What does Hebrews 5:8 mean?

It is difficult to fully understand the relationship between Jesus' divinity and His humanity. As God, Christ had access to divine omniscience and omnipotence. However, according to Scripture, He chose to experience human weaknesses such as hunger and fatigue (Matthew 4:2; John 4:6). And, according to this and other verses, He also chose to experience learning and growth. Just as in Luke 2:52, Jesus is said to have "learned" through His struggles. It should be noted that, in the context of the original writing, the concept of "learning" is intimately tied to the idea of "experiencing." The focus of this verse is not so much on Jesus becoming aware of what suffering is, but Jesus actually putting into practice what He was called to do.

The greater point made here is that Jesus completely fulfilled the role of a human high priest. By experiencing our temptations (Hebrews 4:15), offering prayers and supplications (Hebrews 5:7), through an appointment by God (Hebrews 5:5–6), Christ is truly the only High Priest we could ever need.

There is a poetic rhyme in this verse which does not translate into English. The Greek words for "He learned" and "He suffered" are emathen and epathen, respectively.