📖 Biblical Definition
Hebrews 12:1's image of the Christian life as a race-course already laid out: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." The race is each saint's particular course; the cloud of witnesses is Hebrews 11's faith-roll cheering on; the focal-point is Christ at the finish.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Heb 12:1: each saint's particular course; cloud of witnesses; Christ at finish.
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Hebrews 12:1's masterful image of the Christian life. The race is each saint's particular course (the article "the race that is SET BEFORE US" implies each runner has a specific course laid out). The witnesses are Hebrews 11's faith-roll — Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Rahab, the prophets — cheering from the stands. The instructions: lay aside every weight (anything slowing you, even if not technically sin) AND the sin which besets (specifically tangling sin), then run with hypomonē (patient endurance) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. The race is long; the cloud is real; the focal-point is Christ at the finish.
📖 Key Scripture
Hebrews 12:1-2 — "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 — "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things."
2 Timothy 4:7 — "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Athletic-imagery sometimes flattened to motivation; Hebrews 12 contains specific theological pieces (cloud, weights, besetting sin, focal point).
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Modern "keep running the race" can be cheerleading without substance. Hebrews 12:1 has specific theology: a cloud of witnesses (the faith-cloud of Hebrews 11), weights to lay aside (not always sin — sometimes good things that slow you), besetting sin (the specific tangler), patient endurance (long-haul, not sprint), focal point (Jesus, not the finish line itself).
Recover the specifics: identify your weights, your besetting sin, your cloud, your focal point. The verse is operational, not motivational.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek ton prokeimenon hēmin agōna.
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['Greek', 'G73', 'agōn', 'contest, race']
['Greek', 'G4295', 'prokeimai', 'to be set before']
Usage
"Run with patience the race set before."
"Cloud of witnesses; weights aside; eyes on Jesus."
"Each saint's particular course."