Jesus Christ is the supreme model of this way of life. By His unerring life of faith He has made a way to God for those who follow Him. Jesus Christ had to be perfected. By His sufferings He became perfected. He is the author of eternal salvation. In the case of Jesus Christ this concerns His qualifications as becoming a Savior. The appointed way to Saviorhood followed the path of testing in the most pressing hardship and suffering. Jesus remained obedient to His Father. Having successfully endured the trial of life He was proven fit to be the Savior of mankind. We are being asked to be perfected by the calling that has been given us. We are being asked to be perfect and being perfected. We have to follow Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ voluntarily relinquished the power, glory, and privileges of His office as Creator and second in command of the universe to become a man. This initial act of self-emptying initiated a lifetime of representative suffering in which He resisted human nature, Satan, and the world while remaining sinless. His obedience produced persecution from a hostile world and internal anguish arising from the acute awareness of every consequence that attended each faithful step. Through these experiences of suffering He learned obedience and acquired the preparation necessary for the office of High Priest, a role He had never previously held. The training that perfected Him for this service required Him to live as a human being subject to time, place, and every limitation of mortal life, thereby qualifying Him to sympathize with those He would later represent. This perfected High Priest now provides continual access to the Father, accepts the spiritual sacrifices offered by His people, and supplies the grace that enables them to follow the same path of living sacrifice. In so doing He functions as the archegos who precedes believers in the precise course of righteousness, suffering, and self-surrender they must walk in order to be prepared for the Kingdom of God.