Nothing On My Own Initiative

“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  John 5:30

Christ is our great example in all things - even in that of obedience to the Father and His will. As the perfect Son, He obeyed His Father in all things. “...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).

There are three specific references in the epistles to the obedience of Christ. One of the most profound passages in the Bible is Hebrews 5:8: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

How could the omniscient Son of God have to learn anything? There are some things that cannot be learned in books but only by experience, and obedience in hard circumstances is surely one of these. Jesus learned obedience by actual experience. Christ obeyed His Father even after praying that the bitter cup might bee taken away. Philippians 2:8 reminds us, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Had He been disobedient, as was Adam, we could never have known salvation. “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Jesus was indeed, always perfectly obedient to His Father’s word, “leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

As our passage emphasizes, His obedience consisted simply of seeking and following the will of His Father in all things. “...not My will, but Yours...” (Luke 22:42).