Hebrews 12:01b-03 – Consider Him

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 3 Nov. 2019

Omitting greyed-out text should bring presentation time down around 45 minutes.

Intro

12:1 As for us, for this very reason, having company with such an extensive cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also keep running with perseverance the contest being laid out before us, starting to put away from ourselves every hindrance and sin that hangs around closely,

v.2 looking out toward Jesus, the chief leader and accomplish­er of the faith, who, for the joy laid out before Him, persevered through crucifixion, having despised what is shameful, He has taken office at the right hand of the very throne of God!

v.3 Indeed, y’all must start thinking logically about the One who persevered through such antagonism under the agency of sinners toward Himself, in order that y’all might not continue to be weary, fainting in your souls.


APPENDIX: Greek Text & English Versions of Hebrews 12:1-3A

Greek NT

NAW

KJV

12:1 Τοιγαρ­οῦνB καὶ ἡμεῖς, τοσοῦτον ἔχοντες περι­κείμενονC ἡμῖν νέφοςD μαρτύ­ρων, ὄγκονE ἀποθέμενοιF πάντα καὶ τὴν εὐπερίστατονG ἁμαρτίαν, δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς τρέχωμεν τὸν προκείμενονH ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα,

1 As for us, for this very rea­son, having com­pany with such an ex­ten­sive cloud of witnes­ses sur­rounding us, let us also keep run­ning with per­sever­ance the contest be­ing laid out before us, start­ing to put away from ourselves every hind­rance and sin that hangs around closely,

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with X so great a cloud of wit­nesses, [let us] lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth [so] eas-ily beset us, [and] let us run with pat­ience the race that is set before us,

2 ἀφορῶντεςI εἰς τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἀρχ­ηγὸν καὶ τελει­ωτὴν ᾿Ιησοῦν, ὃς ἀντὶJ τῆς προ­κειμένης αὐτῷ χαρᾶς ὑπέμεινε σταυ­ρὸν, αἰσ­χύνης καταφρονήσας, ἐν δεξιᾷ τε τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ Θεοῦ κεκάθικενK.

2 looking out toward Jesus, the chief lead­er and accomp­lisher of the faith, who, for the joy laid out before Him, persevered through cruci­fixion, having despised what is shameful, He has taken office at the right hand of the very throne of God!

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 X of the throne of God.

3 ἀναλογίσ­ασθεL γὰρ τὸν τοιαύτην ὑπο-μεμενηκότα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρ­τωλῶν εἰς εαὐτὸνM ἀντι-λογίαν, ἵνα μὴ κάμητε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶνN ἐκλυόμενοιO.

3 Indeed, y’all must start think­ing logically a­bout the One who persevered through such an­tagonism under the agency of sin­ners toward Him­self, in order that y’all might not continue to be weary, fainting in your souls.

3 For consider him that en­dured such contradiction of sinners against him­self, lest ye be wearied [and] faint in your minds.


1P.E. Hughes noted other interpretations of “excessive body weight” or of “pride” (as found in the Sahidic version), but he preferred Delitzch’s conclusion: “ευπερίστατον ‘αμαρτιαν … as more precisely defining the vague ογκον παντα.”

2Job 7:9 “As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up." (NKJV)

3Job 22:14 “A cloud is his hiding-place, and he shall not be seen; and he passes through the circle of heaven…. 26:9 He keeps back the face of his throne, stretching out his cloud upon it…. 40:1 And the Lord yet again answered and spoke to Job out of the cloud, saying..." (cf, 31:8 and Psalm 104:3, Brenton)

4Matt. 18:10, Luke 15:10, 1 Cor. 4:9 & 11:10, 1Tim. 5:21, 1Pet. 1:12, 2 Peter 2:11, cf. 1Sam. 28:15, Mark 9:4

5John Brown of Edinborough advanced yet another interpretation in his commentary on Hebrews that “the faith here is a general name for ‘the faithful,’ or believers; just as the circumcision is for the circumcised, the uncircumcision for the uncircumcised, the captivity for the captives...”

6αἰσχύνη Lk. 14:9; 2 Cor. 4:2; Phil. 3:19; Heb. 12:2; Jude 1:13; Rev. 3:18

AThe Greek is the Majority text, edited by myself to follow the majority of the earliest-known manuscripts only when the early manuscript evidence is practically unanimous. My original document includes notes on the NKJV, NASB, NIV, & ESV English translations, but since they are all copyrighted, I cannot include them in my online document. Underlined words in English versions indicate a standalone difference from all other English translations of a certain word. Strikeout usually indicates that the English translation is, in my opinion, too far outside the range of meaning of the original Greek word. The addition of an X indicates a Greek word left untranslated – or a plural Greek word translated as an English singular. [Brackets] indicate words added in English not in the Greek. {Pointed Braces} indicate words added in Greek to the original. Key words are colored consistently across the chart to show correlations.

BThis emphatic compound is only here and 1 Thess. 4:8 in the NT (plus 11 more in the Septuagint O.T.).

CPresent Passive Accusative Neuter Singular Participle. KJV, NIV, and ESV make the Dative (masculine) Plural “us” the subject, but the Accusative Neuter Singular “cloud” is a much better match, so I think the NASB translated this verb more correctly. (cf. 5:2 Christ “surrounded” with human weakness)

DLone use in the N.T., but occurs 25 times in the OT wisdom books, particularly Job. Vincent commented: “Νέφος... means a great mass of cloud covering the entire visible space of the heavens, and therefore without definite form, or a single large mass in which definite outlines are not emphasized or distinguished. It thus differs from νεφέλη, which is a detached and sharply outlined cloud.”

EHapex Legomenon. “weight” (Gingrich), “barb” (Liddell-Scott), “protuberance” (Thayer), “bulk” (Moulton-Milligan), “impediment” (Danker)

F“an indirect middle, ‘laying aside from yourselves...’” ~attributed by Hanna to A.T. Robertson’s Grammar

GHapex Legomenon translated “readily-encompasing” (Danker), “easily-besetting” (Liddell-Scott), “easily-distressing/dangerous” (Moulton-Milligan), “easily-ensnaring” (Gingrich), “tightly-controlling” (Louw-Nida) Gill noted: "[S]ome reference may be had to Lamentations 1:14 where the church says, that her transgressions... ישתרגו, 'wreathed themselves', or wrapped themselves about her."

Hcf. Hebrews 6:18 "...we have escaped to grab the hope which is being set forth" (NAW)

IOnly two other occurrences of this word in the Greek Bible: Jonah 4:5 and Phil. 2:23, both of which indicate looking at an outcome. Also in the Maccabees to indicate looking in a different direction 3 Ma. 6:8; 4 Ma. 17:10, and looking at an outcome 4 Ma 17:23. cf. Hebrews 11:26 “[experiencing] the insulting of the Messiah was greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking off to [ἀπέβλεπεν εἰς] the payback” (NAW)

JA minority of commentators (Syriac Peshitta, Gregory Nazianzus, Calvin, Vincent, Delitzsch, Turner, etc.) who interpret this preposition in the substitutionary sense (“instead of”) rather than in the volative sense (“for the goal of”), but I side with the latter.

KThe Textus Receptus reads Aorist Tense [εκαθισεν], but there’s only one Greek manuscript which reads that way (the Chester-Beatty Papyrus, which is the oldest-known); all the other Greek manuscripts, however read Perfect tense. Not a theological difference, though. He “sat” (Aorist Tense – NIV) and still “is seated” (Present Tense Passive – ESV), both of which match “he has sat” (Perfect tense – KJV, NASB).

LThis verb only occurs one other place in the Greek Bible, and that is Isaiah 44:19 (“And one has not considered in his mind, nor known in his understanding, that he has burnt up half of it in the fire, and baked loaves on the coals thereof and has roasted and eaten flesh, and of the rest of it he has made an abomination, and they worship it”). The three oldest-known Greek manuscripts all spell this verb in the infinitive rather than in the imperative, making it a reason for “fixing our eyes on Jesus” instead of a separate injunctive, but the encouragement to “consider Him” is still present either way, so it doesn’t make a difference essentially.

MTraditional Greek New Testaments follow the majority of Greek manuscripts without an epsilon to the front of this word, giving it a more straightforward meaning of “him,” but 4 of the 5 oldest-known Greek manuscripts read with the epsilon which, which doesn’t change the basic meaning, but does gives the word a more reflexive or emphatic shade of meaning “himself.” Some manuscripts also add a plural genitive ending to this word, changing the referent from Christ to sinners, indicating that it is to their own harm that sinners antagonize Christ, but that doesn’t seem to fit the context as well.

NPerhaps an allusion (with change of person) to Job’s despair in the midst of suffering: Job 10:1 κάμνων τῇ ψυχῇ μου… The only other instances of this verb in the Greek Bible are: Job 17:2 (perhaps a mistranslation) & James 5:15, where it stands in parallel with ἀσθενεῖ “sick/weak/infirm.” Apocryphal Greek sources describe this verb as battle-wearyness (4 Macc. 3:8), the infirmity of old age (4 Macc. 7:13 & Wis. 4:16), and the weariness of painstaking labor (Wisdom 15:9).

OThree (P45, P13, D06) out of the five oldest-known Greek manuscripts spell this participle in the perfect tense considering it as something happening earlier than the present and continuing in the present, which doesn’t really change the gist. It is also curious that no papyrus contains the 2nd person pronoun which modifies this word (again, this doesn’t change the meaning).

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