Obedience Through Suffering
Excerpt
Christ as a man discovered what it is to cry out to God in fear and distress. The allusion to Gethsemane is unmistakable (Matt. 26:36–46). He learned to say “thy will be done” when the will of God was the way of the cross. In answer to his prayer he was enabled to bear his trial just as he will enable believers to bear theirs (4:15–16). This statement serves to demonstrate how completely and unqualifiedly the Son of God became a man like other men, though without sin. Though he was the Son of God and a sinless man, he was not exempt from the principle that it is through suffering that a person discovers the true nature and cost of obedience (vv. 8–10;2:10). He was “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isa.53:3), and it is precisely that suffering and perfect obedience in suffering which fit him for his role as Savior and High Priest. More
Elwell, Walter A. Evangelical Commentary on the Bible. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995. Print. Baker Reference Library.
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