What is the meaning of John 20:25? So the other disciples told him John records, “So the other disciples told him” (John 20:25). • The ten present on Resurrection Sunday evening (John 20:19–20) have already encountered the risen Christ. • Luke 24:33–35 echoes the same enthusiastic relay of news: “The Lord has indeed risen and has appeared to Simon!” • The verb tense conveys repeated sharing; they kept on telling Thomas. This is loving accountability—believers encouraging a brother who missed the gathering, just as Hebrews 10:25 urges. • Their testimony is unified and eyewitness-based, fulfilling Deuteronomy 19:15’s standard that multiple witnesses establish truth. “We have seen the Lord!” This exclamation is the heartbeat of apostolic witness. • It mirrors Mary Magdalene’s earlier words in John 20:18 and anticipates Peter’s later proclamation in Acts 2:32. • The disciples are not offering second-hand rumor but first-hand sight, paralleling 1 John 1:1–3: “what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes… we proclaim.” • The definite article “the” Lord (ho Kyrios) underscores Jesus’ divine identity—“the Lord,” not merely “our teacher.” Compare Romans 10:9, where confessing “Jesus is Lord” is central to saving faith. But he replied Thomas answers honestly, yet skeptically. • His candid response shows God welcomes real questions (cf. Psalm 73:2–3, 16–17). • Still, Thomas’s stance contrasts sharply with the immediate joy found in the others (John 20:20). • Mark 16:14 reminds us unbelief is a universal struggle; Jesus later rebukes all the apostles for the same hardness of heart. “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands Thomas sets a personal condition: visual proof of crucifixion wounds. • Zechariah 13:6 foresaw Messiah’s wounds. • Jesus had already shown these marks to the others (John 20:20), validating continuity between the crucified and risen body. • Thomas’s demand underscores that the resurrection is bodily, not spiritualized; Acts 10:40–41 says He was “made visible… who ate and drank with us.” and put my finger where the nails have been He wants tactile confirmation. • Luke 24:39 records Jesus inviting touch: “Touch Me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones.” • 1 John 1:1 again emphasizes sensory evidence—hearing, seeing, touching. • Such physical interaction dispels any docetic notion that Jesus only appeared to have a body. and put my hand into His side Thomas references the spear wound from John 19:34. • Prophecy met fulfillment when Psalm 34:20 declared none of His bones would be broken, yet Zechariah 12:10 predicted Israel would “look on Me whom they have pierced.” • The still-open side verifies that the same Jesus who died now lives, sustaining Revelation 5:6’s description of “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain.” I will never believe. Thomas draws a hard line: belief conditioned solely on sensory proof. • The phrase translates a double negative—an emphatic resolve. • Contrast with John 20:8, where the beloved disciple “saw and believed” even before touching Christ. • Jesus later blesses “those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29), linking to 1 Peter 1:8: “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him… and believe.” • Thomas’s stance highlights the difference between empirical certainty and faith grounded in trustworthy testimony (Romans 10:17). summary John 20:25 shows the community of faith sharing eyewitness testimony of the risen Lord and the honest struggle of a disciple who missed that moment. Thomas’s demand for physical proof underscores the bodily reality of Jesus’ resurrection, fulfilling Scripture and refuting any notion of mere spiritual survival. While Christ graciously meets Thomas’s conditions in the next verses, the passage calls readers to trust the reliable witness of Scripture and the apostles, joining the blessed company who believe without seeing yet are certain that “Jesus is Lord.” |
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