<p>5:9 <i>And having been made perfect, he became to all those that obey him the author of eternal salvation</i>- The authoring of salvation was on account of the Lord's death; as noted on :8, the final suffering of the cross brought the Lord to the point of total obedience and completion / perfection. The obedience in view in :8 was to the call to be obedient to the death of the cross, as in Phil. 2:8. There in the naked body of the Lord on a stake of wood outside Jerusalem, covered in blood and spittle and apparently defeated and forsaken by all... was the mind which was finally and totally obedient and perfected in every way. This was the moment the Lord had in mind when speaking of all how He aimed to finish or perfect God's work (Jn. 4:34; 5:36). It explains why the same word is used of how the Lord finished or perfected all at the moment of His death (Jn. 19:28), leading to the cry &quot;It is finished&quot;. His moment of total moral perfection and completion was as it were eternally set in stone; for the same word is used of how the Son is perfected AV &quot;consecrated&quot; for evermore (7:28). And for those in Him, He shares that acme of spiritual triumph and achievement; for we in Him are &quot;perfected for ever&quot; (10:14). We too are on a path towards our spiritual perfection or maturing (12:23 &quot;the spirits of just men made perfect&quot;). In this lies the huge significance of old age and the time of dying; whereas in secular terms, life is seen as closing down once old age is reached, and significance of existence decreases rather than increases, as it does for those who are being led towards a point of completion or 'perfection'.</p>