Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;” (Hebrews 5:8)
Paul writes about how Jesus learned obedience, even though He was the Son of God (John 3:16), divine and holy. “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) And at the transfiguration, Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration and Jesus speaking to Moses and Elijah when they heard the heavenly Father’s voice. “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.” (Matthew 17:5-6)
This obedience that Jesus learned doesn’t mean obedience as we know it, the fight between the flesh and the spirit. Jesus had power over the flesh. “And He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” (John 8:29) He was obedient to the Father in all things. He never sinned. The time Jesus was tempted, He was tempted by the devil and only one account is recorded. (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; Mark 1:12,13) Luke records that the devil left Him for a season, meaning that there would be other temptations and surely there were, but these temptations from the devil were not recorded. “And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season.” (Luke 4:13)
The hardest temptation that Jesus suffered was in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed “Saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42; Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36) Jesus was willing to obey, but what He was asking the Father was that if there was any other way, remove this cup. Jesus agonized over what was to happen, not because He wasn’t willing, but because it would be extremely difficult for His body and extremely grisly spiritually.
Obedience always involves personal sacrifice. It’s the submission of our will to another. It’s giving up control and any say so of our opinion, idea or suggestion. What Samuel the prophet said to King Saul is recorded as follows, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1Samuel 15:22) Animals can be sacrificed (in the Old Testament), things, meals, actions and words, but the submission of oneself to God’s commandment is obedience. It is total trust in God, that whatever happens to us because of obedience, spirit, soul or body is God’s will and is endured and accepted. This is Jesus’ kind of obedience. And this kind of obedience is required of us. We cannot obey halfway. That is not obedience. Yes, the flesh is weak. Obedience is hard. So, we can understand how grueling the obedience of Jesus was.
Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered. He knows how weak we are. If He was tempted so astronomically that He shed blood with His sweat, how could man obey God? This is the help that comes from the Holy Spirit, His work in us making us more and more in the image of Christ, strengthening our spirit man to take control over the flesh. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians writes, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” (2Thessalonians 2:13) It is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that strengthens us against temptation and strengthens us to obey God.
One other point is that Jesus learned obedience through suffering. In the process of sanctification, there is suffering. This suffering is in the flesh. Our suffering is nothing compared to the suffering of Jesus. But because He suffered, we can turn to Him in our suffering. “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4) Obedience might mean loss of autonomy to God, loss of relationships, loss of possessions or as those persecuted in lawless countries, loss of family, home, country or life. No matter, obedience means suffering which like the faithful persecuted, we should willingly endure because of our love for our Lord and Savior.
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