Finally, we have crossed the chapter boundary into Hebrews 12. It has taken me 25 Gems to cover the Faith Chapter. We started with Gem 2133 – A Definition of Faith (Hebrews 10:38-11:3) and have concluded with Gem 2157 – Of Whom The World Was Not Worthy (Hebrews 11:35-40). In those 25 Gems we covered nineteen named people and a further group of unnamed Others. I suggested that the author of Hebrews left this list open ended. He used real life people familiar to the Jewish Christians of his time to demonstrate faith in action in various ways, some of them surprising. But I am convinced that he was giving the Hebrew followers of Christ opportunity to recall others to mind whom they knew personally or were acquainted with their story from the scrolls of the Tanakh, so that these contemporary believers could add to the roll call of those who operated by faith.
Now we have crossed the chapter boundary into Hebrews 12. If you have been following Gems for a while you will know what that means. I have given you below the text for this next Chapter but the text is not divided into sections. That is for you to do for yourself. At least I have not given it to you in the way the UNCIAL texts did; the capital letter Greek texts which represent our earliest copies of the sacred text of God’s Word. I have left in this text for you the spaces between words and the verse numbers, added in 1550 by Robert Estienne. I have been kind to you. My suggestion to you now is that you decide for yourself how to divide the passage into sections as well as how this passage is connected to what has gone before it. We know the author of the letter to the Hebrew Christians of his day had planned carefully the letter he wrote to the Jewish Christians on the brink of facing Nero’s persecution. So the simple question we have to answer is how this part of the letter fits with what went before it? How would you divide it into sections? I have impressed upon you enough times that different published Bibles divide the text in different ways. Don’t rely on the pericope headings to tell you what each section is about. Take the time to think about the flow of the text for yourself.
Here then is the text of Hebrews 12 from the New Living Translation.
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne. 3Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. 4After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. 5And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. 6For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” 7As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? 10For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. 12So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. 14Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. 16Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal. 17You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears. 18You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. 23You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. 24You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. 25Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! 26When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” 27This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. 28Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29For our God is a devouring fire.
Hebrews 12:1-29
Read the text of this chapter a numbers of times until you gain the sense of how it naturally divides into sections. After you have read it a number of times, decide where would you make the section breaks. I would suggest that seven is a good number of times and you Gem readers know why.
What title would you give to each section?
Do you see how this chapter relates to the chapter before it?
We will begin looking at this chapter in detail in the following Bible Gem.
No single verse of the Bible stands alone. The Bible is interconnected from the beginning of Genesis to the conclusion of Revelation.
Dr Basil Brown
It is critically important to gain a correct understanding of the whole in order to interpret the parts accurately. Scripture needs to be analysed carefully but then it needs to be put back together again.
Dale Leschert
A text without a context is a pretext.
John Hutten
Life is measured not by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Learn to read the Bible expecting the Master to speak.
Ian
When you wrestle with the text you walk away limping; some people have no limp because they haven’t wrestled.
Ian
Take up the challenge of reading Hebrews 12 from the text I have given you in this Gem seven times over the next six days. Then make your own division of the text into the sections you think most relevant. You will start to see the text differently and the parts will become clearer to you. I will post the next Gem on Monday to give you time to do that.