“Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him”. [Heb 5:8-9]

Why does the bible say that Jesus learned obedience? The answer is in what the obedience was.

Closer Attention to the Verse

1. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered…”
   1. The word “although” in the verse above tells us that Jesus as a Son ought not to have “learned obedience from what he suffered”.
   2. When we read the word ‘obedience’ in the above, usually what we comes to our minds is obedience to God. This then would suggest that Jesus was learning obedience to God. This, however, cannot be true because Jesus was already acknowledge to be obedient to God. You learn what you don’t know or what you have not mastered and not what you have. You cannot teach a man what he already knows or has mastered. Therefore, clearly, these words are not speaking of Jesus learning to obey God or how to obey God.
   3. So then, if not obedience to God, what was the obedience he learned through suffering? The obedience is obedience to death! Paul in his letter to the Philippians describes the death of Jesus as “obedience to death” [Php 2:8]. Now, this obedience can be rightly described for Jesus as something he “learned” because he had never before experience death. And he learned this obedience through suffering, that is, he suffered and died. There are certainly easier and more honourable ways to die, but Jesus was subjected to suffering and humiliation before finally dying.
   4. So if we may expand the words: “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience to death, an experience he had never before had, by the things he suffered”
2. and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him”.
   1. If he was made perfect, then it means that he was not perfect before his suffering and death. But what does this mean?
   2. Often times, when we read of perfection, what comes to mind is perfection with regard to not sinning. That is, the common understanding is that to be perfect means that one has no sin and if one sins, it means that he is not perfect. Therefore, when we read that Jesus was made perfect, it may sound as though Jesus was a sinner before his death. This is where the problem lies, “perfect” as used here and in Hebrews is not about whether a man sins or not.
   3. What then is the perfection here? Hebrews is referring to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead as perfection.

Perfection in Hebrews

Perfection Through Suffering

Earlier in the book, it is stated that Jesus was made perfect through suffering [Heb 2:10]. So like here,

1. Perfection for Jesus came after his suffering and death.

The Aaronic Priesthood Was Not Perfect

After this, he states that the Law’s priesthood was unable to bring about “perfection” and that this was why a new priesthood and covenant had to be instituted [Heb 7:11,19]. Therefore,

1. Perfection is a major goal of God for all his people. Clearly, also,
2. Perfection is not death since death is not something God desires for his own. On the contrary, he seeks to save them from it [Heb 2:10,14].

Perfection Is Opposite to Weakness

He describes ‘perfection’ as the opposite of ‘weakness’ [Heb 7:28] and by weakness he is referring to human nature, its subjection to corruption and decay and eventually death [cf., 1Cor 15:42-44].

This was a problem of the Levitical priests, they were ‘weak’. Therefore, if weakness is the human, earthly nature,

1. Perfection is the divine, heavenly nature [cf., 1Cor 15:42,43,44]. The weakness of the human nature is also why humans are so prone to sin.
2. To be made perfect we need a priest that is himself perfect. This then is why the author of our salvation had to be made perfect [Heb 2:10]
3. Since Christ Jesus was resurrected with a divine, heavenly nature, it was at his resurrection that Christ became perfect. Therefore, Jesus Christ was made perfect at his resurrection and was not perfect before he died.

Perfection and Heaven

He refers to the Tabernacle in Heaven, the real one that Moses patterned the earthly tabernacle after, as “more perfect” [Heb 9:11].

Therefore,

1. Perfection is to be of heaven; it is to be heavenly.

Perfection Requires Sacrifices

He also states that the sacrifices of the Law were intended for the purpose of bringing the worshipers to perfection, but they failed. They failed because they cannot take away sins [Heb 10:1-2].

Therefore,

1. To be made perfect, our sins have to be forgiven, we must be free from the condemnation of sin.
2. To this end, to be made perfect, we need a sacrifice that can bring us freedom from sin. This then is why the author of our salvation had to be made perfect through suffering and death [Heb 2:10]—he had to die to be that sacrifice for us

He also mentions that Jesus’ sacrifice has made those who are being made holy perfect forever [Heb 10:14 , Heb 2:10-13]. This again confirms that

1. To be made perfect requires an acceptable sacrifice to God

God's People of All Ages To Be Made Perfection Together

He tells us that no one, no believer in God, who lived before Christ came in the flesh has been made perfect. God’s plan is that none of the saints before Christ came in the flesh—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham etc.,—will be made perfect before us. Rather, we all—they and us—will be made perfect together. [Heb 11:39-40] Since perfection is the divine nature and it will be given to us at the resurrection [1Cor 15:51-55; 1Th 4:14-17],

1. All the saints past and present will be resurrected together.
2. We must be made perfect before we can receive the promise, before we can receive the inheritance [Heb 11:39-40]

Jesus The Perfecter of Our Faith

Jesus is the perfecter of our faith [Heb 12:2]. That is

1. Jesus is the one who will bring us to perfection.

Understanding “Perfection”

The main idea behind perfection is completion. To be perfect is to be complete. This can be a literal description and can be a figurative one. One of the ways in which the scriptures use “perfection” is in describing “maturity”. The word translated ‘mature’ is often times the same word for ‘perfect’ or ‘complete’. So why is maturity described as completion? To answer this question, consider the following fact,

A boy and a man are both male and are essentially the same. The boy, however, is not quite a man yet. Averagely, for example, a boy cannot reproduce as a man and neither is he physically or emotionally as strong as a man. So, though he is essentially a man, he is not yet ‘completely’ one. He is not ‘perfect’. The ‘mature’ man is considered complete because his male features are fully developed.

Applying this to perfection as a description of the divine nature what we may realize is that, just as a boy is born to be a man, this is what we were created to be. That is, we were created to be perfect—we were created to possess the divine nature [2Cor 5:4-5; Isa 43:7]. This means that with regard to creation, man is a child, a boy, and he becomes mature, perfect by possessing the divine nature.

“…he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

1. Jesus is able to save those who obey him because he has been made perfect.
2. To receive eternal salvation in Christ, we must obey him. Just as he was saved from death because he obeyed God, we too can only be saved if we live in obedience to him

Conclusion

The obedience Jesus learned through suffering was not obedience to God but obedience to death, it was to death that Jesus submitted in revenrece for God. And because of his reverential obedience to God, God raised Jesus from the dead. Now this resurrection was not a restoration to life in the Adamic body of the dust of the earth, but was a resurrection unto perfection.

Jesus' submission to death was necessary for him to make atonement for us. Because of his reverential submission, Jesus has gained to the power to save all who belong to him. However, just as with his deliverance from death, our salvation is not without a condition to be fulfilled by us. The condition is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is those who obey him that he will save.