📖 Biblical Definition
Personal testimony is the believer’s spoken account of what God in Christ has done for him and through him. The saints overcome the accuser of the brethren by two weapons together: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation 12:11). Paul models personal testimony three times in Acts (chs. 9, 22, 26) — climactically before Agrippa, recounting his Damascus-road encounter. Christian testimony is not autobiographical theater; it is gospel proclamation through the conduit of one’s own life. The Christian man should learn to tell, briefly and powerfully, what Christ has done in him. The blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony are paired.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
TESTIMONY — a solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing a fact; in religion, the open declaration of what God has done for one's soul.
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TESTIMONY, n. — A solemn declaration or affirmation made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact. In religion, the open declaration of what God has wrought in and for the believer; the verbal evidence offered before the world that Christ saves and keeps. By such testimony the saints overcome the accuser, for the spoken witness joins the shed blood as the believer's twofold weapon.
📖 Key Scripture
Revelation 12:11 — "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."
Acts 26:16 — "But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you."
Acts 26:22 — "Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great."
1 Peter 3:15 — "Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern testimony is reduced to feel-good autobiography; Scripture makes it a weapon against the accuser.
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Revelation 12 places the word of testimony beside the blood of the Lamb as the means by which the saints overcome Satan. Personal testimony is not therapy or branding; it is warfare. Paul's defense before Agrippa is not a memoir; it is an apostolic witness designed to bring a king to faith.
The corruption is the domestication of testimony into self-narrative. The believer's story is not the point; Christ's work in the believer is the point. The cure is the Petrine standard: ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, with Christ central and self peripheral.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek martyria (witness, testimony); martys (witness, martyr); paired with apologia (defense).
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G3141 — martyria — testimony, witness, evidence
G3144 — martys — witness; whence the English martyr
G627 — apologia — defense, reasoned answer
Usage
"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (Revelation 12:11)."
"I stand, witnessing both to small and great (Acts 26:22)."
"Always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15)."