The emphasis in verses 10-18 is no longer on the comparison between angels and the Son, but on the unity between Jesus and believers. Angels are mentioned in verse 16, but they are no longer at the center of the writer’s thought, as they were in chapter 1 and 2.5-9. In chapter 3 the writer returns to the subject of the supremacy of Jesus over Old Testament traditions, but in quite different terms.
Revised Standard Version‘s “For,” omitted in Good News Translation, links this sentence with verse 9, which also refers to the suffering of Jesus for everyone as part of God’s plan. The links between verses 9 and 10 are so close that in some languages it will be necessary to make this connection explicit, as in RSV.
Transitions in Hebrews are usually smooth and gradual. Verse 10 forms such a transition. Most translations make it the last verse of the previous paragraph; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes it the first verse of a new paragraph, verses 10-13. It would even be possible to print it as a separate paragraph on its own.
The first words in Good News Translation raise the question, what was only right or “fitting”? Most translations follow the grammar of the Greek sentence in understanding the words “make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering” as the main statement, and “bringing many sons to glory” as a less important statement. But, as was stated in the comments on 1.3, grammar is not always a clear guide to meaning. What the author intends to describe as only right or “fitting” may not be “suffering” but “bringing many sons to glory.” This would produce the translation “It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should bring many sons to glory. He did this by making Jesus perfect through suffering, who leads them to salvation.”
It was only right is not a strong expression in Greek. It does not suggest that God was compelled to do anything, but simply that what he did was fitting or appropriate. There may be some complication involved in using the past tense was in reference to what God did in making Jesus perfect through suffering, and the adverb only may simply be emphatic. Therefore one may render the first part of verse 10 as “It is indeed fitting that God … should have made Jesus perfect.”
God is implied (see Revised Standard Version). In translation it is good to state the subject of the sentence, since Jesus becomes the subject in verse 11. Revised Standard Version does not make this clear.
Translations give various equivalents for Revised Standard Version‘s “for whom and by whom,” which refers to God. Revised Standard Version gives the most common meanings of the two expressions when they occur separately in other passages. The expression translated “for whom” most often gives the reason why something happens, or the person for whose sake something is done. The expression translated “by whom” generally indicates the cause of something, that is, either its origin or the means by which something happens. Here the two expressions overlap, and the writer may have been using them together for emphasis.
In order to indicate that the process of creation and preservation of all things has taken place in the past as well as in the present, it may be important to translate who creates and preserves all things as “who has created and has continued to preserve all things.” The concept of preserves may be expressed as “has caused to function” or “causes things to do what they do.”
Make … perfect is often used to refer to the ordination or consecration of Old Testament priests (for example, Lev 4.5; 8.33 Septuagint). Make … perfect translates the same verb used in John 19.30 for It is finished*, and in both passages the idea of death is either expressed or implied. The writer is not separating suffering from death, but probably wrote suffering here as a stylistic change from death in verse 9.
As the context shows, through suffering does not mean that the suffering was a mere stage on the way to glory, but that it contributed to the fulfillment or “making perfect” of Jesus. Moffatt makes this clear in his “by suffering.”
The expression make Jesus perfect through suffering is extremely difficult to translate adequately. A literal translation could suggest that by suffering, Jesus was able to atone for his own sins. Perhaps the most effective way of communicating this concept in some languages is “to cause Jesus to be what he should be by means of what he suffered.” But since the Greek text suggests the exaltation of Jesus, it may be better to translate “cause Jesus to have the position that was rightly his because of the way in which he suffered.” The phrase make Jesus perfect does not imply that he was imperfect, in the sense of sinful, before his suffering and death, but that by these experiences he became fully mature, fully adequate, or completely effective, and thus equipped to lead others to salvation. Knox has “crown with suffering,” but this is a weak translation; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible says “lead to accomplishment.”
The Greek word for bring does not indicate the direction of movement; it may also mean “take.” Here, however, bring is correct; God is bringing men, through Jesus, to a place where he is at present.
Many sons, in biblical Greek, does not imply “many but not all”; compare for everyone in verse 9; see also Mark 10.45; 14.24. It means simply “a great number of sons” (Bijbel in Gewone Taal “so many sons,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “all his sons”).
A literal rendering of in order to bring many sons to share his glory can be misunderstood as a reference to Jesus’ own sons. Accordingly, in some languages the equivalent meaning is expressed by “in order to cause many followers to share his glory” or “… to be wonderful even as he is wonderful.”
To share his glory (that is, God’s glory) slightly expands Revised Standard Version‘s literal translation, “to glory,” but this is quite justified, since the biblical word for “glory” is usually associated with God.
For Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation brings out the meaning of the phrase which Revised Standard Version translates literally “pioneer of their salvation.” Elsewhere the Greek word for “pioneer” may describe the founder of a town or its great hero. This meaning may be present in Acts 3.15; 5.31. It can also mean “cause,” “author” (see 12.2), or more generally “chief.” In the Greek Old Testament, the word is used of Moses and other leaders of Israel (for example, in Num 14.4). In Hebrews it includes the meaning of “forerunner” (6.20 Revised Standard Version) and is close in meaning to source (5.9), though different Greek words are used. “Leading” means more than giving an example; it includes the idea of opening up a path which was not open before, as in Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “initiator.”
Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch restructures verse 10 as follows: “God is the goal of all things, and they also came into being through him. Because he wanted many children of God to be brought into his glorious kingdom, he brought the one who was to lead them there through suffering to perfection.”
The one who leads probably implies “who has begun to lead.” This phrase may refer either to God (as Revised Standard Version implies) or to Jesus (as Good News Translation states).
The one who leads them may be expressed as “the one who shows them the way.” But it may be more accurately rendered as “the one who goes ahead of others to show them the way.” This may be expressed idiomatically in some languages as “one who is the thorn-treader,” that is to say, the one who goes ahead down the path and thus is the one who treads on any thorns.
On salvation, see comment on 1.14. To salvation may be expressed as “to the point of being saved,” but it may be combined with the previous expression of leads, so as to express result; for example, “leads them so that as a result they are saved” or “… God saves them.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .