"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."
Recently I have been pondering over the expression "a son" and have called to mind several instances of the use of "son of God" in the scriptures. After some further searching I came across the following list:
(1) Adam is the only person called "son of God" at the end of the long genealogy. (Luke 3:38)
(2) There was a time when "sons of God" married daughters of men and produced offspring of giants called Nephilim. Notice that the Nephilim were not called sons of God. (Genesis 6:2,4)
(3) Satan came along with "Sons of God" came to present themselves before YHWH on several occasions. (Job 1:6, 2:1) In these verses, the LXX renders "sons of God" as angels.
(4) The Psalmist calls on "sons of the mighty" to ascribe to YHWH glory and strength (Psalm 29:1)
(5) In another similar instance, the Psalmist asks who "in the skies" is comparable to YHWH? And who among the "sons of the mighty" is like YHWH? (Psalm 89:6)
(6) After casting three men into the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar was astonished by the appearance of a fourth person like a "son of the Gods" (Daniel 3:25)
I think there are other instances of "sons of God" being used in scripture which I have yet to come across. The list above nevertheless shows us one fact from scripture: that Adam and all the heavenly beings are called sons of God. The only characteristic I think can be attributed to them is that they are created by YHWH himself, in contrast to sons of men who are reproduced by being born (begotten) of human parents.
Whether Adam, or angels, or some other heavenly beings, "sons of God" or "sons of the mighty" appear to be created directly by of YHWH. It may be appropriate to say here that none of the sons of God mentioned in scripture were born or begotten.
Except one: he is Yeshua, a son of God who was brought about by being born (begotten) of a woman, Mary, when the power of the Most High overshadowed her (Luke 1:35).
Hence the term "only begotten" as used in the Gospel according to John.
My conclusion here is that Yeshua is a "son of God" just as Adam, and just as all the heavenly hosts are: including angels, cherubims, winged creatures etc. They are basically created to be "ministers and servants" of YHWH (Psalm 104:4).
The big difference is that Yeshua is the only "begotten" son of YHWH, born of a woman, died to atone for sin and was raised from the dead by YHWH on the third day to sit at His right hand. And, " Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs." (Hebrews 1:4)
With such understanding, the phrase "though he was a son" in Hebrews 5:8 can be understood as "though he was one of God's created beings" (notice the indefinite article "a"), yet Yeshua learned obedience to God by sufferings and thereby he was made perfect.
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Iesous Christos (Yeshua the Messiah), let us keep this word in our hearts:
"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 [e]from death, and He [f]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)
