Hebrews 5

The writer says that Jesus was heard because of his reverent submission. Jesus prayed that He might be saved from death on the cross (Mark 14:35-36), but God did not grant that prayer. God was able to save [Jesus] from death, but He chose not to. However, God certainly did hear Jesus’ prayer to be saved, because three days after Jesus’ death, God raised Him from the dead.

8 Although Jesus was the Son of God, He learned obedience from what he suffered. What does this mean? We ordinary men and women usually learn obedience through the suffering that comes upon us when we disobey. But Jesus never disobeyed. Indeed, it was because of Jesus’ obedience that suffering came upon Him. Jesus learned how difficult it is to obey God fully. He experienced the suffering that comes upon those who obey God.

These Hebrew Christians, to whom this letter was written, had already begun to experience some suffering because of their obedience to Christ. But now, as a result, they were about to fall away; they were about to deny Christ. Therefore, let them remember Jesus, who Himself endured suffering in obedience until the end.

9 Jesus was made perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). He was obedient in everything. He did not sin. Therefore, having become a perfect high priest, He is able to give eternal salvation to all who obey him. It was through His obedience that Jesus became the source of eternal salvation. Inthesameway,it is throughour obedience¹⁰ to him that we obtain that salvation.

Jesus is the source of salvation for all who obey him—that is, for all who believe in Him. Faith comes first; without faith, we cannot obey Christ. At the same time, without obedience, there cannot be true faith (see James 2:14-17 and comment). Both faith and obedience together are necessary for our salvation.

10 See verse 6 and comment.

11-12 These Hebrews, to whom this letter was written, had been slow to grow and mature in their faith. They were still spiritual infants (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-2). They had not fully learned even the elementary truths of God’s word (verse 12).

God’s word is made up of both milk and solid food (see Matthew 4:4). “Milk” is for new believers (1 Peter 2:2); “solid food” is for mature believers.

13 These Hebrews had been living, in a spiritual sense, on milk alone. Having initially grown a little in their faith, they had now stopped growing. They had found it was easier just to keep drinking milk like a baby!

In order to grow, we need solid food. In order to grow spiritually, we need teaching about righteousness. What the writer means here is that we need teaching that will prepare us to suffer for righteousness’ sake(Matthew5:10; 2 Timothy3:12).These Hebrews weren’t ready to suffer in this way. They did not know much about true righteousness.

14 Here solid food means the difficult and deep teachings of Jesus. When we eat such “food,” we will grow in Christ. And as we grow in Christ, we shall become better able to distinguish good from evil. We will be able to see more clearly the sin in our own lives and the good in Jesus’ life. As we grow in faith, we shall be better able to understand Jesus’ righteousness and to follow Him. But, to grow in this way, we need solid food. We will never become mature by drinking only milk!