# Commentary on Revelation Word Study – Witnesses > *Witnesses* (Rev 11:3) - *Martys* (Gk.): a noun meaning \"witness\". The term is used in a variety of ways in the NT. **(1)** In a legal sense, a witness is \"one who testifies\" before a court or panel of authorities (Acts 6:13; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19). **(2)** A witness can be an \"eyewitness\", referring to one who has seen or heard something and who may be called upon to vouch for it (Acts 22:15; 1 Thess 2:10). Paul invokes God in this way as a witness to his intentions and interior actions (Rom 1:9; 2 Cor 1:23). **(3)** A witness can be a \"messenger\". In this sense, the apostles are witnesses who tell the world of the dying and rising of Jesus (Acts 1:8, 22; 10:39). **(4)** In early Christian times, the word acquired the specialized meaning of \"martyr\", referring to someone who testifies to Christ to the point of death (Acts 22:20). This is the sense of the term in Revelation, where Jesus is the prototype of the martyrs (Rev 1:5; 3:14) who choose to die for him rather than deny him and his gospel (Rev 2:13; 11:3; 17:6). --- > Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, *The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament*, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010).