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In Hebrews 12:2-3, Christ is revealed as the Author and Perfecter of faith. “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. For compare Him who has endured such contradiction by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary, fainting in your souls.”
Verse 2 speaks of Jesus as “the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” The Greek word translated “Author” may be rendered “Originator, Inaugurator, Leader, Pioneer, Forerunner.” This is the same Greek word as in 2:10. All the overcoming saints in the Old Testament are only witnesses of faith, whereas Jesus is the Author of faith. He is the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source, and the cause of faith. In our natural man we have no believing ability. We do not have faith by ourselves. The faith by which we are saved is the precious faith that we have received from the Lord (2 Pet. 1:1). When we look unto Jesus, He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) transfuses us with Himself, with His believing element. Then, spontaneously, a kind of believing arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him. This faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us. Hence, He Himself is our faith. We live by Him as our faith; that is, we live by His faith (Gal. 2:20), not by our own.
As the Author and the source of faith, Jesus is also the Leader, the Pioneer, and the Forerunner of faith. Jesus is the Author and the Originator of faith mainly in His life and in His path on earth. The Lord Jesus originated faith when He was here on earth. The life He lived was a life of faith, and the path He walked was a path of faith. In His life and path He originated faith. Hence, He is the Author of faith.
He cut the way of faith and, as the Forerunner, took the lead to pioneer it. Hence, He can carry us in His footsteps through the pathway of faith. As we look to Him as the Originator of faith in His life and in His path on earth, and as the Perfecter of faith in His glory and on His throne in heaven, He transfuses and even infuses us with the faith that He originated and perfected.
According to the revelation of the New Testament, faith is a wonderful matter. We may think that we human beings have faith. Actually, in ourselves we do not have faith; we have only unbelief. Unbelief is the fiber of our constitution. Hence, in ourselves it is impossible to meet the New Testament requirement of faith (1:16).
The saving faith is not of ourselves; “it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 tells us clearly that the faith through which we were saved is not of ourselves. We have received it as a gift from God. God is the source and Giver of faith, and we are the recipients of this divine gift. God has put something into our being which becomes our faith. Second Peter 1:1 says that we “have been allotted faith equally precious.” Faith is precious because it has been given to us as a gift by God. The more we turn to God and contact Him, the more faith we have.
According to the New Testament revelation, faith is simply Christ Himself. Because Christ Himself is faith, the apostle Paul speaks of the faith of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:22), the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20), or faith in Christ (Phil. 3:9). Faith, which is the unique requirement of the New Testament, is Christ Himself being transfused into us to become our element and ability to believe in Him and in all the divine, spiritual, and heavenly things. Hence, faith is the faith in Christ as well as the faith of Christ. In other words, faith is simply Christ Himself as our believing element and ability.
How is Christ as faith infused into us? In the proper preaching of the gospel, Christ is presented to us as a figure in a scenery. In such a presentation we see Christ as a living figure, a wonderful person. A proper preaching of the gospel is a presentation of Christ as a living person whom we may look upon. When we look upon Him, He as the living person is impressed into us, not merely into our mind and heart but also into the deepest part of our being, our spirit. When we are impressed with Christ as a figure, an appreciation of this figure is spontaneously produced within us. When Christ as the living figure is infused into our mind and our heart, eventually reaching our spirit, He becomes precious to us, and we desire to accept and receive Him. This is faith, or believing. We are infused with this believing element and ability, and we call upon the name of the Lord. When we hear the gospel and see Christ as a living person in a divine scenery, our appreciation of, and reaction to, Christ as a wonderful figure arises within us. This is the living Jesus infused into us to become our faith. Therefore, He is the Author of our faith; He is the origin and the origination of our believing element and ability.
Faith, the substantiating ability, is like a sixth sense. We acquired this substantiating sense through the preaching of the gospel. Proper gospel preaching is not merely a matter of teaching; it must also be a matter of transfusion. In order to preach the gospel to sinners, we must first receive something of and from the Lord. Then, as we are preaching, what we have received of the Lord will enter, like electricity, into those who are listening. While we are speaking and the people are looking at and listening to us, something spontaneously and unconsciously will be transfused into them. Although they may shake their heads, not consenting to our preaching, deep within they will believe what we are saying. Although some may say to themselves that it is silly to believe, something within them will continue to react and bring them to the point where they say, “Lord Jesus, thank You. You are so good. Lord, You are my Savior.” Because some element has been transfused into their being, they will be able to believe in the Lord. This is the result of the transfusion of faith by God through a preacher.
Every gospel preacher must be a charming person. He must first be charmed himself and then he will be able to charm others. What he says may not seem logical, but like a battery that is being charged, the hearers will be charmed. For this reason, the church must pray a great deal for the preaching of the gospel. The more we pray, the more charming the gospel meeting will be. The gospel preacher must pray until he has a heavenly charm and is fully charged with the divine element. If he is charged and charming, as he stands in front of the people, he will have the sense that something is being transfused into them. Some element is infused into them through that charming preacher. This infused element is faith.
This principle applies not only to the preaching of the gospel but to other forms of ministry as well. Ministry depends upon our utterance, which is the release of the divine element. If our ministry is proper, we will be charmed and charming whenever we come to minister. The proper ministry is altogether a matter of being fully transfused with God Himself. First, we are charged with the divine element, and then in the ministry we radiate that divine element into others in a charming way. This is altogether a matter of God’s grace. God’s grace is simply God Himself dispensed into us to meet our need. Sinners certainly need to have faith, but how can they have it? Naturally, we have no belief, only disbelief. But when the sinners come to the church and hear the proper preaching of the gospel, they are charged with God. God Himself as the heavenly electricity is transmitted into them. Because God Himself is transfused into them in this way, they find that they have faith. This is the gift of faith, the nature and element of which are God Himself.
Once such faith is generated within us, it can never be removed from us. Even if we try to deny the Lord, we ultimately find ourselves unable to do so, for Christ as faith has been infused into our being. For example, on the night that the Lord Jesus was arrested by the Jews, Peter denied Him three times in His presence (Luke 22:47-61). However, Christ as the believing element and ability was still in Peter. As the Lord petitioned, his faith ultimately did not fail (v. 32). We may have similar experiences of denying the Lord temporarily. At times we may be swayed by our human feeling and understanding and deny the Lord temporarily. Yet while we are denying Him, nevertheless there remains the believing element and ability deep within us, which nothing and no one can remove. This is Christ Himself infused into us as precious faith (2 Pet. 1:1). All the believers, from the greatest to the least, have such a faith. This faith, which is precious to us and common to all the believers, is the base of all spiritual blessings. It is upon this base that we have been blessed and have received all the spiritual, divine, and heavenly things prepared by God.
We live by His faith, by Him as our faith (Gal. 2:20). Genuine believing is to believe in the Lord Jesus by His faith. We believe in Jesus Christ by His faith, for we have no faith of our own, and He is the Author of our faith. Therefore, faith is not our invention; it cannot be initiated by us. It is impossible for us to generate faith. Faith is an aspect of Christ Himself, and apart from Christ we have no faith of our own. We do not live by our own faith but by the faith of the Son of the living God who has faith and who Himself is faith to us. Such faith issues from our knowing and appreciating Christ. If we look at ourselves, we will never find faith. But if we forget ourselves, turn to the Lord Jesus, and call on Him, faith will immediately rise up within us. The more we abide in Him, the more we are infused with Him as our faith. This faith is the faith of Christ; it is Christ believing within us.
Faith is simply the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not only the Author, the Originator, of faith but also the Perfecter, the Finisher, of faith. He will finish what He originated; He will complete what He inaugurated. If we look to Him continually, He will finish and complete the faith that we need for the running of the heavenly race. Once Christ has originated this faith within us, He will never let it go. Rather, He will complete, finish, and perfect it. As the Completer of faith, He is continually infused into us as the believing element and ability when we pray to the Lord, fellowship with Him, pray over the Bible, attend church meetings, listen to spiritual messages, and read spiritual books. Hence, our faith in Jesus Christ comes from Him; in fact, it is Christ Himself continually infused into us. Such faith brings us into an organic union with Christ; it also continually increases this organic union. The increase of our organic union with Him is the increase, the growth, of Christ within us. The more Christ is infused into us as the believing element and ability, the more He is growing in us. This is our faith being perfected by the Lord. In this sense, our faith has not yet been fully perfected. Day by day our faith will be under the Lord’s perfecting until we meet Him on the day of rapture. For this reason, Paul calls Him the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We need to pursue the Lord to experience and enjoy Him in this aspect day by day and even moment by moment.
According to Hebrews 12:2, for the joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame. The Lord Jesus knew that through His death He would be glorified in resurrection (Luke 24:25-26) and that His divine life would be released to produce many brothers for His expression (John 12:23-24; Rom. 8:29). For the joy set before Him, He despised the shame (Heb. 12:2) and volunteered to be delivered to the Satan-usurped leaders of the Jews and condemned by them to death. Therefore, God exalted Him to the heavens, seated Him at His right hand (Mark 16:19; Acts 2:33-35), gave Him the name which is above every name (Phil 2:9-10), made Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), and crowned Him with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9).
Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Christ “has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.” In His ascension Christ was seated on the throne of God’s government. In His ascension He was enthroned in heaven.
From 1:3 the book of Hebrews points us continually to the Christ seated in heaven. In all his other Epistles Paul presents to us mainly the Christ who dwells in our spirit (Rom. 8:10; 2 Tim. 4:22) as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to be our life and our everything. But in this book he points us particularly to the Christ who has sat down in heaven and who is of so many aspects, that He may care for us in every way. In Paul’s other Epistles the indwelling Christ is versus our flesh, self, and natural man. In this book the heavenly Christ is contrasted to the earthly religion and all earthly things. To experience the indwelling Christ, we need to turn to our spirit and contact Him. To enjoy the heavenly Christ, we need to look away from all things on earth unto Him, who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. By His death and resurrection He accomplished everything that is needed by both God and man. Now in His ascension He is sitting in the heavens, in the person of the Son of God (Heb. 1:5) and the Son of Man (2:6), in the person of God (1:8) and man (2:6), as the appointed Heir of all things (1:2), the anointed One of God (v. 9), the Author of our salvation (2:10), the Sanctifier (v. 11), the constant Succor (v. 16), the instant Helper (4:16), the Apostle from God (3:1), the High Priest (2:17; 4:14; 7:26), the Minister of the true tabernacle (8:2) with a more excellent ministry (v. 6), the surety and the Mediator of a better covenant (7:22; 8:6; 12:24), the Executor of the new testament (9:16-17), the Forerunner (6:20), the Author and Perfecter of faith (12:2), and the great Shepherd of the sheep (13:20). If we look to Him as such a wonderful and all-inclusive One, He will minister heaven, life, and strength to us, transfusing and infusing us with all that He is, that we may be able to run the heavenly race and live the heavenly life on earth. In this way He will carry us through all the lifelong pathway and lead and bring us into glory (2:10).
Hebrews 12:2 also speaks of “looking away unto Jesus.” The Greek word translated “looking away unto” denotes “looking with undivided attention by turning away from every other object.” The Hebrew believers had to look away from all the things in their environment — away from their old religion, Judaism, and its persecution, and away from all earthly things — that they might look unto Jesus, who is now seated on the right hand of the throne of God in the heavens.
The wonderful Jesus, who is enthroned in heaven and crowned with glory and honor (2:9), is the greatest attraction in the universe. He is like an immense magnet, drawing all His seekers to Him. It is by being attracted by His charming beauty that we look away from all things other than Him. Without such a charming object, how could we look away from so many distracting things on this earth? When we look away unto Jesus, we see Him, and He is infused into us.
In order to learn to walk by faith and suffer by faith, we need to look away from all things and persons. Jesus is the origin and the completion of our faith. We need to look away unto Jesus. This is because only Jesus is. All the others are not. Anyone other than Jesus is nothing. We trust in the Lord; we do not trust in anyone else. Hence, we need to look away from all things which are not and unto Jesus who is. This is faith.
If we would have faith, we must look away unto Jesus, the source of faith. When we look away from all other things unto Him, He will radiate Himself into us, charging us with Himself. As a result, spontaneously we will have faith. Faith is Christ Himself believing for us in a very subjective way. He transfuses us with Himself, working Himself into us, until He, a living person, becomes the believing element in our being. In this way He makes us a believing being.
When we look away unto Christ, we give Him the opportunity and the freedom to work Himself into us as the law of life (Rom. 8:2). In this way the law of life can work in every inward part of our being until we are fully saturated with Him. The more we are saturated with Him, the easier it is to believe. This is the way to have faith.
It is through the law of life that Christ’s believing element is charged into our being. The more we allow the law of life to work in our being, the more we are able to believe. If we give the law of life the opportunity to work continuously in our mind, emotion, and will, its working will produce great faith in us. Faith is the firstfruits of the working of the law of life in our being.
As the law of life works within us to bring about the expression and testimony of God, the first issue of its working is our believing. The most believing person is the one in whom the law of life has worked the most. Such a person will have the faith to believe God to the uttermost without any strain or strife. His believing is spontaneous because it comes from the working of the law of life within him. When the law of life operates within us to make us the reflection, expression, and testimony of God, we find it easy to believe. May we all experience faith in such a subjective way by looking away unto Jesus.
Hebrews 12:3 says, “For compare Him who has endured such contradiction by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary, fainting in your souls.” This short word refers us to the four Gospels, where we see how Christ endured such contradiction from sinners. At that time, the sinners were all the religionists, Judaizers, priests, scribes, and elders of the people. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He confronted all these opposers who were doing their best to frustrate or stop Him from the way of God’s new covenant. But He was not frustrated; rather, He cut the way, slaying it by suffering the death of the cross.
We should not only look away unto Jesus but also compare Him who has endured such contradiction by sinners against Himself so that we may not grow weary, fainting in our souls. This indicates that the Christian walk is a way full of suffering, shame, and contradiction. To believe in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) is a marvelous blessing, but this brings us to a way not only of peace and grace but also of suffering, shame, and contradiction. This is the way that Jesus took when He lived on the earth. In His human living, He suffered and was put to shame and contradicted by sinners, but all the while He looked away to the throne in the heavens.
We must learn of the Lord Jesus as our pattern. As we take the Christian way, which is full of suffering, shame, and contradiction, we should look away unto Jesus. When we look away unto Him, He is perfecting, finishing, the faith within us, infusing Himself into us as the believing element and ability. In our human life, we cannot avoid encountering many problems. Yet we should not look at these problems, for they are not worth looking at. Rather, we need to look away from all our problems unto Jesus and compare Him who has endured such contradiction by sinners against Himself. When we look away unto Him, we will receive the infusion of the believing element and ability. In this way, we will be happy and be rescued inwardly from all our problems and contradictions.
