Following Jesus, the Captain of Our Salvation

Jesus, the Captain of Our Salvation

A captain in the military has many duties. He trains his soldiers, he inspires, and motivates them to do better, to do more. He is a decision maker in all kinds of circumstances. Effectively communicating his orders is crucial to his job. He teaches important skills to the soldiers under him. Finally, he maintains discipline among those he is responsible for. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Bible calls Jesus the Captain of our Salvation. With that military picture in mind, let’s see how Scripture introduces our Captain in Hebrews 2:10.

Hebrews 2:10 says,

"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

What Does It Mean to Be Made Perfect?

You might be surprised by the phrase, "make...perfect through sufferings." What does that mean? If Jesus was perfect, how can He be made perfect through sufferings? To save us Jesus had to become one of us and to become one of us meant that He would have to suffer like us.

The word perfect in Greek is, teleioō, can refer to something that has reached its intended purpose or has achieved a state of completeness. His suffering completed His humanity. It brought about the greatest good — our salvation. Our suffering can also bring about good, as we see in the story of Joni Eareckson Tada.

Jesus Leads Us Through Suffering

Like Joni Eareckson Tada, who learned firsthand that Jesus still leads and equips us in our deepest trials, we can trust that our Captain’s plan is always for our growth and ultimate good. In July 1967, seventeen‑year‑old Joni Eareckson Tada dove into shallow water, severely injuring her cervical spine and leaving her paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Over the next two years of intense rehabilitation: marked by grueling physical therapy, frustration, and moments of despair, she continually clung to Christ as her Captain, learning that His strength is made perfect in weakness. On the 50th anniversary of her accident, Joni thought about writing to a newly injured teen.

As she wept over how he would get through his suffering, she remembered her own journey, and how Jesus had carried her each day. Today, confined to a wheelchair, she uses her life and ministry to point others to Jesus. Finding hope and peace amidst suffering, Joni’s story illustrates the strength Christ provides. But why did Jesus have to suffer?

Why Jesus Had to Suffer

Imagine it: although God is all-knowing and sovereign, He had never personally experienced human suffering, until He took on flesh in the person of His Son. In becoming fully human, Jesus, who has always been fully God, also entered into the full depth of our pain and suffering. This is what is meant by the phrase “fully human” (Philippians 2:6–8). His suffering was necessary for our salvation. Our Captain has accomplished this for us. Having seen both the necessity and the example of His sufferings, what is our response to His leadership?

Are You Following Your Captain’s Voice?

Do we treat Jesus as if He were truly our Captain? Do we follow His orders? Do we listen to Him when He speaks? Do we trust His decisions are for our good? Do we accept His discipline when we have done wrong?

Jesus: Our Pioneer and Defender

Other translations sometimes say Author, Founder or Pioneer instead of Captain. The word translated is Greek, archegos. This word means a leader or a pioneer. Think of a captain who is the leader of a wagon train heading into the unknown regions of America in the 1800s. Without his leadership, knowledge, and discipline, the wagon train would be lost. Enemies would surely wipe them out, the best way through would not be found and many would not be disciplined enough to survive. But thank God for their captain.

Only Christ Can Lead Us Safely Home

And thank God for our Captain! Would that we could see the dangers around us as plainly as those pioneers so long ago. Would that we could realize that only He knows the way. Would that we would realize that without discipline in our spiritual lives it will be difficult to live the life we are called to. But Jesus leads us home. He leads us not just through this life, but through death itself.

Sometimes our Captain may lead us places we don't want to go. As Jesus told Peter, in John 21:18-19, "...when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish," prophesying the kind of death he would face for Christ's sake. Matthew 24:9 says Christians will be afflicted, killed, and hated for His sake. Yet as obedient servants we will go, just as young men march into war for their captains knowing there will be a cost, perhaps even death.

He Died to Lead Many to Glory

But for us, our Captain has given His life. One died so the many could live. One suffered, not just physical agony but spiritual agony, by being separated from His Father. Thanks be to God that our Captain rose from the dead to life everlasting to make a way for us to be with Him.

All of those who would become Christians down through the centuries have one Captain to thank. He has brought so many 'sons to glory' by His suffering. At the end of the age, all of creation will cry out, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13). In glory we are family.

He Calls Us Family, Not Just Followers

Hebrews 2:11 continues to tell us that the One who sanctifies and those being sanctified (you and I as followers of Jesus) are now called brethren, part of the family of God. We can trust in Him and we are the children that God has given to Him. We are precious in His sight because of this. Since we, His children, share in flesh and blood, He too shared in our humanity, even in death. Yet His death, brought the ultimate victory.

Victory Over Death and the Devil

Because of Jesus' work on the cross, the power of Satan, the power of death, is destroyed. The bondage and fear caused by Satan no longer control us as sons of God (Hebrews 2:14-15). We might fear the act of dying but we don't fear death because death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54).

Jesus Paid It All for Us

In Hebrews 2:17, we are told that in everything He had to be made like us, even suffering. Why? To be made a propitiation for the people's sins. Propitiation means that Christ's death satisfies the punishment for our sins. His suffering makes atonement for us.

This atonement reconciles humanity with God and allows relationship to take place. It is the relationship of a Father to His children and a Brother to His sisters and brothers. This relationship causes us to want to draw closer to Him as we see in Patricia Heaton's testimony.

Praying with Your Captain: A Testimony

Patricia Heaton, the actress famous for work on the TV series, Everybody Loves Raymond and the Middle, recently shared that she and her husband had just started praying together after 34 years of marriage. She remarked that God forgives and forgets her failures and looks at what she is doing now. She is an example of following her Captain more closely by spending time in prayer with her husband.