relating the life of Cyrus
the Great, that there was one circumstance wanting to the glory of that
illustrious prince; and that was, the having his virtue tried by some sudden
reverse of fortune, and struggling for a time under some grievous calamity.
The observationis just. Men are made for sufferings as wellas for action.
Many faculties of our frame, the most respectable attributes of the mind, as
well as the most amiable qualities of the heart, carry a manifest reference to a
state of adversity, to the dangers which we are destined to combat, and the
distresses we are appointed to bear. Who are the personagesin history that we
admire the most? Those who ha, e suffered some signaldistress, and from a
host of evils have come forth conquerors.
III. If we considerour Saviouras A PRIEST, who was to make an atonement
for the sins of men, the expediency of His making this atonementby sufferings
and death will be manifest. It is one of the doctrines revealedin the New
Testamentthat the Son of God was the Creatorof the world. As therefore He
was our immediate Creator, and as His design in our creationwas defeatedby
sin, there was an evident propriety that He Himself should interpose in our

behalf, and retrieve the affairs of a world which He had createdwith His own
hands. In the work of redemption, therefore, it was expedient that there
should be a brighter display of the Divine perfections, and a greaterexertion
of benevolence than was exhibited in the work of creation.
IV. If we considerour Saviour IN THAT STATE OF GLORY to which He is
now ascended, the propriety of His being made perfect by sufferings will more
fully appear. Because He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,
therefore hath God highly exaltedHim, hath given Him a name above every
name, and committed to Him all powerin heavenand in earth.
(John Logan.)
The expediency of Christ's sufferings
A. Savile, M. A.
I. TO LEAVE NO ROOM FOR SUSPECTINGTHE TRUTH OF HIS
MISSION.
1. Had the Messiahappearedas a powerful and illustrious prince, the bulk of
mankind could not have had an opportunity of freely examining His
credentials. Almost none, but the greatand the mighty, would have dared to
come into His presence;or if they did venture to approachHim, they would
undoubtedly have been filled with dread and perturbation. Dazzled with His
splendour and His glory, they could not have maintained that calm
dispassionate state ofmind which is necessaryforjudging of the pretensions
of a messengerfrom heaven.
2. And had the gospelbeenushered into the world in this splendid manner,
what a ground of exultation would it have afforded to the infidel and profane!
Would they not have long since triumphantly said the Christian faith was not
a rational homage to the truth, but a blind submission to earthly influence and
authority.
3. But besides, while the mean, afflicted condition of our Lord thus strongly
evidences the truth of His religion, it also renders that evidence more palpable

and striking by the glory and success withwhich the religion was afterwards
attended.
II. TO EXHIBIT HIM AS A PERFECTPATTERN OF VIRTUE TO HIS
FOLLOWERS.
1. When we behold the Saviour of men placedin like circumstances with
ourselves, subjectto all our sinless infirmities, submitting to the most
unmerited indignities, exposedto the most bitter and unrelenting persecution,
and even patiently enduring the Cross, despising the shame, acquitting
Himself so gloriously, We dwell with delight upon the at once lovely and
admirable character, andfeel ourselves naturally prompted to give all
diligence to make it the pattern of our conduct.
2. And as the sufferings of Christ were thus necessaryto make the virtues of
His life appear tilted for our imitation, so without, these sufferings there
would have been many Divine and heavenly graces, whichHis life could not
have exhibited. Those which are commonly denominated the passive virtues,
and which we accountthe most hard to practise, could then have had no place
in His character.
3. But not only were the sufferings of the Messiahrequisite to make His
example both of sufficient influence and extent, they were requisite also to
render that example more exaltedand illustrious than it could otherwise have
been. They ennobled and perfectedthe graces ofHis character;they called
forth to public view, in a substantial and living form, that consummate and
unshakenintegrity which, never before nor since, appearedamong men.
III. TO MAKE HIM A PROPER PROPITIATIONFOR OUR SINS. Had not
Christ suffered and died, we could never have reasonablyhoped for the
remissionof sins. For had pardon been dispensed by the Almighty to His
offending creatures, without exacting the penalty due to their crimes, how
would the glory of the Divine perfections have been displayed, and the majesty
of the Divine government maintained? Who would have regarded its
authority, or feared to violate its commands? Sinners would have been
emboldened to multiply their transgressions,and tempted to suppose that the

God of unspotted purity — the God of unchangeable veracity, was altogether
such a one as themselves.
IV. TO MAKE ROOM FOR HIS BRINGING MORE FULLY TO LIGHT A
FUTURE STATE OF IMMORTALITY AND GLORY.
1. Let us considertheir expediency, in order to prepare the wayfor a fuller
demonstration of its existence. What so proper to convince us that the
promises of eternal life are true, as to behold Him, who delivered them,
Himself coming forth triumphant from the grave, and visibly ascending into
heaven before us? Were the most stubborn infidel left to choose forhimself a
proof of his future existence, would it be possible for him to desire a plainer
and a more perfect demonstration? But it is evident, that had not Jesus
suffered and expired, this visible, striking demonstration could not have been
afforded. For without first dying, how could He have risen from the dead?
And had He not risen from the dead, what indubitable security could we have
had of life and immortality?
2. But the sufferings and death of Christ were not only expedient to prepare
the wayfor a full demonstrationof the existence of a future state of glory, they
were expedient also to point out in a more striking manner the way by which
that glory is obtained. The objectof the Deity seems to be not merely to
communicate happiness, but to form His creatures to moral excellence. He
hath designedthem for a state of immortal felicity; but before they enter upon
that state, He hath made it necessarythat they shall have acquired virtuous
habits; and to acquire againtheir virtuous habits, He hath ordained them to
pass through a painful course ofdiscipline. And the more painful and difficult
this course becomes,the purer will be their virtue and the richer their reward.
V. TO GIVE US FULL ASSURANCE HE KNOWS AND SYMPATHISES
WITH OUR FRAILTIES AND OUR" SORROWS, AND WILL
THEREFOREMERCIFULLYINTERCEDEWITH THE FATHER IN OUR
BEHALF. To whom do we in the day of affliction look up for such mercy and
compassion, as from those who have been afflicted themselves? From His
experience of our trials, we are assuredHe hath not only the power, hut the
inclination to succourus. He knows well where our weakness lies, where our

burden presses, andwhat will prove most proper for supporting and relieving
us. Lessons:
1. From the doctrine which we have now illustrated, what reasonhave we to
admire the wisdom of God! We see that it is admirably adapted to confirm
our faith, to improve our nature, to comfort our souls, and, in a consistency
with the honour of Thy perfections, to bring many returning sinners unto
glory.
2. But this subject, while it leads us to admire the wisdom of God,
demonstrates to us also in a most striking manner, the deep malignity of sin.
For if such a remedy as the sufferings and death of Christ was, in the councils
of heaven, deemednecessaryto be employed againstit, how evil and
pernicious must its nature be! — how odious in the sight of God, and how
destructive of the order and happiness of the whole creation! Let us then hate
sin with a perfect hatred.
3. Did it behove Jesus to be made perfect through sufferings, then let us who
are His disciples learn to submit to our sufferings with patience, and consider
them as a requisite part of our education for heaven.
(A. Savile, M. A.)
The refuting powerof truth
Homilist.
I. IT REFUTES THE ERROR THAT THE UNIVERSE IS EITHER
ETERNALOR THE WORK OF CHANCE. The text speaks ofOne who is
the Cause and End of all things.
II. IT REFUTES THE ERROR THAT CHRIST'S SUFFERINGSARE
INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE DIVINE CHARACTER.
III. IT REFUTES THE ERROR THAT GREAT SUFFERINGS,IN THE
CASE OF INDIVIDUALS, IMPLY GREAT SINS.

IV. IT REFUTES THE ERROR THAT GREAT HONOURS CAN BE
OBTAINED WITHOUT GREAT TRIAL. There is no kingdom for man
worth having that is not reached"through much tribulation."
V. IT REFUTES THE ERROR THAT THE GRAND END OF
CHRISTIANITY IS TO CONNECTMAN WITH DOGMATIC SYSTEMS
OF ECCLESIASTICALCONSTITUTIONS. The end is higher; to bring men
not to creeds or churches, but to "glory" — a glory spiritual, divine, ever
progressive.
VI. IT REFUTES THE ERROR THAT THERE ARE BUT FEW THAT
SHALL BE SAVED.
(Homilist.)
The discipline Of suffering
Bp. Westcott.
When we ponder these words we shall all come to feel, I think, that they have
a messagefor us on which we have not yet dwelt with the patient thought that
it requires, though we greatly need its teaching. The currents of theological
speculationhave led us to considerthe sufferings of Christ in relation to God
as a propitiation for sin, rather than in relation to man as a discipline, a
consummation of humanity. The two lines of reflectionmay be indeed, as I
believe they are, more closelyconnectedthan we have at present been brought
to acknowledgeI do not howeverwise now to discuss the propitratory aspect
of the sacrifice ofChrist's life. It is enoughfor us to remember with devout
thankfulness that Christ is the propitiation not for our sins only, but for the
whole world, without further attempting to define how His sacrifice was
efficacious. And we move on surer ground, when we endeavourto regardthat
perfect sacrifice from the other side, as the hallowing of every powerof man
under the circumstances ofa sin-stained world, as the revelationof the
mystery of sorrow and pain. Yes, Christ, though He was Son, and therefore
endowedwith right of accessforHimself to the Father, being of one essence
with the Father, for man's sake, as man, won the right of access to the throne

of God for perfectedhumanity. He learnt obedience, not as if the lessonwere
forcedupon Him by stern necessity, but by choosing, through insight into the
Father's will, that self-surrender even to the death upon the Cross which was
required for the complete reconciliationof man wit, God. And the absolute
union of human nature, in its fullest maturity, with the Divine in the one
Personof our Creatorand Redeemer, was wroughtout in the very schoolof
life in which we are trained. When once we grasp this truth the records of the
Evangelists are filled with a new light. Every work of Christ is seento be a
sacrifice and a victory. Dimly, feebly, imperfectly, we can see in this wayhow
it became God to make the Author of our salvationperfectthrough
sufferings; how every pain which answeredto the Father's will, became to
Him the occasionofa triumph, the disciplining of some human power which
needed to be brought into God's service, the advance one degree farther
towards the Divine likeness to gain which man was made; how, in the actual
condition of the world, His love and His righteousness were displayedin
tenderer grace and grander authority through the gab-saying of enemies;
how. in this sense, evenwithin the range of our imagination, He saw of the
travail of His soul and was satisfied. Dimly, feebly, imperfectly we can see how
also Christ, Himself perfectedthrough suffering, has made known to us once
for all the meaning and the value of suffering; how He has interpreted it as a
Divine discipline, the provision of a Father's love; how He has enabled us to
perceive that at eachstep in the progress oflife it is an opportunity'; bow He
has left to us to realise "in Him" little by little the virtue of His work;to fill up
on our part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in our sufferings,
not as if His work were incomplete or our efforts meritorious, but as being
living members of His Body through which He is pleasedto manifest that
which He has wrought for men. For we shall observe that it was because He
brought many sons to glory, that it became God to make perfect through
sufferings the Author of their salvation. The fitness lay in the correspondence
betweenthe outward circumstances ofHis life and of their lives. The way of
the Lord is the way of His servants. He inlightened the path which they must
tread, and showedits end. And so it is that whenever the example of Christ is
offered to us in Scripture for our imitation, it is His example in suffering. So
far, in His strength, we can follow Him, learning obedience as He learned it,

bringing our wills into conformity with the Father's will, and thereby
attaining to a wider view of His counselin which we canfind rest and joy.
(Bp. Westcott.)
The Godworthiness of salvation
A. B. Bruce, D. D.
It might be presumptuous to say that God was bound to become a Saviour,
but it may confidently be assertedthat to save becomes Him. The work He
undertook was congruous to His position and character. It was worthy of God
the Creator, by whom all things were made at the first, that He should not
allow His workmanship in man to be utterly marred and frustrated by sin.
The irretrievable ruin of man would have seriouslycompromisedthe
Creator's honour and glory. It would have made it possible to charge the
Divine Being with failure, to represent Him as overreachedby the tempter of
man, to suspectHim of want of power or of will to remedy the mischief done
by the fall. On this subject, in his discourse on the Incarnation of the Word,
well remarks:"It would have been an indecencyif those who had been once
createdrational had been allowedto perish through corruption. Forthat
would have been unworthy of the goodnessofGod, if the beings He had
Himself createdhad been allowedto perish through the fraud of the devil
againstman. Nay, it would have been most indecent that the skill of God
displayed in man should be destroyedeither through their carelessnessor
through the devil's craftiness. The God-worthiness ofthe end becomes still
more apparent when the subjects of the Divine operationare thought of as,
what they are here called, sons. Whatmore worthy of Godthan to lead His
own sons to the glory for which man was originally fitted and destined, when
be was made in God's image, and setat the head of the creation? The title
"sons" was possiblysuggestedby the creationstory, but it arises immediately
out of the nature of salvationas indicated in the quotation from the eighth
Psalm— lordship in the world to be. This high destiny places man alongside
of the Son whom God "appointed heir of all things." "If sons, then heirs,"
reasonedPaul;"if heirs, then sons," arguesinverselythe author of our epistle.

Both reasonlegitimately, for sonship and heirship imply eachother. Those
who are appointed to lordship in the new world of redemption are sons of
God, for what higher privilege or glory can God bestow upon His sons? And
on those who stand in a filial relation to God He may worthily bestow so great
a boon. To lead His sons to their glorious inheritance is the appropriate thing
for Godto do.
(A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
God's glory in giving His Son to die
W. Gouge.
If we take a view of God's specialproperties, we shall find the glory of them so
setforth in Christ's Incarnation and Passion, and the redemption of man
thereby, as in nothing more. I will exemplify this in five of them.
1. The power of God hath been manifested by many wonderful works of His
since the beginning of the world. The book of Job and book of Psalms do
reckonup cataloguesofGod's powerful and mighty works;but they are all
inferior to those works which were done by the Son of God becoming man and
dying; for hereby was the curse of the law removed, the bonds of death
broken, the devil and his whole host vanquished. The Son of God did this, and
much more, not by arraying Himself with majesty and power, but by putting
on Him weak and frail flesh, and by subjecting Himself to death. Herein was
strength made perfect in weakness(2 Corinthians 12:9).
2. The wisdom of God was greatlysetforth in the first creationor all things in
their excellentorder and beauty, and in the wise government of them; but
after that by sin they were put out of order, to bring them into a comelyframe
againwas an argument of much more wisdom, especiallyif we duly weigh
how, by the creature's transgression, the just Creatorwas provokedto wrath.
To find out a means, in this case, ofatonement betwixt God and man must
needs imply much mow e wisdom. For who should make this atonement? Not
man, because he was the transgressor;not God, because He was offended and
incensed:yet God, by taking man's nature upon Him, God-man, by suffering,

did this deed; He made the atonement. God having revealedthis mystery unto
His Church, every one that is instructed in the Christian faith can say, Thus,
and thus it is done: But had not God by His infinite wisdom found out and
made known this means of reconciliation, though all the heads of all creatures
had consultedthereabout, their counsels wouldhave been altogetherin vain.
We have, therefore, just cause with an holy admiration to break out and say,
"Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge ofGod!"
(Romans 11:33).
3. The justice of God hath been made known in all ages by judgments
executedon wickedsinners, as the punishment of our first parents, the
drowning of the old world, the destroying of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire
and brimstone, the casting off the Jews, the casting of wickedangels and
reprobate men into heft fire; but to exactthe uttermost of the Sonof God,
who became a surety for man, and so to exactit as in our nature He most bear
the infinite wrath of His Fatherand satisfyHis justice to the full, is an
instance of more exact justice than ever was manifested.
4. The truth of God is exceedinglyclearedby God's giving His Sonto die, and
that in accomplishmentof His threatening and promises.(1)Forthreatening
God had said to man, "In the day thou eatestof the tree of the knowledge of
goodand evil, thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). How could God's truth
have been accomplishedin this threatening, and man not utterly destroyed, it
Christ had not died in our nature?(2)For promise, the first that ever was
made after man's fall was this, "The seedof the woman shall bruise the
serpent's bead" (Genesis 3:15). As this was the first promise, so was it the
ground of all other promises made to God's electin Christ. Now God having
accomplishedthis promise by giving His Son to death, how canwe doubt of
His truth in any other promise whatsoever? The accomplishmentof no other
promise could so setout God's truth as of this; for other promises do depend
on this, and not this on any of them. Besides, this is the greatestofall other
promises. We may therefore on this ground say, "He that sparednot His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

5. God's mercy is most magnified by sending His Son into the world to die for
man. "The mercies of God are over all His works" (Psalm145:9). But the
glass whereinthey are most perspicuouslyseenis Jesus Christ made man, and
made a sacrifice for man's sin.
(W. Gouge.)
"Justlike Him
A missionary, addressing a pious woman, said, "Mary, is not the love of God
wonderful?" and then, enlarging on its manifestation in the atonement of
Christ, he made the appeal, "Is it nut wonderful? " Mary simply, but we may
add sublimely, replied, "Master, massa,me no rink it so wonderful, 'cause it is
just like Him." In bringing many sons to glory. —
The testof sonship
NewmanHall, LL. B.
I. A DEFINITION OF GOD. We are told that for Him, and by Him, are all
things; for Him — on His account — to manifest His glory — to display His
perfections. Godhath createdall things for Himself. "Well, does not that look
selfish? Is that worthy of God?" If we do anything for ourselves, and to show
forth ourselves, we do it to show forth something that is finite and imperfect;
and in attempting to show forth ourselves, and seek our own ends, we are
overlooking the interests of other people. Therefore it is most improper for a
creature to do anything chiefly to promote his own glory. But it is otherwise
with God, for He is perfect, and the manifestation of Himself is the
manifestation of perfection. Would you wish anything else? Shallcreationbe
for any lower end than the exhibition of the Creator? Noris the manifestation
of Himself apart from the highest hope of the universe, for God is love; the
manifestation of love and beneficence is, therefore, the diffusion of happiness.
There is no greater, more benevolent purpose than the creationof all things
for Himself. All things in the universe, howevergreat, are subservient to an

end infinitely greaterthan themselves. Howeversmall, they are not so
insignificant as not to be employed for the greatestofall ends — for the
manifestation of God the infinite.
II. THE GRACIOUS DESIGN OF THIS GLORIOUS, THIS INFINITE
BEING. It is to bring many sons unto glory. These many sons are to be
brought unto glory from among a rebellious and condemned race.
1. The first step towards this is to make them sons — to convert, to change
them from foes to children; for by nature and by practice we are enemies to
God, and not subject to the will of God. We are thus constituted sons through
an act of God's free, sovereign, unmerited favour. He pardons all our sins. He
puts the spirit of adoption into Us, and as He manifests Himself to us as our
loving Father, He enables us to feelto Him as loving and trusting children. We
seek Him whom we avoided; we trust Him whom we dreaded; we serve Him
againstwhom we rebelled; we are sons.
2. And, having made us sons, He then brings us to glory. God does not form
children for Himself and then forsake them.
III. But what is HIS METHOD? Bya Mediator, calledin the text the Captain
of Salvation. The same word is translatedin other passages, the Prince of Life
— in others, "the Author and Finisher of faith." Here it is translated
"Captain." He is our Captain. He goes in advance. He acts as our Champion.
He fights our great adversarythe devil for us — defeats him — "destroys him
that had the power of death, even the devil." We can do all things through our
Captain strengthening us. But we go on to observe that this Captain of
Salvationwas to be qualified for His office by suffering. He was to be made
perfect by suffering. Emphatically He was a man of sorrows. Bythose sorrows
He was made perfect, not as to His Divinity, for that could not be made more
perfect, nor as to his moral purity, for that was perfectnecessarily;but made
perfect — that is, qualified for His office. The suffering was sacrificial. He had
to atone for our sins. He had not merely to go before us as our Captain, but to
bear the cross. So He was made a sacrifice for us. And He was to be made an
example as well as a sacrifice. Mensuffer. This is a world of trouble, and He
could not have been an adequate example if He had not been an example in

that which we are called to endure. He was to be a sympathising friend on
whom we could look as understanding our case, as able to feelwith us and for
us, awedthis would be impossible except by suffering. And, therefore, He was
fitted to be the Captain and Leader of our Salvationby suffering.
IV. THE GREAT PROPOSITION. It was befitting in Him for whom and by
whom are all things, in thus bringing many sons into glory through the
mediation of the Captain of Salvation, to make the Captain of Salvationfitted
for His work through suffering. It was befitting the Eternal God that His
designs should be accomplished;and as suffering was essentialto the end He
had in view, was it not befitting that God should not spare even His own Son
in order that He might be qualified for the work of bringing many sons to
glory?
(NewmanHall, LL. B.)
The bringing of many sons to glory
Alex McNaughton.
I. THE OBJECTTO BE ACCOMPLISHED WAS THE BRINGING OF
MANY SONS TO GLORY, A parent deals not with his children on selfish
and mercenary principles. He does not, like a lawgiver, merely protectthem,
and dispense to them according to their merits; or, like a master, merely
remunerate their work. He deals with them in love. "Son, thou art ever with
me, and all that I have is thine," is the language of parental affection. The
riches of Divine all-sufficiency are not, like the possessionsofan earthly
parent, diminished by being shared, affording the less for eachthat many
partake. No;like the light of the sun, eachreceives the full enjoyment. "He
that overcomethshall inherit all things, and 1 will be his God and he shall be
My son." The abode destined to receive them is the heaven of glory, where
every object and scene is resplendent with the glory of God and of the Lamb;
their inheritance, the kingdom of glory; their portion the God of glory; their
associates,His glorious family; their employments and enjoyments are all
glorious:and, what is essentialto their enjoyment of all is, that they are for

ever perfectedin personal glory — the glory not merely of celestialsplendour,
but the moral glory of unsullied holiness — the noblest glory in the eyes of
God and of all holy intelligences.
II. THE PLAN ADOPTED FOR THIS END. A leaderto glory is appointed,
and He is made "perfectthrough sufferings." We have a country to possess, a
journey and a warfare to accomplish, an enemy to conquer, and a victory to
win. Christ is the breaker-up of the way, the leader and commander of the
people. In order that the Son of God might fulfil the offices of our Redeemer
— in order that He might have a banner to lift up in this character, and a
willing hast rangedunder it — it was necessarythat He Himself should pass
through the lastextremity of conflict and death, and be thus made perfect
through suffering. Let us inquire in what respects, andfor what ends, this was
necessary.
1. To make an atonementfor our sins, and redeem our souls.
2. His sufferings were requisite in order to His perfect adaptation as our
pattern and example.
3. His sufferings were endured also in order to His more perfectly identifying
Himself by sympathy with His people, and engaging their absolute confidence.
(Alex McNaughton.)
Eternal redemption
R. Philip.
There is, perhaps, nothing we understand better, in the conduct of others,
than what is becoming or unbecoming in their spirit and deportment. We are
almost eagle-eyedto discoverwhatever is worthy or unworthy of a man's rank
and character. This almostinstinctive sense ofpropriety in human conduct
might, if wisely employed, enable us to judge wiselyof what is becoming m the
Divine conduct. For, if we expect wise, good, and great, men to actup to their
characterand avowedprinciples, we may wellexpect that the infinitely wise,
great, and goodGod will do nothing unbecoming His characterand

supremacy. When, therefore, it is said that it "became" Him to save sinners,
only by the blood of the Lamb, it surely becomes us to searchin His character
and salvation, not for reasons why redemption could not, or should not, be by
atonement, but for reasons whyit is so. Now, upon the very surface of the
case, it is self-evident that an infinitely wise God would neither do too much
nor too little for the salvation of man. Less than enough would not become His
love; more than enough would not become His wisdom.
I. BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY IS GOD'S CHIEF AND FINAL
OBJECT,IN ALL THE MERCYAND GRACE WHICH HE EXERCISES
TOWARDS MAN.
1. NOW glory, as a place, is the heavenwhere God Himself dwells and reigns,
visibly and eternally. It is His own specialtemple, resplendent with His
presence, and vocalwith His worship. It is His own central throne, from
which He surveys and rules the universe.
2. Again, glory, as a state of character, is likeness to the God of heaven; — it is
to bear the image of His spotless holiness, andto breathe the spirit of His
perfect love. This is the glory to which God proposes to bring many sons. Now
this heavenis so unlike our earth — where. God is altogetherso invisible, and
man so unholy and unloving-that, to say the least, a very greatchange for the
better must take place in men before they can be fit for such glory. There are
some things in this heavenwhich are not very agreeable to the natural mind of
man, such as universal and eve lasting spirituality and harmony. Such being
the soberfacts of the case,it surely " becomes"Godto take care that this
heaven, which is to be His own eternal temple and throne, shall not be
disgracednor disturbed by the presence ofunholy or alienatedinhabitants.
II. THE SUFFERINGSOF CHRIST ARE DECLARED TO BE THE WAY
IN WHICH IT BECAME GOD TO BRING MAN TO GLORY.
III. It is declared that, in saving man by the suffering of Christ, GOD HAD A
REGARD TO THE RELATION IN WHICH ALL THINGS IN THE
UNIVERSE STOOD TO HIMSELF. What He did in making Christ a
sacrifice for our sins was what "because" Him to do as the author and end of
all things visible and invisible. Now —

1. It certainly became God to save man in a way that should not endangerthe
safetyof angels. Butthis could not have been done by penitential salvation.
That would have been to tell all the unfallen universe that tears would repair
any injury they might ever do to the honour of Godor their own interests. A
fine lessonin a universe where even innocence is no safeguardfrom
temptation!
2. It certainly became God to save man in a way which should not impeach
His characterfor not saving fallen angels. But could they have felt thus if the
next race of sinners had been pardoned on mere repentance? Eternal
happiness offeredto one race of sinners, and eternal misery inflicted on
another race of sinners, would be an eternalanomaly in the moral
government of God but for the atonement made by Christ on our behalf. But
now no holy nor wise being can wonder that grace reigns by the blood of the
Lamb of God. Nor can they wonderthat Satan and his angels are not
redeemed, seeing it was by opposing this scheme of redemption they sinned
and fell.
3. It became God to redeem man, and confirm angels, in such a way as to
leave no possibility of imagining that any higher happiness could be found out
than the voluntary gift of God conferred.
4. It became God to redeem man, and to confirm angels, in such a wayas to
render the impartiality of His love to both for ever unquestionable.
Accordingly, it is as sons that He will bring men to glory — the very rank
which all the unfallen spirits in all worlds hold.
(R. Philip.)
The road to glory
Archbp. Sumner.
The text seems to representAlmighty God as looking down upon His sinful
and rebellious creatures, and taking counselfor their instruction, as we might
imagine some father, like him in the parable, made acquainted with the

wretchedness ofhis prodigal son, and devising within himself a way in which
he might recoverhim to goodnessand to happiness. Do you observe what is
here implied?
1. They who were to be brought to glory were not yet in a fit state for glory. It
was a work to be done; something for which provision was to be made —
something which was intended, planned, and gradually to be perfected. Alas t
it is too true. man in his natural state is not prepared for a world of which the
description is, that "therein dwelleth righteousness."
2. Yet are they capable of becoming so. Like the ore not yet cleansedfrom the
worthless earth with which it is miracled, or like the precious stone covered
with rust or clay, but of which the skilful eye perceives that it may be purified,
and refined, and polished, and "fitted for the master's use," even hereafterto
fear a place among his treasures. Suchwas the being for whom God had a
design of mercy.
3. But how to accomplishit?
4. Here we perceive a reasonwhy "the Captain of our salvation" was "made
perfect through suffering." Man, who was to be hereafterglorified, was now
lying under the penalty of sin; he was in a state of condemnation, as a
transgressorofthe laws which God has appointed for His creatures. Like the
heir of a vast estate, but found guilty of some crime, by which that estate is
forfeited, his condemnation lies betweenhim and the inheritance assignedto
him. "Why," perhaps you ask, "might not the Lord freely pardon these His
guilty creatures, these His offending sons? "Verily, "the secretthings belong
unto the Lord our God"; but this we know — the judge here on earth, the
magistrate, cannotfreely pardon the offender againsthuman laws;they
cannot sethim free without endangering the whole fabric of society. Therefore
was "the Captain of our salvationm ,de perfect through suffering"; therefore
through suffering did He accomplishour salvation. Christ died, the just for
the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
5. Now, then considerman in this stage of his progress towards glory. Much
has been done. but much remains to do. The slave may be emancipatedfrom
chains, but he is not emancipatedfrom base and servile ways, and is

altogetherunfit for the glories of a throne or the presence ofa king. God,
therefore, in "bringing many sons to glory," has other plans of mercy beyond
the atonementmade. Their corruptions must be purified; the evil of their
nature cured. How, then, is this to be effectedin a way consistentwith that
Being with whom we have to do? What must be clone if a benefactorwere to
approachthe slave and show him how a price was paid for his redemption,
and that the moment he claims freedom an estate is prepared for him to enjoy,
if lie were once fitted for the inheritance. He must be first persuaded of his
present wretchedness,willing to be releasedfrom it, and to receive the benefit
proposed. And in the case ofearthly bondage there is no difficulty; the evils of
such a state are felt and acknowledged. Notso in the case ofSatan's bondmen;
they are too often willing slaves. And this He does for the sons whom He leads
to glory. He "convinces themof sin," that it is their guilt — "of
righteousness,"thatit is to be found in Christ — "ofjudgment, the prince of
this world is judged" — that this world must be overcome, orthey must share
its doom. When God was leading the Israelites into the land of CanaanHe did
not rid the laud at once of its inhabitants, but put them out little by little. And
so no doubt He has a merciful purpose in all the difficulties which His people
meet with in their progress towards the heavenly Canaan. Here, too, we see —
here at leastwe believe we see — the reasonof those troubles which many of
God's faithful people pass through. Is the Christian harassedby the
remainder of sin, so that " when he world do goodevil is present with him"?
Or is it the straitness of poverty which weighs him down? In all those secret
trials which the world sees not, as well as all those which are evident to all,
there is one intent which we cannot but see:God is weaning the heart from the
present world, and drawing it to Himself.
(Archbp. Sumner.)
Bringing many sons to glory
A. S. Patterson, M. A.
God is here representedas executing a greatwork — that of " bringing many
sons unto glory." "Glory" is a grand word — one of the grandestin the

vocabulary of human speech;and it is habitually employed in Scripture to
denote the "greatrecompence ofreward" which awaits the righteous in the
world to come. In the Old Testamentit is said: "The Lord will give grace and
glory" (Psalm84:11); Thou shall guide me with Thy counsel, and afterwards
receive me to glory" (Psalm 73:24);and in the New:"I reckonthat the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be comparedwith the glory
which shall be revealedin us" (Romans 8:18); "Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, workethfor us a far more exceeding and eternalweight of
glory." (2 Corinthians 4:17); "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians
1:27); "The salvationwhich is in" Christ, with eternal glory," (2 Timothy
2:10). Well does heavenrealise the brilliant and impressive name of glory. The
place — the pursuits — the pleasures — the inhabitants — all are glorious.
1. The place is glorious. Paradise — to which the departing spirits of the
righteous pass — is certainly a locality. As the residence of Christ. that region
of the universe must needs be glorious, having objects adapted to the
organisation, and aptitudes, and tastes ofhis fine humanity. And who can fall
but, even when a pure spirit is disseveredfrom its sister-frame, these objects
let in their glory on the soul? But at last, in admirable and exquisite
adaptation to the complete humanity of believers, the "new heavens and new
earth" will come. It may seemsentimentalism, but it is sobersense, to say: If
earth be so fair, how beautiful must heaven be! if the azure skies be so
resplendent, holy majestic must be that sublimer world!
2. The pursuits are glorious. The inhabitants of heavenshall "see God." His
Divine Essence,indeed, can never be beheld by human eye (1 Timothy 6:16).
But there will probably be an outburst of visible glory from His eternal
throne, significant of His presence and His majesty. At any rate, the soul will
realise His infinite wisdom, and might, and purity, and love, with such
clearness,and vividness, and power, as, in a sublime sense, to behold the
invisible God. In heaven they will literally behold His glorious person— they
will have Him for their associate andfriend — they will gaze into the deep
recessesofHis love.

3. The pleasures are glorious. Deepand strong, no doubt, they are, like the
mighty and majestic sea — yet, probably, calm and placid, as the b sore of the
lake in the sunshine of the summer-sky.
4. The inhabitants themselves are glorious. What an expressive phrase — "the
spirits of just men made perfect!" To the scenes,the pursuits, and the
pleasures, ofthe heavenly world, the constitutions and characters ofits
inhabitants will completelycorrespond. Such is the glory of heaven. It is
summarily denoted by St. Paul in the expression — an "exceeding and eternal
weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). There is a glory of the flowers — there
is a glory of the stars-there is a glory of the sun. But each, and all, is far
exceededand outshone b v the glory of the heavens. And what is so bright,
and beautiful, and precious, is "eternal;" it shall last for ever — it shall never
pass away.And whom does Jehovahbring to this celestialglory? "Sons"
"many sons."
1. The filial relation of believers to God is often set forth in Scripture. There
are two ways in which one personmay become another person's child — birth
and adoption. In the writings of St. John and St. Peter, the former — in those
of St. Paul, the latter is propounded as the fundamental idea of the believer's
sonship. Starting from either of the two conceptions, we are free to carry out
the figure into the collateraland kindred ideas of protection, guidance,
instruction, discipline, comfort, pity, and tenderest love, as bestowedby God
on His believing people. It is as children that they are brought to glory.
2. The statement that "many sons" are brought to glory is quite consistent
with the passageswhichindicate that comparatively few of the inhabitants of
earth are in a state of salvation. Already, a mighty multitude of souls have
been ransomed and renewed. In future times fore. told in prophecy, "a nation
shall be born in a day," and tribes and tongues shall shout, "Come and let us
go up to Jehovah's house.',
3. These "many sons " God is "bringing to glory." He chose them to this
bright inheritance in the depths of the pasteternity (Ephesians 1:4-6; 2
Thessalonians 2:13). He sent His Son to win and work out "an eternal
redemption" for them (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Romans 8:32). He arrests

them, by His Spirit, amidst the wildness of their wanderings, and adopts them
into His cherished family (Romans 5:17; Romans 8:29, 30; 2 Corinthians 5:18;
Ephesians 2:1-10. Colossians 1:12). He "guides them by His counsel" (Psalm
73:24). He "will never leave them nor forsake them" (Hebrews 13:5). He
"keeps them by His power, through faith, unto salvation" (1 Peter1:5). At
last, He receives them to glory (Psalm 73:24). He introduces, and bids them
welcome, to their paternal home.
4. The "many sons" whom the Father brings to glory are here represented as
standing in a rely intimate relation to Jesus Christ. He is "the Captain of their
salvation." Glorious Captain! who would not follow Thee? Yet this Captain
had "His sufferings." From His cradle to His grave, He was "a man of
sorrows."In body, in soul, in circumstances, He suffered grievously (Isaiah
53:2-6, 10; Zechariah13:7; Matthew 4:1; Matthew 8:20; Matthew 11:19;
Matthew 26:36 — Matthew 27:50; Luke 19:41;John 4:6; Galatians 3:13; 1
Peter2:21; 1 Peter3:18; 1 Peter4:1).
5. But He is also representedas "made perfectthrough sufferings."
(A. S. Patterson, M. A.)
Make the Captain of their salvationperfect through sufferings
The Captain of salvation
A. B. Bruce, D. D.
He might conceivablyhave savedmen by a direct actof sovereignpowerand
mercy. But He chose to save by mediation. And this method, if not the only
possible one, is at leastfitting. It became Him for whom are all things, and by
whom are all things, to bring His sons to glory in this way.
1. BecauseHe was thereby following the analogyof providence, doing this
work of deliverance in the manner in which we see Him performing all works
of deliverance recordedin history: e.g. the deliverance of Israelout of Egypt.
God led His ancient people from Egypt to Canaan, like a flock, "by the hand
of Moses andAaron."

Jesus was made perfect through suffering

Jesus was made perfect through suffering

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