5:8a–b

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered: This statement expresses surprise that even Christ, the Son of God, needed to suffer in order to fully obey God. The phrase learned obedience does not imply that the Son was disobedient or that he did not know how to obey. It indicates that when the Son was a man on earth, he had to suffer in order to obey the Father. Then he learned the type of obedience that involves suffering or causes suffering.

In some languages it may be helpful to mention “suffering” before learned obedience. For example:

He, being Son ⌊of God⌋, still suffered. Through his suffering, he learned/experienced obedience.

Some other ways to translate the meaning are:

but Son though he was, he had to prove the meaning of obedience through all that he suffered (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
Even though Christ was the Son of God, yet in order that he might obey God, he let himself go through suffering.

5:8a

Although He was a Son: In Greek this phrase is more literally, “Though being Son.” It emphasizes Christ’s identity as the Son of God. It does not imply that there was more than one son. In some languages it is necessary to supply the word for “God.” For example:

But even though he was God’s Son (Good News Translation)
-or-
Jesus is God’s own Son, but still… (Contemporary English Version)

5:8b

He learned obedience from what He suffered: The phrase He learned obedience indicates that Christ learned (experienced) submitting to God even when the submission caused him to suffer. In some languages a phrase like learned obedience wrongly implies that Christ was only pretending to obey. In other languages it wrongly implies that Christ was disobedient until he learned from suffering that he ought to obey.

If this phrase implies such a wrong meaning in your language, use a different way to describe Jesus’ experience of obeying God as he suffered. For example:

he experienced the meaning of obeying God through/by what he suffered
-or-
through all that he endured, he realized the meaning of following/obeying God
-or-
he too underwent suffering, and he submitted to God like mankind

obedience: The word obedience refers to listening to someone (here, listening to God) and doing what he says to do. In some languages it is more natural to translate obedience as a phrase or clause. For example:

to obey ⌊God⌋
-or-
to listen ⌊to God⌋ ⌊and do as he says/commands⌋

from what He suffered: The phrase from what He suffered indicates the means by which Christ “learned obedience.” He learned it by suffering and in the process of suffering. The phrase what He suffered is a general way to refer to all the pain, sorrow, tortures, and agony that Christ endured when he died to atone for our sins.

For translation examples, see the first note on 5:8b.

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