But He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and carry it out.”
Parallel translations
- WEB But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.”
- KJV And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
- NKJV But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
- NASB But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
- NLT Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus says His true family are those who hear God's word and do it. Obedient faith, not merely natural kinship, defines belonging to Him.
Overview
Jesus declares that His mother and brothers are those who hear and obey God's word. He does not dishonor His family but elevates the spiritual family created by the Gospel. All who respond to the word in faith and obedience are brought into the closest relationship with Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Luke 11:27–28As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!”
- Jas 1:22Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- John 13:17If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
- 3 Jn 1:11Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
- 1 Jn 2:29If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.
- Heb 2:11–13For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
- 2 Cor 6:18And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
- John 15:14–15You are My friends if you do what I command you.
- John 6:28–29Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”
- Luke 8:15But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop.
- Matt 7:21–26Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
- Matt 25:40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
- 1 Jn 3:22–23and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
- Matt 17:5While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
- John 20:17“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
- 2 Cor 5:16So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
- Matt 28:10“Do not be afraid,” said Jesus. “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me.”
- Matt 25:45Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 8:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.