Hebrews 5:7

Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear.

This verse speaks of the agony in Gethsemane where the godly soul of Jesus recoiled at the disgusting and repugnant death looming ahead of him on the cross; for surely, the "cup" mentioned there could mean nothing if not the approaching agony. Some hesitate to apply this passage thus, due to the fact that Christ prayed for the cup to be removed ("if it be thy will" etc.); but it was not removed. The obvious answer lies in the perfect humanity of Jesus which reacted to the impending death exactly as this passage says. That the "cup" was not the present agony in the garden but the cross itself is explicit in the fact that, after the agony was passed, Jesus still proposed to drink the cup; for, when Peter would have defended him, he said, "Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). Thus Christ's prayer was truly heard; and, although the specific petition to remove the cup was not granted, it is declared that angels came and strengthened him; and here is seen God's method of answering prayers in some instances, in which he sends not a lighter load but a stronger heart to bear it. It was thus with Jesus, and many after him have found it even so.

Having already proved Christ's right of kingship, demonstrating from the Old Testament scriptures that Christ was truly the Messiah prince of the house of David, and also that he was a priest forever of the independent and perpetual order of Melchizedek, the author in this verse stresses the mercy and sympathetic understanding of Jesus, as testified in the sorrows and agonies through which our Lord passed.

Godly fear comes from a Greek expression in which many learned scholars have found occasion to differ as to its exact meaning; but whatever the technical meaning of these words, Christians can be sure that nothing unworthy of the Lord is denoted. If it refers to the natural dread and fear of death, such was not dishonorable in Jesus who thus tasted of the instinctive feelings of all people; if it means the fear of God, it becomes a synonym of reverence and piety. Perhaps the New English Bible (1961) has given the best translation, making the words read "humble submission."