---
title: John 19:26
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-19-26/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-19-26.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 19:26
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 19:26

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother: 'Woman, see! Your son!'"

## JW Usage

Witnesses honour the scene at the cross as evidence of Jesus' faithful son-ship — fulfilling the fifth commandment by entrusting his mother to a disciple before dying. The verse is rarely pressed for its connection to John 2:4 or for what it reveals about Jesus' tone toward Mary.

## Protestant Usage

This is the verse that decides the meaning of John 2:4. Jesus uses the same Greek vocative "gynai" ("Woman") to his mother here, on the cross, as he did at Cana — and this is the tenderest moment in John's Gospel. A dying Jesus entrusts his mother's care to the beloved disciple. If "gynai" were disrespectful or distancing, the crucifixion scene would be impossible. The same Greek word that the rs book reads as "rejection" at 2:4 reappears here as a word of love and trust. Pair the two verses together: the rejection reading collapses. Jesus' "gynai" is a dignified address comparable to "ma'am" — used at Cana to signal non-alignment of timing and used here at the cross to signal final filial care.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Theotokos Is About Jesus, Not About Mary](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/mary-theotokos-christological-fence.md) — Luke 1:43 / John 1:14 / Colossians 2:9 [Deity of Christ]