The Suffering of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, though perfectly sinless in His nature and conduct (1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5), fully entered into the sufferings of humanity during what Scripture calls “the days of His flesh” (Heb 5:7a). As eternal God (John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9), He lacked nothing and possessed all knowledge, power, and authority. Yet in His humanity, He willingly submitted Himself to the limitations of human life, growing in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:40) and experiencing hunger, thirst, fatigue, grief, and rejection. This was not because of any imperfection in His being, but because the incarnation required Him to live in a fallen world where obedience to the Father necessarily brought conflict with the prevailing powers of darkness. Hebrews explains that He “learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb 5:8). This does not mean He was ever disobedient, but rather that, through real human experience, He grew in the practical expression of obedience under pressure, culminating in His supreme submission when He “became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). According to Fruchtenbaum, “The expression learned obedience does not mean that Jesus disobeyed; it means that He learned what obedience cost Him. It cost Him suffering. Philippians 2:8 makes the same point. He learned what obedience costs by means of the things He suffered.”[1] Jesus’ suffering, therefore, was the means by which He demonstrated in His humanity the perfection of obedience, leaving believers an enduring model of faithfulness amid adversity.

As the Suffering Servant foretold by Isaiah (Isa 53:1–12), Jesus also bore the unique suffering of standing in the place of sinners to satisfy divine justice. He not only endured the hostility of men and the pressures of life in a fallen world but ultimately suffered as the substitute for humanity’s sins. In His sacrificial death, He bore the full weight of God’s wrath against sin, paying a debt that was not His own (Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8; 1 Pet 3:18). On the cross, He suffered in the most profound sense, not for His failures, for He had none, but for ours, offering Himself as the once-for-all atonement. His suffering secured forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life for all who believe in Him. Thus, Jesus’ sufferings were both exemplary and substitutionary: exemplary, in that He showed how perfect obedience is forged and displayed through hardship in a fallen world; substitutionary, in that He willingly endured the judgment we deserved so that we might be brought to God. Peter tells us, “Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust” (1 Pet 3:18). Through His suffering, believers find both a model to follow and a Savior to trust, knowing that the One who triumphed through trials now intercedes for them and assures their salvation (1 John 2:1). Sanders states, “Serving and suffering are paired in the teaching and life of our Lord. One does not come without the other. And what servant is greater than the Lord?”[2]

Steven R. Cook, D.Min., M.Div.

[1] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Jewish Epistles: Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, Jude, 1st ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2005), 66.

[2] J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007), 24.