What are the characteristics of mature people? One may point to wisdom, knowledge, or self-control as key aspects of one who is mature. However, in Hebrews 5, the author of the letter discusses another element of maturity: dependence. Writing about the priestly function of Jesus on earth, the author describes how he made “purification for sins” (Heb. 1:3):
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 5:7-10)
In moments of great need, Jesus cried out (“offered up”) to God petitions. In these moments of suffering, the author notes that Jesus “was heard because of his reverence” (v. 7). What does that mean? The author explains what “his reverence” (or “godly fear”) means in the next verse. Jesus “learned obedience.” This does not mean that Jesus was disobedient and then learned obedience through punishment (as is the form of learning we so often choose), but rather that his process of learning obedience was necessary because of his unbelieving environment. He lived in a world that antagonized, misunderstood, and hated him for being the Son of God (12:1–3). It is in this world that Jesus understood the need to depend on the Father. In describing this dependence, we get clarity as to what Jesus’s “reverence” consists of. His dependence on the Father taught him to obey the Father’s will in all situations, and this submission allowed Jesus to be made our “source of eternal salvation” by God.
It is not coincidental that the author follows the discussion of Jesus’s “learning obedience” by rebuking the audience for spiritually regressing into immaturity. Unlike Jesus, who learned obedience through suffering, the audience has become spiritual children in their suffering (vv. 12–13). They have shrunk in the face of trials. What is the difference between Jesus and the audience in their growth? Jesus depended on the Father in times of suffering and learned obedience through that, yet the audience has strayed from the Father. The mature are the ones who, by “constant practice,” can “distinguish good from evil” and consistently choose what is good (v. 14). The pattern of maturation that Jesus, our “pioneer” (2:10) and “forerunner” (6:20), sets before us is one that wholly depends on God, faithfully obeying his will in times of weakness by the strength provided to us when we draw near to him (4:16).
Are you looking for ways to grow in spiritual maturity? Consider the pattern of Jesus, one who was made like us “in every respect” (2:17) so that we could follow his path to the Father.
Nate Kidwell
Dalraida church of Christ is a congregation of Christians that meet in the mid-town area of Montgomery, Alabama. Our goal and purpose is to seek and follow God and His Word in everything that we do in life.