Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:2. Even more important than the contemplation of these martyr witnesses for maintaining the athlete spirit is the continuous looking unto Jesus, the originator and finisher of our faith (or of faith). ‘Our faith' favours the interpretation that Jesus begins and completes the faith which forms the principle of the Christian life. But though this is true of Christ, as it is true of God (John 15:16), it seems hardly the truth taught here. The faith spoken of is the faith of chap. 11, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is quoted as the noblest example; He realized a glorious future in the midst of a troubled present, even as we must do. He is the originator of faith because He has trod the way of faith before us, and the finisher of it because having completed our salvation, which is ‘the end of our faith' (1 Peter 1:9), He leads all who trust Him to the same goal. This application of faith to Christ is not common in Scripture, but it is found in this Epistle (chap. Hebrews 2:13), and it is involved in His human nature and conflicts.

Who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising shame. This part of the sentence describes the life of faith, as the second describes its reward and completion.

And hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. These two things we are to fix our gaze upon; they are closely connected in the Greek, as they are in the argument. Faith, as the realization of the unseen, was as much the principle of our Lord's life as it is the principle of the life of His followers.