"....Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." (Hebrews 5:8)
Jesus Christ is the "wisdom of God." Why then our text? The Greek word for, "learned," is, "manthano," which means "to increase one's knowledge," or, "to learn by inquiry." Jesus did not "learn" obedience as though He was unfamiliar with obedience. The meaning is similar to that found in Hebrews 2. Jesus "tasted (experienced) death for us," and "in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God...." Jesus "learned," experienced, "tasted" the same process to obedience which you and I must take. In His identity with us, Jesus demonstrated and cleared the pathway to obedience for us, a pathway which says that as gold is only refined in the fire, so people only learn obedience through the fire of suffering. Just go back over your life and find evidence to disprove this.
Most do not like this pathway to obedience. We would prefer it be, "We learn obedience through the blessings, the books, the even-though-I-messed-up approach. But alas, it is suffering. You will never hear this Bible truth from the new age spirit in Christendom today. But if you are a diligent disciple of Jesus Christ and His Word, you will come to recognize His ways more and more, though they be not "your ways" or the ways of anyone around you. Though the "old man," the "flesh" will argue the whole way through life, you and I know deep down that the Blessed Trinity does everything "for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I have often fought Your ways to my own hurt. I pray today that You continue to have Your way in me. Amen.
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