Having finished his discussion on faith, the author then proceeded
to talk about the need to hold fast to the hope. His purpose was to encourage
the believers to endure and persevere to the very end. Hope helps to keep one’s
focus on the goal of the journey. This was precisely what the author wanted the
readers to do. Here, Christian life is seen as a race and that every believer
must persevere to the end. For no Olympian who aborted mid-way in a race would
receive a reward. Similarly, neither should any Christian expect to receive a
reward if he or she aborts mid-way in the journey of faith. Hence, everyone
must run in the race with great endurance in order to attain the prize at the
end of the course.
The word “therefore” in Hebrews
12:1 forms the bridge between the author’s previous discussion and what he
would be saying in the chapter. The “cloud of witnesses” obviously refers to
the heroes of faith that the authors had described in the previous chapter. And
the term “witnesses” could be taken to mean one of the followings: (1) the
heroes of faith described in the previous chapter had now become the spectators
watching the actions of the Hebrew believers; (2) those saints bore testimonies
to their faith in God and had now become examples for the Hebrew believers to
emulate. Since the purpose of the author was to encourage his readers to endure
hardship in their spiritual journey, the second position is more likely. He was
probably using the faithful saints as incentives for his readers to persist in
their journey. The word “cloud” used to describe these witnesses is an
interesting one. This word is an apt word because those saints are now waiting
for their resurrected bodies that they will all receive at the Second Coming of
Christ.
In the first two verses, we are
to do three things. Firstly, we are called to radically divest ourselves of two
areas that could prevent us from persevering in the race. The first area is “everything”
that would hinder one from progressing. The word “encumbrances” are weights
that may not be necessarily sinful in nature but nevertheless make perseverance
difficult. Though they may not be bad, however, they could prevent believers
from giving their full commitment to the Christian journey. The second area
believers should separate themselves from would be those entangling sins. These
would be areas that definitely contradict the Word and principles of God. “The
sin” that the Hebrew readers were warned against was likely to be unbelief that
led to apostasy. However, we all know that there are many other kinds of sin
that could be a great hazard to believers of all times. Sins such as one’s
preoccupation with earthly interests, wealth, and all forms of self-indulgence
that could easily trip anyone.
Secondly, he called on
believers to run with perseverance the race marked out for them. They had to
hang on persistently in the spiritual race with endurance. And thirdly, he
called on the believers to stay focused by fixing their gaze on Jesus. While
the clouds of witnesses could provide encouragement in the spiritual journey,
Jesus should be the believers’ primary focus.
Notice that he did not say
Christ but Jesus, the human side of the Lord. He is the Author in the sense
that all the believers’ faith began in Him. And all their faith would
ultimately culminate and find their completion in Him. Thus, He is the
Perfecter or Finisher of their faith. Hence, the believers should emulate the
example of Jesus. He endured by focusing on the joy of the outcome of all that
would result from what He went through. Jesus focused on the prospect of His
reward - victory over death, His glorification, the glorious inheritance, and
ultimate reign. Similarly, the believers should also look forward to what Jesus
anticipated when He endured those sufferings. That would certainly keep
believers through suffering, as they also despise the shame involved in living
faithfully to God.
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