Now that I've got your attention, I'll explain. Every other Thursday evening I meet with one or two friends of mine and we study through books of the Bible. It's really great to read Gods word with others and then get their feedback as to how they read the text and what God has reveled to them through it.
We're all at different places in our lives, no doubt, but we are also in very different spiritual places in our walk with Christ as well. Many times God will use a portion of text that effects one of us in one way and while the rest of us appreciate the text it has no big impact on us at the time. A couple weeks ago, this was not the case.
I've read through Hebrews on several different occasions and for whatever reason a portion of text really stood out like it never had before. Not just to me but also to my study partner as well.
Hebrews 2:9-11 reads as follows (our focus is on verse 10):
9But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers
Wow, did you catch that! Here it is again, this time in slow motion: 10... make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Wait, I thought Jesus was already perfect, but he also needed to be made perfect? The answer to both of those questions is YES! Yes, Jesus is God! Yes, Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life. Yes, Jesus was always obedient to his father even to his death on a cross. This verse is not implying that Jesus was sinful by any means. In fact it has more to do with our justification and or sanctification than anything else.
In order to have a perfect sacrifice for our sin, Christ himself had to be prefect. He had to perfectly obey his father all the way up to and including his death on the cross. In his divinity he is perfect in every way and in his humanity he was made perfect by going through the same temptations, trills, life experiences and even death that we go trough. In his sinless perfection he is fully God, in his death he was fully human. In his resurrection he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who can humbly identify with those he calls his.
