Q. “In what sense did Christ ‘learn obedience to the things which he suffered?’ (Heb. 5:88Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (Hebrews 5:8)). How is this to be taken?”
A. It was an entirely new thing for the glorious Son of God to learn obedience. He who commanded all things from all eternity came into this world of sin, and took the place of obedience, and in a pathway of suffering in which he never yielded to temptation, — “He suffered being tempted” — never yielded —He learned what it was in this world to obey. We learn obedience by the subjection of our wicked hearts and wills to God. He learned it as one with whom it was a new thing, and who had a perfect will, but who laid it aside — (“not my will but thine be done”) — who submitted to everything, obeyed in everything, and depended on God for everything. His obedience ended in death rather than fail in faithfulness or obedience to His Father. How contrary to the first Adam was the second (the last) in all this! And the Christian is “sanctified unto the obedience... of Jesus Christ.” May we have grace to be conformed to Him to obey!
Words of Truth 2:18, 19.