In salvation Christ is also the Author and Perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith.” The Greek word translated “Author” may also be rendered Originator, Inaugurator, Leader, Pioneer, Forerunner. Jesus is the Author of faith; He is the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source and the cause of faith. The Author is the Originator and the Inaugurator. Then He is the source and the cause. Because the Author is the Originator, He is also the Pioneer and Forerunner. Therefore, He is also the Leader and the Captain. If we put all these titles together, we have an adequate definition of Jesus Christ as the Author of faith.
We need Christ as the Author of faith because, according to our natural man, we do not have any believing ability. We do not have faith by ourselves. The faith we have through which we are saved is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). We have obtained this precious faith by God’s gift (2 Pet. 1:1). When we look unto Jesus, He, as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), imparts, dispenses, Himself into us as the believing element to believe for us. Then spontaneously the believing ability arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him. Hence, it is He, Himself, who is our faith. We live by Him as our faith, by His faith (Gal. 2:20), not by our own faith.
Jesus was the Author and the Originator of faith in His life and in His path on earth. He originated faith when He was on earth. The life He lived was a life of faith, and the path He walked was a path of faith. In His life and path He originated faith. Hence, He is the Author of faith.
Jesus, being the Pioneer and Forerunner, has cut the way of faith. His life was a cutting life, a life that cut the way of faith. Wherever He went, it seems that there was a “mountain” or a “river” frustrating Him. But step after step He cut the way of faith, closing the gaps and removing the mountains like the builder of a highway. Because He has cut the way of faith, He is also the Pioneer and Forerunner on the pathway of faith.
As the Pioneer and Forerunner of faith, Christ is also the Leader and Captain of faith. He has cut the way of faith and, as the Forerunner, has taken the lead to pioneer it. Hence, He, as the Captain, can carry us through the pathway of faith in His footsteps. As we look unto Him as the Originator of faith in His life and in His path on earth and as the Perfecter of faith in His glory and on His throne in heaven, He transfuses and even infuses us in a very subjective way with the faith which He has originated and perfected.
Christ is also the Perfecter of faith. The Greek word translated “Perfecter” in Hebrews 12:2 may also be rendered Finisher or Completer. Christ is the Finisher, the Completer, of faith. By looking unto Him continually, we shall have Him finish and complete the faith which we need. Christ is the Perfecter of faith mainly in His glory and on His throne in heaven. He is sitting on the throne in glory to complete the faith which He originated while He was on earth. Being the Finisher and Completer of faith, He will finish and complete what He has originated and inaugurated.
Hebrews 6:18-20 says that the believers “have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us, which we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that which is within the veil, where the Forerunner, Jesus, is entered for us, become forever a High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec.” The Lord Jesus has entered the heavens as the Holy of Holies within the veil, and with Him is the heavenly haven for our refuge, which we can now enter in our spirit (Heb. 10:19). The anchor signifies that we are on a stormy sea and that without the anchor of hope we may shipwreck (1 Tim. 1:19). The entering is the entering into the heavens, the Holy of Holies within the veil today, where the Lord Jesus entered. Our hope, as a secure and firm anchor, has entered there, and we also may now enter in spirit.
The Lord as the Forerunner took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and enter the heavenly haven to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchisedec, the order of the priesthood that is in both humanity and divinity. As the Forerunner He has cut the way into glory.
In order to enter into the Holy of Holies within the veil as our Forerunner, the Lord Jesus fled everything. He fled His mother and His brothers (Matt. 12:46-50), and He fled Judaism, so that He entered “into that which is within the veil,” that is, into the presence of God, where He is now the Forerunner and High Priest to minister to us that we may be brought into glory. He is the Forerunner in glory; He is also the Captain leading us into the very place where He is as the Forerunner.
In Hebrews 2:10 Christ is called the Captain of salvation. This indicates that in His salvation Christ is leading an army composed of the saved ones as the soldiers. As the Captain of salvation, Christ is leading an army of believers into glory. Every day He is leading us into glory, into the expression of God. While Christ is leading us into glory, He is the glory within us. This is Christ as the Captain of salvation. He is saving us into glory. The very Christ who dwells in us, who dispenses Himself into us, and whom we are now enjoying is, in God’s salvation, the Savior, salvation, life, power, wisdom, the Author and Perfecter of faith, the Forerunner, and the Captain of salvation.
The salvation of which Christ is the Captain is the salvation that brings us into glory. As our Captain, Christ the Savior took the lead to fight through into glory. He did not enter into glory suddenly. During all His years on earth, a fighting process was taking place. The seed of glory was in Him and was fighting its way out. In the Gospels, the life of Jesus was a life of fighting. He was always fighting the battle for the seed of glory. He fought that the glory might come out and that He might be brought into glory. He fought for His glorification, and His fighting paved the way into glory. In this matter of fighting for glory, He was the Pioneer, for He pioneered the way into glory. Therefore, He is qualified to be the Captain of those who are entering into glory, and He is called the Captain of our salvation.
God’s goal is to bring His many sons into glory (Heb. 2:10). Christ, as the Pioneer, has fought His way into this glory, and now He is the Captain of salvation leading God’s many sons into His glory. The Christ who has come into us is not only the Savior; He is also the One who took the lead to enter into glory, into the full expression of God.
Christ entered into glory as the Pioneer and now He dwells in the full, glorious expression of the divine being. As the One in glory, He is the Captain of our salvation, who one day came into us and now dwells in our spirit. But in His coming into us He did not leave the glory. Rather, He brought the glory into us. This means that when the Captain of salvation came into us, the glory came with Him. The Captain of salvation came into us to be the glory. He came in to be the seed of glory. Now we all have this seed of glory, that is, the Captain of salvation Himself, within us, leading us into glory, into the expression of God. Eventually, when our whole being has been permeated and saturated with the element of glory, the glory will come out of us. When we experience this glorification, we shall be fully in the expression of God.