Jesus, the Author and Perfecter
of Our Faith
Read Hebrews 12:1–3. What do these verses ask us to do?
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The climax of the exposition on faith really arrives with Jesus in
Hebrews 12. Paul started the letter with Jesus, who is the “coming
one” and who “will not delay” (Heb. 10:37, ESV), and Paul concludes
it with Jesus the “perfecter” of our faith (Heb. 12:2, ESV). Jesus is the
“author and perfecter of faith” (NASB). This means that Jesus is the One
who makes faith possible and is the Example who perfectly embodies
what a life of faith is all about. With Jesus, faith has reached its perfect
expression.
Jesus is the “founder” (Heb. 12:2, ESV), or author or pioneer, of our
faith in at least three senses.
First, He is the only one who has finished the race in its fullest
sense. The others talked about in the previous chapter have not yet
reached their goal (Heb. 11:39, 40). Jesus, however, has entered
God’s rest in heaven and is seated at the Father’s right hand. We,
together with these others, will reign with Jesus in heaven (Rev.
20:4).
Second, it was actually Jesus’ perfect life that has made it possible for
these others to run their race (Heb. 10:5–14). If Jesus had not come, the
race of everyone else would have been futile.
Finally, Jesus is the reason we have faith. As one with God, He
expressed the faithfulness of God toward us. God never gave up in His
efforts to save us, and that is why we will reach the reward in the end
if we don’t give up. Jesus ran with patience and remained faithful, even
when we were faithless (2 Tim. 2:13). Our faith is only a response to
His faithfulness.
In the end, Jesus is the “perfecter” of faith because He perfectly
exemplifies how the race of faith is run. How did He run? He laid aside
every weight by giving up everything for us (Phil. 2:5–8). He never
sinned, ever. Jesus held His sight firmly on the reward, which was the
joy set before Him, that of seeing the human race redeemed by His
grace. So, He endured misunderstanding and abuse; He stared down
the shame of the cross (Heb. 12:2, 3).
Now it is our turn to run. Though we can never achieve what Jesus
did in our own strength, we have His perfect example before us, and
so by faith in Him, and keeping our eyes on Him (as have the others
before us), we press on ahead in faith, trusting in His promises of a
great reward.