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Christ’s Atonement Death Teaches Obedience

“He learned obedience” (Hebrews 5:8)

Let us look at our Lord’s life to see what true obedience can teach us. First, it is clear that he lived his life in a close personal relationship to God – his and our heavenly Father. Unless we have similar access to His abiding fellowship with God – with the three in one God via the Holy Spirit — all our attempts to live in full obedience will fail. It is God’s holy presence, consciously abiding with us, that guides us as He keeps us steadfastly obeying Him.

Flawed obedience is always the result of a defective abiding in the Lord’s presence. A life entirely under the power of God’s Spirit allows for obedience to flow to us as living water – and our thoughts and actions are its natural unified outcome. The defective life must be acknowledged, then admitted to God, with no delusional, self-justifying escape – it is confessedly a life of broken, irregular fellowship with God. It is a life that must be healed, must make way for a full and healthy spiritual life; then only can full obedience become possible. The secret of true obedience is the return to close and continual fellowship with God.

The author of Hebrews noted that Christ “learned obedience.” And why was it necessary for Christ to present his obedience as learned obedience? What do we learn from observing our Lord’s life as he neared his death on the cross? What is the blessing He brings us? Mark these words: “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.” (Hebrews 5:8-9 NLT)

Suffering is unnatural to us who live in this human flesh – it calls for the surrender of our will. To surrender our will entirely to God is a pivotal shifting of our mindset, psychological suffering as we deal with the temptation to disobey. This is because, all our life we have lived in inherited disobedience, as the first Adam’s progeny.

As our High Priest, who would soon become our advocate at the right hand of God, Christ needed a demonstrable rejection of earthy leadership – a highly evident public form of suffering that the people would understand as a contradistinction to His love – that in Gethsemane He might appear to us, to learn to obey, to give up His will to the Father at any cost – on our behalf in the final act of redemption of mankind. “Not my will, but thy will be done”. As we know Jesus suffered injustice when the leaders and the people cried out: crucify Him. Nothing touches man’s conscience to unite with God. Injustice by the evils of fallen mankind contrasted with the beauty of a life of love and kindness as displayed by our Lord whilst he walked on earth.

He needed to learn obedience, that, as our great High Priest, as the final proving, that He might be exemplified as our teacher, as our exemplar, as absolutely perfect. He learned obedience, He became obedient unto death, that He might become the author of our salvation. He became the author of salvation through obedience, that He might save those ‘who obey Him.’

Obedience, was with Him, absolutely necessary to demonstrate; it is with us absolutely necessary to inherit, salvation from sin. The very essence of salvation is—obedience to God. Christ as the obedient One saves us as His obedient ones. Whether in His suffering on earth or in His glory in heaven, whether in Himself or in and through us, obedience is what the heart of Christ is set upon.

On earth Christ was a learner in the school of obedience; in heaven, He teaches it to His disciples here on earth. In a world where disobedience reigns unto death, the restoration of obedience is in Christ’s hands.

As in His own life, so in us, He has undertaken to maintain it. He teaches and works it in us, unto true life anew.

Let Christ Teach Us “He learned obedience.” And that learning was during his greatest trial on our behalf. And now that He teaches it, He does so first and most by unfolding the secret of His own obedience to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane. Our power of true obedience is to be found in the clear personal relationship with God. It was so with our Lord Jesus.

Observe His teaching ahead of the cross. He said: For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12: 49-50; see also John 8:28, 5:30, 8:16)

Dependence upon a present fellowship and operation of God, a hearing and a seeing of what God speaks and does and shows, is what He taught prior to the cross; and this continued in Gethsemane and as Christ hung on the cross.

Our Lord spoke of His relation to the Father as the type and the promise of our relation to Him, and to the Father through Him. With us as with Him, the life of continual obedience is impossible without continual fellowship and continual teaching. It is only when God comes into our lives, in a degree and a power which many never consider possible — when His presence as the Eternal and Ever-present One is believed and received, even as the Son believed and received it, that there can be the hope of a life in which every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

The church has a need for this continual teaching. The imperative need of the continual receiving our orders and instructions from God Himself is what is implied in the words: “This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus” (Revelation 14:12 NLT)

With the commander of an army, the teacher of a school, the father of a family, it is not the code of laws, however clear and good, with its rewards or threats, that secures true obedience. Rather it is the personal living influence, wakening love and enthusiasm; it is the joy of ever hearing the Father’s voice, that will give the joy and the strength of true obedience. It is the voice that gives the power to obey the word; the word without the living voice does not avail.

We must learn to listen to what the Word of God speaks to us in our devotions, and like Christ, we can hear, follow and obey our God. We must allow the Spirit of the Lord to speak to us intimately, as we abide in Him.

Modified edits by Glen Jackman: Andrew Murray, The School of Obedience, pp 41-47

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Christian Trinity Study 1: The Father and Son

I hope to help you understand the scope of God’s entire omnipresent being, who in all three persons, co-belonging, though singularly named as personal beings, work to achieve unified goals on behalf of mankind. 1

Eternally, and fully united simultaneously, to each of the three Persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each are fully God while each actively serves in his own unique co-operative personal role, as one in relation to each, eternal and undividedly divine, in One Magisterial Mind. 2

To understand the Christian Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit it is important to unpack scripture and connect the distinctions such as in John 1:1, and yet see the equality of each.  Once we see the unifying roles of the three in one Godhead, we will have the eyes to see this beautiful reality of God’s divine strategy of overseeing his creation.  

The Father’s Unique Role: Supreme Authority  

  • Within the Trinity, it is evident from scripture that the Father is supreme in position and authority, among the God-head persons. The Psalmist wrote: I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ (Psalm 2:7-9)

  • In the gospels, Matthew noted the Word of Jesus: Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ (Matthew 6:9-10) 

  • Apostle Paul, chosen by Jesus to unpack the gospel, confirms the Father’s ultimate authority: When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:28) 

  • In Ephesians 1:3 Paul indicates that all our blessings originate with the Father: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him. 

  • Paul emphasized that the means and the end of the redemption of Christ, was to glorify the Father: For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

The Father Leads 

 Some believe that the use of family roles are depicted metaphorically to help our understanding. Others would point out that humankind was made in God’s image. (Genesis 1:26-27) As the wise designer of co-creation with the Trinity, the redemption of humankind, and the consummation of all things summed up in Christ the Son, the Father was the supreme authority in the lead. This is evident as Paul pointed out: He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:9-12) 

The Father is the Ultimate Provider 

James pointed out: Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James1:17)

Paul also defined the Father as the one from whom all blessings flow: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32) 

The Father Provides and Works Through the Son and Spirit  

The Father is to be praised, though all his gifts to us come through the Son and Spirit. Paul presents the flow of authorized achievement to act on behalf of mankind, as issuing from the Father: (see Ephesians 1:3-14)   

The Son is under the Headship of the Father’s authority. 

Paul makes it clear that the lineage of authority begins with the Father: But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.  (1 Corinthians 11:3) 

Further, the writer of Hebrews agrees that the Father historically defined powerful roles for the Son – at creation as co-creator, further redemption at the incarnation prophesied by Isaiah; all beginning in eternity past since the foundation of the world: God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things into eternity future, through whom also He made the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2–1; Colossians 1: 15-19; Isaiah 9:6-7; Revelation 13:8; Genesis 1:2) 

This respect of Father’s authority is seen in Christ’s submission to the Father during His incarnation and frequently in his earthly mission. John noted: Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. ‘And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.’ (John 8:28-29)  In John 4, when the disciples asked Jesus why he was not interested in eating, Jesus said: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34). 

The Son’s submission to the Father began in eternity past. Forty times in John’s gospel, Jesus mentions the fact that the Father has sent him to accomplish the mission that arrived incarnated here to do from heaven. 

Jesus is recorded as saying:  

  • For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17) 

  • For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6:38) 

  • …I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. (John 8:42) 

  • …do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? (John 10:36) 

The Father creates in a union by or through the Son, who is referred to as the Word: (see John 1:3, 1 Cor 8:6) 

The Father ordained that everything in creation, be placed in subjection to his Son, as well as the elected and redeemed in Christ (see Eph 1:4-6) All others who deny the Son will be brought to final judgment through Christ. (see John 5:22-29; Rev 5:9) The Son obeyed the Father in heaven, as the Father’s instrument of creation, and assent from heaven do the will of his Father. The Son submitted to the Father, then, in eternity past, and further he submits in eternity future: When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Cor 15:25-28)

In Revelation 1:1, we see that the Father initiates the giving of the message to Jesus who delivers it to John via an angel messenger: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John.  

Some get hung up on patriarchal authority in the bible. Jesus viewed his obedience to the Father as an act of love. Scripture depicts a love relationship between the obedient Son and the governing Father. (see John 14:31; John 15:9-10)   

We can see that the Father exercises His absolute authority to bring about what is best for His creation among all of humanity in redemption. With purpose, He always placed his Son on centre-stage even during the exodus out of Egypt. (see 1 Corinthians 10:4) The Father gives honour to the Son, as the Son seeks the Father’s honour, in all he does, to glorify his Father. 

1 I’m indebted to Professor Bruce Ware who helped me see the distinctions of the Godhead in the Trinitarian way during a course delivered at Heritage Seminary, Cambridge, Ontario.

2 Jesus prayed in John 17:1, NLT: I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. I have further written on Yahweh who called Moses in the burning bush, referring to Himself as “I am” and later revealed His name as “Yahweh” to Moses. Later Jesus inferred that: I and my Father are one and the same person by saying: Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58