Discovery Box1 Timothy 5:3
Context5:3 Honor 1 widows who are truly in need. 2
Matthew 12:50
Context12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is 3 my brother and sister and mother.”
John 19:26-27
Context19:26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, 4 look, here is your son!” 19:27 He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time 5 the disciple took her into his own home.
[5:3] 1 sn The word honor here carries the double meaning of respect and financial support. This Greek word can imply both senses, and both are intended in this context.
[5:3] 2 tn Grk “the real widows,” “those who are really widows.”
[12:50] 3 tn The pleonastic pronoun αὐτός (autos, “he”) which precedes this verb has not been translated.
[19:26] 4 sn The term Woman is Jesus’ normal, polite way of addressing women (Matt 15:28, Luke 13:12; John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:15; see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή 1). But it is unusual for a son to address his mother with this term. The custom in both Hebrew (or Aramaic) and Greek would be for a son to use a qualifying adjective or title. Is there significance in Jesus’ use here? Jesus probably used the term here to help establish Mary and the beloved disciple in a new “mother-son” relationship. Someone would soon need to provide for Mary since Jesus, her oldest son, would no longer be alive. By using this term Jesus distanced himself from Mary so the beloved disciple could take his place as her earthly son (cf. John 2:4). See D. A. Carson, John, 617-18, for discussion about symbolic interpretations of this relationship between Mary and the beloved disciple.
