Hebrews 12:3

The Race of Faith

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, ^alet us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and ^blet us run ^cwith endurance the race that is set before us,

2 looking unto Jesus, the¹ author and finisher of our faith, ^awho for the joy that was set before Him ^bendured the cross, despising the shame, and ^chas sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The Discipline of God

3 ^aFor consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, ^blest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

4 ^aYou have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
^a“My son, do not despise the¹ chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

6 For ^awhom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

7 ^aIf¹ you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what ^bson is there whom a father does not chasten?

8 But if you are without chastening, ^aof which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to ^athe Father of spirits and live?

10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, ^athat we may be partakers of His holiness.

11 Now no¹ chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields ^athe peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality

12 Therefore ^astrengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,

13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?

<< Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:4 >>

What Does Hebrews 12:3 Mean?

Hebrews 12:1-4

We can learn a great deal about why patience is so vital by comparing the process we are going through to an artist sculpting a work from a piece of marble. Chip by chip over a period of time, an artist uses hammer and chisel to shape a conception from a raw slab of rock until the finished figure is revealed. God is doing much the same with us except we are living, raw material with mind, emotions, and the liberty to allow or disallow the Artist to continue. If we are impatient, not allowing the Creator to complete His artistry by our constant yielding to His tools, we will never be perfect and entire.

It is easy for us to magnify our burdens. Notice, however, what grumbling did for the Israelites in the wilderness when God finally responded. Would we rather have our trial or grumble and receive what the Israelites did? We must begin to cultivate the habit of thinking of life, including all of its trials, as being God's way to shape godly character in us.

James makes what seems to be a paradoxical statement in James 1:2: We should count our various trials as joy. Why? Because verse 3 says that doing so produces patience! We need patience so God can mold us into His likeness. Even God cannot produce godly character by fiat. James is teaching us that we should not measure the experiences of life by their ability to please our ambition or tastes but by their capacity to make us into God's image. If we have any vision - and a zealous desire to live as God does - we can welcome our trials as steps in God's creative process and meet them with patience and hope.

Perfection in this life is to become what God wants us to become. What could be better than that? If we understand that our lives are in God's hands as He molds and shapes us, then the meanings - the eventual outcome - of joy and sorrow are the same. God intends the same result whether He gives or takes. The events of life are merely the scaffolding for shaping us into His image, and we should meet them with patience as He continues His work. This will work to flatten out the emotional extremes we tend to experience.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience

Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Hebrews 12:3:

John 15:1-8

<< Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:4 >>

Join 137,228+ readers

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning

Consistent Bible study is hard to start.

The Berean gives you the starting point: one scripture and a focused commentary in your inbox each morning — read it in minutes, or go as deep as you like.

Free, daily, and spam-free. We never share your address. Unsubscribe anytime.

The Race of Faith

The Discipline of God

Renew Your Spiritual Vitality

What Does Hebrews 12:3 Mean?

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning