John 20:28
(The doubting Thomas)
“And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28 NKJV, Emphasis mine)
THOMAS IS ONE of Jesus’ twelve apostles mentioned in the canonical gospels. He is known as the “Doubting Thomas” since he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ and was the most vocal in his disbelief. The proponents of the deity of Christ claim that Thomas’s statement, “My Lord and my God!” is among the greatest confessions ever made, validating Christ’s divinity and undoubtedly the strongest evidence in the New Testament. However, there is no evidence from the gospel accounts that Jesus’ disciples believed Him to be God, and Thomas, upon seeing the resurrected Christ, was not birthing a new theology in a moment of surprise.
Many people are not aware that the story of Thomas is comprised of the four biblical gospels, which complete the entire story leading up to Thomas’s making such a statement. The proponents of the Christ-is-God doctrine solely rely upon and quote Apostle John’s testimony of the event, discounting the other gospels that complete the whole story thus giving a wrong interpretation and reading into something that is really not there.
The argument of Trinitarians or the proponents of the Christ-is-God goes as follows:
A
No one complained or corrected Thomas after he uttered such a
statement.
B
The Savior Jesus Himself did not correct or deny Thomas’s statement; on the contrary, the Lord said, “You believe because you saw Me. Blessed are those who did not see and yet believe.” Thus, it is concluded that Jesus affirms Thomas’s statement.
Based on the above argument, we will frame our discussion around these sub-arguments:
1
Why did Apostle Thomas say to Jesus, “My Lord and My God?”
2
Was Apostle Thomas the only one who made this assumption?
3
Is it true that Jesus Christ did not correct Apostle Thomas and the other Apostles?
4
What did Jesus Christ teach Thomas and all His disciples about the difference between God and Himself?
Before we proceed, let us cite the verse in question one more time:
“And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God’!“
Now, the main questions are: Why did Thomas react this way, and why did he say such a thing to Jesus after seeing Him?
You have to remember that they had all witnessed and knew Jesus had been crucified. They saw Him die on the cross. Yet, here He was standing there, right in front of them. It’s crucial at this point that we read the verses prior to Thomas’s reaction, which is at the core of our discussion. Let’s back up to verse 24 of the same chapter:
“One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came.”
(Reference: John 20:24 Good News Bible, Emphasis Mine)
We can see here that Jesus had already appeared to some of His disciples prior to this moment.
But what else can we notice?
Thomas was not among them at the time. So, when Thomas finally saw Jesus after His resurrection, it was already the second time that Jesus had shown Himself to them. Considering that, let’s continue verse 25:
“So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas said to them, ‘Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe’.”
(Reference: John 20:25 Good News Bible, Emphasis Mine)
So, we can see Thomas’s mindset, or way of thinking, which is recorded there in this verse. Thomas did not believe that Christ was resurrected back to life. What happened when Christ appeared again to the disciples, this time with Thomas present? Let’s continue to verses 26 and 27:
“A week later the disciples were together again indoors, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe’!“
(Reference: John 20:26-27 Good News Bible, Emphasis Mine)
So, after Jesus showed the doubting Thomas that He was really there or truly resurrected from the dead, what then was Thomas’s reaction? In verse 20:28:
“Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God’!”
(Reference: John 20:28 Good News Bible, Emphasis Mine)
So, after learning the context of the entire situation, we can understand Thomas’s startled reaction. In this verse, Thomas is not preaching that Jesus Christ is God as if that is what Christ had taught him. He uttered those words from his shocking amazement that Jesus was there, standing in front of them alive again.
So the vital question here is simply this: was Thomas correct in saying, “My Lord and my God” when referring to Jesus?
He was not!
But why are we certain?
First and foremost, Thomas was not the only one who made such a wrong conclusion when he saw the resurrected Jesus. The other 11 apostles did too.
What’s the proof?
Let’s turn to the Book of Luke, chapter 24, verse 33, where the Apostle Luke wrote about the same incident from his vantage point. He wrote the following:
“So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together …”
(Reference: Luke 24:33, New King James Version)
Here, we can see that all the other apostles were present at this gathering where Jesus showed Himself to His disciples.
Now, did the other disciples react any differently from Thomas? Let’s continue in verse 36 and 37:
“Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.”
(Reference: Luke 24:36-37 New King James Version, Emphasis Mine)
According to the Bible, specifically, the writings of Apostle Luke, not only Apostle Thomas but the other Apostles were startled as well. The Bible said that “they were terrified and frightened.”
What did they suppose they were seeing?
As we read from the passage, they supposed they had seen a spirit.
We can see that the other disciples had the same kind of reaction as Apostle Thomas.
Why can we firmly say that they had the same reaction?
Because Jesus had already taught His disciples about the nature of the true God, and that was recorded back in John 4:24, where He taught them that God is a spirit.
This is very important to note because of the mere fact that they thought that Christ was a spirit, and God is a spirit, so they jumped to that sort of equivalency and therefore concluded Christ is God. And that’s incorrect. It was the same big mistake that Apostle Thomas had made by calling Jesus God.
The proponents of the Christ-is-God claim that Jesus Christ didn’t correct Thomas. But is that true?
Did Jesus correct Thomas and, in fact, correct all the disciples from thinking that He is God or a spirit?
What we need to do is continue reading the answers and clarifications from the Holy Bible. Verse 38 and 39 of the same chapter of Luke 24:
“And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have’.”
(Reference: Luke 24:38-39 New King James Version, Emphasis Mine)
Notice what Jesus critically points out here in verse 38 before He showed His hands and feet; what did Christ tell them? Christ said, “Why are you troubled? “and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (cf. Luke 24:38, New King James Version). Therefore, Christ was clearly upbraiding them. Christ’s statements in Luke 24:39 is tacitly teaching them that He is not God.
However, the proponents of Jesus’s deity insist and argue that Christ did not correct the Apostles because they cannot read in the succeeding verses of the passage that Christ issued an immediate correction there. So, they immediately jump to the conclusion that Jesus accepted Thomas’s statement.
We want to make it very clear that Jesus, in fact, did correct Thomas and the rest of the disciples who made the wrong assumption of Him. Although the correction was not recorded in the writings of Apostle John, Apostle Luke recorded the same event and shows us Christ’s response to all those who made such wrong assumptions about Him.
So how did Jesus correct Thomas and the others when they jumped to the wrong conclusion that Jesus was a spirit and, therefore, in their minds, God?
Did Jesus allow them to think that way, or did He correct them?
What did Christ say?
As we read, He said, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit…” and as Christ had clarified, (God is a spirit), “a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
Christ corrected Thomas; He corrected the other disciples. How did he do that?
He made the clear distinction between Himself and God, who is a spirit. Having already taught them that God is spirit, Christ proved that’s not what He is (a spirit) by telling the apostles, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see.”
Therefore, Christ made it very clear right there and then, the difference between Himself and God.
Once again, Christ showed His disciples that a spirit, or God, does not have flesh and bones, “as you see I have,” said Jesus.
And what did Jesus further mean when He said that He, Himself, has flesh and bones?
He answers that here in John, chapter 8, verse 40, let’s quote the words of our Lord Jesus:
“But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.”
(Reference: John 8:40 New King James Version, Emphasis Mine)
When Christ spoke to his disciples and said He has flesh and bones, what was He teaching them?
He was teaching that He is a man and not God.
Did Christ ever teach His disciples that He is in fact their God?
Absolutely not!
In fact, Christ taught them He is a man. Another significant fact to point out is that if we go back to that verse where Thomas says, “My Lord and My God,” that’s John, chapter 20, verse 28. But in that same book of John, in fact, the same chapter 20, let’s just back up a couple of verses and follow closely to the words of Jesus as He clarifies who their God is. We quote John 20:17, in which Christ says:
“Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’.”
(Reference: John 20:17 New King James Version, Emphasis Mine)
Thus, Christ clarifies here distinctly that His God is the Father and the same God of His disciples. He said, “My Father and your Father, and My God, and Your God.”
Now, as a reminder, we started this discussion with four main questions. Let’s go back and review those questions and what we have learned from these Bible verses we have studied together:
1
Why did Apostle Thomas say to Jesus, “My Lord and My God?”
Answer: He mistakenly called Jesus God in his shocking amazement that Jesus was alive again. Thomas was wrong and was not in the act of teaching or preaching the gospel when he made that statement. The conversation was about Christ’s resurrection from the dead, not about Christ being God.
2
Was Apostle Thomas the only one who had that wrong assumption?
Answer: No. The other disciples of Christ had similar reactions. In fact, they were terrified; they were frightened to see Him alive again, and they thought that He was a spirit. They mistook Him for God, who they knew to be a spirit.
3
Is it true that Jesus Christ did not correct Apostle Thomas and the other Apostles?
Answer: Christ corrected Thomas and the other apostles and even pointed out that they were doubting His teachings that He and God were different.
4
What did Jesus Christ teach regarding the difference between God and Himself?
Answer: We read that Christ made a clear distinction that God is a Spirit, which means God does not have flesh and bones as Jesus does, said Christ.
IN CONCLUSION
1
Thomas is labeled as the “doubting Thomas.” His disbelief was not about whether Jesus was God but rather about his resurrection.
2
Thomas’s statement, “My Lord, and my God,” was a mistake in Christ’s identity and demonstrates that his former disbelief was now overturned by his belief in the resurrection of Christ.
3
The other 11 apostles were frightened and also mistook Christ for a Spirit, which is tantamount to falsely thinking of Christ as having the same nature as God or being God Himself. The very fact that Thomas stated to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” is palpable evidence that they had indeed believed a mistaken identity of Jesus. But Jesus immediately corrected their wrong conclusion concerning His nature. He emphasized to them that He is not a Spirit (Luke 24:39), which is equivalent to saying He is not God in His state of being.
4
People have exceedingly misunderstood Thomas’s words, “my God.” Their interpretation that Thomas therein called Jesus “my God” ignores the complete context of the four gospels in its entirety which unlocks the true meaning of Thomas’s statement.
5
Many have believed that Thomas called Jesus God by his statement, and nearly all conservative New Testament (NT) scholars agree and claim it is the strongest biblical evidence that Jesus is God. However, the fact remains that most historical-critical scholars believe this may be the author’s intent, but this confession by Thomas ADMITTEDLY WAS NOT HISTORICAL DOCTRINE. In short, no biblical evidence exists that the Apostles ever taught or believed that Jesus is God.
6
Trinitarians are trying to read into something that is not there by choosing to ignore the other gospels that complete the entire story of Thomas after Thomas made such a statement. The biblical fact is Christ upbraided the disciples, including Thomas, by correcting Thomas and the other disciples who made the wrong assumption of His identity by pointing out the difference between Him and God – God is a Spirit in nature while Christ having flesh and bones. (Jn. 4:24, Lk. 24:38-39.
7
Christ pointed out clearly that the God and Father of the disciples is also His God and Father (Jn. 20:17). Thus, Christ further demonstrates that He is not God.
WE KINDLY EXTEND our visitors an invitation to explore the pristine, unadulterated teachings of Christ and His apostles as they were taught in the first-century Church Of Christ:
The Truth about God and Jesus Christ
SUPPORTERS OF THE BELIEF in the divinity of Christ, also known as the Christ-is-God or the God-man doctrine, assert that God exists as a trinity consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although they are three in nature and considered distinct beings, proponents maintain that they form a single God. The concept of the Trinity lacks explicit biblical endorsement; thus, proponents often argue that it represents a profound mystery beyond human comprehension and should be accepted by faith alone.
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