Surrounding (4029) (perikeimai from peri = around + keimai = be laid down) literally means to lie around (as a millstone - Mk 9:42, Lk 17:2, as chains - Acts 28:20) and thus to be located around some object or area and thus to be around, to surround, to encircle and then to hamper. Perikeimai was used in secular Greek of a crowd of people surrounding someone (Herodian 7, 9, 1) Perikeimai is used figuratively in Hebrews 12:1 to depict the restraining, ensnaring power of our "darling" sin which trips us up and thus hinders our progress in the Christian race. The writer of Hebrews had earlier used perikeimai figuratively to describe the Levitical high priests as those who were also "beset (perikeimai) with weakness." (He 5:2-note) Perikeimai - 5x in 5v in NAS - Mk 9:42; Lk. 17:2; Acts 28:20; He 5:2; He 12:1. NAS = beset(1), hung(2), surrounding(1), wearing(1). Not found in the Septuagint (although it is in the apocryphal book 4Macc 12:2). Perikeimai is used literally 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. (Mk 9:42, cp Lk 17:2) Paul uses perikeimai to describe his being "bound " with a literal chain for the sake of the hope of Israel (referring to the Messianic hope, incarnate in Christ) (Acts 28:20) 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. Steven Cole... I would encourage you to study both the many interesting characters in the Bible and the great men and women who have run the race of faith over the course of church history. You’ll learn how they failed, so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes. And you’ll learn how they ran well, so that you can imitate their faith (He 13:7). Many of the battles they fought, whether on a personal level or in their ministries, you will have to fight, too. Knowing that a godly like Jonathan Edwards got voted out of his church, and understanding the reasons why, can be a great source of encouragement to a who is battling in a difficult church ministry. Realizing all of the problems that Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission went through can help you to hang in there when problems multiply. I sometimes think about the disappointments, suffering, and persecution that Adoniram Judson endured in Burma and think, “I can endure a few hardships in the ministry.” But the best help in the race of faith does not come from this cloud of witnesses. LET US ALSO LAY ASIDE: apothemenoi (AMPMPN): (Matthew 10:37,38; Luke 8:14; 9:59, 60, 61, 62; 12:15; 14:26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33; 18:22, 23, 24, 25; 21:34; Romans 13:11, 12, 13, 14; 2Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:22, 23, 24; Colossians 3:5, 6, 7, 8; 1Timothy 6:9,10; 2Timothy 2:4; 1Peter 2:1; 4:2; 1John 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)