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Jesus as the Author and Finisher of Faith

From my childhood, I’ve had people tell me I’m a good starter, but not a good finisher. Unfortunately, I think there’s good evidence for that assessment. Unless I have a deadline that forces me to finish something, I often leaving it dangling for days, weeks, sometimes months and even years. Some things I just never get around to finishing at all. I know that I compare unfavourably with others in this regard. They may not take on as many things, but at least they finish more of them.

In Hebrews 12, we read: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The writer of this letter urges his readers to look to Jesus. He is the founder or originator of our faith. That is good and encouraging, but we know from experience that just because something is begun doesn’t mean it is ever finished. However, we can be confident that our faith will meet it’s objective because Jesus is called both the author and finisher.

I was intrigued when I studied this, this is the only time this word translated “finisher” is used in the whole Bible. This is finishing at a level that most of us are not familiar with. I know from experience having done some work in photography and graphic arts and music that when you are involved in an artistic pursuit there is a sense in which you never really finish it, you just stop working on it. You say “That’s as much time as I can afford to put on this. I could tweak it a little more. I could adjust it a bit more, but the law of diminishing returns says I should just quit now.” But that is not the same as being finished.

Finished really implies perfection and total completeness and that is what we have when the writer of this letter to the Hebrews describes Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. He is the One who brings our faith to perfect completion.

Another way to think of this is to see Jesus as both the source of our faith and the object of our faith. The apostle Paul reminded his readers that it is by grace we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of God which comes to us through His Son, Jesus. At the same time, more than a dozen verses in the New Testament tell us that the faith that saves us is placed in Jesus, that is where the “object of our faith” idea comes in.

Let me point out one more thing I found interesting about this passage. The word “our” was supplied by the translators. The Greek simply says that Jesus is “the author and finisher of faith.” That is slightly different because it directs us away from the highly personal aspect of our faith and to Jesus as the author and finisher of faith in general, faith in the big picture.

Jesus, Himself, was a man of faith. We don’t usually think about that, but the next words here suggest support for that, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." The man Jesus had faith that when He surrendered His spirit and died on the cross that there was joy before Him. And that it was worth despising the shame and enduring the cross. We can look at this passage and feel spiritually warmed because Jesus is both the source and object of our faith. But at the same time, Jesus was the ultimate man of faith. He shows us what the ultimate life of faith looks like and sets the perfect example.

Ron Hughes
© July 2007