Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”
The Christian life is a complete life. It begins with Christ, is sustained by Christ, and reaches its final perfection in Christ. He is not simply the One who introduces us to the spiritual life. He is the source of its strength, the pattern of its development, and the glorious goal toward which it moves. The Christian life is not a journey away from Christ toward something greater. It is an ever-deepening entrance into the fullness of Christ Himself.
The writer of Hebrews expresses this magnificent truth in two remarkable Greek words.
The word translated author is archēgos. In the ancient Greek world, this word could describe a pioneer who opened a path for others, the founder of a city, or a leader who went before his people. It carries the idea of someone who does not merely point out the road but actually travels it first.
Jesus is the Pioneer of faith. He entered the world of human suffering, endured temptation, obeyed His Father, and passed through death into resurrection glory. He has opened the way that others may follow.
The word translated finisher is teleiōtēs. It belongs to a family of Greek words expressing completion, fulfillment, and the accomplishment of an intended purpose. The related word telos signifies an end or goal, while teleios frequently describes something that has reached its intended maturity.
The striking thought is that Christ is both the beginning and the completion. He is the Pioneer who opens the road and the Perfecter who brings faith to its intended goal.
CHRIST IS THE BEGINNING OF PERFECTION
Paul declared that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
This is one of the great central truths of the New Testament. Christianity is not primarily the acceptance of a moral code, the adoption of religious customs, or the cultivation of admirable habits. It is entrance into a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
The distinction is essential. A man may possess considerable moral goodness without understanding the spiritual life. He may be honest, generous, disciplined, and respectable. These qualities are desirable, but they cannot take the place of reconciliation with God.
The Christian life begins when a person comes to Christ in faith and receives the blessings made possible through His redeeming work.
“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Romans 11:36).
Although these words describe the greatness of God’s universal purpose, they also express a principle beautifully illustrated in redemption. Everything begins in divine grace, continues through divine power, and reaches its fulfillment in divine glory.
CHRIST IS THE POWER OF PERFECTION
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5).
The illustration would have been especially familiar to His original hearers. Vineyards were common throughout Palestine, and the vine itself had long been associated with Israel. The prophets had repeatedly employed this image to describe God’s relationship with His people.
A branch possesses no independent source of life. It cannot manufacture fruit by determination or produce nourishment through effort. Its fruitfulness depends upon its living connection with the vine.
This does not mean that the Christian is passive. The New Testament repeatedly commands believers to obey, persevere, grow, and pursue holiness. But all genuine spiritual development is dependent upon the sustaining grace of Christ.
Paul expressed the relationship with remarkable simplicity: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
The Christian does not become increasingly independent of Christ as spiritual maturity develops. Quite the opposite occurs. The more deeply one understands the Christian life, the more clearly one recognizes the necessity of abiding in Him.
CHRIST IS THE COMPLETION OF PERFECTION
Here we encounter one of the most profound truths in Christian theology. God’s purpose is not merely to make bad people respectable. It is to transform human beings into the likeness of His Son.
Paul declared that believers are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).
C. S. Lewis explored something closely related to this truth in his remarkable book The Great Divorce, published in 1945.
In chapter eleven, Lewis describes a ghost who carries a small red lizard upon his shoulder. The creature continually whispers into his ear, representing a corrupt and enslaving desire.
An angel offers to destroy the lizard, but the ghost hesitates. He fears that losing the creature may somehow destroy part of himself. The angel patiently insists that the creature must die if the man is to be free.
Finally, the ghost consents.
What happens next is extraordinary.
The lizard is destroyed, but instead of simply disappearing, it is transformed into a magnificent stallion. The ghost himself becomes a strong and substantial man. He mounts the splendid horse and rides joyfully toward the mountains.
Lewis has presented a profound picture of redemption.
The sinful distortion of human desire is not the original purpose for which desire was created. Human nature has become corrupted, but God’s purpose is not merely to remove the corruption. He intends to restore what sin has disfigured and bring it into a greater fullness of life.
The lizard becomes a stallion. What had enslaved the man becomes, through transformation, an expression of freedom and strength.
Lewis was illustrating a distinction that is frequently overlooked. Christianity does not merely restrain human nature. Through Christ, God transforms it.
This is precisely why Paul could write, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The expression is stronger than the idea of moral improvement. The Christian is not merely an improved version of his former self. He belongs to the new creation inaugurated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The same principle appears in Romans 8:29, where Paul declares that God’s purpose is for believers to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Christ is not merely the model whom we admire from a distance. He is the living Lord through whom this transformation becomes possible.
And the process will ultimately reach its completion.
Paul wrote that the Lord Jesus Christ “will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).
Even death cannot interrupt the divine purpose. The resurrection will complete what grace has begun.
The Christian’s final destiny is not an endless struggle against imperfection, but complete participation in the resurrection life of Christ.
Here, then, is the wonderful cycle of perfection.
We begin in Christ because He is the source of our salvation. We continue in Christ because He is the sustaining power of our spiritual development. We reach perfection through Christ because He is the glorious goal of redemption.
The beginning, the progress, and the completion are all found in Him.
And perhaps the greatest discovery of the Christian life is that the more we become what God intended us to be, the more clearly the life of Christ is revealed within us.
He is the Author. He is the Perfecter. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
_________________
Father, we thank You that Your purpose in Christ is greater than the forgiveness of our past. Continue Your transforming work within us, restoring what sin has damaged and conforming us increasingly to the likeness of Your Son. Bring to glorious completion everything Your grace has begun. Amen.
BDD
