भाष्य सध्या फक्त इंग्रजीत उपलब्ध आहे. मराठी भाषांतर प्रगतीपथावर आहे.
Hebrews 12 — Looking Unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Our Faith
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, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Consider Him that endured such contradiction. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord — whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Lift up the hands which hang down. Follow peace with all men, and holiness. Look diligently lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire... but ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
“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, 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.”
— Hebrews 12:1-2
- v.1-3 Looking unto Jesus
- v.4-13 The chastening of the Lord
- v.14-17 Holiness and watchfulness
- v.18-24 Mount Sion, not Sinai
- v.25-29 A kingdom that cannot be moved
Author and finisher. He starts faith in us and brings it to completion. Christianity is not a self-help project the believer initiates and sustains; it is His work in us from beginning to end.
For the joy that was set before him. The cross was the cost of a future joy. Christ endured the present to receive the eternal. The model for the believer: future joy outweighs present pain.
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. The chastening is not the absence of love but its presence. A father disciplines his own; the discipline is the family mark.
A counterintuitive reading of hardship. If everything were always easy, the doctrine of fatherly love would be the casualty. The Christian re-reads suffering as evidence of belonging.
Peace with all men. A pursuit, not an accident. Follow — chase. Christianity makes peace with people the deliberate aim, not the by-product.
Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. The vision of God is for the holy. Holiness is not optional to seeing Him. The chapter does not soften the requirement.
The Christian's present address. Ye are come — perfect tense. The believer is already a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, already in the company of angels innumerable.
A change of imagination. Where you live is not just the city you wake in but the city you have come to in Christ. Hold both addresses in mind.
The chapter ends on holy terror. The same chapter that comforts with mount Zion warns that the God of Zion is a consuming fire.
A balance modern religion often loses. He is welcoming and dangerous, gracious and holy. Both verses are needed.
Verse 2 is the single discipline that sustains every other. Looking unto Jesus. Whatever the race is for you today — endurance, deprivation, opposition — the discipline is to keep the eye on Christ. He is the start and the finish; everything in between holds when He is in view.
Hebrews 12 hands the runner the model. Christ endured for joy ahead; the believer runs with Him in sight. The chapter's wide range — from the cloud of witnesses to the consuming fire — is held together by the One enthroned at God's right hand. Look at Him; everything else falls into place.
Cloud of witnesses. The faith heroes of chapter 11 surround the present-day runner. They have run; we follow; they are not so much spectators as veterans whose lives now testify to the possibility of finishing.
Lay aside every weight. The metaphor of athletic training — strip down. Some things are not sins but weights, things that slow without forbidding. Lay them aside.