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really falls in with what deeper reflection suggests.

The connexion of the Son and the sons is first referred to their common source (2:11 ejx eJnov" ) and then shewn to be recognised in the divine dealings with representative men under the Old Covenant, the suffering king, the typical prophet (2:12, 13).

There is throughout the section a reference to the Jewish expectation that Messiah should ‘abide for ever’ (John 12:34).

10 For it became Him, for Whom are all things and through Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author (captain) of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of One; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren ,

12 saying I will declare Thy Name to my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I sing Thy praise. 13 And again: I will put my trust in Him. And again: Behold, I and the children which God gave me.

Heb. 2:10. e[prepen gavr ...] For it became ...‘Yes,’ the apostle seems to say, ‘“taste of death by the grace of God,” for we, with our poor powers, can say that in this there is supreme fitness.’ The suffering of Christ in the fulfilment of His work corresponds with the truest conception which man can form of the Divine Nature.
e[prepen ] Latt. decebat. Comp. Heb. 7:26; Matt. 3:15. The word as applied to God appears perhaps startling but it is not unfrequent in Philo, e.g., Leg. Alleg. 1.15 (1.53 M.). The standard lies in what man (made in the image of God) can recognise as conformable to the divine attributes. For man still has a power of moral judgment which can help him to the interpretation of the action of God, and also of his own need (Heb. 7:26).

The ‘fitness’ in this case lies in the condition of man. His life is attended by inevitable sorrows; or, to regard the fact in another light, suffering is a necessary part of his discipline as well as a necessary consequence of his state. It was ‘fitting’ then, in our language, that God should perfect Christ the ‘One’ Son by that suffering through which the ‘many sons’ are trained (Heb. 12:5 ff.) because He, in His infinite love, took humanity to Himself. In Christ we can see the divine end of suffering: suffering consummated in glory. Chrysostom: oJra'/" to; paqei'n kakw'" oujk e[stin ejgkataleleimmevnwn .

This argument from ‘fitness’ is distinct from that of logical necessity ( dei' 2:1), and of obligation from a position which has been assumed ( w[feile 2:17).

dij o}n ... dij ou| ...] This description of God, as being the final Cause and the efficient Cause of all things, takes the place of the simple title because the fitness of Christ's perfection through suffering appears from the consideration of the divine end and method of life.
dij ou| ] Compare Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 1:9 (Gal. 4:7 dia; qeou' ; Rom. 6:4 dia; th'" dovxh" tou' patrov" ).

The phrase is commonly used of the work of the Son: Heb. 1:2; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16; (1 John 4:9); John 1:3, 10; but it cannot be referred to Him here, though Athanasius so uses the whole clause ( Ep. ad Episc. AEg. et Lyb. § 15); and Chrysostom rightly calls attention to this application of dij ou| to the Father as shewing that the characteristic use is no derogation from the


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