Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 12:1-4

"Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, 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 perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin:" — Hebrews 12:1-4 (ASV)

Having commended in a number of ways the faith by which the members are joined to Christ the head, the Apostle now gives a moral admonition to keep the faith in their hearts and show it in their works, as James also urges in his epistle (James 2). First, he teaches how they should behave in regard to evil; secondly, in regard to good (Hebrews 13). But there are two kinds of evil—namely, chastisement and guilt. First, therefore, he teaches how they should behave in regard to tolerating the evils of chastisement; secondly, in regard to avoiding the evils of guilt (Hebrews 12:12). Concerning enduring the evils of chastisement, he first gives the examples of the ancients; secondly, the example of Christ (Hebrews 12:2); and thirdly, the authority of Scripture (Hebrews 12:5).

Regarding the first point, therefore, he says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. This is as if to say: We have said that the saints, although approved by the testimony of faith, did not obtain the promises; nevertheless, their hope did not fail. Therefore, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses because God is glorified by them in word and deed: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16); You are my witnesses, says the Lord (Isaiah 43:10).

The saints are called clouds for several reasons:

• First, on account of their sublime way of life: Who are these that fly like clouds? (Isaiah 60:8).
• Secondly, on account of their fruitful doctrine: He lifts up the drops of rain, and pours out showers like floods (Job 36:27); He binds up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together (Job 26:8).
• Thirdly, on account of the benefit of spiritual consolation, for as clouds bring refreshment, so also do the examples of the saints: As a cloud of dew in the day of harvest (Isaiah 18:4).

We have this cloud of witnesses over our head because the lives of the saints impose on us the need to imitate them: Take, my brethren, for an example of suffering evil, of labor and of patience, the prophets (James 5:10). As Augustine says, “As the Holy Spirit speaks in the scriptures, so also in the deeds of the saints, which are for us a pattern and precept of life.” This, therefore, is the example of the saints that he proposes.

But because people are sometimes prevented from conforming to a pattern by some obstacle, the Apostle removes the most formidable one, which is the weight of sin. Tribulation is, as it were, a race: Everyone that strives for the mastery, refrains himself from all things (1 Corinthians 9:25). Therefore, everyone who desires to run to God successfully in spite of tribulation must put aside all obstacles.

The Apostle calls this a weight and the sin that so easily entangles us. The “weight” can be understood as past sin, which is called a weight because it bends the soul downward and inclines it to commit other sins: As a heavy burden my iniquities are become heavy upon me (Psalms 38:4). As Gregory says, “If a sin is not dissolved by penance, its weight soon leads to another.” The “sin which surrounds us” can be understood as the present occasion of sin—that is, everything that surrounds us in the world, the flesh, our neighbor, and the devil.

Thus, we are to lay aside every weight (that is, past sin) and the sin that surrounds us (that is, the occasion of sin): Laying away all malice and all guile (1 Peter 2:1). Alternatively, the “weight” is earthly attachment, and the “sin which surrounds us” is carnal desire, which is caused by the flesh that surrounds us. It is as if to say: Put aside your love for temporal and carnal things if you want to run freely.

Hence, he adds the advice to let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. This means not only that we should patiently endure what is imposed on us, but that we should run willingly: I have run the way of your commandments (Psalms 119:32). This struggle is set before us for the sake of justice: Even unto death fight for justice .

Then, in verse 2, he gives the example of Christ and does two things: first, he shows why Christ’s passion should be taken as an example and what should be considered in it; secondly, he shows the fruit of that consideration in verse 3.

For it says in Ephesians 2:8, By grace you are saved through faith. But Christ is the author of faith. Therefore, if you wish to be saved, you must look to His example. Hence, he says, looking to Jesus in His sufferings. This was signified by the bronze serpent lifted up as a sign, so that all who looked upon it were cured (Numbers 21:8); As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting (John 3:14). Therefore, if you wish to be saved, look on the face of your Christ.

For He is the author and pioneer of faith in two ways. First, by teaching it in word: He has spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:2); The only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18). Secondly, by impressing it on the heart: Unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him (Philippians 1:29).

Likewise, He is the finisher and perfecter of our faith. He does this by confirming it through miracles—If you do not believe me, believe the works (John 10:32)—and by rewarding it. For since faith is imperfect knowledge, its reward consists in perfectly understanding what is believed: I will love him and will manifest myself to him (John 14:21). This was signified in Zechariah 4:9, which says, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, namely, the Church, whose foundation is faith, and his hands shall finish it. For the hands of Christ, who descended from Zerubbabel, founded the Church and will bring our faith to its completion in glory: We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). As Augustine says, “Contemplation is the reward of faith, by which reward our hearts are cleansed through faith,” as it says in Acts 15:9, purifying their hearts by faith (Augustine, On the Trinity, Chapter 10).

Three things should be considered in the passion of Christ:

1. What He despised. The Apostle says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. This could refer to earthly joy, which He was offered by the crowd when they wished to make Him king; but He scorned it by fleeing into the mountain (John 6:15). As it is written, Laughter I counted error, and to mirth I said: Why are you vainly deceived? (Ecclesiastes 2:2). Alternatively, the joy set before Him was the joy of eternal life as a reward, for which He endured the cross.
2. What He endured. He endured the cross: He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). This shows the bitterness of His torment, because His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and also the shame and ignominy of His death, because this was the most shameful of deaths: Let us condemn him to a most shameful death .
3. What He merited. He merited to sit at the right hand of the Father. Hence, the text says, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The exaltation of Christ’s humanity was the reward for His passion: He sits on the right hand of the majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3).

Then, in verse 3, he indicates the fruit of this consideration. First, he advises us to consider Christ’s example diligently; secondly, he shows its usefulness (Hebrews 12:3b); and thirdly, he gives the reason (Hebrews 12:4).

He says, therefore, as we have noted, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. But not only that; we must also consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself (Hebrews 12:3). This means to consider Him again and again: In all your ways think of him (Proverbs 3:6). The reason for this is that the remedy for every tribulation is found in the cross.

An example of every virtue is found there:

• Obedience to God: He humbled himself, becoming obedient (Philippians 2:8).
• Piety toward one’s parents, because He provided for His mother there.
• Love of neighbor, for He prayed for sinners: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34); Walk in love, as Christ loved you and delivered himself for you (Ephesians 5:2).
• Patience in adversity: I was dumb and was humbled and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed (Psalms 39:2); He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).
• Final perseverance in all things, for He persevered to the end: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23:46).

Hence, as Augustine says, “The Cross was not only the altar on which He suffered, but the chair from which He taught.”

Therefore, consider him who endured. But what shall we consider? Three things:

1. The type of suffering. He endured hostility, that is, verbal affliction, as when they said, Vah, you that destroy the temple of God (Matthew 27:40). It is also written, You will deliver me from the contradictions of the people (Psalms 18:43); All the day long I have spread my hands to a people that does not believe, and contradicts me (Romans 10:21); and, for a sign that shall be contradicted (Luke 2:34). And it was such hostility—that is, so grave and ignominious: O all you that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow (Lamentations 1:12).
2. From whom He suffered. He suffered from sinners, the very ones for whom He suffered: Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18).
3. The person suffering. He suffered in His members from the beginning of the world before His passion, but then He suffered in His own person. Hence, the text says He endured hostility against himself. As it is written, I have made you, and I will bear (Isaiah 46:4); I paid that which I took not away (Psalms 69:4); He bore our sins in his body upon the tree (1 Peter 2:24).

He shows its usefulness when he says, that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. For the consideration of Christ’s passion keeps us from failing. As Gregory says, “If Christ’s passion is recalled to mind, nothing is too difficult to bear with equanimity.” Therefore, let us not fall away from the faith, as though weary in soul: They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31); Be not weary in well-doing (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

Then, when he says, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood, he gives the reason for this. It is as if to say: You should not grow weary in your tribulations, because you have not endured as much as Christ. For He shed His blood for us: This is the blood of the new covenant which shall be shed for you (Matthew 26:28). You, however, have only suffered the loss of your goods. Yet it is a greater work to give one’s life than one's external possessions, although sometimes the root from which the action springs—namely, charity—might be less. Hence, he says that in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood for Christ.