AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION UNTO ALL THEM THAT OBEY
HIM
By
ARLEN L. CHITWOOD
"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," (Hebrews 5: 7-9).
Christ,
during what the writer of Hebrews calls, "the days
of his flesh," passed through certain human experiences.
"Wisdom and stature," in connection
with Christ's growth from childhood to manhood, were part of these experiences
(Luke 2: 52); testings, emotions, hunger,
sufferings, and numerous other things which man experiences were, as well,
things which Christ also experienced (Luke 4: 1-13;
22: 44; John 11: 35; Heb. 4: 15; 5: 7,8).
One
thing above all else must be kept in mind when viewing these human experiences
which Christ passed through. Christ's deity, during His earthly ministry,
cannot be separated from His humanity. That is, He, during this time, was
not God and Man; rather, He was the God-Man. At no point, beginning with
the incarnation, can one be separated from the other.
The
question thus becomes, How could Christ increase
"in wisdom and stature," be "tempted," learn "obedience,"
or pass through certain other human experiences after a similar fashion if He
was, at the same time, fully God? Or, to ask the question another way, How could Christ, being God Himself, and Omniscient,
increase in or learn human traits and characteristics through becoming a member
of the human race which He Himself had brought into existence?
After
all, at the age of twelve, He entered into the temple at Jerusalem and
confounded the "doctors" with His
wisdom and understanding of matters; and, at the same time, He exhibited
knowledge of that which He must accomplish completely outside Joseph and Mary's
understanding of the matter (Luke 2: 41-50).
Then, on numerous occasions, He either exercised His deity or could have
exercised it, (Matt. 26: 53; Mark 1: 24-26; Luke
22: 61; John 1: 48; 11: 25, 43, 44; 18: 5,6).
Probably
the most graphic testimony which Scripture presents pertaining to the
inseparability of Christ's humanity from His deity surrounds the events of
It
was the blood of God which was shed at Calvary, the same blood which is
presently on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies of the heavenly tabernacle
today (cf. Acts 20: 28; Heb. 9: 11,12).
And Jesus raised Himself from the dead, restoring life to the
The
day of the Passover, 30 A.D., was the day God died; and not only did the Son
raise Himself, but God the Father raised Him (
Jesus, prior to His crucifixion, referred to His "body" as the
The
Glory of the Lord (the manifestation of God among His people) though had
departed from the Holy of Holies long before Christ was upon earth. It
departed shortly after God allowed His people to be taken captive into Babylon
(Ezek 10: 4, 18; 11: 22, 23), about six
centuries prior to Christ's first appearance; and during the entire times of the
Gentiles - though a temple was built following the Babylonian captivity
(constructed during the days of Zerubbabel and
rebuilt during the days of Herod), and
another will be built during the days of Antichrist - there neither has
been nor will be Deity within the Jewish temple. The Glory of the Lord
will return to the temple only after the times of the Gentiles has run its
course, Christ returns, and the millennial temple has been brought into
existence (Ezek. 42: 2-5).
The
Greek word used relative to the body of Christ being the
(Different
words are used in the Greek text for verbs translated the same in the English
text of John 1: 1-14. The verb
used in vv. 1, 2 - "In the beginning was the Word ... " - has
no reference to a time of beginning or a time of ending. Also, there is no article before "beginning" [here or elsewhere] in the Greek
text. The thought is simply, "In beginning
[there are different beginnings in Scripture (for the earth, angels, man,
etc.)] the Word existed without reference to a beginning or an ending [for the
Word has neither] ... " Then in v. 14
a different verb is used, which has reference to a definite time of beginning -
"And the Word was made ['became'] flesh …
" There was a point in time when the eternal Word "became flesh, and tabernacled among us." though
the incarnation wrought no change relative to the way in which the Word is
presented prior to this time in vv. 1, 2.
The Word was just as much fully God following the incarnation as before the
incarnation.)
Thus,
the true Tabernacle or
A
verse often misunderstood, though one of the clearest and strongest verses in
Scripture relative to Christ's deity, is Mark 13:
32: "But of that day and that hour [the time of Christ's return] knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son,
but the Father."
Seemingly,
the way the text is structured, Christ separated Himself from the Father and
stated that He, like fallen man, did not know certain things which the Father
alone knew. However, such was not the case at all.
The
text clearly states that the Father alone had knowledge of the things involved,
but the simple fact of the matter is that the Father and Son were "one" (John 10: 30 [cf. v. 33]; 14: 9).
The Son, thus, had to, of necessity, posess the same
knowledge, for He was then, and remains today, God of very God
(cf. Col. 1: 9).
The problem lies in the English translation of Mark 13: 32, and a proper translation will not only reveal that
the Son of Man was the God-Man but it will also reveal the inseparability of
His humanity from His deity. The Son of Man was, and remains today, fully
God as well as fully Man.
The
word "but" in the latter part of Mark 13: 32 is a translation of the Greek words, ei me. Literally translated, those two
words mean, "if not," or "except." What Jesus said was that He couldn't know
"that day and that hour" if He were
not the Father, for the Father alone knew.
Archbishop Trench, one of the greatest authorities from a past generation on word
studies in the Greek text, translated this verse, "If I were not God as well as Man, even I would not know the
day nor the hour." And this
appears to capture the exact thought of the passage about as well as any
English translation, for not only is the translation true to the text but it is
true to the testimony of the whole Scripture.
Thus,
returning to the human experiences which Christ passed through, one thing above
all else must be kept in mind: At no point in Christ's earthly existence - from
the incarnation to the ascension - can His deity be separated from His
humanity. He was the God-Man. He was just as much fully God as He
was fully Man; and from the point of the incarnation forward the matter is as
stated in Heb. 13: 8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."
Consequently,
not only must the passages in Luke 2: 52 and
Heb. 4: 15; 5: 7-9 be understood in this
light but any part of Scripture touching on Christ's humanity must be
understood after the same fashion.
SUFFERINGS, DEATH
During
events surrounding Christ's crucifixion, He suffered like no other man could
possibly suffer, for, along with His physical sufferings, He suffered
from a spiritual standpoint after a fashion which it was impossible for
anyone else to suffer. And the latter sufferings, according to Scripture,
were far worse than the former.
1. PHYSICAL
SUFFERINGS
Insofar
as His physical sufferings were concerned, the Prophet Isaiah, over
seven centuries before this time, stated, "his
visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men"
(Isa. 52: 14).
He
was spat upon and beaten by the Jewish religious leaders; then He was turned
over to Pilate, who, after dealing with Him a second time, had Him "scourged" and "delivered"
into the hands of his soldiers to be crucified; and the Roman soldiers,
following His scourging, arrayed Him as a pseudo King and repeatedly mocked
Him, spat on Him, and struck Him on the head with what was apparently a hard
bamboo-like reed, (Matt. 26: 67; 27: 26-31).
A
literal rendering of Isa. 52: 14 would reveal that His physical appearance would be so altered by the time He was placed
on the Cross that it would appear to actually not be that of a man; and the
same verses states that because of His mutilated physical appearance many would
be "astonished" when they looked upon
the One about to be crucified.
Actually,
Isa. 52: 14 is set between two sections of
Scripture dealing with that future day when Christ rules and reigns over the
earth (vv. 1-13, 15). Verses one through thirteen
introduce the subject (His coming day of glory and exaltation), verse fourteen moves the reader back 2,000 years
in time (referring to His suffering and humiliation), and then verse fifteen moves the reader forward once again
to that time introduced in verses one
through thirteen.
A
parallel is shown between that which would occur at the two advents of
Christ. The degree of His sufferings and humiliation would
parallel, in an opposite sense, the degree of His glory and exaltation.
This is why the writer of Hebrews could state, "who
for the joy that was set before him - [the day when He would rule and
reign over the earth]- [Christ]
endured the cross, despising the shame ..."
(Heb. 12: 2).
In that coming day the same scenes which witnessed His suffering and
humiliation are going to witness Hid glory and exaltation. He is going to be "exalted," "judge
among the nations," and "rebuke many
people" (Isa. 2: 2-4; 52: 13). And "kings shall shut their mouths at him" and see and
hear things which they had neither "been told"
nor "considered" (Isa. 52: 15).
Those
who look upon Him in that coming day will once again be "astonished," though after a different fashion, for
His coming glory and exaltation must, in an opposite sense, parallel His past
suffering and humiliation. And, as His physical appearance
resulted in the people being astonished in the past, so will His physical
appearance result in the people being astonished in that future day.
In
the past Christ appeared apart from His Glory. He possessed a body like
unto the body which man possesses today, void of the covering of Glory in which
man was enswathed prior to the fall. It was in this body that He
suffered, bled, and died; it was in this body that the very God of the
universe, in the person of His Son, appeared in humiliation and shame on behalf
of sinful man; and it was in this body, in the person of His Son, that God
Himself was so beaten that people looked upon Him in astonishment.
But in that coming
day matters will be just the opposite. Though Christ will return in the same body
which He possessed since the incarnation, it will no longer be void of the
covering of Glory. Nor will He return as the suffering "Lamb of God."
All of this will be past. In that coming day He will return as the
conquering "Lion of the tribe of
[*A
preview of this is found in Gen. 45: 3 with
Joseph and his brothers: “… they were terrified at his presence”; after
his exaltation to a position that “without your word
no-one will lift hand of foot in all
2. SPIRITUAL SUFFERINGS
Christ's
spiritual sufferings began in the Garden, continued with His being arrayed as a
pseudo King (twice [first by Herod, then by the Roman soldiers]), and
terminated with the Father turning away from the Son while He hung upon the
Cross.
In
the Garden, anticipating that which lay ahead, Christ requested three times of
the Father that "this cup" might pass
from Him; but the prayer was always followed by the statement, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt," (Matt. 26: 39, 42, 44).
The
"cup" which Jesus had to drink should
be understood in the light of His present spiritual sufferings. Drinking
this cup could have no reference to the events of
Jesus
requested of the Father that these sufferings be allowed to pass, but such was
not to be. And, resultingly, Jesus "being in
an agony prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground" (Luke 22: 44).
Then,
shortly thereafter, following Jesus being delivered to Pilate by the Jewish
religious leaders, the nation of
Then
Pilate, making one last attempt to save Jesus from crucifixion, brought Him
forth in the mutilated condition described in Isa. 52: 14
and presented Him to "the chief priests and the
rulers and the people" with the words, "Behold your King!" But the Jewish people
who were present would still have nothing to do with Christ. They cried
out to Pilate, "Away with him, away with him,
crucify him." Then, in response to Pilate's question, "Shall I crucify your King?,"
the chief priests climaxed the whole matter by stating, "We have no king but Ceasar."
Jesus was then led away to be crucified (Matt. 27:
15-31; Mark 15: 7-20; Luke 23: 13-26; John 18: 39- 19: 16).
It
was through all this, preceding the Cross, that Jesus
not only suffered physically but spiritually as well. The Jewish
religious leaders had persuaded the people to ask for the release of a
notorious imprisoned criminal rather than
And
to bring the whole matter to a close, preceding the crucifixion (where mocking
and expressions of contempt continued with Christ hanging on the Cross [Mark 15: 24-32]), the Jewish religious leaders
echoed the ultimate insult when Pilot brought Jesus forth to them. They
not only rejected their true King, calling for His crucifixion, but they
pledged allegiance to a pagan Gentile king (cf.
Mark 15: 16-20; Luke 23: 6-11).
(The
Jewish religious leaders, through this act, placed the nation of
However,
the religious leaders in
Then
at
Christ
took upon Himself the sins of the world during the last three of the six hours
He hung on the Cross. God caused darkness to envelope all the land, and
He then turned away from His Son while redemption's price was being paid.
And this resulted in the cry from the Cross, "My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27: 45, 46).
(Though
the Father turned from the Son at this point, leaving the Son to act alone, the
Son remained just as much fully God as He had always been and would always be;
and, resultingly, it was the blood of God which was shed at
But
at the end of those three hours it was all over. The Son's work of
redemption had been accomplished. God had "laid
on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53: 6);
and the Son could then cry out, "It is finished
[lit., 'It has been finished'] (John 19: 30).
And
that is the way matters stand today. Because of the Son's finished work,
a finished [eternal]
salvation is available for fallen man. God's Son has paid the price, and
all man has to do - all he can do - is receive that which has already
been accomplished on his behalf. A
Barabbas can be set free, for the Just One has died in his stead.
(The
same perfect tense is used in the Greek text relative to both Christ's
finished work and man's [eternal] salvation. The perfect tense refers to
action completed in past time with the results of that action existing during
present time in a finished state. This is the tense used in John 19: 30, recording Christ's cry from the
Cross. "It has been finished"; and
this is the tense used in Eph. 2: 8,
referring to man's salvation by grace through faith: "For by grace are ye saved [lit., 'you have been saved'] through faith ...
")
Both
acts involve, in their entirety, Divinely finished work; the latter work [man's
salvation] is based on the former [Christ's work at Calvary]; and insofar as
the state of redeemed man is concerned, one work is just as finished,
complete, and secure as the other.
BEING MADE PERFECT
Through
suffering (Heb. 4: 15; 5: 7, 8), Christ was
brought to a position which Scripture calls, "being
made perfect" (v. 9), something
which the writer had already stated in an earlier passage in the book (2: 10). This though was not perfection in
the sense of the way the word is often used and understood today. Rather the word is used in this passage
referring to an "end result" or "goal" of that which is in
view.
"Perfect" is the translation of the Greek word, teleioo, which
means, "bring to an end," "bring to its goal," "bring to accomplishment." Christ, by passing through these sufferings, as a Man, was brought into
a position which He had not previously occupied.
In
one sense of the word, Christ was brought into this position through learning
obedience, resulting from sufferings which He experienced; but, in another
sense of the word, such an act was impossible.
Hebrews 5: 8 states that Christ learned "obedience
by the things which he suffered." However, John 7: 15 states that Christ posessed
knowledge about certain matters, "having never
learned" (cf. v. 16). The
Greek word translated "learned" is the
same in both verses, the word manthano.
But, the thought behind what is meant by learning in the two verses is not the
same. It can't be.
The
Omniscient One has perfect knowledge apart from life's experiences. But,
on the other hand, Scripture states that the same Omniscient person learned
through life's experiences. How can one be reconciled with the other?
The
learning is within the framework of Christ personally, as a Man, passing
through the same experiences as man. He personally experienced, as a
Man, that which man experiences. In the words of Heb. 4: 14b, 15, "Let
us hold fast our profession - ['confession', R.V. - (the
confession of our hope)]- "For we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without ['apart from'] sin."
However
this still leaves unaddressed the issue of how the Omniscient God, as Son,
could learn obedience through suffering. But the answer to the matter is
really very simple:
Christ
learned through personal experience that which He already knew in the same
sense that God learns through angelic "watchers"
who report to Him at scheduled times that which He already knows (cf. Dan. 4: 17, 23-25). Or, as in the case of
the cities of the plain during Abraham's day, God came down to see for Himself that which the watchers had previously told
Him. This was something which He not only knew about before the matter
was revealed by the watchers but also something which He didn't need to see in
order to know if the matter was "altogether
according to the cry of it" (Gen. 18:
20,21).
This is simply the way Scripture reveals God's intervention in the
affairs of man. He is, at times,
revealed as learning, through personal intervention, that which He already
knows.
As
in the case of the cities of the plain, God is seen as personally coming down
to view matters Himself before allowing the cities to be destroyed; and, in the
person of His Son, as a Man, God has personally passed through certain
experiences which man passes through, attributing to Himself the same qualities
which man acquired by passing through these experiences.
And
God has done this for revealed, related purposes, with one such purpose being
revealed in Heb. 5: 7-9. Through learning
"obedience by the things which he suffered,"
matters have been brought to a goal. Christ has become "the author ['source'] of eternal salvation" unto all those who, in
turn, "obey him," which
must, of necessity, also involve suffering.
It is suffering on His part and subsequent suffering on our part; and
as the former resulted in learning obedience, so must the latter. As stated in 1 Peter 2: 21, "Christ
also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps."
ETERNAL SALVATION, OBEDIENCE
The
word "eternal" in the English text is
misleading. Those for whom Christ is the source of salvation
(Christians) already possess eternal salvation; and, beyond that, this salvation was not acquired
through obedience to Christ, as in the text. Rather, it was acquired
through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (John
3: 16).
Obedience
to Christ, resulting from suffering, can come in view only following belief.
never before. Only the [eternally] saved
have "passed from death into life" and
are in a position to suffer and
subsequently obey. The unsaved are still "dead in trespasses and sins" (John 5: 24; Eph. 2: 1).
1. ETERNAL
The
Greek language, from which our English versions have been translated, does not
contain a word for "eternal." A
person using Greek language thinks in the sense of "ages"; and the way this language is normally used
in the New Testament to express "eternal,"
apart from textual considerations, is through the use of the Greek words eis tous aionas ton aionon,
meaning, "unto [or, 'with respect to'] the ages of
the ages" (ref. Heb. 13: 21;
1Peter 4: 11; Rev. 1: 6; 4: 9,10 for several examples of places where
these words are used, translated "forever and ever"
in most versions).
The
word from the Greek text translated "eternal"
in the Greek New Testament, apart from textual considerations, is through the
use of a shortened form of the preceding - eis
tous aionas,
meaning "unto [or, 'with respect to'] the ages" (ref.
Rom. 9: 5; 11: 36; 2Cor. 11: 31; Heb. 13: 8
for several examples of places where these words are used, translated "forever" in most versions).
The
word from the Greek text translated "eternal"
in Hebrews 5: 9 is aionios.
This is the adjective equivalent of the
noun aion, referred to in the preceding
paragraph in its plural form to express "eternal."
Aion means "an aeon
[the word 'aeon' is derived from aion]
or "an era," usually understood throughout the Greek New Testament as
"an age."
Aionios, the adjective equivalent of aion, is used seventy-one times in the Greek
New Testament and has been indiscriminately translated "eternal" or "everlasting"
in almost every instance in the various English versions. This word
though should be understood about thirty of these seventy-one times in the
sense of "AGE-LASTING" rather than
"eternal"; and the occurrence in Hebrews 5: 9 forms a case in point.
Several
good examples of other places where aionios should be translated and
understood as "age-lasting" are Gal. 6: 8; 1Tim. 6: 12; Titus 1: 2; 3: 7.
These passages have to do with running the race of the faith in view of one
day realising an inheritance in the kingdom, which is the hope set before
Christians.
On
the other hand, aionios
can be understood in the sense of "eternal"
if the text so indicates. Several good examples of places where aionios should
be so translated and understood are John 3: 15,16,36. These passages have to do with life
derived through faith in Christ because of His finished work at
Textual considerations must always be taken into account when properly
translating and understanding aionios, for this word is a word which
can be used to imply either "age-lasting"
or "eternal"; and it is used both
ways numerous times in the New Testament. Textual considerations in Hebrews 5: 9 leave no room to question exactly
how aionios should
be understood and translated in this verse. Life during the coming age,
occupying a position as co-heir with Christ in that coming day, is what the
Book of Hebrews is about.
2. SUFFERING,
REIGNING
Suffering with or on
behalf of Christ must
precede reigning with Christ. The latter cannot be realised apart
from the former. Such suffering is inseparably linked with obedience;
and the text clearly states that Christ is the source of that future
salvation "unto all them that [presently] obey him,"
in the same respect that Christ is the source of presently possessed eternal
salvation for all those who have (in the past) "believed" on Him.
1 Peter 1: 11, relative to the saving of the soul (vv. 9,10), states, "Searching
what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify
when it [He] testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ [lit., 'the sufferings with respect to Christ'], and the glory that
should follow."
The
thought, contextually, is not at all that of Christ suffering. Rather,
the thought has to do with Christians suffering with respect to Christ's
sufferings, subsequently realising the salvation of their souls * through
having a part in the glory which is to follow the sufferings.
[* The ‘salvation
of their souls,’ must take place at the time of Resurrection; for the soul must
remain in Hades during the interim between Death and Resurrection, when the “Gates
of Hades” will no longer prevent those whom Christ deems worthy to reign with
Him in His millennial kingdom.]
This
is the underlying thought behind the whole book of 1
Peter, expressed in so many words by the writer in 4: 12, 13: "Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though
some strange thing happened to you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed,
ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."
This
is the "eternal [age-lasting]
glory" to which Christians have been
called and in which Christians will be established after they "have suffered a while," with obedience to Christ
emanating from the sufferings (1 Peter 5: 10).
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