John 101 – Redeeming Thomas
08/23/2026
Scripture 1: (Jn. 20:24-29 ESV)
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Scripture 2: (Jn. 11:16 ESV)
So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Scripture 3: (Jn. 14:1-7 ESV)
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Appendix: (Twin – Didymus)
“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts,
(Deut. 25:11 ESV)
BGT Deuteronomy 25:11 ἐὰν δὲ μάχωνται ἄνθρωποι ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό ἄνθρωπος μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ προσέλθῃ γυνὴ ἑνὸς αὐτῶν ἐξελέσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ τύπτοντος αὐτὸν καὶ ἐκτείνασα τὴν χεῖρα ἐπιλάβηται τῶν διδύμων αὐτοῦ (Deut. 25:11 BGT)
Sermon:
“Doubting Thomas”. We have all heard the expression and I am sure that we have all used it at some time in our life.
It is regularly used as a pejorative or a negative admonition, “Don’t be a ‘Doubting Thomas’!”.
It is sometimes used to encourage a person to just accept someone’s word as truth, without requiring evidence.
It is used to imply that somebody should “take it on faith”, whatever “it” may be, without any qualification.
It is often used to imply that “blind faith” is somehow better or more virtuous than reasoned understanding or evidence-driven conclusions.
The expression exists and is used this way because countless interpreters and preachers have injected an impression and attitude about Thomas that is shameful, slanderous, and unwarranted in its implication. Thomas has been badly maligned and his character has been popularly besmirched. Instead of being a paragon, Thomas is held up as a negative example of faith. He is presented as an example of what not to do, of how not to be, and of who not to be like.
However, he still was one of Jesus’s “Twelve Apostles”. He was one of Jesus’s closest followers, although not as close as Peter, James, or John. He was still a member of Christ’s “inner circle”. And, unlike certain other persons who could be named <cough> Peter and Judas <cough>, Thomas did not deny or betray Jesus. Thomas did abandon Jesus and flee the garden when He was arrested just like almost everyone else. But Thomas, alone among the disciples, has become a byword used to signify doubt, disbelief, and a lack of faith or trust.
I am convinced and convicted that we have done wrong by Thomas. I believe that we have treated him poorly. We have been treating him far worse than he deserves. I think that he should not be known or remembered primarily because of his doubt. I do not think that we may rightly call him “Doubting Thomas” and this view is not unique to me, nor is it merely my opinion.
So, what does the Evangelist actually say about him?
First, he explained that, “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.”. Thomas was not with his fellow disciples on the evening of the resurrection and no explanation is offered for why. Yet the why of his absence is unimportant and there is little value in speculating.
Then, sometime after Jesus left, the surviving eleven were reunited. They were all together again. Then, “…the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”” and then, the other disciples told Thomas the very BEST NEWS EVER (just as they were had been told by Mary, Simon, and Cleopas), but Thomas did not believe them (just as they did not believe Mary, Simon, or Cleopas). Thomas did not believe them, not because they lacked credibility, but because it was simply too incredible to believe (for all of the same the reasons we considered previously). Thomas’ doubt of them was rational and reasonable because what they described was impossible; except and unless it was a miracle.
Thomas replied to them, telling them “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”. His request was not unreasonable. It may have been impertinent, but not unreasonable. He merely asked for proof. He asked to be shown trustworthy and reliable evidence. It was not that he did not trust the other disciples; he probably wanted to believe them. He was almost certainly wishing that Jesus had not died; wishing that all of the hopes and dreams that he had related to Jesus, as the Messiah-King of Israel, had not been shattered and crushed three days before. He may even have been wishing that he had died instead of Jesus.
Now, we tend to forget the few details about Thomas that we are given, but John has already told us a lot about Thomas and his character; the most in Scripture.
Back when Jesus was preparing to go down to Bethany because of Lazarus, after the Jerusalem Jews had been trying to arrest Him (10:39-42) and stone Him (11:8), Thomas was the one who confidently declared, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (Jn. 11:16 ESV). John showed us then, that Thomas was willing to fight for Jesus and, even to die for Jesus.
Just a few nights prior in the “Upper Room”, Thomas was the disciple who asked Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”, prompting Jesus’s answer, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). John used this exchange to further emphasize Thomas’s zeal for Jesus; to show his desire and willingness to follow Him anywhere, through anything.
Which leads me to an interesting side-note. John mentions three times (11:16, 20:24, 21:2) that Thomas is “called, the Twin” or in the Greek Didymus, similar to how Peter was renamed by Jesus as Cephas or Peter (1:42) and like how Matthew refers to him as “Simon (who is called Peter)” (Matt. 4:18 ESV). Although the “rock” element of Peter’s character is developed throughout the Gospels and the New Testament: both in his steadfastness and in his ability to be “mentally thick” and hardheaded; this characterizing detail about Thomas is not else-wise obviously developed. Or, perhaps these references by John do actually develop and demonstrate his character as Didymus?
The character of being a “Twin”, in the Greco-Roman mythos, would be related to (Greek) Castor and Pollux, (Roman) Romulus and Remus, or the astrological sign of Gemini. As a character trait, the “Twin” is often considered a sign of “double-mindedness”, applied as either being deceptive or being inconstant and pliable.
However, didymus is always used in Scripture, throughout the LXX, in respect to “pairs”.
Genesis 25:24 and 38:27 uses the term in reference to twins.
Song of Solomon 4:5 and 7:4 uses the term as part of an analogy of a woman’s breasts.
Deuteronomy 25:11 uses it analogically to describe a man’s testicles, translating a plain Hebrew term for the male genitalia.
This leads me to conclude that Thomas is probably called “the Twin” either because he had a twin brother (the simplest and plainest interpretation) or because it was descriptive of an impertinent and excessively confident nature; that Thomas had “massive cajones”. That second idea does appear to fit his characterization by John.
These examples demonstrate that Thomas was totally devoted to Jesus and committed to His cause. He wanted to follow Jesus and stay with Him. So, of course, he was disappointed with Jesus’s death; a disappointment that surely fueled his doubt and unwillingness to believe the others. We should not be surprised at his reluctance to believe them because he would not want to even “dare to hope” that it was true. When they told Him that they had seen the risen Jesus, his whole world view and expectation had just been shattered and he was still trying to come to grips with it. He needed something tangible to trust before he could trust to hope and faith.
Then, “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.” Eight days later, which, according to the historical method of reckoning time, would have been the following Sunday evening (this was Matthew Henry’s opinion[1]), the “eighth day”: <Count on Fingers> Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Again, the example of this gathering of disciples, provides us with more Scriptural evidence to support our Sunday worship as the “Christian Sabbath” (WSC #59). These two examples also greatly support and strongly encourage the idea of a regular, Sunday evening worship service as regulative. Here we see a pattern beginning to be established:
Twice, immediately after the resurrection of Christ, on Sunday, “the first day of the week”, the disciples were all gathered together.
Twice, immediately following the resurrection, on Sunday, “the first day of the week”, Jesus came and appeared to His disciples; Jesus came into their presence to meet with them (Matthew 18:20).
The practice of gathering on Sunday was further shown as becoming normalized throughout the New Testament.
The Apostle Paul commanded the church in Corinth to take up their benevolence offering on “the first day of every week” (1 Cor. 16:2 ESV) when they were normally gathered.
Also, when he was returning to Jerusalem, Paul stopped to visit the church in Troas “On the first day of the week.” when they “…were gathered together to break bread…” (Acts 20:7 ESV) (likely referring to either their weekly agapic “love feasts” or their celebration of the Lord’s Supper [which also probably occurred weekly, at the start of the feast.]). This was the same occasion when he preached so long that “young Eutychus” fell asleep, fell out of a window, and died…before being resurrected by Paul [Note: Paul preached so long that he may have preached through the entire night (Acts 20:7-12).]
Lastly, we have John’s reference to being “…in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” (Rev. 1:10 ESV) when he received the Revelation; a euphemistic expression referring to his sense of communion with Christ and the Church through worship among the gathering of saints.
Thus Thomas’s prior absence and his belligerent disbelief provide us with an accidental proof text encouraging both our consistent church attendance and reminding us of why we worship on Sunday. This example also helps to shine a slightly different light on Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24-25 ESV), because it reminds us that when we are absent from the rest of Christ’s Body, we do not know what we might miss.
Once again, just like the week before, “Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.””. Suddenly Jesus appeared in their presence. Jesus revealed Himself to again be standing in their midst and proclaimed His “Peace”. Then, Jesus turned His full attention to Thomas, telling him “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”.
Jesus did not meekly present Himself to Thomas for his inspection. But He did appear so as to satisfy Thomas’s demand.
Jesus appeared and then, He commanded Thomas to do as he had self-righteously demanded {the original Greek carries the verbal force of an imperative}; to do what he felt himself entitled to do.
Jesus ordered Thomas to put his hand “here, here, and here”. Jesus did not just simply show Thomas the proof which he had asked for, but He gave it to him with force. {This situation reminds me of when the Israelites complained about their lack of food in the wilderness and the LORD responded, saying “You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”” (Num. 11:19-20 ESV)}
Yet this was too much for Thomas. It was more than he could stand. He was completely overwhelmed and overcome, and so, he responded to Christ’s command, by declaring “My Lord and my God!”.
Now, the Evangelist does not tell us if Thomas obeyed Jesus. He does not tell us whether or not Thomas touched the nail marks or put his hand on Jesus’s side. I am not inclined to think that he did {Matthew Henry and RC Sproul shared this same opinion[2]}. But, if he did not, then he would have been disobeying a direct command of his Lord and God. However, I do not think that such an act of disobedience would have necessarily been sinful because, while Jesus commanded him to do so, He also commanded Thomas, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”. The first command was meant to facilitate and support the second (and primary) command. The second was not contingent upon the first, it superseded it. So, if Thomas now believed, without needing to touch Jesus, then I think he was being more truly obedient.
More important though, was Thomas’s immediate response to being confronted by the risen Christ, his declaration of, “My Lord and my God!”.
Unlike all of the other disciples whom John and Luke record as seeing the risen Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Simon and Cleopas, or the other ten of “the Twelve”; Thomas’s immediate response was to profess his faith in Jesus as the Christ.
Thomas responded by immediately worshiping Jesus.
Thomas proclaimed Jesus as his Lord: his master, his commander, and his king.
Thomas proclaimed Jesus to be God. He recognized the truth of Jesus’ divinity and acknowledged Him as the LORD, as YHVH.
Thomas declared and swore his covenant allegiance to Jesus: the Son of God and God the Son; the Creator King of the Universe.
And, unlike when Peter declared Jesus to be the Christ (Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:29) and, unlike when the demons tried to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God (Luke 4:41) and, unlike when Nathanael told Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (Jn. 1:49 ESV) and, unlike when Martha affirmed her belief that Jesus is “…the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” (Jn. 11:27 ESV), Jesus did not rebuke Thomas or command him to be silent, this time.
Instead, this time, Jesus accepted Thomas’s worship as His rightful due.
Instead, this time, Jesus accepted His divine right to be worshiped.
Therefore, Thomas was the first human person to knowingly (and rightly) worship Jesus as God, despite originally disbelieving other witnesses. Thomas responded to the resurrected Jesus by worshiping Him as God, which nobody else had done. Thus Thomas, through his initial skepticism, believed more completely and correctly when he saw the evidence; when he was given the undeniable proof.
Lastly, “Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me?””. Although it feels like a rebuke, it is more like Jesus gave voice to a statement of fact. He was merely stating the obvious. Then, Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”, and this is the true focal point of the story.
But, before we consider that point, we need to reconsider the question of Thomas’s doubt.
Previously, I mentioned three points about Jesus’s earlier appearance:
The other disciples of “the Twelve” did not believe the testimony of either Mary Magdalene or Simon and Cleopas, when they testified to having be visited by the resurrected Jesus.
Thomas was not there when Jesus first appeared to a large group of disciples; a group which included the other survivors from “the Twelve”, plus Simon and Cleopas, and a number of unnamed others.
The other disciples of “the Twelve” required evidence before they were willing or able to believe in Jesus’s resurrection. They had to see, hear, smell, and almost certainly touch the risen Christ before they believed and were “glad”.
Meanwhile, Thomas:
Thomas did not believe the testimony of his fellow disciples, when they testified to having been visited by the resurrected Jesus.
Thomas asked for the same evidence that they had received: to see and to touch Jesus.
Therefore, Thomas’s doubt and disbelief had no quantifiable difference from theirs. The only functional difference was the number of witnesses who testified to this truth.
Therefore, Thomas’s doubt and disbelief was no different from the doubt and disbelief of the other ten members of “the Twelve”. For Thomas, seeing was believing but, the same should also be said for all of the other disciples {and even Jesus’s siblings (1 Corinthians 15:3-9)}.
So, why did he become “Doubting Thomas”? What is it about the case of Thomas which makes it so special or exceptional?
John Calvin suggested that this narrative showed that Thomas “…was not only slow and reluctant to believe, but even obstinate.”[3]. He argued that “…the obstinacy of Thomas is an example to show, that this wickedness is almost natural to all men, to retard themselves of their own accord, when the entrance of faith is opened to them.”[4].
In his opinion, the example of Thomas serves to remind us of our own sinful oppositions to the Gospel faith. Thus our doubt and disbelief is the same as his doubt.
Calvin also argued that Thomas’s insistence on not just seeing Jesus’s wounds but also touching them, was further evidence of him being obstinate, proud, and contemptuous of Christ.[5] Yet, did he ask for anything more than what his fellows had already received? He just wanted to experience the same things that everyone else had. He did not want anything special or extra. He just wanted equality.
Ultimately, Calvin finally notes that Thomas’s exclamation of “My Lord and my God!” showed that “the faith which appeared to be destroyed was, as it were, concealed and buried in his heart.”[6].
So, this reminder of Thomas’s example, gives us hope that sometimes, those who are raised in the faith, profess it, and then later walk away from it, may still possess that faith, hidden deep down. His example gives us hope that that faith may be revealed in time and brought to fruition.
Therefore, just as the example of Thomas shows us how his obstinacy is typical of all “not yet” regenerated humanity, His exclamation is also typical of our response to regeneration; when we suddenly see the truth of who Jesus is: our God, our King, and our Savior. So, because we share the same doubt of Thomas, we are confident of sharing his same faith. Thus Thomas is redeemed and he should no longer be known primarily as a doubter.
Thomas is the disciple whom we all should be able to best relate to and empathize with. Thomas is the disciple whose example of faith we all should want to follow to its logical conclusion, by confessing Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God. Thomas is not a “bad example”, but a very “good example”. Thomas was not a “Doubting Thomas”, but a “Believing Thomas” because he was the first disciple who “got it” and believed. We should all try to be more like Thomas because, after seeing the risen Jesus, I cannot imagine that his dedication and devotion, or his confidence of faith were diminished. This is why Thomas has one of the strongest early church traditions from history. It is commonly believed that Thomas (Didymus) became an evangelist to Parthia and India, where eventually he was martyred by their pagan Hindu priests, by being thrust through with a spear[7].
Finally, we return to the focal point of this story, Jesus’s statement to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”. This was not a rebuke of Thomas or any of the other disciples who were gather there. This was not a diminishment or devaluing of their evidentiary experience with the risen Christ, but an emphatic affirmation and a reminder of how important their experiences are.
The disciples were the ones who followed Jesus around the regions of Galilee and Judea for three years.
The disciples were the ones who listened to Jesus preach and teach. They heard His words directly from His lips.
The disciples were the ones who watched Jesus minister to those around Him; whether they were rich or poor, healthy or sick, Jew or Gentile. They saw (and felt) what it actually was like to “love like Jesus”.
The disciples were the ones to whom Jesus rightly explained the Scriptures.
The disciples were the ones who witnessed Jesus after His resurrection.
The disciples were the ones who witnessed Jesus ascend into heaven.
Therefore, the disciples were the ones who possessed the greatest authority, on account of their experiences, to be the witnesses of Jesus Christ; to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Therefore, the disciples were the ones who were entrusted with the reliable testimony that must be believed, because everyone who comes later could not have seen it.
The testimony of the disciples is an important part of what helps us to also be blessed.
The author of Hebrews tells us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1 ESV). Although his definition is forward looking, “the assurance of things hoped for”, it is also dependent on the reliability of the past, “the conviction of things not seen.”: on our confidence and trust that what we believe has happened, happened. Specifically, “the conviction of things not seen.” refers to our confidence in God’s promises, a confidence that may be reduced to our trust in God, Himself.
During the 1st century, the Jews had possessed God’s promises for nearly 1500 years, since since Moses wrote down the Pentateuch; but still, God’s people have trusted His promises since the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). They have had the necessary conviction and confidence to trust God and His Word: trusting His promises. They had faith and the disciples had faith. But now, after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples had something other than faith: they had knowledge and experience; they had the reality.
When they saw the risen Jesus and finally understood what that meant, their already existing Jewish faith helped them to recognize the fulfillment of God’s past promises and so, they were blessed by this realization. They were blessed because they knew what had been achieved; what Christ had now accomplished. Yet Jesus told Thomas and the others gathered, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”. Like the faithful of Israel prior to the resurrection, so too are Christian believers blessed.
We are blessed with a conviction of the truth that Jesus is our Lord and Savior; that He is the LORD, God Almighty.
We are blessed with the conviction and assurance that our sins have been atoned for and are forgiven because of His work on the cross, through a justifying application by the Holy Spirit to us in our regeneration.
We are blessed because, according to the testimony of Scripture, we know that God raised Jesus from the dead as the evidence and proof of His triumph over Satan and sin.
We are blessed with the conviction that God loves us because Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit to us, from the Father, to dwell within us as our paraklete.
We are blessed because, having these convictions, we are assured of our hope that because we are united into Christ’s death, then we shall also be united into His resurrection life (Romans 6:5).
We are blessed because we believe Jesus without having seen Jesus, because we have been given the faith to believe that we shall see Jesus, one day, when He returns or when we are raised into glory.
That is the ultimate point of John’s record about Thomas, not that he doubted his fellows, but that He believed Jesus Christ: the Son of God and God the Son, the Logos who is Theos and Andros. Thomas believed the Living Word of God, so that we too may believe the written Word of God: the inerrant and inspired Word of sacred Scripture.
So remember, this story about Thomas is a positive, not a negative. Thomas is an example of faith whom we should seek to emulate.
He reminds us that, although we may still occasionally question what we believe or, why we believe it, we know that when the truth is revealed to us, we are confident that we shall believe it.
His story also reminds us that we are blessed because we believe, because of what we believe and, most importantly, because of who we believe in: Jesus Christ.
We are blessed because we know that this faith is not given to everyone, only to those whom the LORD has graciously chosen and called to Himself.
We are blessed because, through this given faith in Jesus Christ, we know that we have been restored into good fellowship and communion with the LORD our God; that our sins have been forgiven; and that this wonderful benefit has all been done for God’s glory.
So, be like Thomas. Believe like Thomas and, be blessed even when you have not seena.
AMEN
[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Volume 5; p. 1221
[2] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Volume V p. 1222; RC Sproul John, p. 392
[3] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries xviii; p. 274
[4] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries xviii; p. 274
[5] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries xviii; p. 275
[6] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries xviii; p. 276
[7] John Foxe Foxes’ Martyrs
https://www.swindia.us/seven-churches-established-by-st-thomas-in-kerala-india/https://www.ncregister.com/news/indian-church-founded-by-st-thomas-marks-1-950-years-of-christianity
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