December 13

And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him — Heb 5:9 BSB

Through His sufferings in the garden and on the cross, the Lord Jesus was made perfect. But what kind of perfection was this? It certainly doesn't mean that He was made perfect as the Son of God or even as the Son of Man, for He already possessed infinite perfection in His eternal Godhead, and His human nature was fully endowed with every possible perfection. He needed no addition to His divine perfection, and His human nature, in union with His divinity, was already “the Holy One.”

However, He needed to be made perfect as a High Priest. It was through His sufferings that He was consecrated, dedicated in a special way to the priesthood. This aligns with His own words: "For their sake I consecrate myself" (John 17:19), meaning He set Himself apart to be their High Priest. A high priest's main roles are to offer sacrifice and to intercede. The sacrifice came first, and Jesus' sufferings in the garden and on the cross were part of that sacrifice. He was therefore "made perfect through suffering"—through His suffering, blood-shedding, and death, He was fully prepared to carry out the second part of His priestly work, which He now performs: intercession.

Just as Aaron was consecrated by the sacrifice of a bullock and a ram, with the blood poured out and sprinkled upon the altar and also applied to his ear, hand, and foot, so Jesus, Aaron's great and glorious counterpart, was consecrated by His own sacrifice and blood on the cross. In being perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.