Hebrews 12

Hebrews 12 is the twelfth of the thirteen chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. After Hebrews 11 lists the heroes of faith one by one, the letter turns to exhortation, presenting them as "witnesses" and urging readers to run their race with endurance.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 Since believers are surrounded by "so great a cloud of witnesses," they are urged to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets them, to run the race, and to look unto Jesus, who endured the cross.
• Verses 4–11 Quoting Proverbs 3, the passage teaches that the Lord's chastening is a sign that He deals with believers as sons. Chastening enables them to share in God's holiness and yields "the peaceable fruit of righteousness."
• Verses 12–17 Readers are told to lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and to follow peace and holiness. The root of bitterness and Esau, who sold his birthright for one morsel of meat, serve as warning examples.
• Verses 18–24 In contrast to the terror experienced before the mountain that burned with fire, the passage declares that believers have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.
• Verses 25–29 Readers are warned not to refuse Him who speaks from heaven. Citing the promise that God will shake both earth and heaven (Haggai 2:6), the chapter concludes by calling those who have received a kingdom that cannot be moved to serve God.

Key Verses

• Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" — the central verse of the chapter, which gathers the catalog of faith in chapter 11 and focuses it on Jesus.
• Hebrews 12:11 "it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness" — a representative verse that interprets suffering in terms of chastening and maturity.
• Hebrews 12:28 "we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved" — speaks of the permanence of God's kingdom in contrast to a world that is shaken.

People and Places

• Jesus Christ: Presented as the author of faith and the mediator of the new covenant.
• Esau: His sale of the birthright (Genesis 25) and his rejection when he later sought the blessing serve as warning examples.
• Moses: Mentioned as the one who said before the mountain, "I exceedingly fear and quake."
• Abel: The sprinkled blood of Jesus is said to speak "better things than that of Abel" (Cain and Abel).
• Mount Sinai: Although not named, the burning mountain of verses 18–21 refers to the scene in Exodus 19.
• Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem: Depicted as the place to which believers have come.

Interpretive Considerations

• Some understand the "witnesses" of verse 1 as spectators watching the race; others understand them as people who bore witness to faith.
• Some read the "place of repentance" in verse 17 as referring to Esau's own repentance; others read it as an opportunity to reverse Isaac's decision.
• The warnings of verses 15–17 and 25 are interpreted differently in relation to the perseverance of the saints (the doctrine that true believers will persevere in faith to the end). Reformed interpreters generally read them as warnings that serve as a means by which perseverance is accomplished, while the Arminian and Wesleyan traditions tend to read them as warnings that a believer can actually fall from grace.
• The "consuming fire" of verse 29 draws on the language of Deuteronomy 4:24.