Surrounded by a Great Cloud of Witnesses

The inquiry evident in the title pertains to Hebrews 12:1, which reads, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (NKJV). Hebrews Chapter 11 is the Bible’s Hall of Fame for the Ancient Faithful; it is to these that Hebrews 12:1 refers in the phrase, “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”

The illustration in this verse is of spectators for an athletic event featuring runners in a race. These “witnesses,” the note worthies of the previous chapter, in some sense are spectators of the Christian race. Students of the Bible disagree whether the expression is merely a figure of speech used for encouragement, or whether the phrase signals that the dead are aware of the contemporary affairs of the living. It appears to me that the reference is figurative and not literal in the absence of clear instruction elsewhere in Scripture that the dead can see or are otherwise aware of contemporary events on earth.