Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).1
As we come to these verses, we should remember the circumstances of their original readers. Many were of the “great company of the priests … obedient to the faith” (Act 6:7) who had renounced everything they held precious for the cause of Christ. Some 30 years had passed since then, and the Temple still stood; the smoke of the altar still ascended. Perplexity and doubt had set in, and persecution was mounting. They were flagging and weary. They had been reminded of the thrilling exploits of the “heroes of faith” in chapter 11, but would that be enough to spur them on? After all, the list of exploits had concluded with, “These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise” (11:39). No, they needed something more, and the verses quoted above provided that for them.
Verse 1 is better understood if we link the word “also” with “lay aside every weight,” thus reading: “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about … let us also lay aside …” The word “martyr” comes from the word translated “witnesses,” and we must not confuse “witnesses” with “spectators.” The heroes of chapter 11 were not presented as watchers, observing the struggles of the Hebrew readers, but as an enveloping cloud of encouragers who could testify to the blessings of walking by faith, trusting God in every circumstance of life.
The arena of conflict is used as an illustration in this verse. “Race” is elsewhere translated “conflict” (Php 1:30; Col 2:1) and “fight” (1Ti 6:12), so it embraces every form of extreme struggle. “Patience” (endurance) is paramount, so every encumbrance must be discarded. Importantly, so must “the sin which doth so easily beset us.” The use of the definite article before “sin” indicates that a specific sin is in view, and, in the case of the Hebrews, it is probably the sin of unbelief. They had already been warned, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (3:12), and “we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (v19). The word translated “unbelief” is the word for faith (pistis) with the alpha prefix that negates it, that is, apistis – “no faith.”
That the Hebrew saints had long endured persecution was to their credit, but now the hands were hanging down, the knees were feeble (12:12); vision was blurred, resulting in a wobbly path (v13). They needed a remedy, quickly, and that remedy was to look to “Jesus.” Deliberately, the Holy Spirit emphasised the real, perfect humanity of their Saviour by using His name devoid of titles – “Jesus.”
The word “looking” is used only here in the New Testament, and it means “to turn the gaze away from all else and fix it upon one thing.” They were to turn their eyes away from all they once had, from the difficulties of the day, even from the heroes of faith already mentioned; they were to fix their gaze upon “Jesus,” the great Exemplar of the “patience” and “faith” that the saints were lacking.
“Author” is the same word translated “captain” in chapter 2 verse 10. Who is the “captain of their salvation,” the Pioneer who, through sufferings, had blazed a trail to glory for many sons? None other than “Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (2:9). As the “finisher of faith” (note that the word “our” is to be omitted), Jesus is the One in whom the supreme example of a life lived in faith is found. On four occasions the Lord Jesus states, “I am Alpha and Omega”; the title embraces the fulness of His omnipotence as the Son of God. As “the Author and Finisher of faith,” the title embraces the fulness of His dependence as the Son of Man.
“Looking unto Jesus,” the Hebrew believers would gain a new perspective on what they had given up for Him, and also on the struggle that was “set before us” (12:1). They were to consider what was “set before him” (v2). “For the joy” could be His motivation for enduring the cross, but there is another possible meaning. The little word “for” can mean “in order to obtain,” but the same word is used, for example, in Luke 11:11: “If a son … ask a fish, will [a father] for a fish give him a serpent?” To translate “for” in this verse as “in order to obtain” would clearly be wrong; the obvious meaning is “instead of.” Thus, we could read, “Jesus the author and finisher of faith; who instead of the joy set before him endured the cross …” When all the joy of His presence with the Father lay before Him, He chose rather to endure the cross. Why? The Lord said, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (Joh 6:38). What a supreme example of faith and endurance!
Had the Hebrews left Judaism with all its trappings? They had. Were they suffering? Yes, but they had “not yet resisted unto blood” (12:4). But what had “Jesus” left when He came down? To what degree had He suffered in order to bring them to God? Fixing their gaze upon the Supreme Exemplar of willing, devoted obedience to His God, the weary, doubting Hebrew believers would find the perfect remedy for their ills. All the heroes of chapter 11, “having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise,” but the readers of this letter, in “looking unto Jesus,” were gazing upon the Promise Himself: the One who “is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” the “Author and Finisher of faith.”
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
