There are mysteries concerning the Bible that are not generally discussed. They are not primarily fundamental to the faith, but should be explored and aired out regardless. One of these mysteries is the phrase “cloud of witnesses” which comes from Hebrews 12:1 in the New Testament. This verse reads:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
So, the author of Hebrews says that we are not alone. There is a great “cloud” or observers who surround us and watch over us and for their sake, if not our own, we should resist sin. Finally, the author reminds us that we are in a race. This is a race we run not so much to win as to just complete it and cross that finish line even if we have to virtually drag ourselves across it. The race is like an obstacle course that enlistees must complete in their basic training. Whether the course is relatively short but challenging nonetheless with tall towers and deep trenches or whether it is ten miles long where the trainee must carry a fifty pound sack, the point is that all must finish. Sometimes, the conditions of the performance allow us to help each other, i.e. “bear one another’s burdens (as in Galatians 6:2.) And in some other sense, there are actually two narratives here that are blended together. There is the race that you, yourself are personally involved which (secondly) is part of a larger, historical race that the People of God have run since the days of Adam and Eve. Chosen people from the new generation join the throng even as people at the end of their natural lives finish their course and joins the saints in the stands.
There came a point in time during the first century or two where the term “witness” (μαρτύρων or martyrōn) in the verse above was linked with a person who was martyred, or who surrendered his or her life for the sake of their testimony and identity as a Christian. Prior to that, Greeks never used the term “martyr” with a suggestion of death, but primarily in terms of communication from the gods or to describe eye witness testimony. Certainly, now as then, not everyone would readily admit to being a Christan if they knew that their admission would mean the immediate end of their life on Earth. Whether the term “witness” as used here refers to that morbid context or just ordinary people watching an ordinary race is uncertain, though the latter of the two explanations is preferred given the date this epistle is thought to have been written.
THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT
Why would people avoid sin if they knew they were being watched? One answer might be that they would be ashamed of whatever it was they did. But another answer is that people behave differently when they are being observed. This is called the Hawthorne Effect. I’ve seen video taken on home security cameras of vandals or thieves approaching a parked car at night. As quickly as a thief notices a Blink or Ring camera, however, they run back into the shadows. Kids in a convenience store may be less likely to steal merchandise if they are concerned about someone watching. Even if no one appears to be watching, God is watching.
Returning to the verse above, perhaps the author of Hebrews is saying that this crowd of people is rooting for us, and that the knowledge that they are there, even though invisible, is meant as reassurance? The people in the crowd love us. They are cheering for us. Or, maybe it is that we are somehow being held accountable? Either way works, though.
Now, who are these people in the cloud? If we go back a few verses to the end of Chapter 11 where the discussion begins, we see that these witnesses include Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, et al. So, they are dead people. But possibly there are also angels mixed in as well. The author of Hebrews does not mean the word “cloud” in its common English sense, such as clouds in the sky. Rather, it is more likely in the sense of a crowd of people densely packed. For example, Homer in the Iliad (Book 2:352-353) describes thousands of foot soldiers preparing for battle and by choosing the word “cloud” he intended to reinforce their sheer numbers. “And as when the thick clouds (νέφος) rise from the sea, impelled by the winds, and cover the land; so did the multitude of warriors gather.”
Herodotus in Book 8, section 109 of his Histories used the word “cloud” to describe the huge number of Persians soldiers as they poured over the beaches approaching their innumerable ships. It would be like the armada on D-Day during World War II with hundreds of landing craft storming Juno, Sword, Omaha and the other beaches on the coast of France and 160,000 soldiers storming the sand berms or dropping from the air like shooting stars.
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
The verse in Hebrews reminds me of another phrase, this one from the Apostle’s Creed and that is the reference to the Communion Saints (communio sanctorum.) Clearly, holy communion is not the point here, whether your denomination considers communion to be a sacrament or an ordinance. Instead, it refers to a living, possibly reciprocal relationship between two realms: Heaven and Earth and between those who have departed and those of us who remain here.
To understand it more clearly, you may have to imagine the Roman Catholic teachings. Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants believe there is value and efficacy for Christians to pray and intercede for each other. This is the mystical Body of Christ of which Jesus is the head and Christians are commanded to pray for one another (e.g. James 5:16.) But what about departed saints. Do we pray for them and do they pray for us?
The liturgical Protestant denominations (Anglican, Lutheran and a few others) do allow for prayers for the dead, and some have a special day set aside for this (All Saints Day.) Martin Luther personally saw little use for this because he believed that time was linear and you live, you die and while in Heaven why would you need prayer? And if your destination was <ahem> south of Heaven, then how could prayer help you at that point? Catholics have purgatory, of course, so for them prayers are very useful. Luther did not believe in purgatory and this notion was consequently rejected by all Protestant denominations that followed the Reformation. Personally, I pray for my late wife and my current wife’s late husband because (also thinking linearly), judgement has not yet happened. So, I ask God that my late wife’s and Deena’s late husband’s faith in Christ might be accounted as righteousness for their sake, or that the blood of Jesus might wash away their sins, or that their names might be written in the Book of Life, the God would be merciful, etc. Baptists (for example) do not pray for the dead because they would say that if you die in a state of sin, then you’ve blown it. But of course, if whom I pray for are believers, my Baptist brethren might say “then why bother praying for them at all? They made it!” True, except for the point of why have a communion of saints at all when you already have the notion of a Church.
However, true to my evangelical roots, while I may pray for the saints (and those in my family who did not die in a state of grace), I don’t pray to the saints. I don’t ask Saint Christopher for a safe journey and I don’t ask Saint Jude for a healing or Saint Patrick to keep the snakes out of my backyard or whatever he does. My petitions are strictly to God as per I Timothy 2: 5 specifies; “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” I think Protestants are concerned with the First Commandment in this regard. If God wants to dispatch an angel to get me out of trouble, then that’s up to Him. But angels are spirits and I do not pray to angels. In Revelation 22:8, 9 the Apostle John gets overwhelmed and overly appreciative of the angel with him, who replies “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
Nor did the Jews pray to the patriarchs as far as I know.
Do departed Saints pray for us. We don’t know and we have no way of knowing. J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) who translated the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament once reported that while he was in a slump, the late C.S. Lewis appeared to him briefly. Phillips took comfort from this apparition. I don’t think this shade said anything to Phillips as I recall, but I would not be interested in anything Lewis might have said. Quite likely, this encounter reinforced Phillip’s notion of the Communion of Saints but the words of Lewis would fall on deaf ears were they directed to me. This is because “seducing spirits” often impersonate the dead, taking on the persona of departed children in order to entrap the grieving parents. Or, of dead spouses or parents. Maybe they do it to entertain themselves. More likely it is to lead us astray from the truth. The Bible tells us (Deuteronomy 18:10–13) we are not to have communication with the dead for this very reason.
No doubt, all we know about our reality, not to mention the afterlife is as much as one grain of sand among all the beaches of the world. We can’t see all the colors that exist, but God gave us the rods and cones we need to survive. Our world may become warmer or colder in the centuries ahead, but we can adapt. There are quite possibly more dimensions than we know, but we have all that we absolutely need. Just as one can get lost in this world, in the Pacific Northwest for example, it is even easier to lose your way in the invisible world.
Terms like the cloud of witnesses or the communion of saints are not perfectly explained, but we have enough understanding that God loves us and provides.
