Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 5:8
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
8. Though he were a Son ] Rather, “ Son though He was,” so that it might have been thought that there would be no need for the great sacrifice; no need for His learning obedience from suffering.
yet learned he obedience ] Perhaps rather “His obedience. The stress is not on His “ learning ” (of course as a man), but the whole expression is taken together, “He learnt from the things which He suffered,” in other words “He bowed to the experience of absolute submission.” “The things which He suffered” refer not only to the Agony and the Cross, but to the whole of the Saviour’s life. Some of the Fathers stumbled at this expression. Theodoret calls it hyperbolical; St Chrysostom is surprised at it; Theophylact goes so far as to say that here Paul (for he accepts the traditional authorship) “for the benefit of his hearers used such accommodation as obviously to say some unreasonable things.” All such remarks would have been obviated if these fathers had borne in mind that, as St Paul says, Christ “counted not equality with God a thing at which to grasp” (Php 2:6). Meanwhile passages like these, of which there are several in this Epistle, are valuable as proving how completely the co-equal and co-eternal Son “emptied Himself of His glory.” Against the irreverent reverence of the Apollinarian heresy (which denied Christ’s perfect manhood) and the Monothelite heresy (which denied His possession of a human will), this passage, and the earlier chapters of St Luke are the best bulwark. The human soul of Christ’s perfect manhood “learned” just as His human body grew (Luk 2:52). On this learning of “obedience” see Isa 50:5, “I was not rebellious.” Php 2:8, “Being found in fashion as a man he became obedient unto death.” The paronomasia “he learnt [ emathen) from what He suffered ( epathen)” is one of the commonest in Greek literature. For the use of paronomasia in St Paul see my Life of St Paul, i. 628.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Though he were a Son – Though the Son of God. Though he sustained this exalted rank, and was conscious of it, yet he was willing to learn experimentally what is meant by obedience in the midst of sufferings.
Yet learned he obedience – That is, he learned experimentally and practically. It cannot be supposed that he did not know what obedience was; or that he was indisposed to obey God before he suffered; or that he had, as we have, perversities of nature leading to rebellion which required to be subdued by suffering, but that he was willing to test the power of obedience in sufferings; to become personally and practically acquainted with the nature of such obedience in the midst of protracted woes; compare note on Phi 2:8. The object here is, to show how well suited the Lord Jesus was to be a Saviour for mankind; and the argument is, that he has set us an example, and has shown that the most perfect obedience may be manifested in the deepest sorrows of the body and the soul. Hence, learn that one of the objects of affliction is to lead us to obey God. In prosperity we forget it. We become self-confident and rebellious. Then God lays his hand upon us; breaks up our plans; crushes our hopes; takes away our health, and teaches us that we must be submissive to his will. Some of the most valuable lessons of obedience are learned in the furnace of affliction; and many of the most submissive children of the Almighty have been made so as the result of protracted woes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Though he were a Son] See the whole of the preceding note.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He fulfilled his type in the end; for though he were God the Son incarnate, in a nearer and more excellent relation to the Father than any angel, or any high priest among men his types, being all servants to his Father and him; Gods Son by eternal generation as to his Deity, by conception from the Holy Ghost by the virgin as to his humanity, who for his worth might have been exempted from such burdens; yet did God teach him (not as if he wanted it at any time) by what he imposed and commanded him, and he learnt by what he did agree and covenant to perform, active obedience to Gods will, fulfilling all righteousness, being for his person, and doing for his work to a tittle what God required from him; but especially passive obedience, by his experience knowing what it meant, freely subjecting himself to his state of humiliation, Phi 2:6-8, enduring all the indignities and sufferings for sinners from his birth to his death, even the most vile and cursed. This the Father enjoined and commanded him, and he did obey it: read Isa 53:1-12. He who offered prayers for himself, as a high priest offered himself a sacrifice for us, as ours. By this did he finish his Fathers will entirely, experimentally, feelingly, knowing how difficult patience under the cross is, and how to pity us under all our sufferings.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Though He WAS(so it ought to be translated: a positive admitted fact: not a meresupposition as were would imply) God’s divine Son (whence,even in His agony, He so lovingly and often cried, Father, Mt26:39), yet He learned His (so the Greek)obedience, not from His Sonship, but from His sufferings. As the Son,He was always obedient to the Father’s will; but the specialobedience needed to qualify Him as our High Priest, He learnedexperimentally in practical suffering. Compare Php2:6-8, “equal with God, but . . . took upon Him theform of a servant, and became obedient unto death,”&c. He was obedient already before His passion, but Hestooped to a still more humiliating and trying form of obediencethen. The Greek adage is, “Pathemata mathemata,“”sufferings, disciplinings.” Praying and obeying,as in Christ’s case, ought to go hand in hand.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Though he were a Son,…. The Son of God, as the Vulgate Latin version reads; not by creation, nor by adoption, nor by office, but by nature, being the only begotten of the Father, having the same nature and perfections with him:
yet learned he obedience; not to his parents, or civil magistrates, though that is true; nor merely to the precepts of the law, which he did; but unto death: through sufferings he became obedient to death, even the death of the cross: and this he learnt; not that he was ignorant of the nature of it; nor was he destitute of an obedient disposition to it; but the meaning is, he had an experience of it, and effected it; and which was voluntary, and done in our room and stead; and is the rule and the measure of our righteousness before God: and this he learned,
by the things which he suffered; from men, from devils, and from the justice of God. Christ’s sonship did not exempt him from obedience and sufferings; this shows the dignity of Christ’s person, that he is the Son of God, not as Mediator, for as such he is a servant; and it would be no wonder that he should learn obedience as a servant; and this shows also the great humility and condescension of Christ in obeying and suffering for us; though so great a person; and likewise the vile nature of sin, and the strictness of divine justice: and we may learn from hence, not to expect to be exempted from sufferings on account of sonship; nor to conclude we are not sons, because we suffer; and that afflictions are instructive, and by them experience is learned.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Though he was a Son ( ). Concessive participle with , regular Greek idiom as in Heb 7:5; Heb 12:17.
Yet learned obedience ( ). Second aorist active indicative of . Succinct and crisp statement of the humanity of Jesus in full harmony with Luke 2:40; Luke 2:52 and with Heb 2:10.
By the things which he suffered (‘ ). There is a play on the two verbs (—), paronomasia. Second aorist active indicative of . He always did his Father’s will (Joh 8:29), but he grew in experience as in wisdom and stature and in the power of sympathy with us.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Though he were a Son [ ] . For were rend. was. His training for the priesthood involved suffering, even though he was a son. Connect with emaqen learned, not with the preceding clause, which would mean that his position as a son did not exempt him from the obligation to godly fear, which is true as a fact (see ver. 7), but is not the point of emphasis here.
Learned he obedience [ ] . Omit he, since the subject of emaqen learned is ov who, ver. 7. Jesus did not have to learn to obey, see Joh 8:29; but he required the special discipline of a severe human experience as a training for his office as a high priest who could be touched with the feeling of human infirmities. He did not need to be disciplined out of any inclination to disobedience; but, as Alford puts it, “the special course of submission by which he became perfected as our high priest was gone through in time, and was a matter of acquirement and practice.” This is no more strange than his growth in wisdom, Luk 2:52. Growth in experience was an essential part of his humanity.
By the things which he suffered [ ] . Or from the things, etc. Note the word – play, emaqen epaqen. So Croesus, addressing Cyrus, says, ta de moi paqhmata, ejonta ajcarista, maqhmata gegonen, “my sufferings, though painful, have proved to be lessons” (Hdt. 1 207) : so Soph. Trach. 142, mht’ ejkmaqoiv paqousa “mayst thou not learn by suffering.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Though he were a Son,” (kaiper on huios) “Though being (existing as) an heir-Son,” A Son over his own house, the church he established among men, Heb 3:6; Mar 13:34-37; 1Ti 3:15.
2) “Yet learned he obedience,” (emathen hupakoen) “He (still) learned obedience; What it was to be in obedience or absolute submission in the flesh to his Father’s will, Joh 12:27-28; Php_2:5-8.
3) “By the things which he suffered,” (aph’ hon epathen ten) “From (the experience of) the things which he suffered,” as a man while he obeyed God, as Isaac did Abraham, when he offered him as a sacrifice at Mount Moriah, Gen 22:8-14; Isa 53:1-6; 1Pe 2:22; 1Pe 2:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Yet learned he obedience, etc. The proximate end of Christ’s sufferings was thus to habituate himself to obedience; not that he was driven to this by force, or that he had need of being thus exercised, as the case is with oxen or horses when their ferocity is to be tamed, for he was abundantly willing to render to his Father the obedience which he owed. But this was done from a regard to our benefit, that he might exhibit to us an instance and an example of subjection even to death itself. It may at the same time be truly said that Christ by his death learned fully what it was to obey God, since he was then led in a special manner to deny himself; for renouncing his own will, he so far gave himself up to his Father that of his own accord and willingly he underwent that death which he greatly dreaded. The meaning then is that Christ was by his sufferings taught how far God ought to be submitted to and obeyed.
It is then but right that we also should by his example be taught and prepared by various sorrows, and at length by death itself, to render obedience to God; nay, much more necessary is this in our case, for we have a disposition contumacious and ungovernable until the Lord subdues us by such exercises to bear his yoke. This benefit, which arises from the cross, ought to allay its bitterness in our hearts; for what can be more desirable than to be made obedient to God? But this cannot be effected but by the cross, for in prosperity we exult as with loose reins; nay, in most cases, when the yoke is shaken off, the wantonness of the flesh breaks forth into excesses. But when restraint is put on our will, when we seek to please God, in this act only does our obedience show itself; nay, it is an illustrious proof of perfect obedience when we choose the death to which God may call us, though we dread it, rather than the life which we naturally desire.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Though he were a Son.These words may be connected with what precedes (implying that He was heard for His reverent fear, not because, in the preeminent sense, He was Gods Son); but they are still more closely joined with the following sentence, Though He was a Son, He learnt His obedience by the things which He suffered. The disposition of obedience Jesus possessed before He suffered, but the proof that this disposition existed must be shown in deed; this progress from the disposition to the deed of obedience is a practical learning of the virtue of obedience (Lnemann). The suffering recorded in Heb. 5:7 is regarded as the culmination of His life of suffering.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The last touch that perfects the divinized man to be the Saviour of suffering men is, that he acquires experience from his own suffering.
Though a Son And, therefore, we might suppose, above all suffering.
Learned he obedience things suffered Some of the ancient commentators were scandalized at this statement. “What! was he not obedient before he suffered?” Certainly, but not with a suffering obedience. It was an additional obedience he learned when he suffered; which he could not be conscious of, or exhibit as model to others, without the suffering. The old Greek writers abounded in various forms of the maxim that suffering is a source of wisdom. Trial is both the school and the test of virtue; not only proving, but creating, depth and power of character. The most tried saints on earth will be the highest saints in heaven; and he who will be Lord of them all will have been of all the deepest sufferer.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Although being Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the author of eternal salvation, named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.’
The writer now sums up what He achieved at the cross. Though He was of the nature of ‘Son’ (see Heb 1:1-14), yet He learned obedience by the things that He suffered (Heb 2:9), and having thus been made perfect (Heb 2:10), He became to all those who similarly obeyed Him (Heb 4:1-11), the author of eternal salvation, in His appointment by God as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. As King-Priest He too was High Priest.
‘Though he was of the nature of God’s Son.’ Incomprehensible the thought that the One Who was the outshining of the glory of God and the exact representation of what He essentially was, the Creator and Sustainer of all creation, should learn obedience by suffering, and especially the suffering of death. ‘Tis mystery all, the immortal dies’, who can begin to understand it?
‘Yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.’ For Him this was a new learning curve. He had always been ‘He Who must be obeyed’. But He emptied and humbled Himself. He became the servant Who humbly obeyed like the Servant in Isaiah 53, even to the level of his extensive suffering. And in living out a humble life He learned what it meant to obey. And He was totally successful, for He obeyed fully (Rom 5:19; Php 2:5-8). Thus did He reveal Himself as truly the perfect man, fully obedient man, obedient to the will of God, and nowhere more so than in the Garden of Gethsemane where He revealed His absolute obedience to the will of God in the face of the utterly unbearable, which He expressed Himself as yet willing to bear, and went forward triumphantly to do so.
‘Learned (emathen) — by what He suffered (epathen).’ Note the play on words.
‘And having been made perfect.’ His obedience and His suffering, which He chose, made Him perfect, prepared in every way, for the task that lay before Him, to bring eternal salvation to man. It made Him the perfect Sanctifier (Heb 2:11), the perfect Trek Leader (Heb 2:10), the perfect Sacrifice (Heb 2:14), the perfect Deliverer from the fear of death (Heb 2:15). His exaltation to God’s right hand completed His perfect preparation.
‘He became to all those who obey Him the author of eternal salvation.’ Note that the eternal salvation is only for those who obey Him (compare Joh 3:36). He became the source of and the One responsible for bringing about the future salvation promised in the Old Testament to those who responded in obedience.
‘The author’ (aitios), the One who is finally responsible for bringing about, the One who causes, the One Who is the root cause. Compare its use in 1Sa 22:22 LXX ‘I am the cause of/the one responsible for bringing about, the death of the house your father’. It is often found in Greek with soterias (in Aeschines, Philo, Demosthenes) with the idea of the one responsible for bringing about salvation in one way or another (Philo uses it of the brazen serpent). It is not quite the same idea as Author/Trek Leader (archegos – Heb 2:10) where the thought is more on the activity involved. Here the thought was of total responsibility for bringing it about.
‘Of eternal salvation.’ The salvation of the coming age (as with ‘eternal’ life, the life ‘of the coming age’), the future everlasting salvation promised by God in the Old Testament (compare Isa 45:17 LXX).
‘Named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.’ This reference here, following Heb 5:6, demonstrates that all that has gone between in Heb 5:7-9 lay behind His unique High Priesthood. This High Priesthood was revealed in His powerful prayers and supplications which achieved victory over death, it was prepared for by His being made perfect through suffering. Compare Heb 2:10-11 where the Author/Trek Leader of their salvation, Who also ‘sanctifies’ them, a priestly activity, is made perfect through suffering. And it ended up with Him seated at the right hand of God, the bringer about of eternal salvation for His own.
Note that when quoting the Psalm directly the writer retains ‘priest’ but when referring to it speaks of ‘High Priest’, because He was the royal supreme priest.
The Writer Rebukes His Readers For Not Being In A State To Understand His Message And Warns Of The Danger Of Falling Away From The One Whom He Is Describing (Heb 5:11 to Heb 6:12).
The introduction of Christ’s High Priestly work constantly results in admonition. Heb 2:17 to Heb 3:1 resulted in the long warning passage from Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:13. Its mention here now results in Heb 5:11 to Heb 6:12. Mention of it will also result in Heb 10:26-31. His readers must choose between the old, now superseded, priesthood, or the new Priesthood of Christ. Christ’s exaltation as High Priest faces all men with a choice, either positive and glad response to Him in faith, or judgment.
He commences here with regret that his readers are in no state to hear what he would say to them because of their lukewarm state, having allowed their senses to atrophy. He then declares his intention to advance to this higher teaching, but warns that those who have turned away from Christ will be in no state to respond, although he then expresses his confidence that his readers are mainly not of this number.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 5:8. Though he were a Son, Notwithstanding his being a Son, he learned obedience by that severe discipline which he underwent. The connection of this and the preceding verse seems to stand thus: “Jesus offered up prayers unto him who was able to save him from death; and he was, heard too, by reason of the reverence and regard he shewed to his Father in all things; and he was accordingly rewarded. Yet notwithstanding his beinga Son,the only-beloved Son,he learned obedience by going through a state of sufferings.” However, I humbly judge, that this obedience of Christ, in which he was improved by his sufferings and trials, must be understood agreeably to the scope of the discourse; wherein the apostle is designing to shew, that Christ acquired a sympathy with us, and so was well qualified to be a high-priest for us. If we look back to ch. Heb 4:14-15 we find he there speaks of our High-priest as the Son of God, who could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, being tried in all things like as we are, yet without sin. This made a vast difference between him and the priests under the law, who might be moved to a compassion towards their brethren, byconsidering their own sinful infirmities; Heb 5:2-3. Now Christ not being capable of being moved to compassion by this, (being himself always perfectly free from sin,) the sacred writer seems here to suggest, that he was yet as effectually moved to it another way, even by his own sufferings, in the course of his obedience; and especially when he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The sense of the place therefore I take to be this, That by his sufferings he learned how difficult obedience was; and by this means was as effectually engaged to pity and succour us, as the high-priests of old were to pity and act in behalf of the people, from the experience they had of their own strength and infirmity.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Heb 5:8 . ] belongs together. With Heinrichs and others, to construe with , and in this way to enclose Heb 5:8 within a parenthesis, is forbidden by the grammar, since is never combined with a tempus finitum. , however, is to be connected neither, by virtue of an hyperbaton, with , which Photius (in Oecumenius) and Clarius consider permissible, but which is already shown to be impossible by means of the addition , nor yet with itself (Chrysostom, Theophylact). For against the latter is decisive, according to which the property of Sonship is insisted on as something in consequence of which the main statement might appear strange; it is not, however, strange, but, on the contrary, congruent with nature, if any one is heard by the Father on account of his sonship. belongs, therefore, to , and serves to bring the same into relief by way of contrast. Notwithstanding the fact that Christ was a Son, He learned from suffering (learned, in that He suffered) obedience, resignation to the will of the Father. Comp. Phi 2:6-8 .
The article before marks the definite virtue of obedience. The article here cannot denote, as Hofmann will maintain ( Schriftbew . II. 1, p. 72, 2 Aufl.), the obedience “already present,” or the obedience “in which Jesus stood.” For, on the one hand, there must then have been previous mention of the obedience of Jesus, which is not the case; and then, on the other hand, we cannot any longer predicate the learning of a virtue of one in whom this virtue is already present. But altogether, that which Hofmann brings out as the import of Heb 5:8 is a wonderful Quid pro quo. Instead of recognising, to wit, in Heb 5:7-8 the sharply and clearly defined leading statement: in itself, and in its simply confirmatory relation to , Heb 5:5 , Hofmann will have the stress to be laid upon the subsidiary defining note , and then, moreover, make the whole weight of the words: , fall upon that same ! In this way the thought expressed in Heb 5:8 is, forsooth: that Jesus afterwards (!) suffered that (!) for the averting of which He had made entreaty. The special point is not that He learnt anything as Son, nor that He learnt obedience (?!). He did not learn to obey, but the obedience in which He stood, He now (!) or in a new manner (!) so learnt, as it should there (!) be exercised, where (!) it was a question (!) of suffering. And this is to be taken as the meaning, in spite of the fact apart from all other arbitrary assumptions that we have written, and not even , which at least must be expected as a support for such an exposition as that?
] The disposition of obedience Christ possessed even before the suffering. But this needed, in order to become vouched for, to be tested in action. And this continued development of the disposition of obedience into the act of obedience is nothing else than a practical learning of the virtue of obedience.
with , as Mat 24:32 ; Mat 11:29 , denoting the starting-point.
] well-known attraction in place of .
The combination is also of frequent occurrence with the classic writers and with Philo. Comp. Herod. i. 207: , , ; Soph. Trach . 142 f.: , ; Xenoph. Cyrop . iii. 1. 17: , , ; Philo, de speciall. legg . 6 (with Mangey, II. p. 340): . Many other instances in Wetstein.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Ver. 8. Yet learned he obedience ] He came to know by experience what a hard matter it was thus to obey God. Schola crucis, schola lucis. Gideon, by threshing the men of Succoth, taught them, Jdg 8:7-16 . God’s chastisements are our advertisements, . Nocumenta documenta. See my Treatise on Rev. iii., p. 145.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Heb 5:8 . [having been heard ] although He was a son He learned obedience from the things He suffered. The result of his being heard was therefore that he suffered, but in the suffering He learned obedience, perfect unison with the will of God for the salvation of men so that He became a perfected Priest. He learned obedience : “this is stated to obviate the very idea of assumption on his part” (Davidson). Perhaps, therefore, we should translate, with a reference to Heb 5:5 , “although He was Son”. Although Son and therefore possessed of Divine love and in sympathy with the Divine purpose, He had yet to learn that perfect submission which is only acquired by obeying in painful, terrifying circumstances. He made deeper and deeper experience of what obedience is and costs. And the particular obedience [ .] which was required of Him in the days of His flesh was that which at once gave Him perfect entrance into the Divine love and human need. It is when the child is told to do something which pains him, and which he shrinks from, that he learns obedience, learns to submit to another will. And the things which Christ suffered in obeying God’s will taught Him perfect submission and at the same time perfect devotedness to man. On this obedience, see Robertson Smith in Expositor for 1881, p. 424. is often joined with the participle to emphasise its concessive use [see Burton, 437], as in Diod. Sic., iii. 17, . , a common form of attraction and also a common proverbial saying, of which Wetstein gives a number of instances; Herodot. i. 207; sch., Agam. , 177, , Demosth., 1232 . Carpzov also quotes several from Philo, as from the De Somn. , , and De Profug. , 25. . see also Blass, Gram. , p. 299 E. Tr.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
a. Omit.
Son. Greek. huios. App-108. See Heb 1:2.
obedience. See Rom 5:19.
by = from. Greek. apo. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Heb 5:8. , though He was a Son) This paragraph, in the days, etc. has two parts. The first is, in the days-obedience by the things which He suffered; the second, and being made perfect-of eternal. The first part speaks of things very humble; for death and to be in horror, and, although the horror of it be removed, to die, and to learn obedience from such suffering, may appear somewhat servile: wherefore, by this clause, although He was a Son, precaution is taken, that nothing said in that part, before and after, should be a stumbling-block to any. The second part is altogether joyful and glorious, and he insinuates (implies) that we must repeat from Heb 5:5, because He was the Son: comp. ch. Heb 7:28, at the end. In His agony in Geth-semane He so sweetly, so frequently, appealed to the Father, Mat 26:39, etc.: and from this fact we have the clearest confirmation of the truth that Jesus was not the Son of God merely because He rose from the dead, and not previously.-, He learned) The word learning put before the word suffering, elegantly points to Christ learning with the utmost readiness and willingness. He learned obedience whilst He began to suffer, whilst He set Himself to drink the cup. The word to learn implies a kind of beginning, and the making perfect corresponds to this beginning, of which we shall afterwards speak. There is a pleasant paronomasia[31] in . He also had experience of the adage, [sufferings, the means of learning]. Christ alone fortified [secured] the path of obedience in a way consonant to the will of the Father. Obedience may be performed without prayers.[32]- ) So , Mat 24:32.- , obedience) That kind of humble obedience which is shown in suffering and dying. Php 2:8, note. He says to the Father, as Thou wilt.-, and , are conjugates. The Father hearkened to the Son, and the Son to the Father. In like manner Christ obeyed the Father;[33] we obey Christ; see the following verse.
[31] See Append.
[32] But Christ joined both prayers and obedience: and this is the Fathers will.-ED.
[33] Equivalent to hearkened to, so as to obey, obedio, Th. ob audio.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The things discoursed in the foregoing verse seem to have an inconsistency with the account given us concerning the person of Jesus Christ at the entrance of this epistle. For he is therein declared to be the Son of God, and that in such a glorious manner as to be deservedly exalted above all the angels in heaven. He is so said to be the Son of God, as to be the brightness of the Fathers glory, and the express image of his person, even partaker of the same nature with him; God, by whom the heavens were made, and the foundations of the earth were laid, Heb 1:8-10. Here he is represented in a low, distressed condition, humbly, as it were, begging for his life, and pleading with strong cries and tears before him who was able to deliver him. These things might seem unto the Hebrews to have some kind of repugnancy unto one another. And, indeed, they are a, stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, unto many at this day; they are not able to reconcile them in their carnal minds and reasonings. Wherefore, since it is by all acknowledged that he was truly and really in the low, distressed condition here described, they will not allow that he was the Son of God in the way declared by the apostle, but invent other reasons of their own for which he should be so termed. Their pleas and pretences we have discussed elsewhere. The aim of the apostle in this place is, not to repel the objections of unbelievers, but to instruct the faith of them who do believe in the truth and reason of these things. For he doth not only manifest that they were all possible, upon the account of his participation of flesh and blood, who was in himself the eternal Son of God; but also that the whole of the humiliation and distress thereon ascribed unto him was necessary, with respect unto the office which he had undertaken to discharge, and the work which was committed unto him. And this he doth in the next ensuing and following verses.
Heb 5:8. , .
I observed before that the Syriac translation hath transpond some words in these two verses, and thus reads this latter of them, And although he were a Son, from the fear and sufferings which he underwent he learned obedience. That concerning fear is traduced out of the foregoing verse, where it is omitted. Some copies of the Vulgar read, et quidem cum esset Filius Dei, as do our old English translations, restoring it before its connection, as also in other places. The Rhemists only, and truly, whereas he was the Son; no other translation acknowledgeth the addition of God. Arias, existens Filius: which some other translations add some epithet unto, to express the emphasis; a faithful Son, Ethiop.; a Son always, Arab. [5]
[5] TRANSLATION. . The word becomes definite from its connection and well-known application; as in Mat 12:41-42, men of Nineveh, and a queen translation, and thereby gives the precise
Heb 5:8. Although he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by [or from] the things which he suffered.
, quamvis, tametsi, although; an adversative, with a concession. An exception may be supposed unto what was before delivered, namely, If he were a Son, how came he so to pray and cry, so to stand in need of help and relief? This is here tacitly inserted. Saith the apostle, Although he were so, yet these other things were necessary.And this gives us a connection of the words unto those foregoing. But according to the apostles usual way of reasoning in this epistle, there is also a prospect in this word towards the necessity and advantage of his being brought into the condition described; which in our translation is supplied by the addition of yet.
, he were a Son, and yet being a Son; that is, such a Son as we have described, or that Son of God.It was no great nor singular thing for a son or child of God by adoption to be chastised, to suffer, and thereby to be instructed unto obedience. He therefore speaks not of him as a son on any common account, or such as any mere creature can claim interest in. But he was Gods own Son, Rom 8:3; the only begotten of the Father, Joh 1:14; who was himself also in the form of God, Php 2:6. That he should do the thing here spoken of, is great and marvelous. Therefore is it said that he did thus, although he were a Son. Two things are included herein, namely, in the introduction of Christ in this place under the title of the Son:
1. The necessity of doing what is here ascribed unto him, with respect unto the end aimed at. And this is more fully declared in the next verse. The things that were in themselves necessary unto the great end of the glory of God in the salvation of the elect, were not to be waived by Christ, although he were the Son.
2. His love, that he would submit to this condition for our sake. On his own account no such thing was required of him, or any way needful unto him; but for our sakes (such was his love) he would do it, although he were a Son.
Besides, whereas the apostle is comparing the Lord Christ, as a high priest, with Aaron and those of his order, he intimates a double advantage which he had above them:
1. That he was a Son, whereas they were servants only; as he had before expressed the same difference in comparing him with Moses, Heb 3:4-6.
2. That he learned obedience by what he suffered; which few of them did, none of them in the same way and manner with him.
, . As to the manner of the expression or phraseology, seems to be put for , by, out of, from, the things. And, moreover, there is an ellipsis, or a metaptosis in the words, being put for : and so we express the sense in our translation. Also, the paranomasia which is in them, , is observed by all. And there is some correspondence in the whole unto that common ancient saying, . [6]
[6] See the speech of Croesus, Herodot. 1:207. Ed.
Three things we are to inquire into:
1. What is the obedience which is here intended.
2. How Christ is said to learn it.
3. By what means he did so.
1. is an obediential attendance unto the commands of another; a due consideration of, a ready compliance with authoritative commands: for the word cometh from that which signifieth to hearken, or hear. Hence, to hearken or hear, is frequently in the Scripture used for to obey; and to refuse to hear, is to be stubborn and disobedient: because obedience respects the commands of another, which we receive and become acquainted withal by hearing; and a readiness with diligence therein, is the great means to bring us unto obedience. , therefore, is an obediential compliance with the commands of another, when we hear, and thereby know them.
This obedience in Christ was twofold:
(1.) General, in the whole course of his holy life in this world; every thing he did was not only materially holy, but formally obediential. He did all things because it was the will and law of God that so he should do. And this obedience to God was the life and beauty of the holiness of Christ himself; yea, obedience unto God in any creature is the formal reason constituting any act or duty to be good or holy. Where that consideration is excluded, whatever the matter of any work or duty may be, it is neither holy nor accepted with God. Wherefore the whole course of the life of Christ was a course of obedience unto God; whereon he so often professed that he kept the commands and did the will of him that sent him, thereby fulfilling all righteousness. But yet this is not the obedience here peculiarly intended, although no part of it can be absolutely excluded from the present consideration; for whereas this obedience hath respect unto suffering, he learned it from the things which he suffered, his whole life was a life of suffering. One way or other he suffered in all that he did, at least when and whilst he did it. His state in this world was a state of humiliation and exinanition; which things have suffering in their nature. His outward condition in the world was mean, low, and contemptible; from which sufferings are inseparable. And he was in all things continually exposed unto temptations, and all sorts of oppositions, from Satan and the world; this also added to his sufferings.
(2.) But yet, moreover, there was a peculiar obedience of Christ, which is intended here in an especial manner. This was his obedience in dying, and in all things that tended immediately thereunto. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; for this commandment had he of his Father, that he should lay down his life, and therefore he did it in a way of obedience. And this especial obedience to the command of God for suffering and dying the apostle here respects. With regard hereunto he said of old,
Lo, I come: in the volume of thy book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God, Psa 40:7-8;
which was in the offering up of himself a sacrifice for us, as our apostle declares, Heb 10:9-10. And concerning the things which befell him herein, he says, he was not rebellious, but gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, Isa 50:5-6.
2. Concerning this obedience, it is said that , he learned it. is to learn as a disciple, with a humble, willing subjection unto, and a ready reception of the instructions given. But of the Lord Christ it is said here, he learned obedience, not that he learned to obey; which will give us light into the meaning of the whole. For, to learn obedience may have a threefold sense:
(1.) To learn it materially, by coming to know that to be our duty, to be required of us, which before we knew not, or at least did not consider as we ought So speaks the psalmist, Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I learned thy commandments. God by his chastisements, and under them, taught him the duties he required of him, and what diligent attendance unto them was necessary for him. But thus our Lord Jesus learned not obedience, nor could so do; for he knew beforehand all that he was to do, or undergo, what was proposed unto him, what was to come upon him, in the discharge of his office and performance of the work he had undertaken. And the law of the whole of it was in his heart; no command of God was new to him, nor ever forgotten by him.
(2.) To learn it formally; that is, to be guided, instructed, directed, helped, in the acts and acting of the obedience required of him. This is properly to learn to obey; so is it with us, who are rude and unskilful in holy obedience, and are by supplies of light and grace gradually instructed in the knowledge and practice of it. This wisdom do we learn, partly by the word, partly by afflictions, as God is pleased to make them effectual. But thus the Lord Christ neither did nor could learn obedience. He had a fullness of grace always in him and with him, inclining, directing, guiding, and enabling him unto all acts of obedience that were required of him. Being full of grace, truth, and wisdom, he was never at a loss for what he had to do, nor wanted any thing of a perfect readiness of will or mind for its performance. Wherefore,
(3.) He can be said to learn obedience only on the account of having an experience of it in its exercise. So a man knoweth the taste and savor of meat by eating it; as our Savior is said to taste of death, or to experience what was in it, by undergoing of it. And it was one especial kind of obedience that is here intended, as was declared before, namely, a submission to undergo great, hard, and terrible things, accompanied with patience and quiet endurance under them, and faith for deliverance from them. This he could have no experience of, but by suffering the things he was to undergo, and the exercise of the graces mentioned therein. Thus learned he obedience, or experienced in himself what difficulty it is attended withal, especially in cases like his own. And this way of his learning obedience it is that is so useful unto us, and so full of consolation. For if he had only known obedience, though never so perfectly, in the notion of it, what relief could have accrued unto us thereby? how could it have been a spring of pity or compassion towards us? But now, whereas he himself took in his own person a full experience of the nature of that especial obedience which is yielded to God in a suffering condition, what difficulty it is attended withal, what opposition is made unto it, how great an exercise of grace is required in it, he is constantly ready to give us relief, as the matter doth require.
3. The way or means of his learning obedience is lastly expressed: , From the things which he suffered. It is a usual saying, , , Sufferings (or corrections ) are instructions. And we cannot exclude from hence any thing that Christ suffered, from first to last, in the days of his flesh. He suffered in his whole course, and that in great variety, as hath been showed elsewhere. And he had experience of obedience from them all, in the sense declared. But seeing the apostle treats concerning him as a high priest, and with especial respect to the offering himself unto God, the suffering of death, and those things which immediately led thereunto, are principally intended:
He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Php 2:8.
Now we may be said to learn from sufferings objectively and occasionally. In their own nature and formally they are not instructive. All things that outwardly come upon us are , and may be abused, or improved unto a good end. But in them that believe, they give a necessity and especial occasion unto the exercise of those graces wherein our obedience in that season doth consist. So from them, or by them, did the Lord Christ himself learn obedience; for by reason of them he had occasion to exercise those graces of humility, self-denial, meekness, patience, faith, which were habitually resident in his holy nature, but were not capable of the peculiar exercise intended but by reason of his sufferings. But, moreover, there was still somewhat peculiar in that obedience which the Son of God is said to learn from his own sufferings, namely, what it is for a sinless person to suffer for sinners, the just for the unjust. The obedience herein was peculiar unto him, nor do we know, nor can we have an experience of the ways and paths of it.
The Lord Christ, undertaking the work of our redemption, was not on the account of the dignity of his person to be spared in any thing that was necessary thereunto. He was enabled by it to undertake and perform his work; but he was not for it spared any part of it. It is all one for that; although he were a Son, he must now learn obedience. And this we have sufficiently cleared on the former verse. And we may hence observe, that,
Obs. 1. Infinite love prevailed with the Son of God to lay aside the privilege of his infinite dignity, that he might suffer for us and our redemption.
Although he were a Son, yet he learned, etc.
1. The name of Son carrieth with it infinite dignity, as our apostle proves at large, Heb 1:3-4, etc. The Son; that is, the Son of the living God, Mat 16:16; the only-begotten of the Father, Joh 1:14; he who in the beginning was with God, and was God, Joh 1:1-2. For as he was Gods own Son, Rom 8:3; he was in the form of God, equal with him, Php 2:5-6; one with him, Joh 10:30. So that infinite glory and dignity were inseparable from him. And so long as he would make use of this privilege, it was impossible he should be exposed to the least suffering, nor could the whole creation divest him of the least appurtenance of it. But,
2. He voluntarily laid aside the consideration, advantage, and exercise of it, that he might suffer for us. This our apostle fully expresseth, Php 2:5-8,
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Concerning which we must observe, That the Son of God could not absolutely and really part with his eternal glory. Whatever he did, he was the Son of God, and God still. Neither by any thing he did, nor any thing he suffered, nor any condition he underwent, did he really forego, nor was it possible he should so do, any thing of his divine glory. He was no less God when he died than when he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead. But he is said to empty himself of his divine glory,
1. With respect unto the infinite condescension of his person;
2. With respect unto the manifestations of it in this world:
1. Of his condescension, when he forewent the privilege of his eternal glory, the apostle observes sundry degrees.
(1.) In his taking of our nature on him. He took on him the form of a servant; and therein made himself of no reputation, that is, comparatively unto the glory which he had in the form of God, wherein he was equal with God, that is, the Father. Hence the Word was made flesh, Joh 1:14; or, God was manifest in the flesh, 1Ti 3:16. This was an infinite, unspeakable, unconceivable condescension of the Son of God, namely, to take our nature into union with himself; whereby he who was God, like unto the Father in all things, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, became a man like unto us in all things, sin only excepted.
(2.) In his so becoming a man as to take on him the form of a servant. He did not immediately take the nature he had assumed into glory; but he first became a servant in it, a servant to God, to do his will, and that in the most difficult service that ever God had to do in this world.
(3.) In that in this service he made himself of no reputation. The work, indeed, he undertook, was great and honorable, as we have before declared; but the way and manner whereby he did accomplish it was such as exposed him unto scorn, reproach, and contempt in the world, Isa 53:1-2; Psa 22:6-7.
(4.) In that in this work he became obedient unto death. Had he staid at the former degrees, his condescension had been for ever to be admired and adored; this only remains to be added, that he should die, and that penally and painfully. And this also he submitted unto. The Prince, the Author, the God of life, became obedient unto death! which also,
(5.) Hath an aggravation added to it, it was the death of the cross, a shameful, ignominious, cursed death. In all these things did he lay aside the privilege of his infinite dignity; all this he did although he were a Son.
2. As to manifestation. He did, as it were, hide and eclipse unto the world all the glory of his divine person, under the veil of flesh which he had taken on him. Hence at the close of this dispensation, when he was finishing the work committed to him, he prays, Joh 17:5, O Father, glorify thou me with that glory which I had with thee before the world was; Let that glory which was necessarily hid and eclipsed in my debasement, wherein I have been made low for the suffering of death, now shine forth again conspicuously.Now the reason why the Son of God did thus forego the privilege and dignity of his glory, was his infinite love.
Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, Heb 2:14.
The reason why he condescended unto this condition, was, that he might redeem and save the children which God gave unto him; and this out of his own unspeakable love towards them, Gal 2:20; Rev 1:5; Php 2:5. This was that which engaged him into, and carried him through his great undertakings.
And here we may, as it were,
1. Lose ourselves in a holy admiration of this infinite love of Christ. Our apostle prays for the Ephesians, that they
might be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, Eph 3:18-19.
This, it seems, is the work, the design, the endeavor of all saints, namely, to come to an acquaintance with, or to live in the contemplation of the love of Christ. The dimensions here assigned unto it are only to let us know, that, which way soever we exercise our thoughts about it, there is still a suitable object for them. It wants nothing that may be a proper object for that prospect which a soul may take of it in the way of believing; and he so prays for the knowledge of it, as that he lets us know that absolutely it is incomprehensible, it passeth knowledge. Then do we in our measure know the love of Christ, when we know that it passeth knowledge, when we comprehend so much of it, as to find we cannot comprehend it; and thereby we have the benefit and consolation of what we do not conceive, as well as of what we do. For as contemplation is an act of faith with respect unto our measure of comprehension, so is admiration with respect unto what exceeds it. And what way soever faith acts itself on Christ, it will bring in advantage and refreshment to the soul. And we are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at his unspeakable love. And, indeed, his love herein, that although he were a Son, the eternal Son of God, yet he would condescend unto the condition before described for our deliverance and salvation, is that which fills the souls of believers with admiration, not only in this world, but unto eternity. And,
2. Here we may, as it were, find ourselves. The due consideration of this love of Christ is that alone which will satisfy our souls and consciences with the grounds of the acceptance of such poor unworthy sinners as we are in the presence of the holy God. For what will not this love and the effects of it prevail for? what can stand in the way of it? or what can hinder it from accomplishing whatever it is designed unto?
Obs. 2. In his sufferings, and notwithstanding them all, the Lord Christ was the Son still, the Son of God.
He was so both as to real relation and as to suitable affection. He had in them all the state of a Son and the love of a Son. It is true, during the time of his suffering, a common eye, an eye of sense and reason, could see no appearance of this sonship of Christ. His outward circumstances were all of them such as rather eclipsed than manifested his glory, Isa 53:2-3. This was that which the world being offended at, stumbled and fell; for he was unto them a stone of stumbling, and rock of offense, Rom 9:33. The meanness of his condition, the poverty of his life, and shame of his death, proved an offense both to Jews and Gentiles. How could such a one be thought to be the Son of God? Besides, God himself so dealt with him, as flesh and blood would not conceive him to deal with his only Son. For he laid his curse upon him, as it is written, Cursed is he that is hanged on a tree. And in all this state of things, he speaks of himself as one made so much beneath the condition of glory which was due to the Son of God, as that he was lower than any sort of men; whence he complains,
I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people, Psa 22:6.
Yet, during all this, he was still the Son of God, and suffered as the Son of God. Hence it is said, that God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, that is, to suffering and death, Rom 8:32. He sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh, verse 3. It is true, he suffered only in his human nature, which alone was capable thereof; but HE suffered who was the Son of God, and as he was the Son of God, or God could not have redeemed the church with his own blood, Act 20:28. In all that he underwent neither was the union of his natures dissolved, nor the love of the Father unto him as his own Son in the least impeached.
Obs. 3. A practical experience of obedience to God in some cases will cost us dear.
We cannot learn it but through the suffering of those things which will assuredly befall us on the account thereof. So was it with the Lord Christ. I intend not here the difficulties we meet withal in mortifying the internal lusts and corruptions of nature; for these had no place in the example here proposed unto us. Those only are respected which do, or will, or may, come upon us from without. And it is an especial kind of obedience also, namely, that which holds some conformity to the obedience of Christ, that is intended. Wherefore,
1. It must be singular; it must have somewhat in it that may, in a special manner, turn the eyes of others towards it. A common course of obedience, clothed with a common passant profession, may escape at an easy rate in the world. There seems to be somewhat singular denoted in that expression, He that will live godly in Christ Jesus, 2Ti 3:12. To live in Christ Jesus, is to live and walk in the profession of the gospel, to be a professing branch in Christ, Joh 15:2. But of these there are two sorts; some that live godly in him, some branches that bring forth fruit, that is, in an eminent and singular manner. Every branch in the true vine hath that whereby he is distinguished from brambles and thorns; and every one that lives in the profession of the gospel hath somewhat that differenceth him from the world, and the ways of it; but there is a peculiar, a singular fruit-bearing in Christ, an especial living godly in him, which will turn an observation upon itself. So our apostle says, that they were made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men, by the especial ministry which was committed unto them, 1Co 4:9.
2. It is required that this obedience be universal. If there be an allowance in any one instance where there is a compliance with the world, or other enemies of our obedience, the trouble of it will be much abated. For men,
by indulging any crooked steps to themselves, do compound for outward peace, and ofttimes thus obtain their aims, though greatly to their spiritual disadvantage. But the gospel obedience which we inquire into, is such as universally agrees in conformity with Christ in all things. And this will cost us dear. Sufferings will attend it. They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. For this kind of obedience will be observed in the world. It cannot escape observation, because it is singular; and it provokes the world, because it is universal, and will admit of no compliance with it. And where the world is first awaked, and then enraged, trouble and suffering of one kind or another will ensue. If it do not bite and tear, it will bark and rage. And Satan will see enough to make such his especial mark, as to all the opposition and actings of enmity which he puts forth against any in this world. Yea, and God himself ofttimes delighteth to give a trial unto eminent graces, where he endows any with them. For he gives them not for the peculiar advantage of them on whom they are bestowed only, but that he himself may have a revenue of glory from their exercise.
Obs. 4. Sufferings undergone according to the will of God are highly instructive.
Even Christ himself learned by the things which he suffered; and much more may we do so, who have so much more to learn. God designs our sufferings to this end, and to this end he blesseth them. And this hath frequently been the issue of Gods dealing with men; those who have suffered most, who have been most afflicted, most chastised, have been the most humble, most holy, fruitful, and wise among them; and he that learneth such things, profiteth well under his instruction.
Obs. 5. In all these things, both as to suffering, and learning or profiting thereby, we have a great example in our Lord Jesus Christ.
As such is he proposed unto us in all his course of obedience, especially in his sufferings, 1Pe 2:21; for he would leave nothing undone which was any way needful, that his great work of sanctifying and saving his church to the utmost might be perfect.
Obs. 6. The love of God towards any, the relation of any unto God, hinders not but that they may undergo great sufferings and trials.
The Lord Christ did so, although he were a Son. And this instance irrefragably confirms our position. For the love of God to Jesus Christ was singular and supereminent; he doth not love any with a love so much as of the same kind. The relation also of Christ unto God was singular; none ever standing in the same relation unto him, he being his only-begotten Son. And yet his sufferings and trials were singular also. No sorrows, no pains, no distresses of soul and body, no sufferings like his. And in the whole course of the Scripture we may observe, that the nearer any have been unto God, the greater have been their trims. For,
1. There is not in such trials and exercises anything that is absolutely evil, but they are all such as may be rendered good, useful, yea, honorable and glorious, to the sufferers, from Gods conduct in them and the end of them.
2. The love of God, and the gracious emanations of it, can and do abundantly compensate the temporary evils which any do undergo according to his will.
3. The glory of God, which is the end designed unto, and which shall infallibly ensue upon all the sufferings of the people of God, and that so much the greater as any of them, on any account, are nearer than others unto him, is such a good unto them which suffer, as that their sufferings neither are, nor are esteemed by them to be evil.
Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Obedience Learned
“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” Let us learn what God the Holy Spirit teaches us in this text. The lessons here taught are both practical and of immense importance.
Obedience is the character of the sons of God.
Our Savior left us an example that we should walk in his steps. He has, by his own example, shown us how we are to live in this world. If we would follow Christ, we must yield ourselves to our heavenly Father in unquestioning, universal surrender, to do his will in all things. The extent of our obedience is and must be even unto death.
Obedience to God is a costly thing.
Obedience to another necessarily involves cost. If I obey another, I subject my will, my thoughts, my possessions, my time, and my energy to the one I obey. It is not possible to be obedient to anyone without cost. But obedience to Christ, as our Lord and God, demands the willing surrender of our lives to him (Luk 14:25-33; 2Ti 2:12; 1Pe 2:19-24; Mat 5:10-12).
Gods love for us and our relationship to him as the sons of God do not exempt us from suffering.
Though the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of his love, he was not spared any suffering and sorrow as a man. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The disciple is not above his Lord, nor the servant above his Master. If we are the sons of God, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of heaven (Heb 12:5-11).
One of the old writers, when discussing this matter, said, “If a sheep stray from the flock, the shepherd sets his dog after it, not to devour it, but to bring it in again; even so our Heavenly Shepherd.”
The things we suffer in this world by the will of God are the things by which we learn obedience to the will of God.
We learn not by words, but by experience, — not by reading but by tasting, — not by instruction, but by correction, — not by admonition, but by affliction (Psa 119:67; Psa 119:71; Psa 119:75). It is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless, that we only learn patience by the trial of our faith. We never learn sympathy until we have walked in the shoes of those who need sympathy. We will never learn forgiveness until we experience forgiveness. We will not learn to help the fallen until we have been helped from a fall. We will never learn what we would or should do in any circumstance, until we are in the midst of the trial ourselves. We will never learn to be weaned from this earth until God graciously weans us from it.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
he were: Heb 1:5, Heb 1:8, Heb 3:6
yet: Heb 10:5-9, Isa 50:5, Isa 50:6, Mat 3:15, Joh 4:34, Joh 6:38, Joh 15:10, Phi 2:8
Reciprocal: Gen 7:5 – all that Lev 8:23 – Moses took Lev 16:18 – General Psa 2:7 – Thou Eze 46:2 – he shall worship Mat 20:28 – came Mat 26:42 – the second Mar 10:45 – came Mar 14:36 – nevertheless Joh 8:29 – for Joh 11:33 – he groaned Joh 13:14 – I then Joh 14:31 – that the 1Th 2:14 – even Heb 1:2 – spoken Heb 2:10 – perfect Heb 7:28 – maketh the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LEARNING OBEDIENCE
Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.
Heb 5:8
He learnt obedience; it is not said that He learnt to obey, but that he learnt obedience, not as you or I, who are rude and ignorant in the things of God, and need daily or hourly direction, guidance, help, and gradual supplies of grace to lead us towards the true knowledge. But Jesus had the fulness of grace always with Him, always in Him: and could never be at a loss for what He was to do, nor how to do it.
I. How then did lie learn obedience?Only as the Word hath itby the things which He sufferedby the experience of it in the exercise of it.
II. But why should He have suffered at all?Why have learnt obedience in so sharp a conflict? Because man had unlearnt obedience through pleasureunlawful pleasure. Eden became a place of war when sin came in through pleasure, and the earth must become a paradise through painthe pain of the perfect manthe sorrow, the suffering, the heart-anguish, the soul-agony of the Christ of God.
III. Will the love of Christ constrain us?Shall we use the Saviour as He would wish us? Remember, every sinner saved is another jewel in His Crown of Glory. Remember that every sinner saved is a sinner penitent, and every sinner penitent is a sinner reformed, changed in heart, turned from evil towards good, moved by a mighty love. The heartthe heart of a true penitentis athirst for God; it hath a Godly sorrow; it mourns at the foot of the Cross; from the foot of the Cross it looks upward; it sees the Christ in suffering; it looks onward and sees the Christ in glory; it looks onward yet and sees the Christ in judgment, the Saviour, the Intercessor, the Judge. Then it saith within itself, what shall I do?and from the Cross there comes the voice of the suffering ChristBehold My hands and My feet pierced for thee. See here My side rent for thee: look to the brow, thorn-crowned and bleeding for thee. Let it not be in vain! Give Me thine heart, and I will keep it for thee: Give Me thyself, and I will save thee. Thou must have tribulation in the worldonly for a little whilebut be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, and through suffering I have entered into My glory. Follow Me, and bear thou the Cross, that thou too mayest receive the Crown!
Rev. G. F. de Teissier.
Illustration
You know men may have learnt thoroughly the principles of any art or science, but, without experiments, they do not know the practical working of them. The teacher may explain how a sum is to be worked out, but, unless he works it out himself, he has not the practical knowledge thereof. You may know what meat or fruit isbut not the savour of them unless you taste. You can describe from maps or books of geography the distant lands you have never seen, but you cannot know them as those who have travelled or dwelt in them. Even so the Lord Jesus learnt His obedience by experienceby undergoing great and terrible things for your sake and mine, which, as God, He could not suffer, and as perfect man he need not have suffered.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE WAY TO GLORY
I. Obedience the way to glory.Observe that all our Lords life on earth was emphatically a life of obedience. It ended, no doubt, in the triumph of the Resurrection, in the wonders of the Ascension, in the exaltation of His glorified humanity at the right hand of God. But the whole life, all through, was one of obedience.
II. Suffering is the path of obedience.Why? We cannot see all the reasons why, but we can see some. At all events, we can see this, that in our case, where our own inclinations do certainly lead us wrong, anything like goodness does most certainly require discipline and training and self-denial. Anything like obedience to what is good does most certainly involve denying ourselves much that we naturally long for. And self-denial is suffering. No self-denial can be pleasant. No crossing of our own wills can be agreeable.
III. The sufferings of Christ came to Him.He did not seek them. They came to Him in the way of Gods regular providence. Suffering came to Him in His earliest infancy, when His human nature was still incapable of choosing. And what does this do but teach usfirst, that it can never be too soon to begin the life of obedience, and then, secondly, that the obediences and the sufferings which train us in the Christian life are, as a rule, provided for us by our heavenly Father. The Cross is not for us to invent, it is fashioned for us, it is laid before us by our heavenly Father. Our business is to accept it, to take it up, to bear it with patience and obedience. The question is, Will we submit? not whether we, of our own wills, find out modes of giving up our own will in our own way.
IV. The sufferings of Christ shed a Divine brightness over all involuntary pain.We often wonder at the amount of suffering there is in the world, the unavoidable suffering, theas we sayobjectless, causeless, purposeless suffering. Let us learn a more Christian way of thinking on this subject. There can be no such thing. Since Christ has come, no man ought to speak as if there could be such a thing. All things are yours, said St. Paul, and pain and suffering among them. There is not a pain of body or mind which may not be to you a discipline of obedience, a circumcision of the flesh and spirit teaching you obedience; and the more it seems to come upon you causelessly, and without any seeking of yours, the more, be sure, it is God Who leads you to it and it to you.
Illustration
Every stage in life grows out of every other stage in life. You do not know how it is, but you know it is so. What you do one day comes easier to you the next day, even though you did not know that you were doing it when you did it first. What we are to-day has grown out of what we have been each day and every day that we have ever lived; yes, out of what we were and what we did years before we can remember; and out of what we were and what we were made to do almost before we had any will of our own. We know that it is so. A child grows up easier to manage, more good-tempered, and more obedient if it has been caused to obey even before it knew what obedience meant, even before it could speak. You cannot tell when the beginning is. For the child is a human being from the very first, and if it live to be a hundred years old it is still the same all through the years, even as it will be the same person onward and onward through the never-ending eternity. It is a strange solemn thought that millions of years hence you and I will still be bearing the marks of what we were and how our characters were shaping in the dim forgotten days of infancydays which we have forgotten now but which before our cleared vision in the world to come will stand out plain to view as when from a mountain-top a man looks back upon the lowland road he travelled by, but could not see until he reached the crest.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Heb 5:8. Though he were a Son, Jesus was not excused from undergoing the program his Father planned for him. Jesus learned by practical experience what it means to obey his Father, when the trials of His life led up to his suffering and crucifixion.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 5:8. Though he were a Son; more accurately, though he was Son (there is no conditional thought expressed, but a strong assertion); literally, though being [in His own nature] Son, yet learned he his obedience (not obedience simply, but the obedience He practised, or the obedience which was to fit Him for His office) by (really the source of His knowledge) the things which he suffered.
Son. The absence of the article again calls attention to His relation to the Father (see Heb 1:2).
Learned by suffering. There is in the Greek a play upon the words (comp. , troubles our best teachersdiscipline essential to discipleship).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. Christ’s eminent dignity; he was a Son, that is, the Son of God, and God himself; the word was God, Joh 1:1. And as the word was made flesh, so he was mearer to God than any other person; he was a Son a sinless son, yet a suffering Son; and he learned obedience, by the things which he suffered.
Observe, 2. As Christ’s eminent dignity, so his exemplary obedience; he learned obedience; not by personal speculation, but by real experience; he experimentally understood what obedience was.
Note here, That there are two ways of learning obedience.
1. By the comprehension of the mind. 2. By the experience of sense.
Christ as God was perfect in knowledge, nothing could be added to him, but when he became man, then he came to understand and learn by sufferings, which was a new method and way of knowing. And the obedience which Christ learned, was free and voluntary, universal and complete, sincere and pure, persevering and constant. Christ learned this lesson of obedience, not barely to know it, but to do it; to learn to obey, is to obey by the things which he suffered; he did perfectly learn, and experimentally understand, what obedience was.
Blessed Jesus! As didst thou, so may we learn practical obedience by the things which we suffer.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Heb 5:8. Though he were a son And so, one would have supposed, might have been exempted from suffering; this is interposed, lest any should be offended at all these instances of human weakness; yet learned he obedience, &c. Yea, although he was such a son as has been before described, even that Son of God, who had glory with his Father before all worlds. It was no singular thing for a son, or child of God by adoption, to be chastised, to suffer, and thereby to be instructed to obedience. He therefore speaks not of him as a son in such a way, or in any way in which a mere creature might be Gods son, but as he was his Son in a peculiar sense, his only-begotten Son, who was in the beginning with God, and was God, Joh 1:1; Joh 1:14 : that He should do and suffer the things here spoken of, was indeed marvellous. Therefore it is said, he did and suffered them although he was a Son. Which words imply both the necessity of his doing and suffering what is here ascribed to him, and his love, that when, on his own account no such thing was required, or in any respect needful, yet that he would submit to this condition for our sakes. But what is the obedience here intended? To this it may be answered, the word , so rendered, means an obediential attendance to, or compliance with, the commands of another, when they are heard, and thereby known. This obedience in Christ was two-fold: 1st, General, in the whole course of his life. Every thing he did was not only right and holy as to the matter of it, but as to the form and manner of it; it was obediential: he did all things, because it was the will of God that he should do them; and this his obedience to God was the life and beauty of the holiness, even of Christ himself. This, however, is not chiefly meant here, but rather, 2d, That peculiar compliance with the Fathers will, whereby he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. For this commandment had he received of the Father, that he should lay down his life for his people, and which he did in the way of obedience, saying, A body hast thou prepared me; lo! I come to do thy will, by offering up that body, Heb 10:5; Heb 10:9. But how did he learn this obedience? It must be observed, 1st, The word , here used, signifies to learn as a disciple, with an humble, willing subjection to, and a ready reception of, the instruction given. 2d, It is said he learned obedience, not he learned to obey, which will give us light in the meaning of the passage. He did not learn that to be his duty which he knew not before, or did not consider; nor was he impelled to, or instructed, or directed in the various acts of the obedience required, as we are often taught by chastisements. But, 3d, He learned obedience by experiencing it, as a man learns the taste of meat by eating it. Thus he was said to taste of death, or to experience what was in it by undergoing it. The obedience he learned was a submission to undergo great, hard, and terrible things, accompanied with patience under them, and faith for deliverance from them. This he could have no experience of but by suffering the things he was to undergo, and by the exercise of appropriate graces while suffering. Thus he learned or experienced in himself, what difficulty obedience is attended with. And, 4th, This way of his learning it is what is so useful to us, and so full of consolation. For if he had only known obedience, though never so perfectly, in theory merely, what relief could have accrued to us from it? How could it have been a spring in him of suitable compassion toward us? But now, having fully experienced the nature of that special obedience which is yielded to God in a suffering condition, what difficulty it is attended with, what opposition is made to it, how great an exercise of grace is required, &c., he is disposed to support and succour us in this our obedience and sufferings. See Dr. Owen.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 8
Yet learned he obedience, &c. he learned by experience the lesson of obedience in suffering.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
5:8 Though he were a Son, yet {i} learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
(i) He learned in deed what it is to have a Father, whom a man must obey.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Even though Jesus was the Son of God (Son though He was), and as such perfect in one sense, He gained something through His sufferings. He gained experiential knowledge of what being a human involves. Similarly Jesus grew in favor with God and man (Luk 2:52). He learned obedience in the sense that He learned to obey His father’s will as a human. For Jesus, God’s will involved suffering (cf. Php 2:6-8).
"Innocence is life untested, but virtue is innocence tested and triumphant." [Note: Thomas, p. 64.]
"Here the remarkable thing is that Jesus had to suffer, not because but although he was huios [son], which shows that Jesus is Son in a unique sense; as applied to Jesus huios means something special. As divine huios in the sense of I1f [Heb 1:1-2], it might have been expected that he would be exempt from such a discipline." [Note: Moffatt, p. 66.]