Day by Day in God's Word-- The Word Makes Perfect

Text: “8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:8-10)

This passage, especially v. 8 and the first part of v. 9, are challenging. The idea that Jesus “learned obedience,” the idea that he “was made perfect,” does not mesh easily with our understanding of Jesus Christ. As someone once said, it’s the harder passages of scripture that are worth the most attention. So let’s wrestle with this one for a few minutes tonight.

Why does it strike us as odd for Jesus to “learn obedience” or to “be made perfect”? You might say that it contradicts his divine nature. It undermines the fact that He always was and is the eternal Son of God. And I’m sure that there have been well-meaning people who have rejected these verses in a well-meaning attempt to defend the divinity of Christ.

What keeps us from doing that, even with the best intentions, is the need to affirm the humanity of Christ.

When we say that He became man, it is in the fullest, most complete sense. He was not play-acting; He did not put on our human flesh like you or I might put on a costume and pretend to be superman; “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4). Jesus was fully and genuinely accountable to God the Father according to the Law.

There are stories of kings or princes who dress up in the clothes of ordinary people and sneak out to live like an ordinary person. But when they do, they never really are ordinary people. If they’re caught going somewhere they shouldn’t go or doing something they shouldn’t do, it’s easy enough for them to simply drop the disguise and resume their rightful place as king— kings, of course, being, by nature, above the law. He is the law-maker; He is the law-giver; He is the judge.

As Pastor Reed put it so beautifully in an Ascension Day sermon 4 or 5 years ago, we imagine that Jesus came to earth with His hand stamped. You and I go to a game or a fair, for example, and if you have to go back out to the car or leave for some other reason and come back, you get your hand stamped so that, when you return, you can go right back in.

Not so with Jesus Christ. He was born under the law. “He emptied Himself” of His divine glory, magesty, and authority (Philippians 2:7). When the Father sent Him to be born of the Virgin Mary, He came here to earth without any right to return to heaven. To return, He would have to keep God’s Law perfectly. He would have to show perfect obedience. He had to love God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength. He had to love His neighbor as Himself. Perfectly.

And the Father did not make it easy on Him one bit. He put Jesus through a genuine test. Jesus learned true obedience. He was obedient even to the point of death— even death on a cross.

As He ascended back up into heaven, it was not simply a beloved son finding his way back home. It was the Feast of Victory! All of heaven— angels, archangels, and all the host of heaven are rejoicing because He has been tested, even to the point of death, and found Worthy of a place of honor at the Father’s right hand; Worthy to rule over heaven and earth, to open the seals of the book of the history of this world, directing the events of nations and peoples according to the Father’s perfect plan of salvation; Worthy to return on the Last Day and judge the living and the dead; Worthy of honor and glory and magesty and authority and dominion, forever and ever! Amen!

That is what the writer of the book of Hebrews means when he says that Jesus “learned obedience,” that He “was made perfect.”

Why would He put HImself through all of that? Why would He put Himself on the line like that— obligating Himself to living a perfect life for 33 years, let alone to the suffering and death that He was subjected to?

For you.

So that, as the Great High Priest for all humanity, He would have a worthy sacrifice to offer to the Father as payment for your sin.

The sacrifice that He offered on your behalf was no mere token. It was the most precious gift that has ever been— and could ever be— given by anyone to anyone. What He offered the Father was far more precious than all the gold and silver. It was not just more precious than anything of value, it was more precious than everything of value— all of it. More precious than the whole world and everything in it. We call that offering, that sacrifice “His perfect life,” we call it “the righteousness of Christ,” but to call it those things is almost to sin by understatement. His was a life without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish (Eph. 5: 27). That is the price with which He redeemed you: His perfect life and His perfect suffering and death.

“8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:8-10)

On account of His perfect sacrifice, His Word makes you perfect. His righteousness is not just the price with which He redeemed you, that is also what He has given to you, what He has made you. “19 For as by [Adam]’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the... obedience [of Jesus Christ you have been] made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

When we say that, by His blood, He has made you righteous, you have been declared perfect, it is nothing like putting on a costume and pretending to be superman; it is in the fullest, most complete sense. You are no more play-acting than He was. “For your sake God made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that, in Him, you [have been made] the righteousness of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:21).

All of heaven— angels, archangels, and all the host of heaven rejoiced as He cleansed you, making you holy, “by the washing of water of water with the word, so that He might present you to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, …holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26-27). And they will rejoice again on the Last Day as your King— the King of Righteousness— leads you in triumphal procession and presents you to His Father.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2).

“Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.... 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Heb. 13:1-9, 15-16).

It is a challenging passage of God’s Word but, if you are willing to wrestle with it, you discover in the divinity of Jesus Christ, joined eternally with His humanity, that, because He learned obedience, because He was made perfect, God’s Word makes you perfect. And that still is not the end of what it means to live, day by day, in God’s Word.