Jesus - Perfected by Suffering

Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)



(Heb 2:10 NKJV) For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

(Heb 5:6-10 NKJV) {8} though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. {9} And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

(Heb 4:15 NKJV) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
It is an astonishing thing for most Christians to think of Jesus "being perfected" and "learning obedience". It seems contrary to our popular idea of Jesus as arriving fully formed and spotless like a stainless steel robot that saves the world. That was not the case - He came as a human being and human beings LEARN. Jesus learned to obey. This seems like a contradiction when Scripture declares Him at the same time to be "without sin" (Hebrews 5:14 above). Jesus learned - but never made a mistake ! He was the perfect pupil without a blot on the copybook - but He nonetheless did learn! Throughout His 33 years He "learned obedience".

At first He learned obedience to His parents Joseph and Mary whom he "continued in submission" to. And of course He learned obedience to God. The Jesus we see at age 30 to 33 is thus a more perfect and mature Jesus than the child of 12 we briefly see in the early chapters of Luke's gospel. He has matured not only intellectually and physically but spiritually and in His ability to endure sustained temptation and stay on course with His Heavenly Father. Jesus the man has learned a level of obedience that Jesus the child could never have attained to. By the time He reached the cross and had endured the intensity of Gethsemane He was perfected in obedience and was the Perfect Lamb that could be slain for the sins of the world.

Let me immediately say that suffering at no time removed any supposed moral imperfections in Jesus. Jesus had no moral imperfections to remove. Rather suffering strengthened the virtues of His free will so that it was more and more obedient, more and more able to follow God through more and more difficult and confusing circumstances. Thus suffering simply strengthened that which was good in Jesus. It was not the penal suffering of a prisoner but the strengthening suffering of a great spiritual athlete in training. Jesus had the greatest liberty of anyone yet He used that liberty in only one way - to serve God.

Prayer:
Lord You suffered four our sanctification. Praise Your Holy Name! Arm us with strong resolve that we may endure the sufferings you allow to come to us to perfect us. We ask for holy endurance and strong hearts that do not waver from You. Give us a holy heart like Jesus had. Amen.

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John Edmiston ([email protected])
Editor - Eternity Online Magazine http://www.eternity-magazine.org/
Cults, exegesis, bible teaching, Christian life and leadership.
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