'Chap. 12:1-11.] Exhortation, mixed with reproof, on looking back at all these witnesses, and looking also to Jesus, who has come to glory through suffering, not to faint in the conflict with sin; nor to forget the love of our Father, who visits us with chastisement that we may bring forth the fruit of righteousness. This exhortation was begun at ch. 10:19, and broken off by the insertion of all those examples of the nature and triumphs of faith. It is now resumed, having, so to speak, accumulated new momentum by the interruption, and is pressed home directly on the readers.

1.] Wherefore (τοιγαροῦν is an earnest and solemn inference, only found at the beginning of a sentence. “τοι,” says Delitzsch, “affirms the conditions of fact, γάρ grounds on them, οὖν follows thereupon; so that the whole amounts to an earnest ergo”) we also (as well as those just enumerated) having so great a cloud (see below) of witnesses surrounding us (in order to understand μαρτύρων aright, we must bear in mind both the similitude here used, and the connexion with the preceding chapter. “Hic versus totus constat vocibus agonisticis,” says Hammond. And this being so, who can help referring this cloud of witnesses which surrounds us to the agonistic scene which is depicted, and regarding them as lookers on while our race is run? Whoever denies such reference, misses, it seems to me, the very point of the sense. But even thus we have not exhausted the meaning of μάρτυρες. It is improbable, as Delitzsch well observes, that the Writer should have used the word μάρτυρες so closely upon μαρτυρηθέντες, ch. 11:39, without any reference to that idea. See also ib. vv. 2, 4, 5. So that we can hardly help giving to ‘witnesses’ a sense not confined to their looking on upon us, but extending to their ethical condition of witnesses for the faith. But we may notice, that Delitzsch in contending for this double sense, has in fact a triple reference of the word to justify: they are borne witness to, they have their μαρτυρία, ch. 11:5: and by this they become μάρτυρες: and they carry out that office in being witnesses of our conflict here below. Böhme (cited by Del.) remarks, that this manifold reference of the word has been the reason why the Writer has not written μάρτυρες τῆς πίστεως or the like. And now the propriety of the other words used at once appears. νέφος, not only an immense multitude (νέφος μιμούμενον τῇ πυκνότητι, Thdrt.: cf. ἅμα δὲ νέφος εἵπετο πεζῶν, ref. Hom.: τοῖον Ἑλλάνων νέφος ἀμφί σε κρύπτει, ref. Eur.), and that number as it were pressing us all around as the spectators did the combatants in the circus (περικείμενον, see reff. τουτέστι, πάντοθεν ἡμᾶς περιέχον, Thl.),—but also fitly compared to a cloud from the fact of its being above us, they looking on from that heavenly bliss which they entered at Christ’s triumph. So that the words must be taken as distinctly so far implying community between the church triumphant and the church below, that they who have entered into heavenly rest are conscious of what passes among ourselves. Any interpretation short of this leaves the exhortation here tame and without point. If they are merely quasi-witnesses, merely witnesses in a metaphor, the motive, as far as this clause supplies one, is gone. The Greek expositors generally regard μαρτύρων as referring only to their having witnessed for the faith. So Chrys., ἐμαρτύρησαν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ μεγαλειότητι: Thdrt., πλῆθος τοσοῦτον … μαρτυρεῖ τῇ δυνάμει τῆς πίστεως: Thdr.-mops., μαρτύρων ἐνταῦθα οὐ τῶν πεπονθότων λέγει, ἀλλὰ τῶν μαρτυρούντων πρὸς τὴν πίστιν. Most of the moderns take this meaning (even Lünemann); others that of martyrs, rejected above by Thdr.-mops. : cf. Acts 22:20: Revelation 2:13 (11:3); 17:6. νέφος is interpreted by the Greek expositors (not Thdrt.) as affording shade and protection. So Chrys., περικείμενον κύκλῳ, ἐν μείζονι ἀδείᾳ εἰκότως εἶναι ποιήσει: and Œc., in his altern. more explicitly, νέφος δὲ ἐκάλεσεν αὐτούς, ἢ ἀπὸ μεταφορᾶς τῶν ὑπὸ καύματος καταφλεγομένων καὶ ὑπεισελθόντων εἰς νεφελὴν δροσίζουσαν καὶ παραμνθηθέντων. καὶ γὰρ ἡ τῶν ἁγίων μνήμη τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ καύσωνος τῶν πειρασμῶν ἐκλελυμένους παραμυθεῖται. ἢ ὅτι νοητὴν (spiritual) ἡμῖν, φησί, δρόσον νέμουσιν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸν θεὸν ἱκετεύοντες. I need not say, that such an idea is completely precluded by the nature of the argument, and the following participial clause in ver. 2.

The best note on the whole idea and imagery is that of Schlichting: “Introducit nos veluti in theatrum quoddam amplissimum, in quod magna spectatorum turba confluxerit, quæ, omnibus locis et subselliis repletis, veluti nubes quædam densa in medio certantibus circumfusa videatur. In tantæ multitudinis totque spectatorum veluti oculis certantes nos facit. Quemadmodum autem olim certantibus tanta spectatorum multitudo addebat animos, et ingens erat ad summam vincendi contentionem stimulus: sic et nobis tot testes, qui et ipsi in eodem certamine desudarunt, alacritatem addere debent, ut summis viribus cœptum stadium decurramus. Testes autem eos vocat, non tantum per prosopopœiam quandam alludens ad certaminum spectatores ut dictum est, qui sunt testes quidam virtutis eorum qui certant: sed etiam, idque multo magis, propterea, quod de Deo ejusque bonitate et justitia testentur, et omnes uno veluti dicant ore, esse Deum, et esse remuneratorem eorum qui ipsum quærunt: apud eum, tanquam summum agonothetam, brabeum esse strenue certantibus repositum: veracem illum esse in suis promissionibus: etiam post mortem posse reddere felices eos, qui ipsius causa vitam prodegissent. Testium enim nomine illi imprimis hoc loco sunt intelligendi, qui suo sanguine de Dei fide et bonitate testantur. Unde et κατʼ ἐξοχήν, martyres, id est, testes, hic appellantur”), laying aside all superfluous weight (ὄγκος, according to Buttmann, Lexil., from ἔγκω, from which comes ἤνεγκον,—any superfluous mass or burden, as in the case of the pregnant, so Eurip. Ion 15, γαστρὸς διήνεγκʼ ὄγκον: or the corpulent, so Ælian, Hist. Anim. ii. 13, σαρκὸς ὄγκος: a state of being puffed up, either literally or metaphorically. It is used doubtless here with direct reference to athletes, who before running trained themselves so as to get rid of all superfluous flesh. So Galen, in Epid. Hippocr. iii. 6 (Bl.), καὶ γὰρ δρόμοι ταχεῖς καὶ γυμνάσια ποιαῦτα καὶ σαρκῶν ὄγκον καθαίρει καὶ χυμῶν πλῆθος κενοί: see other examples in Bl. But ὄγκος is also used of weight accessory from without, as well as of weight carried on the person. So Xen. Venat. viii. 8, διὰ τὸ βάθος τῆς χιόνος καὶ διὰ τὸ κάτωθεν τῶν ποδῶν λασίων ὄντων προσέχεσθαι αὐτῷ ὄγκον πολύν. So that the word may be taken, as in E. V., of every weight of every kind which may weigh down the runner; though, on account of what follows, I should understand it rather of weight of the person than weight on the person. See below. Some, as Castelho, Heinsius, Bengel, interpret it “fastus,” haughtiness or pride, which it may be, but the sense does not seem to belong here) and sin which is ever besetting us (εὐπερίστατος, being an ἅπαξ λεγόμενον in all ancient Greek literature, has been very variously interpreted. Its sense must be sought purely from derivational usage, and the requirements of the context. Some have taken it actively, from the sense of περιΐστημι ‘to circumvent:’ so Carpzov, “dolosum, seducens;” Schulz, “which hems us in on all sides.” But against this is the fact that though verbals in -τος are often active, no case has been adduced of any such verbal derived from ἵστημι or its compounds being active: they are all intransitive or passive: e. g. στατός, ἄστατος, ἀνάστατος; διάστατος, ἀδιάστατος; εὐκατάστατος, δυσκατάστατος; ἀμετάστατος, εὐμετάστατος; ἀσύστατος; ὑπόστατος: and so περίστατος and ἀπερίστατος: and thus our word might be taken passively,—‘which can easily be avoided,’ lightly evaded: cf. περιΐστασο 2Timothy 2:16: Titus 3:9, and Hammond here: or, ‘which can be easily circumvented,’ and so conquered. Thus in the interpretation which Chrys. prefers before the active one: his words are, εὐπερίστατον, ἤτοι τὴν εὐκόλως περιϊσταμένην ἡμᾶς, ἢ τὴν εὐκόλως περίστασιν δυναμένην παθεῖν, λέγει· μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦτο· ῥᾴδιον γάρ, ἐὰν θέλωμεν, περιγενέσθαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας: so Ps.-Athanas. quæst. 130 de Parabol. Scripturæ, vol. iv. p. 280, εὐπερίστατον εἶπε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἐπειδὰν μόνιμον στάσιν οὐκ ἔχει, ἀλλὰ ταχέως τρέπεται καὶ καταλύεται: Hesych., εὔκολον, εὐχερῆ: Suidas, μωρόν, ταχέως περιτρεπόμενον: D-lat, “fragile:” Le Clerc, al., “quæ facile circumvenitur, vincitur.” But to this there are two objections. First the word περιΐστασθαι does not seem ever to have this meaning, overcoming: and then that it would be exceedingly out of place thus to describe sin, and especially that sin against which the Writer considers it necessary to warn his readers, by one single epithet, as a thing lightly to be got rid of. Just as unnatural would be the sense given by Wetst., “peccatum vestrum.… non in occulto potest committi et latere, non magis quam lapsus cursoris, sed conspicietur ab omnibus.” Another passive sense is given by Ernesti after Hemsterhuis, “a spectatoribus circumdatus,” “surrounded by men who look on:” so Isocrat. de Permut., θαυματοποιΐαις ταῖς.… ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνοήτων περιστάτοις γενομέναις, which Suidas interprets περὶ ἃς κύκλῳ ἵστανται οἱ θεώμενοι: Jambl. Vit. Pyth. v. 7, εὐθὺς δὲ περίβλεπτος καὶ περίστατος ἐγένετο: and so ἀπερίστατος is used of a man whom others do not gird around, one void of friends: so Phocyl. 24, σῶσον δʼ ἀπερίστατον ἄνδρα. And thus Ernesti here would have us understand εὐπερίστατος of sin as being very popular, having many friends and frequenters. This sense Bleek thinks has much to be said for it, both as to analogy and as fitting the context. I own I do not feel that the analogy of εὖ in composition quite justifies it. But he prefers the ordinary acceptation of the word here, and in this I fully agree. Taking περιΐσταμαι as a middle, to place itself around, be around, and hence to surround, we should have, sin which easily surrounds us. And so the former of the alternatives in Chrys. (see above), which he does not prefer in his homily on this passage, but adopts in several other places: e. g. Hom. on Psa_48 § 3. 4, vol. v. p. 227 (Migne), ταύτην οὖν δέδοικα τὴν ἀπατῶσάν με ἁμαρτίαν, τὴν κυκλοῦσάν με. διὸ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος αὐτὴν εὐπερίστατον καλεῖ, τὴν συνεχῶς περιβάλλουσαν δηλῶν, τὴν εὐκόλως, τὴν ῥᾳδίως. And on 2 Cor. Hom. ii. vol. x p. 402, εὐπερίστατον γὰρ ἡ ἁμαρτία, πάντοθεν ἱσταμένη, ἔμπροσθεν, ὄπισθεν, καὶ οὕτως ἡμᾶς καταβάλλουσα. And so the vulg. “circumstans:” the E. V., “which doth so easily beset us:” and by far the greater part of expositors, some with, some without the sense of active hostility. Thus Syr., “quod omni tempore paratum est nobis:” Ps.-Anselm, “quod nos inique impellit et circumvallat:” Castellio, “nos ambiens, sicut arbores hedera:” Valcknaer, “quod ad cingendum et irretiendum promptum est:” Bugenhagen, “semper oppugnans nos peccatum:” Erasm.(par), “quod nos undique complectitur:” al. The word being thus taken, the various acceptations of the similitude intended are well summed up by Bleek: we must understand ἁμαρτίαν either as our inner propensity to sin, which clings fast to us and will not part from us (Erasm.(vers. and not.), Luther, Vatabl., Calv., Gerhard, Seb. Schmidt, Calov., Ernesti: cf. ch. 5:2, περίκειται ἀσθένειαν): or as a cumbersome garment girding us round and hindering us from running (Jac. and Lud. Cappell., Schlichting, Wittich, Braun, Wakefield, al.), or personified, as an adversary, who surrounds us on all sides and waylays us to make us his prey (Beza, Cramer); or generally, as something which lies about us and is ever ready to catch us (De Dieu, and Syr. above): or which is ever from all sides standing in the way so as to entangle and impede our course (Grot., Limborch, Baumgarten, Bretschn., al., and recently Delitzsch). But the connexion with ἀποθέμενοι, which evidently Del. feels, seems to me fatal to his view, and indeed to all views except that which makes ἁμαρτία to lie about us, as a garment, or beset us, as an inward propensity. Of both these ἀποθέσθαι may be said; of the former literally, of the latter figuratively. And in choosing between these two, I have no hesitation in choosing the former. The Writer is speaking of our race: and having expected us to lay aside all superfluous weight of body, which the athletes did, he passes to their other lightening for the race, viz. stripping naked, and exhorts us to put off sin, which lies so easily about us. And thus we have a strict analogy with the imagery in Ephesians 4:22, Ephesians 4:24, ἀποθέσθαι ὑμᾶς … τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον … καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον,—and with Colossians 3:9, ἀπεκδυσάμενοι τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον σὺν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ. Most likely the sin alludes especially, though it need not exclusively, to apostasy. There does not seem to be any allusion to the different sins which may, in the sense now so common, and originally derived from this passage in E. V., “beset” various persons: though, of course, such an application of the passage is quite admissible. The above note, as to its enumeration of opinions, is principally gathered from Bleek and Delitzsch, both of whom have gone into the matter at far greater length. Various other shades and subtleties of meaning will be found discussed by them), let us through (not merely “with,” but as the state in, by means of which: cf. 2Corinthians 5:7, διὰ πίστεως περιπατοῦμεν) endurance run the race (see reff. and add Statius, Theb. iii. 116, “Quisque suas avidi ad lacrymas miserabile currunt certamen;” and Eurip. Orest. 869, ἀγῶνα θανάσιμον δραμούμενον) set before us (reff., and Lucian, Anachars. 15, κοινός τις ἀγὼν … τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς πολίταις πρόκειται: Cicero pro Flacco, 37 (92), “magnum ei erat certamen propositum”