This morning, as part of my devotion, I studied John 1:7 in Greek. For those who are either in seminary or who have graduated from seminary, I apologize for how trivial this might sound, but I found it fascinating again.
John 1:7 is talks about John the Baptist and his role in relation to proclaiming the Messiah. Right now, I'm trying not to cheat as I read the Greek and sometimes I get caught up by certain words and must ultimately look it up. Well, most of this verse tripped me up, but especially marturian and marturaesae.
As I thought about the meaning of these words, I thought, "Ok, they look like the English word mature." Wrong!
I read the definition listed below the verse and it was witness and testify. All of a sudden I recalled past discussions in seminary and with friends that this is the word from which we get martyr. When we think of martyrs, we think of people who died for what they believed in. Ultimately, John fit this bill. He did die for what he believed in.
What is more important, though, is that a person who dies for what he or she believes in must first live for what he or she believes in. Thus, a person who dies in the name of God must not be a mere trouble maker, a person seeking easy entrance into heaven, or attempting to make a righteous political statement; rather, a true martyr is one who stands for truth no matter as a witness no matter what the consequences might be.
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