“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10 ESV).
The Gospel of Luke relates the account of two of Jesus’ followers who met Him unexpectedly following His resurrection. During that encounter, Jesus asked an incisive question of His disciples: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). The answer for them was, “yes.” The question for us is, “why?”
You see, the author of Hebrews spent a great deal of effort in working to establish Jesus’ divinity in the opening chapter of this letter. But if Jesus is truly God, how then could He be made “…perfect through suffering” as we’re told here in Hebrews chapter two? Why was it “…necessary that the Christ should suffer these things” as Jesus said to His followers in the Gospel of Luke?
We can address these questions with a look at the various definitions of the word “perfect” as it appears here in Hebrews 2:10. Those definitions include “to finish,” “to complete,” and “to accomplish.” (1) Another source tells us that this word means, “…to make fully adequate for the task for which designed. So, then, what the writer to the Hebrews is saying is that through suffering Jesus was made fully able for the task of being the pioneer of our salvation.” (2)
The following Biblical scholar also provides some helpful commentary in the context of this passage…
“Jesus was absolutely and unchangeably perfect in His divine nature. God is perfect (Matt. 5:48), and He cannot change (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 6:18). But Jesus was also human, and as such was subject to change, though without sin. For example, ‘Jesus increased in wisdom and stature’ (Luke 2:52). If his knowledge as a man increased, then his experience also did.
Thus, He ‘learned obedience by the things which He suffered'[ (Heb. 5:8). In this sense He was ‘made perfect’ in that He experienced the perfecting work of suffering in His own sinless life (cf. Job 23:10; Heb. 12:11; James 1:2–4). That is, He gained all the experiential benefits of suffering without sinning (Heb. 4:15). In this way He can be of real comfort and encouragement to those who suffer.” (3)
Thus, we can say that Jesus became fully qualified to lead humanity into salvation through the things He experienced. To be clear, there was nothing lacking in Jesus’ deity that made Him “less than perfect.” However, Jesus fully acquainted Himself with suffering and death through His crucifixion and the events that led up to it.
(1) See G5048 teleioo https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5048/kjv/tr/0-1/
(2) Barclay, William, “William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible“. “The Essential Suffering (Heb_2:10-18).”
(3) Geisler, N. L., & Howe, T. A. (1992). When critics ask: a popular handbook on Bible difficulties (p. 511). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.