THEREFORE SINCE WE HAVE SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES SURROUNDING US: Toigaroun hemeie tosouton echontes (PAPMPN) perikeimenon (PMPNSA) hemin nephos marturon: (11:2-38) (Isaiah 60:8; Ezekiel 38:9,16) (Luke 16:28; John 3:32; 4:39,44; 1 Peter 5:12; Revelation 22:16)

Many expositors feel that the chapter break between 11 and 12 is a poor chapter division since 'witnesses' concludes the discussion of Hebrews 11.

As an aside remember that effective Biblical teaching makes frequent use of figures of speech (especially simile and metaphor) wherein the author compares the Christian life to familiar objects, events or practices. In the present discussion, the author is drawing the reader's mind to the competition in a Olympic sports stadium, and specifically comparing the Christian life to a foot race, which was usually the featured event in the Olympic games. This comparison would be very familiar to the reader.

Therefore since (5105) (toigaroun from toi =  consequently + gár =therefore + oun = then, therefore) means by certain consequence or consequently. This triple compound word is used to draw a conclusion of emphasis. Toigaroun is a very strong Greek expression which could be translated something like

"Mark you, for this reason, therefore let's run the race."

A world of encouragement is bound up the examples of the saints who have run and finished the race. The writer sought to encourage the first century saints to endure and he would say the same to you and to me today.

We have (2192)(echo) means to have and in the present context means to possess.

Expositor's Bible Commentary notes that the plural pronoun "we"

links the writer to his readers. He is a competitor in the race as well as they and writes as one who is as much caught up in the contest as they are. (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing)

So great (5118) (tosoutos) is a strengthened form of tósos meaning so much and translated in this verse "so great".

A cloud (3509) (nephos) literally refers to a shapeless mass covering the sky (a mass of clouds). Here in the only NT use nephos figuratively refers to a crowd or throng, especially emphasizing the number.

Aristophanes in his play, The Frogs, uses the concept of clouds as witnesses. The picture of a cloud describing a crowded group of people is a common classical figure and expresses not only the great number of people, but also the unity of the crowd in their witness.

In the Greek world...

Clouds have a religious significance because of human dependence on them and the fear of sinister thunderclouds. The Harpies personify storm clouds, and there is a goddess Nephele. The cult of the clouds does not occur in Greece, but Orphism includes invocation of the clouds at the offering of incense. Aristophanes parodies Orphic worship in his Clouds; the clouds represent the new gods of sophistry. The cloud is an attribute of deity; Orphism itself often places the clouds in the service of the supreme god. Gods watching battles hide in clouds. They hide their assistants of favorites in clouds. The cloud is also the chariot of the gods that leads the hero to them. In later Hellenism the cloud has a stylized part in divine appearances or journeys.  (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W.  Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)

There are 25 uses of nephos (17 in Job!) in the Septuagint (LXX) (Job 7:9; 20:6; 22:14; 26:8f; 30:15; 35:5; 36:28; 37:11, 16, 21f; 38:1, 9, 34, 37; 40:6; Ps. 104:3; Prov. 3:20; 8:28; 16:15; 25:14, 23; Eccl. 11:3; 12:2). Most OT Septuagint (LXX) uses are literal but some are figurative...

Job 30:15 "Terrors are turned against me, They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

Proverbs 16:15 In the light of a king's face is life, And his favor is like a cloud with the spring rain.

Adam Clarke commenting on the meaning of "cloud" writes that...

 Both the Greeks and Latins frequently use the term cloud, to express a great number of persons or things; so in Euripides,...a dense cloud of shields; and Statius, Thebiad.... a cloud of spearmen. The same metaphor frequently occurs. (Commentary) (Bolding added)

The picture of a cloud then would describe a crowded group of people and express not only the great number of people, but also the unity of the crowd in their witness - they all gained God's approval by faith as recorded:

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised (Hebrews 11:39)

B F Westcott writes that...

The image of the amphitheater with the rising rows of spectators seems to suggest the thought of an encircling cloud. (Westcott, B F: Epistle to the Hebrews)

John Calvin derives an excellent application from "cloud" writing that...

Had they (the witnesses) been a few in number, yet they ought to have roused us by their example; but as they were a vast throng, they ought more powerfully to stimulate us. He says that we are so surrounded by this dense throng, that wherever we turn our eyes many examples of faith immediately meet us. (Commentary on Hebrews)

Witnesses (3144) (martus > root of our English "martyr") is one who has information or knowledge of something and hence can bring to light or confirm something.

According to B F Westcott

"There is apparently no evidence that martus is ever used simply in the sense of a ‘spectator." (Westcott, B F: Epistle to the Hebrews) (Bolding added)

The Bible Knowledge Commentary agrees noting that witnesses...

This does not mean that they watch believers today. (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., et al: The Bible Knowledge Commentary. 1985. Victor or Logos)

Witnesses who are former participants have just been presented. The witnesses are like a coach who exhorts his team onward crying out...

Others have done it, and so can you!

They overcame and gained the victory, so there can be no excuse for us who have far more light (the complete revelation of God's Word) and greater advantages (the indwelling Spirit of Christ), to fail or fall by the way to “suffer loss,” and be “saved so as by fire.”

Warren Wiersbe comments that the men and women of Hebrews 11...

are the “cloud” that witnesses to us, “God can be trusted! Put your faith in His Word and keep running the race!” When you read the Old Testament, your faith should grow, for the account shows what God did in and through people who dared to trust His promises (see note Romans 15:4). When you read the Gospels, you see the greatest example of endurance in Jesus Christ. (Wiersbe, W: With the Word: Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Handbook. Nelson or Logos)

Tertullian, (an early church father), commenting on the witnesses of Hebrews 11 wrote that...

You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.

John Calvin explains that through the examples of the witnesses it is as though the writer was saying...

that faith is sufficiently proved by their testimony, so that no doubt ought to he entertained; for the virtues of the saints are so many testimonies to confirm us, that we, relying on them as our guides and associates, ought to go onward to God with more alacrity. (Commentary on Hebrews)

S Lewis Johnson writes that in interpreting the witnesses...

"Many picture the saints who have gone before as spectators in the stadium. So we as Christians are running a race with the spectators observing us. Even your loved ones may be looking down and they are watching you carefully. This may be a motivation for you to run well. If I knew that Moses, and Paul and all the prophets were there watching, that would indeed be an incentive for me. However, that is not what he is talking about. Rather it is the lives which faithful men have lived and the stories found in the Scriptures which are witnesses to us. It is not what we see in our spectators that is to move us, but what we see in the Scriptures!...So as we look at these men and women, there should come to our minds this conviction - that the God of yesterday is also the God of today. In other words, the things that God did through Enoch, through Noah, through Abraham, through Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, the things that God did through them, He is able to do today (through you and through me beloved)!." (Bolding added)

One of the best ways to develop endurance and encouragement is to get to know the godly men and women of the Old Testament who ran the race and won. The author had alluded to these godly examples in Hebrews 6 writing:

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators (mimetes) of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (see notes Hebrews 6:11; 6:12)

The people of God from Bible days
Can help us through life in many ways;
Those saints of old can give direction
To steer and lead us toward perfection. —Fitzhugh

Imitate those who imitate Christ.

In a parallel teaching Paul explained to the saints at Rome that...

whatever was written in earlier times (referring to the Old Testament) was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (see note Romans 15:4)

A W Pink goes so far as to add that

only then do we read the O. T. narratives unto profit when we draw from them incentives to practical godliness. In Hebrews 11 we have had described at length many aspects and characteristics of the life of faith. There we saw that a life of faith is an intensely practical thing, consisting of very much more than day-dreaming, or being regaled with joyous emotions, or even resting in orthodox views of the truth. By faith Noah built an ark, Abraham separated from his idolatrous neighbors and gained a rich inheritance, Moses forsook Egypt and became leader of Israel’s hosts. By faith the Red Sea was crossed, Jericho captured, Goliath slain, the mouths of lions were closed, the violence of fire was quenched. A spiritual faith, then, is not a passive thing, but an active, energetic, vigorous, and fruitful one. (Pink, A W: An Exposition of Hebrews )

W E Vine writes that the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11

were spoken of as those who had witness borne to them (11:2–5, 39); here they are themselves witnesses. Not that those who are now with Christ are spectators of earthly persons, but that, as to the persons mentioned in chapter 11 , their lives of faith are so recorded in the Old Testament narratives that they seem to be living spectators urging us on to run as they did. The inspired record is like an amphitheater, and, as with the cloud of onlookers of old, so these heroes of faith utter their voices in the sacred page. As we read of their trials and triumphs, they, so to speak, “compass us about.” The writer of the epistle is here testifying to the permanence and vividness of the records of Scripture. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

And so if you think you're experiencing problems with your family, read about Joseph's problems in (Genesis 37ff)! If you think your job is too big for you, study the life of Moses (Exodus 3:11ff). If you are tempted to retaliate, see how David handled the problem the continual curses from Shimei of the house of Saul (2 Samuel 16:5ff).  All of these examples, and specifically those in the Hebrews "hall of fame" chapter 11 are given for our reference that we might be instructed, convicted and encouraged to run the race with endurance. For example commenting on Moses in Hebrews 11 (see notes Hebrews 11:24; 25; 26; 27) Vance Havner once said that because he was a man of faith, Moses was able to

“see the invisible,
choose the imperishable and
do the impossible”

Ray Stedman applies this teaching about encumbrances writing that...

The word "witness" can have either meaning: the act of seeing something, or the act of telling something. Which is it here? I think it is the act of telling. The verb form of this word "witness" (martureo) is used five times in Hebrews 11 (2, 4 [twice], 5, 39) and always refers to the giving of a (confirming) testimony rather than the mere watching of an event. So I take the witnesses of Hebrews 12:1 to be the saints who have run the race before us, and have gathered, as it were, along the marathon route to say, through the testimony of their lives, "By faith I finished, you can too!... This is the way all the witnesses of Hebrews 11 are helping us. They have gathered along the sidelines of our race and they hold out their wounds and their joys and give us the best high-fives we ever got: "Go for it! You can do it. By faith you can finish. You can lay the weights down and the sins. By faith, by the assurance of better things hoped for, you can do it. I did it. And I know it can be done. Run. RUN!"...There are dozens and hundreds and thousands of those who have gone before and who have finished the race by faith and surround us like a great cloud of witnesses who say: "It can be done! By faith it can be done."  (The Race of Life)

A number of well known, usually excellent expositors of Scripture such as Marvin Vincent, Henry Alford, F B Meyer, et al, seem to have missed the context and see these saints in Hebrews 11 as spectators looking down from heaven observing the lives of those on earth. But the writer of Hebrews does not call them spectators (which was another specific Greek word) but witnesses. Even reference to the definition of witnesses as those who give an account of what they have seen by their words and by their actions would counter the interpretation of this cloud as indicative of spectators. Witnesses give testimony, offer evidence of actual events and generally present evidence based on their direct personal knowledge. It is as if the reader is sitting in a courtroom, and have just listened to the testimony of the witnesses of Hebrews 11.

Practical application:
Meditate on the lives of the saints in Hebrews 11.

In short, the context as well as the definition of the Greek word martus, indicate that the witnesses in Hebrews 11 are not spectators looking on. Instead, the intent of the writer is that in view of the faith the lives of these men and women bear witness to, the reader is exhorted to finish the race exercising a similar faith and endurance. We have all begun by faith, are to daily walk by faith (see note Colossians 2:6) and must run to "finishing tape" by faith. Be encouraged by the witnesses of Hebrews 11, who all bear testimony that the race can be run successfully and that the rewards are great.

F. F. Bruce explains that those in Hebrews 11 are witnesses 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 who look to them -- for encouragement.

W G Pascoe (Biblical Illustrator) adds that the witnesses in Hebrews 11 bear testimony...

(1). ...To the fact that their confidence in God was not misplaced. A man may fail, but God never.

(2). ...To the sufficiency of Divine grace. They had no more natural goodness than we; but they overcame it all, and it was in the strength of the Lord they did so.

(3). ...To the faithfulness of God to His promises.

Surrounding (4029) (perikeimai from peri = around + keimai = be laid down) means to be located around some object or area and thus to be around,  to surround, to encircle and then to hamper.

Perikeimai is used by Jesus to describe the fate of those who cause one of the little ones to stumble declaring that

it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. (Mark 9:42)

Paul uses this verb to describe a chain hung around him, binding him.

Perikeimai is in the present tense and thus describes that which continually surrounds. The point is that the Christian racer is to be continually mindful of the faithful crowd of Hebrews 11 towering about them as cloud.

As an aside Hebrews 12:1 often raises the question of whether or not saints in heaven can see our lives on earth. Unfortunately, as best I can discern, Scripture does not seem to give a definite answer to this oft posed question. Whether the saints can see or not is a moot point and is far less significant than the truth that the omniscient Holy God sees all for...

"The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good." (Proverbs 15:3)

LET US ALSO LAY ASIDE: apothemenoi (AMPMPN): (Matthew 10:37,38; Luke 8:14; 9:59-62; 12:15; 14:26-33; 18:22-25; 21:34; Romans 13:11-14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-8; 1 Timothy 6:9,10; 2 Timothy 2:4; 1 Peter 2:1; 4:2; 1 John 2:15,16)

Spurgeon observes how the author of Hebrews (he thinks it was Paul but that is doubtful)...

includes himself, so that his warning may not sound like upbraiding. We cannot win if we are weighted: the pace will have to be very swift, and we cannot get to it, or keep it up, if we have weights to carry. Unloaded, we shall find the race taxing all our powers; but weighted, we shall be doomed to failure. Oh, to lay aside all carking (burdensome, annoying) care, fretfulness, ambition, anger, greed, and selfish desire! These were never worth the labor they have cost us; but now that we have become running men, we must have done with them. Down they must go, till the last ounce is on the ground. Like the Greek footman, we would strip; and instead of adding weight, we would diminish even our own bulk, that we may fly along the course. O ye that would win, heed the caution, and “lay aside every weight,” whether it be great or small; and press towards the mark! Run for it, man! Thou hadst need do nothing else but run...

Do I not hear you say, “May God help us”? This must be a tough race which requires such stripping as this. If every weight of care must be laid aside, and every rag of sin, who is sufficient for these things? How can we poor limping mortals run in such a race as this? Even the starting is beyond us: how much more must perseverance in it outreach our strength! See, my brethren, how we are driven to free grace, how we are driven to the power of the Holy Spirit! The race which is set before us most clearly reveals our helplessness, and our hopelessness, apart from divine grace. The race of holiness and patience, while it demands our vigor, displays our weakness. We are compelled, even before we take a step in the running, to bow the knee, and cry unto the strong for strength. We dare not retreat from the contest; but how can we begin a struggle for which we are so unfitted? Who will help us? To whom shall we look? Does not all this very admirably introduce the verse which is specially my text- “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith”? (Read the full sermon The Rule of the Race - Pdf)

Let us lay aside (659) (apotithemi from apo = away from + tithemi = put) (click study of apotithemi) means to put or take something away from its normal location and put it out of the way.

Click for all 12 "let us..." exhortations in Hebrews (in the NASB).

Apotithemi literally was used to describe the laying aside of clothes or taking off one’s clothes, as did the runners who participated in the Olympic Games. In fact the ancient Grecian runners ran in the stadium nearly naked. 

Figuratively apotithemi means to cease doing what one is doing, to throw it off, be done with it or put it away.  Stop doing it, "throw it off" and be done with it.

In this verse lay aside is in the aorist tense which speaks of an effective, once for all action. The middle voice speaks of the subject initiating the action to lay aside and participating in the action. The middle voice conveys the "reflexive" sense, and so the idea is "you yourself lay aside". 

Wuest renders it "having put off and away from ourselves".

Note the preposition apo is a marker of dissociation, implying a rupture from a former association. This truth should help us picture what we as believers should do. The idea is that we should "place some distance between" the old life (the former lusts which were ours when we were ignorant of salvation" (see notes 1 Peter 1:14; 15). The writer is exhorting the readers to "travel light" spiritually speaking.

Like Olympic runners who are willing to gain any legitimate, legal advantage in order to win, we are to lay aside anything and everything that tethers us to this earth and run with our face set like flint toward the city Whose Builder is God. We should run to our heavenly Jerusalem, wherein dwells our great Reward, Christ Jesus!

Ancient as well as modern athletes would wear training weights to help them prepare for the events. However no athlete would actually participate wearing the weights because they would slow him down. Using the same principle modern baseball players swings a bat with a heavy metal collar on it before they step to the plate. This is not the best analogy in the present context because the weights the writer refers to exert only a negative effect. 

What then are the “weights” that we should remove so that we might win the race? In general terms, anything and everything that hinders our spiritual progress. As discussed below such encumbrances might be “good things”. Continuing with the athletic metaphor, a winning athlete does not choose between the good and the bad; he chooses between the better and the best. So strip off and cast away even harmless things if they hinder your progress, diverts your attention, saps your energy or dampens your enthusiasm the goal of the upward call in Christ Jesus.

In a parallel passage Paul explains to Timothy that a good soldier "travels light" writing that...

"No soldier in active service entangles (describes a sheep whose wool is caught in thorns!) himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." (see note 2 Timothy 2:4)

John Calvin writes that...

As he refers to the likeness of a race, he bids us to be lightly equipped; for nothing more prevents haste than to be encumbered with burdens. Now there are various burdens which delay and impede our spiritual course, such as the love of this present life, the pleasures of the world, the lusts of the flesh, worldly cares, riches also and honors, and other things of this kind. Whosoever, then, would run in the course prescribed by Christ, must first disentangle himself from all these impediments, for we are already of ourselves more tardy than we ought to be, so no other causes of delay should be added.  (Commentary on Hebrews)

ENCUMBRANCE ILLUSTRATED - The army of Alexander the Great was advancing on Persia. At one critical point, it appeared that his troops might be defeated. The soldiers had taken so much plunder from their previous campaigns that they had become weighted down and were losing their effectiveness in combat. Alexander immediately commanded that all the spoils be thrown into a heap and burned. The men complained bitterly but soon came to see the wisdom of the order. Someone wrote, “It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again.” Victory was assured.

In the context of this letter, the writer is addressing the Jews of the first century who had expressed interest in Christianity but were being tempted not to walk faithfully and persevere to the end. They were being tempted to go back to the traditions and ritual of Judaism rather than the Way, the Truth and the Life.

EVERY ENCUMBRANCE: ogkon apothemenoi (AMPMPN) panta:

Every (3956) (pas) any and all encumbrances. Note there is no "exception clause" but every "ounce" of superfluous ("spiritual") weight is to be cast off and away from ourselves.

Encumbrance (3591) (ogkos) literally refers to a bulk or a mass. It is used metaphorically in this verse (the only use in Scripture) to refer to that which serves to hinder or prevent someone from doing something - a hindrance,  an impediment.

Ogkos referred to a mass as bending or bulging because of the load, burden. It referred to the excess bodily weight athletes shed during training. An athlete would strip for action both by the removal of superfluous flesh through rigorous training and by the removal of all clothes. In addition the ancient writers sometimes used “weights” figuratively for vices but that does not appear to be the primary meaning in this verse.

The Christian life is a race that requires discipline and endurance. We must strip ourselves of everything that would impede us. Weights are things that may be harmless in themselves and yet hinder progress. Thus encumbrances could include material possessions, family ties, the love of comfort, lack of mobility, etc. In the Olympic races, there was no rule against carrying a supply of food and drink, but the runner  who wanted to win would never run in such a ridiculous manner. How sad that so many Christian runners choose to run weighed down with all manner of paraphernalia! What do you need to strip off that you might run unimpeded?

Marvin Vincent in his discussion of ogkos adds that it was often used in the classics...

Sometimes metaphorically of a person, dignity, importance, pretension: of a writer’s style, loftiness, majesty, impressiveness. Rend. “encumbrance,” according to the figure of the racer who puts away everything which may hinder his running. So the readers are exhorted to lay aside every worldly hindrance or embarrassment to their Christian career. (Vincent, M. R. Word studies in the New Testament: Vol. 4, Page 537)

An encumbrance is whatever deadens your soul, and holds you back when thou should be pressing forward to the upward call. In the case of the Jews who had believed the encumbrance would include old associations of their former life, lingering Jewish and legal attachments and the tendency to compromise with the fulfilled rituals and ceremonialism of the law. Paul addressed similar "encumbrances" in his letter to the saints in Galatia explaining that...

in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything (Nothing done or not done in the flesh makes any difference in one’s relationship to God - in Christianity the external is immaterial and worthless, unless it reflects genuine internal righteousness), but faith working through love. You were running well; who hindered (cut in on causing you to break stride and stumble, who threw obstacles in your way of or cut up the road so that normal movement was impossible?) you from obeying the truth (legalism of the Judaizers was preventing the unsaved from coming to Christ in faith and the saved from following Him in faith)? (Galatians 5:6-7)

J Vernon McGee gives us an illustration of the importance of laying aside whatever encumbers us...

I remember years ago when Gil Dodds, a very fine Christian, was a famous runner in this country. Some of us went out to the track at the University of Southern California, to watch him run. He ran around the track a couple of times with tennis shoes on. Then he stopped and changed into some other shoes. One of the fellows there asked why he needed to change shoes. He took one of the tennis shoes and one of the lighter pair of shoes and tossed them both to the man who had asked the question. Believe me, there was not much difference in the weight of the shoes, but just enough, he said, to cause him to lose the race. In the Christian life there are a lot of things that are not wrong in and of themselves, but Christians should not be carrying those weights around. Why? Because you won’t win the race. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary:  Thomas Nelson or Logos) (Or listen to an Mp3  from Thru the Bible)

Jamieson, et al write that encumbrance refers to...

As corporeal (bodily) unwieldiness (extra body fat) was, through a disciplinary diet, laid aside by candidates for the prize in racing; so carnal and worldly lusts, and all, whether from without or within, that would impede the heavenly runner, are the spiritual weight to be laid aside. “Encumbrance,” all superfluous weight; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and even harmless and otherwise useful things which would positively retard us (Mk 10:50, the blind man casting away his garment to come to Jesus; Mk 9:42-48)

Each runner must honestly judge what hinders faith for him or her and resolutely lay it aside, even though others seem to be unhindered by the same thing. One cannot run well in an overcoat! What are the things that hinder? The indulgence in innocent pleasures of life may become a hindrance and in fact, any legitimate enjoyment can become a weight  if every spare moment is given to that enjoyment. Or it might be a habit, one that in itself is not sin. For example, let's say every evening after work you watch four hours of television. Now television can have some edifying, educational shows. But if all you do in your spare time is sit before the television,