Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, put away every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and crun with dendurance the race which is set before us, 2 Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the ccross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the fthrone of God. (Commentary notes by Watchmen Nee) The Greek word translated looking away unto denotes looking with undivided attention by turning away from every other object. The Hebrew believers had to look away from all the things in their environment, away from their old religion, Judaism, and its persecution, and away from all earthly things, that they might look unto Jesus, who is now seated on the right hand of the throne of God in the heavens. He is the Author Or, Originator, Inaugurator, Leader, Pioneer, Forerunner. The same Greek word as in 2:10. All the overcoming saints in the Old Testament are only witnesses of faith, whereas Jesus is the Author of faith. He is the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source, and the cause of faith. In our natural man we have no believing ability. We do not have faith by ourselves. The faith by which we are saved is the precious faith that we have received from the Lord (2 Pet. 1:1). When we look unto Jesus, He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) transfuses us with Himself, with His believing element. Then, spontaneously, a kind of believing arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him. This faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us. Hence, He Himself is our faith. We live by Him as our faith; i.e., we live by His faith (Gal. 2:20), not by our own. As the Author and the source of faith, Jesus is also the Leader, the Pioneer, and the Forerunner of faith. He cut the way of faith and, as the Forerunner, took the lead to pioneer it. Hence, He can carry us in His footsteps through the pathway of faith. As we look to Him as the Originator of faith in His life and in His path on earth, and as the Perfecter of faith in His glory and on His throne in heaven, He transfuses and even infuses us with the faith that He originated and perfected. He is the Perfecter Or, Finisher, Completer. Jesus is also the Finisher, the Completer, of faith. He will finish what He originated. He will complete what He inaugurated. If we look to Him continually, He will finish and complete the faith that we need for the running of the heavenly race.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 03:41:48 +0000
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