| 25. Dixerunt ergo ei alii discipuli: Vidimus Dominum. Ille autem dixit eis: Nisi videro in manibus eius fixuram clavorum, et mittam digitum meum in locum clavorum, et mittam manum meum in latus eius, non credam. | 25. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my my hand into his side, I will not believe. |
25. The reply of Thomas shows how he had dwelt on each terrible detail of the Passion. The other Apostles may have told him how Christ had pointed to His hands and feet, and invited them to “handle and see” that it was He Himself. (Luke xxiv. 29, 30). If so, the language of Thomas would naturally be shaped in accordance with what they told him.
| 26. Et post dies octo, iterum erant discipuli eius intus: et Thomas cum eis. Venit Iesus, ianuis clausis, et stetit in medio, et dixit: Pax vobis. | 26. And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said: Peace be to you. |
26. And after eight days, that is to say, on Low Sunday, [pg 370] Christ again appeared to the Apostles, Thomas being present; and this was His sixth appearance. Thomas, though still without faith, had remained in the company of the Apostles.
| 27. Deinde dicit Thomae: Infer digitum tuum huc, et vide manus meas, et affer manum tuam, et mitte in latus meum: et noli esse incredulus, sed fidelis. | 27. Then he said to Thomas: put in thy finger hither, and see my hands, and bring hither thy hand and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. |
27. We may here admire our Lord's tender and touching mercy in condescending to such pains to dispel the unbelief of Thomas. The language used is such as to prove to the Apostle that Jesus knew the very words in which he had questioned the resurrection.
| 28. Respondit Thomas, et dixit ei: Dominus meus et Deus meus. | 28. Thomas answered, and said to him: My Lord, and my God. |
28. My Lord, and my God (ὁ κύρίος μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου). As often in the New Testament (Mark ix. 25; Luke viii. 54; John viii. 10), the nominative is here used for the vocative (see Beel., Gr. Gram., § 29, Adnot. 1). For the Evangelist expressly states that Thomas addressed Christ. It is absurd then to contend, as the Socinians and Paul of Heidelberg did, that these words are simply an exclamation, meaning: O Jehovah! For, besides the fact that Christ is addressed, the Jews were not in the habit of using any such exclamation. The second council of Constant., cap. 12, condemned those who, following the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia, said: “Haec verba a Thoma non dicta fuisse de Christo, sed miraculo resurrectionis perculsum, Thomam laudasse Deum qui Christum resuscitasset.”
Thomas's words, then, are a confession of faith, as our Lord's words in the next verse prove, and of faith in Christ's humanity and Divinity.
In confessing Jesus to be his Lord, Thomas acknowledges Him to be “the master” who had been crucified; while, in the remaining words, he clearly confesses Christ's Divinity. And [pg 371] so our Evangelist, ever mindful of his object in writing this Gospel, records this splendid testimony to the humanity and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and our Lord's approval thereof.