Chapter 33 - Run for Your Life (12:1-3)

33 Run for Your Life (12:1-3)

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. (12:1-3)

Effective teaching makes use of figures of speech, and we find a great many of them, especially metaphors and similes, in the Bible. In the New Testament the Christian life is repeatedly compared to everyday things, events, or practices.

Several times, for example, Christian living is compared to warfare. Paul counsels us to endure hardship “as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3) and to “put on the full armor of God” (Eph. 6:11). Paul also uses boxing as a comparison. “I box in such a way, as not beating the air” (1 Cor. 9:26; cf. 2 Tim. 4:7). The Christian is often spoken of as a slave of Jesus Christ. Paul frequently refers to himself as a slave, or bond-servant, of Christ, and in several of his letters he introduces himself first of all as a bond-servant (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:1). Jesus spoke of His followers as lights and salt in the world (Matt. 5:13-16). Peter refers to Christians as babes and as living stones (1 Pet. 2:2, 5).

Paul was particularly fond of the figure of the race. He uses such phrases as “run in a race” (1 Cor. 9:24), “running well” (Gal. 5:7), and “run in vain” (Phil. 2:16). This is also the figure used by the writer in Hebrews 12:1-3.

In these few verses we see various aspects of the race, as they are compared to the faithful life in Christ: the event itself, encouragement to run, encumbrances to running, an Example to follow, the end or goal of the race, and a final exhortation.

THE EVENT

The key phrase of this passage is let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. In the book of Hebrews, as in many places in the New Testament, “let us” may refer to believers, to unbelievers, or to both. As a matter of courtesy and concern, an author frequently identifies himself with those to whom he is writing, whether or not they are fellow Christians.

In Hebrews 4 (vv. 1, 14, 16), for example, I think unbelievers are being addressed. Similarly, 6:1 speaks of unbelievers going on to the maturity of salvation. In 10:23-24, the reference can be both to believers and unbelievers.

In 12:1, I believe “let us” may be used to refer to Jews who have made a profession of Christ, but have not gone all the way to full faith. They have not yet begun the Christian race, which starts with salvation—to which the writer is now calling them. The truths, however, apply primarily to Christians, who are already running.

The writer is saying, “If you are not a Christian, get in the race, because you have to enter before you can hope to win. If you are a Christian, run with endurance; don’t give up.”

Unfortunately, many people are not even in the race, and many Christians could hardly be described as running the race at all. Some are merely jogging, some are walking slowly, and some are sitting or even lying down. Yet the biblical standard for holy living is a race, not a morning constitutional. Race is the Greek agn, from which we get agony. A race is not a thing of passive luxury, but is demanding, sometimes grueling and agonizing, and requires our utmost in self-discipline, determination, and perseverance.

God warned Israel, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria” (Amos 6:1). God’s people are not called to lie around on beds of ease. We are to run a race that is strenuous and continuous. In God’s army we never hear “At ease.” To stand still or to go backward is to forfeit the prize. Worse yet is to stay in the stands and never participate at all, for which we forfeit everything—even eternal heaven.

Endurance (hupomon) is steady determination to keep going. It means continuing even when everything in you wants to slow down or give up. I can still remember the excruciating experience I had in high school when I first ran the half-mile. I was used to the 100-yard dash, which requires more speed but is over quickly. So I started out well; in fact I led the pack for the first 100 yards or so. But I ended dead last, and almost felt I was dead. My legs were wobbly, my chest was heaving, my mouth was cottony, and I collapsed at the finish line. That is the way many people live the Christian life. They start out fast, but as the race goes on they slow down, give up, or just collapse. The Christian race is a marathon, a long-distance race, not a sprint. The church has always had many short-spurt Christians, but the Lord wants those who will “make the distance.” There will be obstacles and there will be weariness and exhaustion, but we must endure if we are to win. God is concerned for steadfastness.

Many of the Hebrew Christians to whom the letter was written had started well. They had seen signs and wonders and were thrilled with their new lives (Heb. 2:4). But as the new began to wear off and problems began to arise, they began to lose their enthusiasm and their confidence. They started looking back at the old ways of Judaism, and around them and ahead of them at the persecution and suffering, and they began to weaken and waver.

Paul knew some Christians in the same condition, and to them he wrote, “Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15) and “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Cor. 9:24-25).

Nothing makes less sense than to be in a race that you have little desire to win. Yet I believe the lack of desire to win is a basic problem with many Christians. They are content simply to be saved and to wait to go to heaven. But in a race or in a war or in the Christian life, lack of desire to win is unacceptable.

Paul believed this principle and he had a hupomon kind of determination. He did not pursue comfort, money, great learning, popularity, respect, position, lust of the flesh, or anything but God’s will. “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:26-27). That is what Christian commitment is all about.

The competition of the Christian life, of course, is different from that of an athletic race in two important ways. First, we are not to compete against other Christians, trying to outdo each other in righteousness, recognition, or accomplishments. Ours is not a race of works but a race of faith. Yet we do not compete with each other even in faith. We compete by faith, but not with each other. Our competition is against Satan, his world system, and our own sinfulness, often referred to in the New Testament as the flesh. Second, our strength is not in ourselves, but in the Holy Spirit; otherwise we could never endure. We are not called on to endure in ourselves, but in Him.

The Christian has only one way to endure—by faith. The only time we sin, the only time we fail, is when we do not trust. That is why our protection against Satan’s temptations is “the shield of faith” (Eph. 6:16). As long as we are trusting God and doing what He wants us to do, Satan and sin have no power over us. They have no way of getting to us or of hindering us. When we run in the power of God’s Spirit, we run successfully.

THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO RUN

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, (12:1a)

We are all creatures of motivation. We need a reason for doing things and we need encouragement while we are doing them. One of the greatest motivations and encouragements to the unbelieving Jews, as well as to Christians, would be all these great believers from the past, their heroes, who lived the life of faith. The cloud of witnesses are all those faithful saints just mentioned in chapter 11. We are to run the race of faith like they did, always trusting, never giving up, no matter what the obstacles or hardships or cost.

They knew how to run the race of faith. They opposed Pharaoh, they forsook the pleasures and prerogatives of his court, they passed through the Red Sea, shouted down the walls of Jericho, conquered kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, received back their dead by resurrection, were tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, had to dress in animal skins, were made destitute—all for the sake of their faith.

Now the writer says, “You should run like they did. It can be done, if you run as they did—in faith. They ran and ran and ran, and they had less light to run by than you have. Yet they were all victorious, every one of them.”

I do not believe that the cloud of witnesses surrounding us is standing in the galleries of heaven watching as we perform. The idea here is not that we should be faithful lest they be disappointed, or that we should try to impress them like a sports team trying to impress the fans in the bleachers. These are witnesses to God, not of us. They are examples, not onlookers. They have proved by their testimony, their witness, that the life of faith is the only life to live.

To have a whole gallery of such great people looking down on us would not motivate us but paralyze us. We are not called to please them. They are not looking at us; we are to look at them. Nothing is more encouraging than the successful example of someone who has “done it before.” Seeing how God was with them encourages us to trust that He will also be with us. The same God who was their God is our God. The God of yesterday is the God of today and tomorrow. He has not weakened, or lost interest in His people, or lessened His love and care for them. We can run as well as they did. It has nothing to do with how we compare with them, but in how our God compares with theirs. Because we have the same God, He can do the same things through us if we trust Him.

THE ENCUMBRANCES THAT HINDER US

Let us also lay aside every encumbrance. (12:1b)

One of the greatest problems runners face is weight. Several years ago the winner of a recent Olympic gold medal for the 100 meters came to our country for an invitational track meet. He was considered the world’s fastest human being. But when he ran the preliminary heat, he did not even qualify. In an interview afterward he said the reason was simple. He was overweight. He had trained too little and eaten too much. He had not gained a great amount of weight, but it was enough to keep him from winning—even from qualifying. Because of a few pounds, he was no longer a winner. In that particular race, he was not even qualified to compete.

An encumbrance (onkos) is simply a bulk or mass of something. It is not necessarily bad in itself. Often it is something perfectly innocent and harmless. But it weighs us down, diverts our attention, saps our energy, dampens our enthusiasm for the things of God. We cannot win when we are carrying excess weight. When we ask about a certain habit or condition, “What’s wrong with that?” the answer often is, “Nothing in itself.” The problem is not in what the weight is but in what it does. It keeps us from running well and therefore from winning.

In most sports, especially where speed and endurance count, weighing in is a daily routine. It is one of the simplest, but most reliable, tests of being in shape. When an athlete goes over his weight limit, he is put on a stricter exercise and diet program until he is down to where he should be—or he is put on the bench or off the team.

Too much clothing is also a hindrance. Elaborate uniforms are fine for parades, and sweatsuits are fine for warming up, but when the race comes, the least clothing that decency allows is all that is worn. When we become more concerned about appearances than about spiritual reality and vitality, our work and testimony for Jesus Christ are seriously encumbered.

We do not know exactly what sort of things the writer had in mind regarding spiritual encumbrances, and commentators venture a host of ideas. From the context of the letter as a whole, I believe the main encumbrance was Judaistic legalism, hanging on to the old religious ways. Most of those ways were not wrong in themselves. Some had been prescribed by God for the time of the Old Covenant. But none of them was of any value now, and in fact had become hindrances. They were sapping energy and attention from Christian living. The Temple and its ceremonies and pageantry were beautiful and appealing. And all the regulations, the does and don’ts of Judaism, were pleasing to the flesh. They made it easy to keep score on your religious life. But these were all weights, some of them very heavy weights. They were like a ball and chain to spiritual living by faith. These Jewish believers, or would-be believers, could not possibly run the Christian race with all their excess baggage.

Some in the Galatian church faced the same problem. Paul tells them, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:20-21). He goes on, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (3:1-3). To impress his point even more, Paul says, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” (4:9). “After you started the Christian race,” he is saying, “why did you then put all those old weights back on?”

Another type of encumbrance can be fellow Christians. We need to be careful about blaming others for our shortcomings. But a lot of Christians not only are not running themselves but are keeping others from running. They are figuratively sitting on the track, and those who are running have to hurdle them. Often the workers in the church have to keep jumping over or running around the nonworkers. The devil does not put all the encumbrances in the way. Sometimes we do his work for him.

Let us also lay aside ... the sin which so easily entangles us. (12:1c)

An even more significant hindrance to Christian living is sin. Obviously all sin is a hindrance to Christian living, and the reference here may be to sin in general. But use of the definite article (the sin) seems to indicate a particular sin. And if there is one particular sin that hinders the race of faith it is unbelief, doubting God. Doubting and living in faith contradict each other. Unbelief entangles the Christian’s feet so that he cannot run. It wraps itself around us so that we trip and stumble every time we try to move for the Lord, if we try at all. It easily entangles us. When we allow sin in our lives, especially unbelief, it is quite easy for Satan to keep us from running.

THE EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (12:2)

In running, as in most sports, where you look is extremely important. Nothing will throw off your stride or slow you down like looking at your feet or the runner coming up from behind or the crowds in the stands. The Christian race is very much like this.

Some Christians are preoccupied with themselves. They may not be selfish or egotistical, but they pay too much attention to what they are doing, to the mechanics of running. There is a place for such concern, but if we focus on ourselves, we will never run well for the Lord. Sometimes we are preoccupied with what other Christians are thinking and doing, especially in relation to us. Concern for others also has a place. We do not disregard our brothers in Christ or what they think about us. What they think about us, including their criticism, can be helpful to us. But if we focus on others, we are bound to stumble. We are not even to focus on the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled with the Spirit, and when we are, our focus will be on Jesus Christ, because that is where the Spirit’s focus is (John 16:14).

It is not that we try hard not to look at this or that or the other things that may distract us. If our focus is truly on Jesus Christ, we will see everything else in its right perspective. When our eyes are on the Lord, the Holy Spirit has the perfect opportunity to use us, to get us running and winning.

We are to focus on Jesus because He is the author and perfecter of faith. He is the supreme example of our faith.

In 2:10 Jesus is called the author of salvation. Here He is the author (archgos) of faith. He is the pioneer or originator, the one who begins and takes the lead. Jesus is the author, the originator, of all faith. He originated Abel’s faith, and Enoch’s and Noah’s, as well as Abraham’s, David’s, Paul’s, and ours. The focus of faith is also the originator of faith. As Paul explains, “Our fathers . . . all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:1, 3-4). Micah had preached the same truth hundreds of years before Paul. “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Mic. 5:2).

But I believe the primary meaning of archgos here is that of chief leader, or chief example. Jesus Christ is our preeminent example of faith. He was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus lived the supreme life of faith. When the devil tempted Him in the wilderness, Jesus’ reply each time was the expression of trust in His Father and His Word. Jesus would not bypass the Father’s will just to get food, or to test His Father’s protection or lordship (Matt. 4:1-10). He would wait until the Father supplied or protected or directed. When the ordeal was over, His Father did provide by sending angels to minister to Him. He trusted His Father implicitly, for everything and in everything. “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30).

In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus said to His Father, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Whatever the prospect of hardship or suffering, He trusted His Father. His Father’s will was what He lived by and died by. It was all Jesus ever considered. The faith of all the heroes of chapter 11 together could not match the faith of the Son of God. They were wonderful witnesses and examples of faith; Jesus is a more wonderful example still. Their faith was true and acceptable to God; His was perfect and even more acceptable. In fact, without Jesus’ faithfulness, no believer’s faith would count for anything. For if Jesus’ perfect faith had not led Him to the cross, our faith would be in vain, because there would then be no sacrifice for our sins, no righteousness to count to our credit.

Jesus not only is the author of faith, but also its perfecter (teleits), the One who carries it through to completion. He continued to trust His Father until He could say, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). These words, along with “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46), were Jesus’ last before He died. His work was finished not only in that it was completed but in that it was perfected. If a composer dies while working on a masterpiece, his work on that piece is over but it is not finished. On the cross, Jesus’ work was both over and finished—perfected. It accomplished exactly what it was meant to accomplish, because, from birth to death, His life was totally committed into His Father’s hands. There has never been a walk of faith like Jesus’.

The world has always mocked faith, just as they mocked Jesus’ faith: “He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ’I am the Son of God’ ” (Matt. 27:43). But in faith, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame. Why should we not also trust God in everything, since we have not begun to suffer what Jesus suffered? “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4). Jesus has set such a high example of faith that it is on His example that we should rivet our eyes for as long as we live. It is good to glance at the examples of the cloud of Old Testament witnesses, but it is imperative that we fix our eyes on Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18).

THE END OF THE RACE

Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (12:2b)

In the ancient Isthmian games of Greece, a pedestal stood at the finish line, and on it hung a wreath—the winner’s prize. No one runs a race without some expectation of reward. The reward may be nothing more than a ribbon or a trophy or a wreath of leaves. It may be a prize worth a large amount of money. Sometimes the reward is fame and recognition. Sometimes it is a healthy body. Occasionally the race is run for the sheer exhilaration.

The Isthmian races and the race spoken of in Hebrews 12, however, were not run for exhilaration. This type of race is the agon, the agony race, the marathon, the race that seems never to end. It is not a race you run simply for the pleasure of running. If you do not have something important to look forward to at the end of this race, you will likely not start it and will certainly not finish it.

Jesus did not run His race of faith for the pleasure of race itself, though He must have experienced great satisfaction in seeing people healed, comforted, brought to faith, and started on the way to spiritual growth. But He did not leave His Father’s presence and His heavenly glory, endure temptation and fierce opposition by Satan himself, suffer ridicule, scorn, blasphemy, torture, and crucifixion by his enemies, and experience the misunderstanding and denial of His own disciples for the sake of whatever few pleasures and satisfactions He had while on earth. He was motivated by immeasurably more than this.

Only what was at the end of the race could have motivated Jesus to leave what He did and endure what He did. Jesus ran for two things, the joy set before Him and sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God. He ran for the joy of exaltation. In His high-priestly prayer Jesus said to His Father, “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do. And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:4-5). Jesus gained His reward by glorifying His Father while on earth, and He glorified God by totally exhibiting the Father’s attributes and by fully doing the Father’s will.

The prize Christians are to run for is not heaven. If we are truly Christians, if we belong to God by faith in Jesus Christ, heaven is already ours. We run for the same prize that Jesus ran for, and we achieve it in the same way He did. We run for the joy of exaltation God promises will be ours if we glorify Him on earth as His Son did. We glorify God by allowing His attributes to shine through us and by obeying His will in everything we do.

When we anticipate the heavenly reward of faithful service, joy will be ours now. Paul spoke of his converts as his “joy and crown” (Phil. 4:1) and his “hope or joy or crown of exultation” (1 Thess. 2:19). He had present joy because of future promise. Those he had won to the Lord were evidence that he had glorified God in his ministry. What gives us joy in this life is confidence of reward in the next.

Even if we must suffer for the Lord, we should be able to say with Paul, “I rejoice and share my joy with you all” (Phil. 2:17). And though, like Paul, we are not yet perfect, we should also forget what is behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, pressing on “toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14). We should be able to look forward to the day when our Lord says to us, “Well done,... enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21). “In the future,” the apostle says, “there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). And when we get to heaven, we can join the twenty-four elders in casting our “crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power’ ” (Rev. 4:10-11).

When Jesus went to the cross, He endured all that it demanded. He despised the shame and accepted it willingly, for the sake of His Father’s reward and the joy that anticipation of this reward brought. As we run the race of the Christian life, we can run in the joyful anticipation of that same reward—the crown of righteousness, which one day we can cast at His feet as evidence of our eternal love for Him.

THE EXHORTATION

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. (12:3)

When we get weary in the race, when our faith runs out and we think God has turned His back, when it seems we will never get out of the mess we are in and we are sure our faith cannot hold on any longer, we should read this verse. Part of the purpose for fixing our eyes on Jesus is the same as that for considering the cloud of witnesses— our encouragement. Those saints were heroes of faith; He is the epitome of faith. Nothing we will ever be called to endure will compare to that which He endured. He is the divine Son of God, but while on earth He did not live in His own power and will, but in His Father’s. Otherwise, He could not be our example. And unless, by the Holy Spirit, we are truly able to live in the same way in which He lived, His life would not be an example but an impossible ideal to mock and to judge us.

We rejoice that one day we will “live together with Him” (1 Thess. 5:10), but we should also rejoice that we can live like Him right now. We do not live in our own power but in His, just as on earth He did not live in His own power but in the Father’s. We can say with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).