Hebrews 12:1–2

Context

The author of Hebrews is unknown. The book is understood as a letter of exhortation addressed to Christians who, amid persecution and discouragement, were in danger of abandoning their faith; its recipients are commonly thought to have been Jewish believers. The word "Wherefore" in 12:1 refers back to chapter 11, known as the Faith Chapter. Chapter 11 lists, one after another, those who lived by faith, from Abel to the prophets. The author calls them "so great a cloud of witnesses" and, likening the Christian life to a footrace, urges readers to run to the end with patience. Beginning with verse 3, the passage moves into an exhortation to accept suffering as God's chastening, that is, as the training by which He raises His children.

Interpretation

• The nature of the witnesses: The Greek word martys means one who bears testimony. Some interpreters read these witnesses as spectators in a stadium, while others read them as people who bore witness to faith through their lives. Many commentators hold both senses together but place greater weight on the latter.
• "The author and finisher of our faith": The word translated "author," archēgos, denotes a pioneer or founder who goes ahead and opens the way, while teleiōtēs denotes one who brings something to completion. The Revised New Korean Standard Version renders the phrase "founder and perfecter." If this "faith" is taken as the believer's faith, Jesus is the one who brings that faith into being and sustains it to the end. Another view reads the phrase to mean that Jesus Himself is the example who ran the course of faith all the way to the cross.
• "For the joy that was set before him": Most translations take this to mean that Jesus endured the cross looking ahead to the joy to come. A minority interpretation reads the preposition anti as "instead of," understanding the phrase to mean that He set aside a joy that was already His to possess and chose the cross.

Debates and Issues

The word rendered "doth so easily beset" occurs only here in the New Testament, and its precise meaning is uncertain. Papyrus 46, one of the oldest manuscripts, is reported to contain a different word closer in meaning to "easily distracting."

Traditions also differ in emphasis when reading the exhortation to run to the end. The Reformed tradition focuses on the fact that it is Christ who perfects faith and connects the passage with the perseverance of the saints. The Wesleyan tradition and Arminianism read it together with warning passages such as Hebrews 10:26–31 and stress the believer's perseverance and responsibility. The passage itself, however, has not been the subject of sharp disagreement among denominations.

In the Korean Church

The passage serves as a standard text for sermons that compare the Christian life to a race. The phrase "Let us look unto Jesus" is also commonly used as a theme verse for the New Year or for retreats, and as a church motto.

Related Passages

• Hebrews 11:39–40 — the statement that the witnesses of the preceding chapter are made perfect together with "us"
• Hebrews 2:10 — where the same word, archēgos, is used to call Jesus the captain (founder) of salvation
• 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 — Paul's race metaphor urging believers to run so as to obtain the prize
• Philippians 3:13–14 — the confession of pressing toward the mark
• 2 Timothy 4:7–8 — the confession of having finished the course