Codeception Parse Error

I am getting an error after: codecept run

from the terminal

Codeception PHP Testing Framework v2.1.8 Powered by PHPUnit 5.3.2 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors. PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected 'class' (T_CLASS), expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or '{' or '$' in phar:///usr/local/bin/codecept/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/src/TextUI/TestRunner.php on line 358