For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”
Parallel translations
- WEB For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”
- KJV For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
- NKJV For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
- NASB For whoever does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”
- NLT Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
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
Whoever does God's will is Jesus' brother, sister, and mother. It matters because it defines membership in Christ's family by obedience to God.
Overview
Jesus makes obedience to God the mark of belonging to his family, not blood or nationality. This opens the family of God to all who submit to the Father's will through faith in the Son. It also reveals the unity believers share with Christ and one another, a bond forged by grace and expressed in glad obedience.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 1 Jn 2:17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- Matt 7:21Not 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.
- 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.
- John 7:17If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.
- Jas 1:25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 3:35 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.