Learning obedience
Today's reading Hebrews 5:1-10
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Today’s blog
“Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8-9)
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Christian faith believes that Jesus is both fully God and also fully man. Both aspects are particularly recognised in Hebrews which begins by declaring his glorious Sonship (1:2-8) followed by his becoming one with us in humanity (2:9-14). It was only because Jesus was truly human that he was able to be a high priest on our behalf (2:17) and it was only because he was truly divine that his priesthood was able to be effective in heaven itself (8:1-2; 9:11).
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So “it was fitting that God should make the author of salvation perfect through suffering” (2:10) and that same thought is repeated in today’s verse. As a human being he had to learn obedience, through suffering, in order to be made perfect. This doesn’t mean that he was ever disobedient or imperfect. But, like us, he had to grow up in all things (Lk.2:52). It was his obedience which needed to be perfected and only in life’s hard challenges is obedience put to the test.
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It was a test he passed perfectly, “tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” (4:15), and so “he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” i.e. the obedience of commitment to God’s will, expressed in repentance and faith. Such obedience is the counterpart of his own learned experience, and therefore he is able to help us to learn it (2:18). He is not only the author of our salvation but the perfecter of it too (10:14; 12:2).
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(To dig a bit deeper into Hebrews 5:1-10 click here for some commentary notes.)