CLOUD OF WITNESSES (HEBREWS 12:1)

One of the more familiar New Testament passages is Hebrews 12:1. This verse follows directly after chapter 11, the “Faith Chapter” in which the author recites a whole litany of martyrs for the faith over the years. It begins: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”

I have been reading this verse for years without stopping to consider it more closely. And I realized that perhaps I have had the wrong image in my mind all along. I even created one of my art boxes as a diptych in which the second panel portrayed a number of people in the clouds looking at the viewer (see my post titled “Hebrews 12:1”). It was not my best artistic endeavor by any means. And in addition, I now suspect that it is an example of poor exegesis of the text. So I decided to see what the experts had to say on the subject.

The first area in which I was the most interested was whether “cloud” is a good translation of the original Greek word and if so, why was it used instead of “crowd,” which would seem to make a whole lot more sense. The second confusing point, at least to me, was that I was picturing all of these Old Testament saints looking down on me from the clouds of heaven to “witness” my actions in order to see if I was obeying God's will for my life. But is that really what the verse is trying to convey? Now, don't rush to judge me for my ignorance here. I have found in mentoring others in the Scripture that often what is crystal clear to one person is totally opaque to another. We each have our blinders on when reading the Word. And it gets even worse when it comes to living it out.

Cloud

Concerning the word “cloud,” it turns out that I was not so far off base after all. The KJV and versions in that same tradition (such as RSV, NASB, and NRSV) as well as NIV stick to the wording “cloud of witnesses.” However, several paraphrases depart from this wordage – TEV reads “crowd;” Living Bible has “large crowd;” The Message renders it as “all these witnesses, all these veterans,” and J.B. Philips translates it as “serried ranks.” In addition, two modern translations utilize the word “cloud,” but in a way that explains the image. Thus, NEB reads, “all these witnesses around us like a cloud” while The Jerusalem Bible has “so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us.”

But to make sure that these variant translations and paraphrases had a firm basis linguistically, I turned to the some of the helpful word study guides that are available. The New International Greek Testament Commentary series is of great use for those who wish to know more about the actual Greek words used in the text. So from Paul Ellingworth's commentary on Hebrews I gained the following information:

“nephos [“cloud”] is often used figuratively of a crowd of people.” Thus, in this case the picture is one “of a crowd surrounding the readers as in a stadium.” Vine's Expository Dictionary conveys the same idea when it defines the word, only appearing here in the NT, as “a cloudy, shapeless mass covering the heavens. Hence, metaphorically, of a dense multitude, a throng.”

Other resources confirmed this understanding as well as providing additional useful information:

    “Rarely do clouds appear in the Bible in a simple meteorological context...” (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery)

    Leon Morris states that “nephos means a cloud or cloud mass...clouds are linked with the divine in both the classical writers and the OT. It is thus significant that in the NT clouds are most often associated in some way with Jesus Christ.”

    Bruce: “A 'cloud' of witnesses is a good classical locution for a 'host' of witnesses.” He cites the example of the historian Herodotus who described an army as 'a great cloud of men.'”

    And finally, to puncture my balloon regarding the OT saints in the clouds of heaven above, Buchanan says, “The word 'cloud' was used metaphorically, giving expression to the the immense size of the group...No intention was implied that these heroes were in heaven like a cloud.”

So, in conclusion, the words “cloud” and “crowd” can be used interchangeably in translating this verse. The first indicates the literal word while the second gives its metaphorical meaning in the passage.

Witnesses

Things get a little more confusing when it comes to properly understanding the use of the word martys (“witness”) in Hebrews 12:1, as one can see below:

    W.R. Baker: “Hebrews 12:1 reminds Christians...that they are not alone in this struggle. A host of others are cheering Christians on to endure successfully the race marked out for us.”

    D.J. Graham says that “in Hebrews 12:1 'witness(es)' is used as an equivalent to spectators at games, a different image from its other uses in the letter.”

As an explanation of how those “other uses” differ, Coenen states, “The Epistle to the Hebrews is distinguished from the other writings of the New Testament in that it uses the verb martyreo exclusively in the passive and chiefly in Heb. 11. The one who bears witness, confirming the faith of the one named, is God himself...It is in accord with this that these, who have been accredited on account of holding firm to the hope of their faith, are in Heb. 12:1 called a 'cloud of witnesses' for the church of the present time.” Note that Coenen says “witnesses for the church” rather than “witnesses of the church.” This introduces the second, and most common, way to understand this verse.

Thus, F.F. Bruce asks the all-important question: “In what sense are they 'witnesses'?” And he answers, “Not, probably, in the sense of spectators, watching their successors as they in their turn run the race for which they have entered; but rather in the sense that by their loyalty and endurance they have borne witness to the possibilities of the life of faith. It is not so much they who look at us as we look to them – for encouragement.”

In agreement with Bruce's statement, Osborne says that this verse “pictures the Old Testament 'heroes of the faith' in an ancient arena, but they are not witnessing us; we are witnessing them.”

    Hawthorne: “The many heroes of faith enumerated in chapter 11 become to the writer an amphitheatre of spectators cheering the Christian runner on toward the goal. Indeed they are more than spectators; they are witnesses interpreting the meaning of life to him. They encourage him by their own lives, which make clear the certain success of persistent participation.”

    Luter: “The 'great cloud of witnesses' includes a substantial number of martyrs (Heb 11:4,35,37). Their persevering witness serves to motivate the recipients of the epistle to focus on Jesus, even if witness and endurance mean bloodshed and martyrdom (Heb. 12:1-4).”

    Stibbs: “While the idea of an encompassing crowd of spectators may be in mind (see Tim. 6:12), the primary reference is to their testimony. They are God's witnesses to us, who encourage us by their example.”

    Finally, the only comment Zane Hodges makes on this verse is to state dogmatically that this cloud of Old Testament witnesses “does not mean that they watch believers today.” He may be correct in the strictly literal sense of the words, but he is far too concerned to preserve his dispensational beliefs regarding the future life to bring out any positive meaning to Hebrews 12:1.

In conclusion, I would say that as far as my preconceived notions regarding the verse are concerned, I am batting about .500. “Cloud” and “crowd” are basically interchangeable concepts in Hebrews 12:1, the first expressed figuratively and the second literally. But my idea of the OT saints looking at us to see how we are running the race of life is only, at best, partially correct. The more important truth is that it is they to whom we are to look in order to see how that race should be run.