3) To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

Christ Suffered and Died . . .

To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected

Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.

H e b r e w s 5 : 8

For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

H e b r e w s 2 : 1 0

The Bible explicitly points that He (Christ) was “without sin.” “In every respect [Christ] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). This is the consistent teaching of the Bible. Christ was sinless. Although He was the divine Son of God, He  submitted Himself to be made in human likeness (Philippians 2:7). He was human, and well acquainted with all our temptations, appetites and physical weaknesses. He was subjected to hunger (Matthew 21:18); anger and grief (Mark 3:5); and pain (Matthew 17:12). But His heart was perfectly in love with God, and He acted consistently with that love: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).

Therefore, when the Bible says that Jesus “learned obedience through what He suffered,” it doesn’t mean that He learned to stop disobeying. It means that with each new trial He learned in practice—and in pain—what it means to obey. When it says that He was “made perfect through suffering,” it doesn’t mean that He was gradually getting rid of defects. It means that He was gradually fulfilling the perfect righteousness that He had to have in order to save us.

The point is this: If the Son of God had gone from incarnation to the cross without a life of temptation and pain to test His righteousness and His love, He would not have been a suitable Savior for fallen man. His suffering not only absorbed the wrath of God. It also fulfilled His true humanity and made Him able to call us brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:17).

Lets pray: 

"Dear Father, thank You for Jesus who is both God and man. He knows my weakness. He faced those same temptations and sufferings I face, yet He did not sin against You. He went through the suffering to obey You in order to save me. Thank You Jesus for being obedient to Father and standing strong amidst temptations to be a perfect Man in order to offer Your sinless self to save a sinner like me. Amen."

Be blessed,

Meghna and Ashish

(inspired by 'Fifty reasons why He came to die' by author John Piper)