Author And Finisher
Author And Finisher
In Heb 12:2 Jesus is called the author (Authorized Version and Revised Version ; AVm [Note: Vm Authorized Version margin.] beginner, Revised Version margin captain) and finisher (Authorized Version ; Revised Version perfecter) of (our) faith. The Gr. word rendered author () occurs in three other passages, viz. Act 3:15; Act 5:31 and Heb 2:10. It is translated captain in Heb 2:10 (Authorized Version ; but Revised Version author); in Act 3:15 prince (Authorized Version and Revised Version ; AVm [Note: Vm Authorized Version margin.] and Revised Version margin author); in Act 5:31 prince. In classical Greek it is used for a leader, one who precedes others by his example, and so for an originator.
The reference in Heb 12:2 is to the previous chapter. The writer, in summing up the list of heroes of faith, bids us look unto Jesus, who is pre-eminently the Leader in that great company, and the Perfect Example of that virtue of which to a certain extent they have been witnesses. The insertion of the word our in the English Version obscures the meaning. The faith refers to that which has been the main theme of ch. 11.
Alford, Bleek, Ebrard, Wordsworth, and A. B. Davidson translate Heb 12:2 by leader; Wyclif has the maker; but Tindale, Cranmer, the Geneva and the Rheims all have author.
As Jesus is the Leader in the great army of the Faith, so is He also the Finisher or Perfecter (). Therefore we run the race looking unto Him as our Leader and the only one who can sustain us to the end and perfect that which He has begun (cf. Davidson, in loc.).
Morley Stevenson.