Thomas repliedThomas, also known as Didymus, was one of the twelve apostles. He is often remembered for his skepticism, particularly in the context of the resurrection of Jesus. His reply here is significant because it marks a turning point from doubt to faith. In the broader context of the Gospel of John, Thomas's journey from doubt to belief serves as a powerful testimony to the reality of the resurrection. This moment occurs after Jesus has appeared to the other disciples, and Thomas had insisted on seeing and touching Jesus' wounds to believe. His reply is a direct response to Jesus inviting him to do just that, highlighting the personal and relational nature of faith.
“My Lord and my God!”
This declaration is one of the clearest and most direct acknowledgments of Jesus' divinity in the New Testament. The use of "Lord" (Greek: Kyrios) and "God" (Greek: Theos) reflects a profound recognition of Jesus' divine nature. In the Jewish context, calling someone "Lord" could imply authority, but pairing it with "God" elevates the statement to a confession of Jesus as divine. This echoes the prologue of John's Gospel, where Jesus is described as the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1). Thomas's confession fulfills the purpose of John's Gospel, which is to lead readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31). This moment also connects to Old Testament prophecies and types, such as the acknowledgment of God's sovereignty and the messianic expectations found in passages likeIsaiah 9:6, where the Messiah is called "Mighty God." Thomas's exclamation is a pivotal moment of faith that underscores the identity of Jesus as both Lord and God, affirming the core Christian belief in the Trinity.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
Thomas (also known as Didymus)One of the twelve apostles of Jesus, often referred to as "Doubting Thomas" due to his initial skepticism about Jesus' resurrection. His declaration in
John 20:28 is a profound confession of faith.
2.
Jesus ChristThe central figure of Christianity, believed to be the Son of God and the resurrected Savior. In this passage, He appears to His disciples after His resurrection.
3.
The Upper RoomThe location where Jesus appeared to His disciples post-resurrection. It is a place of significant events, including the Last Supper and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
4.
The Resurrection of JesusThe event of Jesus rising from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion, which is the cornerstone of Christian faith.
5.
The DisciplesThe group of Jesus' closest followers who were witnesses to His life, death, and resurrection. They were gathered together when Jesus appeared to them.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Personal FaithThomas's declaration is a personal confession of faith. Each believer must come to a personal recognition of who Jesus is.
The Deity of ChristThomas's words affirm the divine nature of Jesus, a foundational truth in Christian doctrine.
Overcoming DoubtThomas's journey from doubt to faith encourages believers to seek truth and assurance in their faith journey.
The Role of WitnessThe testimony of the disciples, including Thomas, serves as a powerful witness to the truth of the resurrection.
Worship and AcknowledgmentRecognizing Jesus as Lord and God should lead to a life of worship and submission to His authority.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of John 20:28?
2.How does Thomas's declaration in John 20:28 affirm Jesus' divine nature and authority?
3.What can we learn from Thomas's response about faith in unseen truths?
4.How does John 20:28 connect with Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah?
5.How can we apply Thomas's confession to strengthen our personal faith journey?
6.In what ways does John 20:28 challenge us to recognize Jesus as "my God"?
7.How does John 20:28 affirm the divinity of Jesus?
8.Why does Thomas call Jesus "My Lord and my God" in John 20:28?
9.What is the significance of Thomas's declaration in John 20:28 for Christian theology?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from John 20?
11.What is the truth behind "The Da Vinci Code"?
12.What lessons does the story of Doubting Thomas teach?
13.How did Russell's Bible views differ from mainstream Christianity?
14.Is it wrong to doubt Jesus?What Does John 20:28 Mean
Thomas replied- Thomas is the same disciple who earlier struggled with doubt (John 20:25) yet showed courageous devotion back inJohn 11:16. His journey displays:
• Reluctance (“Lord, we do not know where You are going” –John 14:5).
• Honest questioning that Jesus graciously met with evidence (“Put your finger here” –John 20:27).
• A wholehearted response once convinced, proving that sincere doubt can lead to stronger faith when met by the risen Christ (1 John 1:1–3).
My Lord- “Lord” is not a polite title here; it is a declaration of absolute authority.
• Personal surrender: the possessive “My” echoesRomans 10:9, where salvation is tied to confessing “Jesus is Lord.”
• Fulfillment of messianic prophecy:Psalm 110:1 speaks of the Messiah as “my Lord,” a text Peter cites inActs 2:36 to preach that Jesus is “both Lord and Christ.”
• Universal lordship:Philippians 2:10-11 pictures every knee bowing and every tongue confessing Jesus as Lord—Thomas voices that future reality ahead of time.
and my God!- Thomas moves beyond lordship to full deity.
• Identifying Jesus with God Himself aligns with John’s prologue: “the Word was God” (John 1:1).
• Jesus had already hinted at equality with the Father (John 5:18), and here a disciple openly affirms it.
• New-covenant revelation:Colossians 2:9 teaches that “all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form” in Christ, andTitus 2:13 calls Him “our great God and Savior.”
• God the Father approves this confession:Hebrews 1:8 records the Father addressing the Son as “O God,” and Jesus neither corrects nor rebukes Thomas, confirming its truth (cf.Revelation 1:17-18).
summaryThomas’s exclamation unites two critical truths—Jesus is both sovereign Lord and very God. His personal pronouns make the confession relational; his words ground the church’s faith in the risen Christ’s deity and authority. John includes this moment so that we, like Thomas, may move from doubt to worship, echoing, “My Lord and my God!”
(28)
Thomas answered and said unto him.--It is implied that he did not make use of the tests which his Master offered him, but that he at once expressed the fulness of his conviction. This is confirmed by the words of the next verse, "Because thou hast seen Me."
My Lord and my God.--These words are preceded by "said unto him," and are followed by "because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed;" and the words "my Lord" can only be referred to Christ. (Comp.John 20:13.) The sentence cannot therefore, without violence to the context, be taken as an exclamation addressed to God, and is to be understood in the natural meaning of a confession by the Apostle that his Lord was also God.
Verse 28. -
Thomas answered and said to him. Before, so far as we know, any gesture or effort was made on his part to accept the tests which had been so rashly demanded, but so graciously offered. He already found evidence which was far more efficacious than that which he in gross and sensuous fashion had thought indispensable for his peculiarly constituted mind. Before doing more than fill his hungry eyes with these identifying signs of the Lord's actual objective presence, he did in reality touch his Lord by other powers than finger or hand. He bounded from the depths of despondency to the very top of faith, and he "answered" - he responded to the proof he had already received of the Lord's triumph over death, and to the seal that had now been set upon the Lord's own supreme and majestic claims, by an adoring cry. Thomas "said to him." Observe it is not hinted that he uttered a vague and ejaculatory cry to the eternal Father (as Theodore of Mopsuestia, modern rationalists and Unitarians have repeatedly urged - a speculation which is wrecked on the
εϊπεν αὐτῷ).
Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God. This is the first time that any of the disciples had ever drawn this lofty conclusion of love and reason. They had called him "the Son of God," "the Lord," as a Being of quite immeasurable claims; and John, in the prologue, after years of meditation, declared that "the Logos which was God" and "with God," and the Creator of all things, and "the Light and Life," had "become flesh," and flashed forth" the glory of the only begotten Son," even in his earthly life; but it was reserved for the most depressed and skeptical mind of them all, the honest doubter, the man who needed immediate and irresistible evidence, infallible proofs, triumphant, invincible demonstrations - it was reserved for Thomas to say TO HIM, and to say unrebuked, uncondemned, by the risen Lord," MY LORD AND MY GOD!" Herein is condensed into one burning utterance from the worried heart of humanity the slowly gathering conclusion which had been steadily inwrought in the mind of his disciples by all the teachings of the Savior. It was at last spontaneous and exultant. These words are the climax of the entire Gospel. Every narrative points on to this unchallenged utterance. From the wedding at Cana to the raising of Lazarus, from the testimony of the Baptist to the awful tones of intercessory prayer, every discourse, every miracle, points on to this superlative conclusion, not breathed in loving accents by the enthusiastic Mary, not sounded forth by the rock-like apostle, not whispered in awestruck affection by the beloved disciple, but wrung from the broken heart of the man who had said, "Let us go, that we may die with him;" of him who cried, "We know not whither thou goest: how can we know the way?" of him who had said, "Unless I see the print of the nails, I will not believe." It is not long before it is notorious that St. Paul spoke of him as "God blessed forever," called him the" Image of the invisible God," as endowed with "the Name that is above every name," as "set down on the right hand of the majesty on high;" that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews called him the "express Image of the Father's substance," and "the Effulgence of the Father's glory." The earliest testimonies of heathendom confess that Christians sang hymns to Christ as to God (Pliny, 'Letter to Trajan')! but this was the hour of the great confession; this was the birth-cry of Christendom; this was the epoch-making scene, which guided the pen of John from the prologue to the close of the Gospel Thus Thomas doubted that the Church might believe. Thomas did indeed die with his Master, that he might lead a multitude of the dead from their hopelessness and unrest to the resurrection-life. He received a full and all-sufficing evidence of the supernatural and Divine life, and eighteen hundred years of faith have blessed God for the victory which Thomas gained over his despondency, and for the climacteric force with which St. John tells us of it.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
ThomasΘωμᾶς(Thōmas)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2381:Thomas, also called Didymus, one of the Twelve. Of Chaldee origin; the twin; Thomas, a Christian.replied,Ἀπεκρίθη(Apekrithē)Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 611:From apo and krino; to conclude for oneself, i.e. to respond; by Hebraism to begin to speak.“Myμου(mou)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473:I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.LordΚύριός(Kyrios)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2962:Lord, master, sir; the Lord. From kuros; supreme in authority, i.e. controller; by implication, Master.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.myμου(mou)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473:I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.God!”Θεός(Theos)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316:A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.
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NT Gospels: John 20:28 Thomas answered him My Lord and my (Jhn Jo Jn) 
