It is bringing many sons unto glory,' wherein there lies, of course, a metaphor of a great filial procession, being led on through all changes of this lower life, steadily upwards into the possession of what is here called glory.' The same metaphor colours the other expression of our text, the Captain of our salvation.' For the word translated Captain,' which only occurs some four times in Scripture, literally means one who leads, or begins any course or thing; and hence comes to mean a commander, or a prince, as it is twice translated; and then again, with a very easy transition from the notion of leading to that of origination, it comes to mean cause' or author,' as it is once translated. The conception of author' is the dominant one here, but it is also coloured by the prolongation of the metaphor in the previous clause. This great procession of sons up into glory, which is the object and aim of God's work, is all under the leadership of Him who is the Captain, the foremost, the Originator, and, in a profound sense, the Cause, of their salvation.
So, then, we have before us the thought that God brings, and yet Christ leads, and God's bringing is effected through Christ's leadership. Then we have other thoughts, upon which time will not allow me to dwell. Let me just indicate them to you for your own expansion.
Look at the extent of the divine act. Many' is used not in contrast to all,' as if there was proclaimed here a restricted application of Christ's work in the divine idea; but many' is in opposition to few; or, perhaps, in opposition to the One. There is One Leader, and there is an indefinite number of followers. The connotation of the word many' is the idea of uncounted number. This great procession, with its long and interminable files, sweeps onward under the guidance of the one Captain. So wide as to be universal is the sweep of God's purpose to bring the many,' a multitude that no man can number,' into the possession of His glory.
Then, note, the relationship which the members of that great company possess. The many are being brought as sons'; under the leadership of the one Son. That opens out into the broad thought that the loftiest conception of God's end in redemption is the making the many' like the One, and the investing of them all with every privilege and dignity which belongs to their Leader.
Then note, further, the end of the march. This great company stretching numberless away beyond the range of vision, and all exalted into the dignity of sons, is steadfastly pressing onwards to the aim of fulfilling that divine ideal of humanity, long since spoken in the psalm, which in its exuberant promises sounds liker irony than hope. Thou crownest Him with glory and honour.' They are not only steadily marching onwards to the realisation of that divine ideal, but also to the participation of the glory of the Captain who is the brightness of the Father's glory,' as well as the express image of His person.' So again, the underlying thought is the identity, as in fate here, so in destiny hereafter, of the army with its Leader. He is the Son, and the divine purpose is to make the many' partakers of His Sonship. He is the realisation of the divine ideal. We see not yet all things put under man, but we see Jesus, and so we know that the ancient hope is not the baseless fabric of a vision, nor a dream which will pass when we awake to the realities, but is to be fulfilled in every one, down to the humblest private in that great army, all of whom shall partake in their measure and degree in the glory of the Lord, This, then, being the purpose,--the leading up out of the world into the glory, of a great company of sons who are conformed to the image of the Son--we attain the point from which we may judge of the adaptation of the means to the end. We cannot tell whether a thing is congruous with the nature of the doer of it till we know what the doer intended by the act. Inadequate conceptions of God's purpose in Christ's mission are sure to lead, as they always have led, to inadequate conceptions of the means to be adopted, and doubts of their congruity with the divine nature. If Christ's mission is only meant to reveal to us a little more clearly truth concerning God and man, if He is only meant to stand before us as the ideal of conduct, and the pattern for our imitation, then there is no need for a Cross, which adds nothing to these; but if He has come to redeem, if He has come to turn slaves into sons, if He has come to lift men up from the mud and earthliness of their low and sensuous careers, and to set them upon the path that will lead them to share in the glory of God, then there is something more needed than would be adequate for the work of a Teacher howsoever wise, or than would be required for the work of an Example however beautiful and fair. The Cross is surplusage if Christ be a prophet only; it is surplusage and an incongruity if Christ be simply the foremost of the pure natures that have walked the earth, and shown the beauty of goodness. But if Christ has come to make men sons of God, by participation of His sonship, and to blanch and irradiate their blackness by the reflection and impartation of His own flashing glory, then it became Him, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.'
