John 20:26 - Meaning and Application

Here we have another appearance of Christ to his disciples after his resurrection, this time with Thomas present. We may first notice when Christ repeated this visit. It was after eight days, that is, the next week on the same day, which was the first day of the week. He delayed his next appearance for a while to show that he had not risen to live among them in the same way as before. He was now like one from another world, visiting this one only at special times, as angels do.

We should not be too curious about where Christ was during those eight days. It is foolish to ask, and presumptuous to decide. Wherever he was, angels surely served him. At the start of his ministry he was forty days unseen while tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2). Now, at the start of his glory, he was for the most part unseen for forty days, attended by good angels.

He also waited seven days for another reason, to rebuke Thomas for his unbelief. Thomas had missed the earlier meeting of the disciples, and now he must wait before having another chance. Someone who misses one tide may have to wait a while for the next. Thomas likely had a very sad week, full of doubt and heaviness, while the other disciples were full of joy, and it was his own fault.

Christ also delayed to test the faith and patience of the rest of the disciples. They had made great progress when they became sure they had seen the Lord. Then they were glad. But would they keep their faith when they did not see him again for several days? In this way Christ slowly weaned them from depending too much on his bodily presence.

He also honored the first day of the week, making it clear that it should be observed in his church as the Christian Sabbath, the weekly day of holy rest and holy gatherings. The rule that one day in seven should be kept holy came from the beginning, as old as innocence. And here Christ gave enough indication that in the Messiah’s kingdom the first day of the week should be the special day. He met his disciples on that day more than once in a religious gathering. It is likely that in his first appearance he set the next meeting for that same day the following week, and promised to be with them. It is also likely that he appeared to them every first day of the week during those forty days. From that time, the church has passed down the religious keeping of that day through every age. This is the day the Lord has made.

We also notice where and how Christ made this visit. It was at Jerusalem, with the doors shut as before because the disciples feared the Jews. They stayed there to keep the feast of unleavened bread for seven days, and that feast ended the day before this. Yet they did not set out for Galilee on the first day of the week, because it was the Christian Sabbath, and they stayed until the next day.

Thomas was with them this time, though he had withdrawn himself once before, he did not do so again. When we miss one chance, we should be even more eager to take hold of the next and make up for what we lost. It is a good sign if losing one opportunity makes us want the next more. It is a bad sign if it makes us less eager. The disciples welcomed Thomas among them, and they did not press him at once to believe in Christ’s resurrection as they had, since it was still only dimly understood. They did not drag him into argument, but welcomed him to come and see.

Christ did not appear to Thomas for his private comfort until he found him in the company of the other disciples. In this way he showed his approval of Christian meetings and ministerial gatherings, for there he is in the midst of them. He also wanted all the disciples to witness both Thomas’s rebuke and Christ’s tender care for him.

Christ came in among them and stood in the midst, and they all knew him, just as he had shown himself before (John 20:19). He was still the same, not changed. See the humility of our Lord Jesus. The gates of heaven were ready to open for him, and there he could have been in the midst of angelic worship. Yet for the good of his church, he stayed on earth and visited the small private gatherings of his poor disciples. He is in the midst of them still.

He greeted them all kindly, as he had before: “Peace be with you.” This was not an empty repetition. It showed the rich and certain peace Christ gives, and the continuing blessing he gives to his people. His gifts do not fail. They are new every morning, and new at every meeting.

What follows records what passed between Christ and Thomas at this meeting, though we may suppose he said much more to the others. Christ showed great kindness to Thomas. He singled him out and spoke to him directly: “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. If you still need it, put your hand into my side.” This was a clear rebuke of Thomas’s unbelief, because Christ repeated his own words back to him. Thomas had said it, and Christ had heard it, though unseen. That should have brought shame to him. There is no unbelieving word on our tongues, and no unbelieving thought in our minds, that is hidden from the Lord Jesus (Psalm 78:21).

At the same time, Christ condescended to Thomas’s weakness in two ways. First, he allowed Thomas to set the terms, even in a matter that was really unnecessary. Great people do not like to be directed by those below them, especially when they are showing kindness. Yet Christ was willing to fit himself to Thomas’s own wish rather than leave him in unbelief. He will not break the bruised reed, but gathers back what has been driven away (Ezekiel 34:16). We should treat weak believers the same way, bearing with their weaknesses (Romans 15:1-2).

Second, he allowed his wounds to be touched, even letting Thomas put his hand into his side, if that would finally make him believe. For the strengthening of our faith, Christ appointed an ordinance that keeps his death in remembrance. His death was shameful and humiliating, and one might think it should be forgotten. Yet because it showed his love so clearly and gives strong reason to trust him, he established its memorial to be kept.

In the ordinance in which we show the Lord’s death, we are, as it were, called to put our finger into the nail marks. Christ reaches out a helping, inviting hand to us, and he says in effect, “Reach here your hand.” His closing words to Thomas are deeply moving: “Do not be faithless, but believing.” The Greek sense is, “Do not become an unbeliever,” as if Thomas might have been fixed in unbelief if he had not given way then. That warning speaks to all of us: do not be faithless. If we are faithless, we are without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without joy. So let us say, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Thomas now gives his believing answer to Jesus Christ. He is ashamed of his earlier doubt and cries out, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). We are not told whether he actually put his finger into the nail marks. It seems he did not, because Christ says, “You have seen me and believed” (John 20:29), so seeing was enough. Faith now comes away victorious after its struggle with unbelief.

Thomas is now fully satisfied that Christ is risen. The same Jesus who was crucified is alive, and this is indeed he. His slowness to believe can strengthen our faith, because it shows that the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection were not gullible people. They were careful enough to hold back until they had the clearest proof they could ask for. In this way, “out of the eater came forth meat,” or good came out of something that seemed harmful.

Thomas therefore believed Christ to be Lord and God, and we are to believe the same. We must believe in his deity, that he is God. He is not a mere man made into a god, but God become man, as John first stated (John 1:1). The one who founded our holy religion has the wisdom, power, rule, and unchanging nature of God, which was necessary because he was not only to begin this religion, but also to be its foundation and the source of life for it.

We must also believe in his mediation, that he is Lord, the one Lord (1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Timothy 2:5). He has full authority, as one with complete power to act for another, to settle the great matters between God and man. He resolves the dispute that would otherwise ruin us, and he establishes the peace that is needed for our happiness. See (Acts 2:36; Romans 14:9).

Thomas also consented to Christ as his Lord and his God. In faith, the will must agree to the gospel’s terms, not just the mind agree to gospel truth. We must receive Christ as the Father has appointed him to be for us. “My Lord” points to Adonai, my support and stay. “My God” points to Elohim, my ruler and judge. Since God has appointed Christ to be the umpire and go-between, we must approve that choice and fully hand ourselves over to him. This is the living act of faith: “He is mine” (Song of Solomon 2:16).

Thomas made this open confession before those who had seen his earlier doubts. He said it to Christ, and to make the sense complete, we should read it as, “You are my Lord and my God.” Or, speaking to his fellow disciples, “This is my Lord and my God.” Do we accept Christ as our Lord and God? Then we must go to him and say so, as David did (Psalm 16:2), and surrender ourselves to him as our own act and deed. We should also tell others, as those who rejoice in belonging to Christ. Thomas speaks with warm affection, gripping Christ with all his heart: “My Lord and my God.”

Christ then gives his judgment on the whole matter (John 20:29): “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Christ accepts Thomas as a believer. True and sincere believers, though slow and weak, are still kindly received by the Lord Jesus. Those who have held out for a long time, if they finally yield, will find him ready to forgive. No sooner does Thomas agree with Christ than Christ comforts him and lets him know that he now believes.

At the same time, Christ gently reproves Thomas for his former unbelief. Thomas had reason to be ashamed, first, that he had been so slow to believe and so slow to receive his own comfort. Those who honestly come to Christ can see much reason to grieve that they did not do so sooner. Second, it took much effort to bring him to faith at last. If no evidence is accepted except what our own senses give us, and if we believe only what we have personally seen, then all fellowship and daily life would come to an end. If that were the only kind of proof allowed, how could the world ever be brought to faith in Christ? So Thomas is rightly corrected for putting so much weight on seeing.

Christ also praises the faith of those who believe with less outward proof. Thomas, as a believer, was truly blessed, but even more blessed are those who have not seen. This does not mean the things believed are unseen, since the objects of faith are invisible (Hebrews 11:1; 2 Corinthians 4:18). It means they have not seen the grounds that stirred faith in others, especially Christ’s miracles and resurrection, yet they still believe in him. This may look back to Old Testament believers, who did not see the things later believers saw, but trusted the promise given to the fathers and lived by that faith. It may also look ahead to later believers, especially the Gentiles, who never saw Christ in the flesh as the Jews did.

This kind of faith is more praiseworthy than the faith of those who saw and believed. First, it shows a better spirit in the believer. To believe without seeing shows greater effort in seeking truth and greater openness in receiving it. The one who believes after seeing has had his resistance overcome in a kind of forceful way. But the one who believes without seeing, like the Bereans, shows a nobler mind. Second, it shows a greater work of divine grace. The less visible the evidence is, the more clearly faith appears to be the Lord’s work. Peter is blessed in his faith because “flesh and blood” did not reveal it to him (Matthew 16:17). Flesh and blood has a bigger part in the faith of those who see and believe than in the faith of those who do not see and yet believe. Dr. Lightfoot quotes a rabbi who said that one convert is more pleasing to God than all the thousands of Israel who stood before Mount Sinai, because they saw and received the law, but a convert does not see and yet receives it.

The evangelist then adds a concluding note to his account, like a writer drawing near the end of his history (John 20:30, 31). He assures us that many other things happened that were all worthy to be written, though they are not included in this book. Many signs were done. Some take this to mean all the signs Jesus did throughout his whole life, all the wondrous words he spoke, and all the wondrous works he did.

It seems more likely that this refers to the signs Jesus did after his resurrection, because these signs were seen only by the disciples, who are the ones spoken of here (Acts 10:41). Many of his appearances are not recorded, as we see in (1 Corinthians 15:5-7). See also (Acts 1:3).

We can use this general witness to strengthen our faith. There were many other signs, and when we add them to the accounts we do have, the evidence becomes much stronger. Those who recorded Christ’s resurrection were not scraping together weak proof and filling the rest with guesswork. They had enough evidence, and more witnesses than they needed.

The disciples who saw these other signs were to preach Christ’s resurrection to others. So it was right that they had proof in great abundance, so they could have strong comfort while they risked life and everything on it. We should not ask why all these signs were not written down, or why no more were added. It is enough that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, who inspired the record.

If this had been only a human book, it would likely have been packed with many testimonies and long arguments to prove Christ’s resurrection. But this is a divine history, so the writers speak with calm confidence. They tell what was enough to convince willing hearts and to condemn stubborn unbelief, and if that is not enough, more evidence would not help. People give everything they have to win trust, but God does not need to, because he can give faith.

If this history had been written only to satisfy curiosity, it would have been longer and fuller in every detail. But it was written to lead people to believe. So enough is said to meet that purpose, whether people listen or refuse to listen.

These accounts are given here and in the next chapter so that you may believe on these grounds, and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, shown with power to be so by his resurrection (John 20:31). This was the purpose of the gospel writers. Some people write books for amusement, for money, or for praise, and others to help the world with useful knowledge. But the evangelists wrote with no aim at earthly gain, for themselves or for others. Their purpose was to bring people to Christ and heaven, and to do that by persuading them to believe. They used the best possible method, giving the world a divine message supported by proper evidence.

This is also the duty of those who read and hear the gospel. They must believe, and welcome, the teaching of Christ, and the record God has given about his Son (1 John 5:11). The great truth we are to believe is that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the one expected by the Old Testament believers, anointed by God to be a ruler and Savior. He is also the Son of God, not only in his work as Mediator, that is, the one who stands between God and people, but before that, in his own divine nature. If he had not been a divine person, full of God’s power and sharing God’s glory, he would not have been fit for the work of redeeming us or for the crown that belongs to the Redeemer.

The great blessing we are to hope for is this, that by believing we will have life through his name. This directs our faith to the life set before us, the crown of life and the tree of life. The life offered in the covenant made with us in Christ is what we should count as our greatest joy and the rich reward for all our service and suffering.

This also encourages us to believe. People will risk much when they see a great gain ahead, and no gain can be greater than what the gospel offers, the words of this life (Acts 5:20). This includes both spiritual life, which brings us into likeness with God and fellowship with him, and eternal life, which is seeing and enjoying him forever. Both come through Christ’s name, by his merit and power, and both are certainly secure for all true believers.