9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
9 And having been perfected [completed],
The word “perfected” means to bring to a goal. The Father brought Christ to the goal of High Priest who could empathize with sinners. Jesus was made perfect for the role of Savior by His sufferings as a man (Lu 2:52). The Father brought Him to the goal of learning in His humanity. He would fully empathize with every human being by the pain He endured. He was fully qualified to represent men as their High Priest.
Christ’s perfection was not simply to acquaint Him with the human condition but to prepare Him for the sacrifice He was to make on the cross. The issue here is the Father’s vocational purpose for Christ. It is important to note that Christ’s perfection does not relate to His person but to His office.
He became the author [source] of eternal salvation [deliverance]
The particular “salvation” here is that of our “eternal” inheritance (He 1:14; 9:15). In this case it does not refer to initial salvation of the soul.
Christ’s salvation is eternal in the sense that it is final. No more sacrifice needs to be made for our sins. He accomplished it once for all, and it is permanently and eternally valid.
Jesus is the author or source of eternal salvation to those willing to obey the Father’s will.
to all who obey Him,
The obedience here is that which is modeled after the obedience of Jesus’ suffering in His humanity. To “obey” here is to exercise faith in Christ (Ro 1:5). It has nothing to do with moral obedience. The idea is acceptance of God’s will. Hebrews uses the word “obey” here to mean trust (Acts 6:7; Ro 10:16; 1 Pe 1:22). The wilderness generation did not obey Him because of their lack of faith.
PRINCIPLE:
Christ provides all the resources necessary to those who apply them to their experience.
APPLICATION:
There are certain resources that flow from Christ’s priestly office and activities for the Christian who applies truth to experience.
It is important to understand the purposes for Christ’s priesthood. There is need for believers and non-believers to have a priest to intercede on their behalf. Each person needs someone to mediate between himself and God. No one except Christ could do this mediation. His work as mediator was to make intercession on our behalf based on His work, His payment for our sin/s. This work satisfied (propitiated) God; He met all God’s standards for people entering His presence.
