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Hebrews 12

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The Race of Faith and the Example of Jesus 1–4

1
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, ​
2
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. ​
3
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. ​
4
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. ​

The Discipline of the Lord 5–11

5
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: ​
6
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ​
7
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? ​
8
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. ​
9
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. ​
11
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. ​

Practical Exhortations and Warnings 12–17

12
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: ​
15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. ​
17
For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. ​

Sinai vs. Zion: The Unshakable Kingdom 18–29

18
For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, ​
19
And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20
(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21
And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, ​
23
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. ​
25
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26
Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. ​
27
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ​
28
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: ​
29
For our God is a consuming fire. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Hebrews 12

Verse 1

so great a cloud of witnesses — 'Cloud' (nephos) is found only here, a massed crowd; the 'witnesses' (martyres) are those whose faith was told in chapter 11. 'Weight' (onkos) and 'easily beset' (euperistatos) also occur only here. The 'race' is agon, a contest, run 'with patience' (hypomone), the endurance named again in vv.2–3, 7.

Verse 2

author and finisher of our faith — Archegos is leader or founder (Acts 3:15; Heb 2:10, 'captain'); teleiotes, finisher, is found only here. 'Looking' is aphorao, to look away from other things to one. He 'endured' (hypomeno) the cross, and 'is set down at the right hand' as Ps 110:1 foretold; 'despising' is kataphroneo, to think little of.

Verse 3

consider him — Analogizomai, to reckon up, found only here. 'Contradiction' is antilogia, opposition in speech, the word of Heb 7:7 and, as 'strife', of Heb 6:16. 'Faint' is ekluo, to be unstrung, as in Gal 6:9, 'we shall reap, if we faint not'; 'wearied' is kamno. The remedy is to reckon up what he endured.

Verse 4

resisted unto blood — Antikathistemi, to stand against; 'striving' is antagonizomai, found only here, taking up the contest of v.1. The readers had known earlier trials: 'a great fight of afflictions' and 'the spoiling of your goods' (Heb 10:32–34). 'Not yet' states where they stood: resisting, but not as far as blood.

Verse 5

ye have forgotten the exhortation — The exhortation is Prov 3:11–12, quoted as spoken to 'children'. 'Forgotten' (eklanthanomai) and 'despise' (oligoreo, to think lightly of) occur only here. 'Chastening' is paideia, the training of a child; 'rebuked' is elencho, to convict. Because it says 'My son', v.7 can say 'God dealeth with you as with sons'.

Verse 6

whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth — Prov 3:12, 'For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.' 'Scourgeth' is mastigoo, to flog; 'receiveth' is paradechomai, to accept as one's own. Christ says the same of himself: 'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten' (Rev 3:19).

Verse 7

what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? — 'Endure' is hypomeno, the verb used of Christ in vv.2–3. The pattern is the law's own: 'as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee' (Deut 8:5). 'Chastening' and 'chasteneth' are the paideia and paideuo of vv.5–6, the training of a child.

Verse 8

bastards, and not sons — Nothos, an illegitimate child, found only here. 'Chastisement' is again paideia, and 'partakers' is metochos, a sharer, the word of 'partakers of the heavenly calling' (Heb 3:1). The argument is that discipline is common to all sons; to be left without it would mean being outside the household.

Verse 10

partakers of his holiness — 'After their own pleasure' is dokeo, as it seemed good to them; 'for our profit' is symphero, to bring together to one's good. 'Partakers' is metalambano, to take a share, and 'holiness' is hagiotes, found only here. The pattern is the LORD's own: 'ye shall be holy; for I am holy' (Lev 11:44).

Verse 11

the peaceable fruit of righteousness — 'Peaceable' (eirenikos) is found only here and in James 3:17, and James 3:18 gives the pairing, 'the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace'. 'Exercised' is gymnazo, to train as an athlete, in the picture of race and contest from vv.1 and 4. 'Afterward' (hysteron) is the delay between the pain and the fruit.

Verse 14

Follow peace with all men, and holiness — 'Follow' is dioko, to pursue, the strong verb elsewhere rendered 'persecute'; Paul uses it of the same aim, 'follow after the things which make for peace' (Rom 14:19). 'Holiness' is hagiasmos, being set apart. 'See the Lord' recalls 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God' (Matt 5:8).

Verse 16

profane person, as Esau — 'Profane' is bebelos, accessible to all, unhallowed. 'One morsel of meat' (brosis, food) was the pottage of Gen 25:29–34; 'birthright' (prototokia) is found only here. Genesis gives the verdict: 'thus Esau despised his birthright' (Gen 25:34). The verse follows the warning against a 'root of bitterness' in v.15.

Verse 17

found no place of repentance — When Esau came for the blessing, Isaac said of Jacob, 'yea, and he shall be blessed' (Gen 27:33). Esau 'cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry' (Gen 27:34) and 'lifted up his voice, and wept' (Gen 27:38). 'Rejected' is apodokimazo, to disapprove. Heb 10:26 gives the matching warning, 'no more sacrifice for sins'.

Verse 18

the mount that might be touched — Sinai, where the people were told, 'whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death' (Ex 19:12), and 'the mountain burned with fire … with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness' (Deut 4:11). 'Blackness' (gnophos) and 'tempest' (thyella) are found only here. 'Ye are not come' is proserchomai, to draw near, as in Heb 4:16.

Verse 22

mount Sion — The same verb, proserchomai, now turns: 'ye are come' to what Abraham looked for, 'a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God' (Heb 11:10). 'Heavenly Jerusalem' is the 'Jerusalem which is above' (Gal 4:26) and 'new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven' (Rev 21:2). 'Innumerable' is myrias, ten thousands.

Verse 24

the blood of sprinkling — Rhantismos is found only here and in 1 Pet 1:2, 'sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ'. 'Mediator' (mesites) is the title of Heb 8:6 and 9:15. Abel's blood cried 'from the ground' (Gen 4:10), and 'being dead yet speaketh' (Heb 11:4); the blood of Christ speaks 'better' (kreitton), the letter's word for what surpasses the old.

Verse 26

Yet once more I shake — Haggai 2:6, 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land'. 'Whose voice then shook the earth' refers to Sinai, where 'the whole mount quaked greatly' (Ex 19:18) and God 'answered him by a voice' (Ex 19:19). 'Shook' is saleuo, the verb of v.27.

Verse 27

the removing of those things that are shaken — 'Removing' is metathesis, a change or transfer, the word for Enoch's translation (Heb 11:5) and for 'a change also of the law' (Heb 7:12). Things 'that are made' are moved so that what 'cannot be shaken' may 'remain' (meno). That is the kingdom of v.28, as in 'a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed' (Dan 2:44).

Verse 28

a kingdom which cannot be moved — Asaleutos, unshakeable, the negative of the verb saleuo in vv.26–27. 'Receiving' is paralambano, to take over as one's own. 'Serve' is latreuo, to worship by service; 'acceptably' is euarestos, well-pleasing. 'Reverence' (aidos) and 'godly fear' (eulabeia) each occur only here and once elsewhere.

Verse 29

a consuming fire — Deut 4:24, 'For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God', said in recalling Sinai, where 'the mountain burned with fire' (Deut 4:11). 'Consuming' is katanalisko, to use up entirely. The verse closes the contrast of vv.18–24: the fire of Sinai is not left behind at Sion; Heb 10:27 speaks of 'fiery indignation'.