Study 61: My Lord and My God

1. The Setting: A Witness Missing from the Gathering

John carefully notes that Thomas, one of the Twelve and called Didymus, was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared on the evening of the resurrection (20:24; compare 20:19–23). His absence explains why he must initially rely on the testimony of others rather than on an encounter of his own. The text does not tell us why Thomas was missing, and attempts to reconstruct his emotional condition or whereabouts should remain conjectural. John instead draws attention to the situation that every later reader will face: the resurrection is announced through witnesses, and those who did not see the event must decide what to make of their testimony.

2. Thomas within John’s Gospel

Thomas has already appeared at significant moments in the narrative. When Jesus resolved to return toward Judea after Lazarus died, Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (11:16). At the farewell meal he admitted that the disciples did not know where Jesus was going and asked how they could know the way (14:5). These episodes portray a disciple capable of loyalty and candor, but also one who struggles to understand Jesus’ words. The familiar label “doubting Thomas” captures only part of his story. John presents neither a permanent skeptic nor a caricature, but a follower whose confusion becomes the setting for a climactic confession.

3. The Testimony of the Other Disciples

The other disciples repeatedly tell Thomas, “We have seen the Lord” (20:25). Their declaration echoes Mary Magdalene’s announcement in verse 18 and marks the expanding circle of resurrection testimony. The Greek imperfect form commonly translated “were saying” can suggest their continued insistence, although it should not be pressed into a detailed reconstruction of every conversation. Their message is not an abstract claim that life continues after death; it is an assertion that the Jesus who was crucified has appeared alive. Thomas is therefore confronted with testimony from people he knows, but he refuses to accept their report without the particular confirmation he demands.

4. The Demand to See and Touch

Thomas specifies that he must see the imprint of the nails, place his finger into their marks, and put his hand into Jesus’ side (20:25). His words link the resurrection claim directly to the body that was crucified. The mention of the side recalls the piercing recorded in 19:34, a detail especially important to John’s presentation of Jesus’ real death. Thomas does not ask merely to see a spiritual vision or to experience a reassuring feeling. He wants evidence that the one now proclaimed alive is the very person who suffered and died. His condition, “I will not believe,” also reveals the danger of turning a legitimate desire for understanding into a refusal to receive credible witness.

5. Eight Days Later

John places the next gathering “after eight days” (20:26), a Jewish-inclusive way of counting that ordinarily points to the following week. The disciples are again indoors, this time with Thomas present. John again notes that the doors were shut, recalling the previous appearance and reinforcing that the risen Jesus is not constrained in the ordinary way by the barriers that trouble His followers. The text does not explain the physical mechanics of His arrival, and speculation about the properties of a resurrection body must not outrun the account. What matters narratively is that Jesus takes the initiative to make Himself known to the disciple who had refused the testimony of his companions.

6. Peace in the Presence of the Risen Lord

Jesus stands among them and again says, “Peace be with you” (20:26). The greeting corresponds to His words in verses 19 and 21 and fulfills the promise of peace given during the farewell discourse (14:27; 16:33). It is not merely a conventional salutation emptied of theological meaning. The disciples’ fear, grief, and uncertainty are met by the presence of the crucified and risen Lord. Jesus does not begin by humiliating Thomas or exposing him to public ridicule. He comes with the same peace that He had already offered the others, showing that His correction of unbelief occurs within the gracious initiative of His restored fellowship.

7. Jesus Knows Thomas’s Words

Jesus addresses Thomas with language closely corresponding to the conditions Thomas had stated: reach here with your finger, see My hands, and reach here with your hand and put it into My side (20:27). John does not explain how Jesus knew Thomas’s earlier demand. Within the larger Gospel, however, Jesus repeatedly displays knowledge that exceeds what others have told Him (1:47–49; 2:24–25; 4:16–19). The correspondence underscores that Thomas’s private resistance is fully known to the risen Christ. Jesus does not dismiss the importance of the bodily evidence; rather, He offers the very confirmation Thomas said he required, while simultaneously challenging the posture in which he had demanded it.

8. The Continuity of the Crucified and Risen Jesus

The invitation to inspect Jesus’ wounds establishes continuity between the one who died and the one who now lives. Resurrection in this passage is not the replacement of Jesus by another figure, nor simply the survival of His influence among His followers. The risen Lord bears the identifying marks of His crucifixion. This point also connects John 20 with the careful testimony to Jesus’ death in 19:31–37. At the same time, John does not say that Thomas actually touched the wounds. Many retellings assume that he did, but the narrative moves directly from Jesus’ invitation to Thomas’s confession. Responsible exposition should preserve that distinction between what Jesus offered and what John reports Thomas doing.

9. “Do Not Be Unbelieving, but Believing”

Jesus’ command in verse 27 is often translated “be not unbelieving, but believing.” The Greek contrasts apistos with pistos, terms describing unbelief and belief or faithfulness. The command calls Thomas away from the refusal he had voiced and toward trust in the risen Lord. It does not establish a universal prohibition against honest questions, nor does it suggest that faith requires indifference to evidence. Indeed, Jesus has just presented evidence. The issue is whether Thomas will continue to make his own stipulated conditions the final authority over the testimony he has received. John’s Gospel consistently presents believing as a response to the person and revelation of Jesus, not as mere assent to an isolated proposition.

10. The Climax: “My Lord and My God!”

Thomas answers Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” (20:28). In Greek, the confession is ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou, with both titles personally qualified by “my.” John explicitly introduces these words as Thomas’s answer to Jesus, making it difficult to reduce them to a detached exclamation addressed to someone else. The confession identifies the risen Jesus as Thomas’s Lord and God and stands as a theological climax to the Gospel’s unfolding portrayal of His identity. It is especially striking because the disciple who insisted upon proof now voices one of the strongest declarations of faith in the entire narrative. His response is personal, but its significance extends beyond personal devotion to the question of who Jesus truly is.

11. From the Prologue to Thomas’s Confession

The opening of John’s Gospel declares that the Word was with God and that the Word was God (1:1), and then announces that the Word became flesh (1:14). Thomas’s confession near the conclusion of the narrative returns the reader to that opening claim, now spoken in response to the crucified and risen Jesus. The movement is deliberate and theologically rich: the one through whom God is revealed has lived among His people, suffered death, and risen again. John does not present Thomas’s words as a theological mistake needing correction. Jesus responds by discussing the faith that has emerged. The confession therefore belongs within John’s sustained witness to the unique identity of the Son in relationship with the Father.

12. Jesus’ Response to Thomas

Jesus says, in substance, that Thomas has believed because he has seen Him (20:29). The statement acknowledges the reality of Thomas’s faith without presenting his route to belief as the ideal pattern for every subsequent disciple. Some textual and punctuation questions affect whether the first clause is printed as a statement or question in particular editions, but the essential contrast remains: Thomas has received the extraordinary privilege of sight, whereas many future believers will not. Jesus directs attention beyond the room and beyond the first witnesses, anticipating those who will encounter the resurrection through apostolic proclamation. This movement from eyewitness experience to transmitted testimony is essential to the purpose of the written Gospel.

13. Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen

The beatitude, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed,” is not a commendation of gullibility (20:29). In John’s narrative, later believers do not have to invent the resurrection without testimony; they receive the testimony of those who saw the risen Lord. The distinction is between personal sight and trust grounded in credible witness. Jesus pronounces blessing upon those who will believe without the same direct encounter granted to Thomas. This includes the Gospel’s readers, who stand in a different historical position from the original disciples. The blessing does not make evidence irrelevant; it recognizes that trustworthy testimony can mediate knowledge of events that a person has not personally witnessed.

14. Faith and Evidence in John

John’s Gospel repeatedly invites readers to consider signs, witnesses, Scripture, and the words of Jesus (2:11; 5:31–47; 10:37–38). Faith is therefore not portrayed as an irrational leap that must avoid investigation. Nevertheless, signs do not compel a faithful response in every observer; some who saw Jesus’ works still resisted Him (12:37). Thomas illustrates the tension. He had a reasonable interest in the reality of the resurrection, yet he expressed that interest through an absolute refusal to believe his fellow disciples. The passage challenges both uncritical credulity and an approach to evidence that continually raises the threshold of belief beyond any testimony offered. The decisive question is how one responds to the revelation God has given.

15. The Place of Eyewitness Testimony

John’s resurrection account does not ask later readers to reproduce Thomas’s physical encounter. Instead, it locates their faith within the witness of those who encountered Jesus. The beloved disciple’s testimony has already been emphasized at the crucifixion (19:35), and John soon states the purpose of his written record (20:30–31). The narrative thus provides a bridge from the first generation to subsequent generations of believers. The apostolic witnesses are not replacements for Christ, but their testimony directs hearers to Him. This helps explain why the church’s proclamation has historically centered on what God did in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus rather than on private religious experience alone.

16. A Caution about the Phrase “Doubting Thomas”

Thomas’s skepticism should neither be celebrated without qualification nor used as a weapon against those who struggle to believe. John records a genuine refusal, and Jesus explicitly calls him from unbelief to belief. Yet the same passage also portrays the patience of Christ, who approaches Thomas and supplies the confirmation he requested. Furthermore, the other disciples had themselves received a personal appearance before Thomas was asked to trust their report. The account encourages humility in both the confident believer and the questioning hearer. The appropriate response is not to treat every question as rebellion, but to lead the questioner toward the testimony of Scripture and the person of the risen Lord.

17. Contemporary Application: Confession and Allegiance

Thomas does not merely conclude that a remarkable miracle has occurred. His confession moves from recognition of resurrection to acknowledgment of Jesus as “my Lord and my God.” The possessive language expresses personal allegiance without reducing the confession to private sentiment. For contemporary readers, the passage invites a response that is both intellectually responsible and personally consequential. If Jesus truly is the crucified and risen Lord, belief cannot remain a detached opinion about an ancient event. It calls for trust, worship, obedience, and participation in the community of those who bear witness to Him. The Gospel’s concern is not simply that readers admire Thomas’s words, but that they come to share the faith those words express.

18. Theological Synthesis and Transition

John 20:24–29 brings the Gospel’s themes of revelation, witness, faith, and divine identity into a concentrated encounter. The wounds testify that the risen Jesus is the crucified Jesus; Thomas’s confession gives explicit voice to His identity; and Jesus’ blessing extends the significance of the event to generations who will not see Him bodily. The narrative does not set reason against faith, but shows faith responding to the testimony and revelation of Christ. Immediately afterward John explains why he has written these selected signs: that readers may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name (20:30–31). The confession of Thomas thus prepares the reader for the Gospel’s stated purpose.

Principal Scripture Connections

John 1:1, 14, 18; 2:11; 5:31–47; 11:16; 14:5, 27; 16:33; 19:34–35; 20:18–23, 30–31; Luke 24:36–43; Acts 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:3–8; 1 Peter 1:8–9.

Interpretive Principle

Respect the words. Understand their world. Establish what the text meant there. Then ask how its truth speaks here.

Scripture references and brief quotations follow the New American Standard Bible, 1977 edition. 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. www.Lockman.org