Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 2:10

"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 (ASV)

For it became Him. There was a fitness or appropriateness in it. It was such an arrangement as was fitting for God to make, in redeeming many, that the great agent through whom it was accomplished should be made complete in all respects through sufferings. The apostle evidently means by this to address an objection that might be raised by a Jew to the doctrine he had been stating—an objection drawn from the fact that Jesus was a man of sorrows and that His life was one of affliction.

He addresses this by stating that there was a fitness and propriety in that fact. There was a reason for it—a reason drawn from the plan and character of God. It was fitting, in the nature of the case, that He should be qualified to be a complete or perfect Saviour—a Saviour perfectly suited to the purpose undertaken, through sufferings.

The apostle does not state the reasons for this fitness. The substance of it probably was that it was fitting for Him, as a Being of infinite benevolence—as one who wished to provide a perfect system of redemption—to subject His Son to such sufferings as would completely qualify Him to be a Saviour for all people.

This submission to His humble condition and His many woes made Him the kind of Saviour humanity needed and fully qualified Him for His work. It was fitting that He who would redeem the suffering and the lost should share their nature, identify Himself with them, and share their woes and the consequences of their sins.

For whom are all things. For whose glory the whole universe was made, and for whom the whole arrangement for salvation has been formed. The phrase is synonymous with "the Supreme Ruler," and the idea is that it was fitting for the Sovereign of the universe to provide a perfect plan of salvation—even though it involved the humiliation and death of His own Son.

And by whom are all things. Through whose agency everything is made. Therefore, since it was by His agency that the plan of salvation was initiated, it was fitting that it should be perfect. It was not the work of fate or chance, and it was appropriate that the whole plan should bear the mark of the infinite wisdom of its Author.

In bringing many sons unto glory. To heaven. This was the plan: to bring many to heaven who would be regarded and treated as His sons. It was not a plan to save a few—but to save many. From this, learn:

1. That the plan was full of benevolence.

2. No representation of the gospel should ever be made that will leave the impression that only a few, or a small part of the whole race, will be saved. There is no such representation in the Bible, and it should not be made.

   God intends, taking the whole race together, to save a large part of the human family. It is true, few may have been saved in past ages, and few now are His friends and are traveling to heaven; but brighter days are to come on earth.

   The time is to come when the gospel will spread over all lands; and during that long period of the millennium, innumerable millions will be brought under its saving power and admitted to heaven. All portrayals of the gospel are wrong that represent it as narrow in its design, narrow in its offer, and narrow in its results.

To make the captain of their salvation. The Lord Jesus, who is represented as the leader or commander of the army of the redeemed—"the sacramental host of God's elect." The word "captain" we now apply to an inferior officer—the commander of a "company" of soldiers. The Greek word—archgov—is a more general term and properly denotes the author or source of anything, then a leader, chief, or prince. In Acts 3:15, it is rendered prince: and killed the Prince of life. So in Acts 5:31: Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. In Hebrews 12:2, it is rendered author: Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. (Compare the commentary on Hebrews 12:2).

Perfect through sufferings. This means complete through sufferings; that is, to make Him wholly qualified for His work, so that He would be a Saviour perfectly suited to redeem humanity. This does not mean that He was sinful before and was made holy by His sufferings, nor that He was not in all respects a perfect man before.

Instead, it means that through His sufferings He was made wholly fitted to be a Saviour for humanity, and that, therefore, the fact that He was a suffering man was no evidence, as a Jew might have argued, that He was not the Son of God.

There was a completeness, a fulfillment of all that was necessary for His character as a Saviour, through the sufferings He endured. We are made morally better by afflictions if we receive them in the right way—for we are sinful and need to be purified in the furnace of affliction. Christ was not made better, for He was already perfectly holy; instead, He was completely equipped for the work He came to do through His sorrows.

Nor does this mean here precisely that He was exalted to heaven as a reward for His sufferings, or that He was raised to glory as a consequence of them—which was true in itself. Rather, it means that He was made complete, or fully qualified to be a Saviour, by His sorrows. He was made complete in this way for these reasons:

1. Because His suffering in all the forms to which flesh is liable made Him an example to all His people who will pass through trials. They have before them a perfect model to show them how to endure afflictions.

   Had this not occurred, He could not have been regarded as a complete or perfect Saviour—that is, the kind of Saviour we need.

2. He is able to sympathize with them and to help them in their temptations (Hebrews 2:18).

3. By His sufferings an atonement was made for sin. He would have been an imperfect Saviour—if the name Saviour could have been given to Him at all—if He had not died to make an atonement for transgression.

   To make Him complete as a Saviour, it was necessary that He should suffer and die. When He hung on the cross in the agonies of death, He could appropriately say, It is finished. The work is complete. All has been done that could be required, and humanity may now have the assurance that it has a perfect Saviour—perfect not only in moral character, but perfect in His work and in His suitability to the condition of humankind. (Compare Hebrews 5:8-9 and Luke 13:32; see also the commentary on Luke 13:32).