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This week’s word is witness, which appears in many different situations in the Bible. In the Greek New Testament, the word for witness is marturia, which is where we get our English word “martyr” from. A martyr is a person who is persecuted and killed for their faith.

One of my favorite passages where this word is used is what’s called the Prologue, which is John 1:1-18. In particular, check out verses 6-8:

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”

In the Greek, the word marturia (in both its noun and verb forms) occurs 3 times in just these 3 verses. Two occurrences are where it uses the noun “witness”, and the third is where it says “to testify.” The verb form of marturia means to testify or to be a witness. John (the baptist, not the apostle) came as a witness about the light (Jesus). He isn’t the savior, but his purpose was to help point people to the savior and tell people about him.

But why is this important? You too are a witness! Often when around believers in Jesus, you may hear them talk about having or sharing their testimony. A believer’s testimony is their own personal story about how they came into a relationship with Jesus and about what He has done in their life. Every person has a testimony to share; we are all witnesses of what God has done in our own lives and the lives of others around us.

We need to share what we witness so that we, like John the baptist, can be a witness to testify concerning Jesus. We aren’t Jesus, but our purpose in life is to share the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection with others that we meet. We don’t have to be martyrs to be witnesses; we can simply tell others our story and how we have seen God’s glory in our lives. We are Jesus’ witnesses here on earth, so that others might learn about Him through us and what we have witnessed.