Heb. 2:11. For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of ¹ One: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying (Ps. 22.23), .I will declare thy name unto my brethren, In the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise. And again, I will put my trust in him (Isa. 8.17). And again, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me (Isa. 8.18).

WE have here the reason of what precedes. Why was it that it was needful for God, in leading many sons unto glory, to make the Leader of their salvation perfect through suffering?  Or, how was it, that making Him perfect could perfect them, and bring salvation to them? The answer is, He that sanctifieth, that is, Jesus, and they who are sanctified, God’s sons, are all out of One, that is, of God. In proof of this three texts are quoted, in which Jesus calls us brethren, takes His place with us in trusting God, and speaks of us as the children God hath given Him. It is because Jesus, the firstborn Son, and the sons He leads to glory, are one in their being begotten of God, that His perfection secures their salvation. It is the oneness of Jesus with us that fits Him to be the Leader of salvation.

This oneness has its root in the truth of the divine life. Both He that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified are all out of One.  Jesus is the only begotten, the eternal Son, one with the Father in His divine Being and Majesty. We are sons of God, as we partake of the divine life through and in Him. Nothwithstanding the difference between His Sonship and ours, His being original and ours derived, they are at root one; the life of both has its origin in the life of God. It is this oneness of Christ with us in origin, that made it possible for Him to become one with us in our humanity, and so to be the Leader of our salvation. It is this oneness that makes it possible for Him to communicate to us that perfection, that perfect meekness and delight in God’s will, which was wrought out in His human nature through suffering, that holiness of His with which we must be made holy. 

For both He that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified are all of One. Jesus is the sanctifier, we are the sanctified. The object for which Christ became the Leader of our salvation, the great work He has to do for us, the bond of union between the Son and the sons of God, the proof of their bearing His image and likeness, and the mark of their real oneness, is Holiness. 

The word Holy is one of the deepest in Scripture. It means a great deal more than separated or consecrated to God. The Triune God is the Thrice-Holy One: Holiness is the deepest mystery of His Being, the wondrous union of His righteousness and His love. To be holy is to be in fellowship with God, possessed of Him. Therefore the Spirit specially bears the name of Holy, because He is the bearer to us of the love of God, and the maintenance of the divine fellowship is His special work. Jesus is the Holy One of God, who makes us holy in filling us with His Holy Spirit.^l   The difference between Jesus and us is great—the oneness is greater. He and we are of one, together partakers of God’s life and God’s holiness. Let us give abundant heed to so great salvation. 

This oneness finds its manifestation in the Brother-name which Jesus gives us. For which cause He is not ashamed to call them Brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren. The writer had spoken of our inner oneness with Jesus. But oh, what a difference in actual life, such a terrible difference that He might well be ashamed of us! Yes! before angels as well as before the world, how often His saints have put Him to shame, have given Him reason to be ashamed of His relationship! But—blessed be His name—His becoming man was an act of condescension, which had its root in the sense of His oneness with us as being one with Him out of God, which had its strength in the love as of an elder Brother. 

Three texts are now quoted; the one from Ps.22.23, in which the suffering Messiah promises to make known the Father’s name to His brethren; the second and third from Isa. 8.17,18, in which, in prophetic types, His fellowship with all His people in the life of faith and trust, and His place at the head of those whom God has given Him as children, find expression. 

What wonderful thoughts! We, as truly as Jesus, are of God! It is in the light of this truth that Jesus looks on us, and loves us, and deals with us! It is in the light of this truth we must look on Jesus, and love Him, and deal with Him. And in the light of this truth let us look on ourselves too. This is the life of faith —to see Jesus and ourselves as He sees us, to think as He thinks, to live in His heart. Then will the promise be fulfilled to us, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren," that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them." As we bow in lowly, waiting silence before Him, the soul will hear Him say: My Brother! let me reveal to thee the Father. And the name and the love and the nearness of the Father will have new meaning when I can say, Jesus calls me His brother! God has spoken to me in His Son! And I shall understand that, to faith, the incomprehensible reality of oneness with Jesus becomes the blessed, conscious experience of the soul in its daily life. 

1. Union with Jesus in being born of God, in being holy, in being acknowledged by Him as a brother! What a blessed life! what a full salvation!

2. "He that doeth the will of God, the same Is My brother." Wouldst thou know the holy Joy of Jesus saying to thee, Brother I—let thy life be what His was—the doing of the will of God! It was in this He was perfected in suffering. It is in this that His Spirit and life in thee will manifest itself, and the Brother-name will be the index not only of His compassion but of the oneness in Spirit and the likeness in conduct which prove thee a son of God.

3. Sanctification, holiness, is nothing more than a life in union with Jesus. Nothing more, and nothing less. He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of One. To live in that oneness, to have Jesus living in us, is the way to be holy.

4. "And again, I will put my trust in Him." Jesus lived by faith in God. He is the Leader and Perfecter of faith. He opened up to us the path of faith and leads us in it.