33The Resurrected Christ  (John 20:11–31)

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (20:11–31)

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the divine affirmation of His atonement accomplished at the cross. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He declared that He was propitiated by Jesus’ sacrifice, and had accepted it as payment in full for the sins of His people, completely satisfying the demands of His holy justice. Jesus was, Paul wrote, “delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:25). The resurrection also demonstrated that where sin is atoned for, death is conquered and eternal life is given.

It is impossible to believe in the Jesus of the Bible without believing that He rose bodily from the dead. To reject His resurrection is to invent another Jesus, a pseudo-Christ of unbelieving imagination (2 Cor. 11:4). It is to call God a liar by refusing to believe His testimony concerning Jesus, “who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). Those who reject the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ remain outside the sphere of salvation, for as Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, it is only “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, [that] you will be saved.”

Jesus Himself offered His resurrection as convincing, irrefutable proof that His claims to deity were true. Confronted by

On another occasion

Therefore to deny Christ’s resurrection is to make Him a liar.

Further, since the resurrection is essential to the Christian gospel and salvation, denying that Christ rose from the dead renders any professed belief in Him meaningless and absurd. To the Corinthians, being seduced by the damning lies of resurrection-denying false teachers, Paul wrote,

To deny the resurrection is also to fly in the face of the overwhelming historical evidence that affirms it. The indisputable facts are that Jesus died, was buried, and three days later His tomb was found empty because He was alive. The only plausible interpretation of the historical record is that Jesus rose from the dead, as the Bible claims. Yet throughout history there have been skeptics, representing “doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1), who have denied the resurrection. The issue is not lack of evidence, but stubborn unbelief driven by the love of sin. People are unwilling to accept the inescapable consequence of the resurrection; namely, that Christ is God, the God of Scripture, and they are accountable for every violation of His law and in need of His grace. Thus sinful men, in an irrational effort to evade their guilt and accountability to the one true God, have concocted various theories in a futile attempt to explain away the reality of the resurrection.

A favorite of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century rationalists, the swoon theory argues that Jesus did not really die on the cross. Instead, He went into a semicoma due to shock and loss of blood. In that condition He appeared to be dead, and so was taken down from the cross and buried while still alive. Later, the spices and the coolness of the tomb revived Him. Jesus then left the tomb, met the disciples, and they mistakenly assumed He had risen from the dead.

This theory faces insurmountable difficulties. In the first place the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus were experienced executioners, who knew when a person was dead. They were satisfied that Jesus had died, because they did not break His legs (John 19:33). Their commander reported to Pilate that Jesus was dead (Mark 15:44–45). Obviously, the centurion would have made certain of that fact before making his report to the governor. Further, the spear thrust into Jesus’ side that brought forth blood and water showed clearly that He was dead (see the discussion of 19:34 in the previous chapter of this volume).

The swoon theory also fails to explain how Jesus, weakened by the brutal scourging he received and the punishing effects of being crucified, could have survived for three days without food, water, and medical care. Nor does it explain how a man in such a weakened state could have freed himself from the grave clothes in which his body was wrapped (something Lazarus was unable to do; John 11:44), moved the heavy stone that sealed the tomb, overpowered the Roman guard detachment, and walked several miles to Emmaus on nail-pierced feet. Most important of all, the swoon theory cannot explain how such a half-dead individual, desperately in need of triage, could have persuaded the disciples that He was the risen Lord, the conqueror of death and the grave. This theory also blasphemes Jesus by making Him into a deceiver and a fraud, which is to reject the testimony of the Father and Scripture that He lived a sinless life (Luke 1:35; 3:22; John 8:46; 14:30; 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22).

No less far-fetched is the hallucination theory. Its proponents argue that Jesus’ followers, overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, wanted so desperately for Him to be resurrected that they had hallucinations of seeing Him alive. Hallucinations are private, individual experiences. Jesus, however, appeared to various individuals and groups on at least ten different occasions, including more than five hundred people at once (1 Cor. 15:6). Nor were the disciples likely candidates for such hallucinations, since they were not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead (John 20:9) and actually scoffed at the initial reports that He had (Luke 24:11). This theory also fails to explain why on at least three occasions the people allegedly having hallucinations of Jesus did not recognize Him (Luke 24:13–31; John 20:15; 21:4). Nor can it explain how a hallucination could eat a piece of fish (Luke 24:42–43), point out a school of fish (John 21:6), or cook a meal (John 21:9–13). And while it purports to account for Christ’s resurrection appearances, it fails to account for the empty tomb and the missing body.

Another academic liberal, Kirsopp Lake, argued that the women mistakenly went to the wrong tomb (even though two of them had watched Jesus being buried; Mark 15:47). Finding it empty, they erroneously assumed that Jesus had risen from the dead. But that means that Peter and John must have also gone to the wrong tomb. And surely Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who buried Jesus, knew which tomb they had put His body in. Obviously the Jewish leaders also knew which tomb was the right one, since they had sealed it and posted a Roman guard outside of it. Why did someone not simply go to the right tomb and produce Jesus’ body?

Still other pseudoscholars argue that the tomb was empty because Jesus was never buried in it. Instead, they posit, His body was taken down from the cross and thrown into a common criminal grave.

This theory fails to explain why the Gospels say that Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, and why history records no other burial Story. Nor could the disciples have invented the story that a member of the Sanhedrin had buried Jesus, if in fact he had not; Joseph would have promptly debunked it. And when the disciples began proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead, why did whoever had disposed of His body not simply retrieve it?

The oldest denial of Christ’s resurrection was invented by the Jewish authorities. As Matthew 28:11–15 records, they claimed that the disciples stole Jesus’ body from the tomb. It should be noted first of all that their claim is a tacit admission that the tomb was empty, and that they did not know where the body was. William Lane Craig writes,

Despite its antiquity, this theory fares no better than the other attempts to explain away the resurrection. In the first place, since the disciples were not expecting Christ to rise from the dead (John 20:9; cf. Luke 24:9–11), why would they have faked His resurrection? Further, they had fled when Jesus was arrested (Matt. 26:56); their leader, Peter, had denied Him, and they had gone into hiding out of fear of the Jewish authorities (John 20:19). To have taken on a Roman guard detachment and committed the serious crime of robbing a tomb would have required far more courage than this demoralized, doubt-filled, fearful group possessed. It is hard to see how the disciples, if they stole Jesus’ body and fabricated the story of His resurrection, benefitted from it. To assume they would have willingly endured persecution and suffered martyrdom (as most of them did) for what they knew to be a lie is ridiculous.

If the disciples did not steal the body, then perhaps, some argue, the Romans, Jews, or unknown grave robbers did. But the Romans would have had no conceivable motive for taking Christ’s body; Pilate would hardly have risked antagonizing the Jews by doing so. Nor would the Jews have taken the body; the last thing they wanted was to fuel speculation that Jesus had risen from the dead (cf. Matt. 27:62–66). But if either the Romans or the Jews had the body, why did they not produce it when the disciples boldly proclaimed the resurrection in the streets of Jerusalem a few weeks later? As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, grave robbers would not have unwrapped the body, left the valuable spices behind, or taken the time to neatly arrange the wrappings before they left. Nor would they have attempted to break into a tomb guarded by Roman soldiers.

The appearances Christ made after He rose from the dead provide the most convincing proof of the resurrection. Scripture records at least ten distinct appearances of Christ between the resurrection and the ascension: to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11–18), to other women who had been at the tomb (Matt. 28:8–10), to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–32), to Peter (Luke 24:34), to ten of the eleven remaining apostles, Thomas being absent (Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–25), to all eleven apostles, with Thomas present (John 20:26–31), to seven of the apostles on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1–25), to more than five hundred disciples, probably on a mountain in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:7), to James (1 Cor. 15:7), and to the apostles when He ascended to heaven (Acts 1:3–11). In addition, the risen Christ later appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1–9), and several subsequent occasions (Acts 18:9; 22:17–18; 23:11).

It is significant to note that all of the Lord’s postresurrection appearances were to believers (except Paul, who was not yet a believer when He appeared to him the first time). His normal method of reaching the lost is not through performing spectacular miracles, such as personally appearing to them, but through the witness of His church in the power of His Spirit (Matt. 28:19–20; Acts 1:8). Nor would such miracles convince unbelievers anyway. “But though He had performed so many signs before them,” John noted, “yet they were not believing in Him” (John 12:37). Even a resurrection appearance would not convince hardened unbelievers, since those who “do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, … will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

Out of all of Christ’s postresurrection appearances, John selected three that give special insights into the person of Jesus Christ: to Mary Magdalene, to the ten apostles (without Thomas), and to all eleven apostles (specifically to Thomas).

CHRIST’S APPEARANCE TO MARY MAGDALENE

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. (20:11–18)

The Lord’s appearance to Mary, the woman from the village of Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberias, symbolizes His special love and faithfulness to all believers, no matter how seemingly insignificant they might be. Mary was not a prominent figure in the gospel accounts; before the crucifixion she appeared only as a name in the list of women who traveled with Jesus and the apostles (Luke 8:2). Yet the Lord chose to appear first to her, a woman, as He had first declared His messiahship to the woman at the well (John 4:28–29).

After Peter and John left (20:10), Mary returned and was standing outside the tomb. As noted in the discussion of 20:1 in the previous chapter of this volume, Mary apparently had arrived at the tomb before the other women. Seeing that the stone had been removed, she feared that grave robbers had broken in and stolen Jesus’ body. She immediately ran and reported the news to Peter and John. Driven by an overwhelming sense of grief and loss, Mary then returned to the tomb. But by the time she did so, the two apostles had come and gone. She did not cross paths with them or the other women on her way back to the tomb, and so did not know about the undisturbed grave clothes or the angels’ message.

Disconsolate, Mary stood there weeping uncontrollably. Her love for the Lord was greater than her faith in His promise to rise again. Despite her weak faith, however, Jesus would not leave her in sorrow (cf. 16:20–22). At last, while she still wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb. Like the other women (Luke 24:1–7), she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. She could not recognize them as angels, since they had assumed human form (Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4). Their question to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” was a gentle rebuke. The time for mourning was over; the sorrow of death was forever shattered by the joyous reality of the resurrection.

Plaintively, she addressed them, unaware of who they were and said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Mary’s despair stemmed from not knowing where the Lord’s body was. She believed He was still dead, and she had come back now that the Sabbath was over (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1) to finish burial preparations for His body. But as she was about to discover, that task was not necessary.

How Mary suddenly became aware of Jesus’ presence is not stated. Perhaps, as some have suggested, the angels gestured toward Him. In any case, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But her perplexity continued, since she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection body was more glorious than before and certainly did not match her vivid memories of Him, especially the battered, bruised, bloody corpse she had seen on the cross. There have been several suggestions for her failure to recognize the Lord. She was sure that He was dead, so the last thing she expected was to see Him alive. Further, her eyes may have been blurred from tears. Moreover she, like the others, was prevented from recognizing Him until He chose to reveal Himself to her (cf. 21:4; Luke 24:16).

Repeating the question asked by the angels, Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? then added, “Whom are you seeking?” Reflecting her continued confusion, she, assuming Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” In her single-minded devotion, Mary simply wanted to ensure that Jesus’ body had a proper burial—even if it meant moving His body by herself.

With a single word, Jesus opened Mary’s eyes. He merely spoke her name (cf. 10:3–4, 27), “Mary!” and in a flash all of her doubt, confusion, and sorrow vanished. Recognizing Jesus in that moment, she turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Rabboni is a strengthened form of “Rabbi,” and was used as a title to express great honor and supreme reverence (cf. Mark 10:51). Overcome with a profound mix of joy and relief, Mary fell at His feet. Like the other women had done (Matt. 28:9), she clung to Jesus, prompting Him to say to her, Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Having found Him again beyond her wildest hopes, she did not want to lose Him. Her physical grasp symbolized her desire to secure His presence permanently. But He would be physically present for only a brief time, forty days (Acts 1:3), after which He would ascend to the Father. How much knowledge she had of what Jesus had promised in the upper room is not known. But perhaps she had been told by the apostles that He said He was going to the Father to send the Holy Spirit (14:16–18; 16:7), so He said nothing about that, only that He could not stay, but must ascend.

The Lord then sent Mary to the apostles to tell them of His impending ascension: Go to My brethren and say to them, “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” For the first time the disciples, who had been referred to as slaves or friends (15:15), are called Christ’s brethren. It was through His work of redemption on the cross that this new relationship with Him was made possible. It is “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). God adopts as His sons (Rom. 8:14–15; Eph. 1:5) those who believe savingly in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26). As a result, Jesus “is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11), and has become “the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). Reflecting this new relationship, the Lord’s message to the disciples referred to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

Excitedly, Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her. Predictably, they responded with the same dubiousness with which they had greeted the testimony of the other women who had been at the tomb. Luke reports that they considered the report as “nonsense” and they “would not believe them” (24:11).

CHRIST’S APPEARANCE TO TEN OF THE DISCIPLES

So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” (20:19–23)

The scene now shifts to the evening on that very resurrection Sunday (for a discussion of the significance of the first day of the week, see the exposition of 20:1 in the previous chapter of this volume). The disciples (minus Thomas) had gathered together in an unspecified location (possibly the upper room in Jerusalem, scene of the Last Supper) and the doors were shut (the Gk. verb can also mean “locked”). The disciples were in hiding for fear of the Jews, expecting any minute that the temple police would arrive to end this whole movement by arresting them. The authorities had executed their Master, and not unreasonably they feared they would be next.

Suddenly, something happened that was far more startling than the arrival of the temple police: Jesus came and stood in their midst. The locked doors were no deterrent to Him; His glorified resurrection body simply passed through the walls. The words He spoke to them, “Peace be with you” (cf. 14:27), were intended to calm and reassure the terrified disciples, who thought they were seeing a ghost (Luke 24:37; cf. Matt. 14:26). They also complemented His words on the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), since it was His work on the cross that brought about peace between God and His people (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:14–18). To reassure them that it was really Him, Jesus showed them both His hands and His side. Luke records that He said to them, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). Recognizing Him at last, the disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord—but not before He offered a conclusive proof that He was not a spirit by eating a piece of broiled fish (Luke 24:41–43).

With the disciples at last convinced that He had risen from the dead, the Lord proceeded to give them instructions and promise them empowerment. In a preview of the Great Commission He would give them later in Galilee (Matt. 28:19–20), Jesus charged the disciples, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (cf. 17:18). Having formally commissioned the disciples, Christ ceremonially empowered them as a pledge of the power they were actually to receive on Pentecost forty days later (Acts 2:1–4). Signifying that coming reality, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This was a purely symbolic and prophetic act, reminiscent of the vivid object lessons frequently employed by Old Testament prophets to illustrate their messages (cf. Jer. 13:1–9; 19:1–11; Ezek. 4:1–4). In other words, Christ did not through this puff of breath actually and literally impart the Spirit in His fullness to them; rather, He declared in a visible figure what would happen to them at Pentecost.

Ten of the original Twelve were present. Judas was already dead by his own treacherous hand (Matt. 27:5). Thomas was the only other member of the original Twelve not present here. These disciples, of course, were already regenerate men (John 15:3). So the fact that they still were waiting to receive the Holy Spirit indicates that the Spirit’s relationship to individual believers in the new covenant era is profoundly different from His Old Testament ministry. Under the new covenant, every believer is permanently indwelt (1 Cor. 6:19), empowered (Acts 1:8), and gifted (1 Cor. 12:4–11) by the Holy Spirit. Under the old covenant, the Holy Spirit’s ministry to individual saints was not so universally personal and prominent. Jesus’ actions here indicated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was about to occur, completing the transition between the two covenants.

The Gospels are clear that heretofore “the Spirit was not yet given” (cf. John 7:39)—meaning that the new era had not yet been inaugurated. It is likewise clear that the Holy Spirit’s new covenant work did not actually commence until Pentecost. All of Scripture affirms the chronology. Jesus Himself expressly said the Spirit would not be given until after His ascension (John 16:17). But “when He ascended on high … He gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8; cf. Ps. 68:18). The Spirit was “poured out upon us from on high” (Isa. 32:15). In fact, on the very day of His ascension, Jesus told the apostles to wait for the Spirit to come upon them (Acts 1:8). When they finally did receive the Holy Spirit, the result was an immediate, public, and dramatic outpouring of miraculous power (Acts 2:33).

When Jesus breathed on them at this point, however, it was a powerful illustration, rich with meaning—because the Holy Spirit is pictured in Ezekiel 37:9–14 as God’s breath. So the gesture was an emphatic affirmation of Christ’s deity, making His own breath emblematic of the breath of God. It was also reminiscent of the way God first “breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7)—thus picturing the impartation of new life through regeneration (the second birth), which under the new covenant is always accompanied by the impartation of the Spirit (Ezek. 36:26-27). The simple act of breathing on the disciples was thus a meaningful emblem on multiple levels. Since then, every Christian has received the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation (Rom. 8:9).

As part of their witness to Him, the disciples would have His authority delegated to them. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them,” Jesus told them, but “if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” This verse has been misinterpreted by Roman Catholics to mean that the Roman Catholic Church has had the apostles’ authority to forgive sins passed down to it. But Scripture teaches that God alone can forgive sins (Mark 2:7; cf. Dan. 9:9). Nor does the New Testament record any instances of the apostles (or anyone else) absolving people of their sins. Further, this promise was not made to the apostles alone, since others were also present (Luke 24:33). What Christ was actually saying is that any Christian can declare that those who genuinely repent and believe the gospel will have their sins forgiven by God. On the other hand, they can warn that those who reject Jesus Christ will die in their sins (8:24; Heb. 10:26–27).

This was not new information to the disciples, since the Lord had spoken very similar words long before in Caesarea Philippi: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19).

Here Jesus spoke of the delegated authority of believers. He told Peter, the Twelve, and by extension all believers, that they had the authority to declare who is bound in sin and who is loosed from sin. He said believers have the “keys of the kingdom,” the realm of salvation, because they have the gospel truth that saves (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18–25). Christians can declare that a sinner is forgiven or unforgiven based on how that sinner responds to the gospel of salvation.

The church’s authority to tell someone that he is forgiven or that he is still in sin comes directly from the Word of God. In Matthew 18:15–20, the Lord taught His disciples (and by extension all believers) that if a professing believer refuses to turn from his or her sin, even after being privately confronted (vv. 15–16) and publicly rebuked (v. 17), then the church is commanded to treat that individual as an unbeliever. Those within the church have both the authority and the obligation to call the sinning brother back to repentance (vv. 18–20), and to let him know that because of his blatant disregard for the Word of God, he has subsequently forfeited fellowship with the people of God. The reality is that he may not be a child of God at all (John 8:42; 14:15;2 Cor. 13:5; 1 John 2:3–6).

Believers have the authority to do this because God has given them His Word as the supreme standard by which to judge. Their authority does not come from anything within them; it is not founded on their own personal righteousness, spiritual giftedness, or ecclesiastical position. Instead it comes from the authoritative Word of God.

That which the Scriptures affirm, Christians can dogmatically and unhesitatingly affirm; that which the Scriptures denounce, Christians can authoritatively and unapologetically denounce. Believers do not decide what is right or wrong, but they are to declare with boldness that which God has clearly revealed in His Word. Because the Scriptures present sin as an affront to God, His people must be faithful to confront it. Insofar as their judgment corresponds to the Scriptures, they can be certain that it harmonizes with God’s judgment in heaven.

When people reject the saving message of the gospel, denying the person and work of Jesus Christ, the church has divine authority, based on the revealed Word of God, to tell them that they will perish in hell unless they repent (Luke 13:1–5; cf. John 3:18; 1 Cor. 16:22). Conversely, when people profess faith in Christ as their Savior and Lord, the church can affirm that profession, if it is genuine, with equal confidence—based on passages like Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

The church’s authority comes from the Scriptures. Because Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 1:22; 5:23), the Word of Christ (Col. 3:16) is the supreme authority within the church. When believers act and speak in accord with His Word, they can do so knowing that He stands in agreement with them.

CHRIST’S APPEARANCE TO THOMAS

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (20:24–31)

Not all of the apostles had been present at Jesus’ first appearance. Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. Thomas was nicknamed Didymus, (“Twin”) for the obvious reason that he had a twin (who does not appear in Scripture). The Synoptic Gospels mention him only in the lists of the twelve apostles; the details of his character come from John’s gospel.

Thomas was the eternal pessimist. Like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories, he was a melancholy person, with an uncanny knack for finding the dark cloud in every silver lining. Thomas first appears in John’s gospel in connection with the story of the raising of Lazarus. Aghast that Jesus planned to return to the vicinity of Jerusalem, where the Jews had recently tried to kill Him (11:8), Thomas exclaimed fatalistically, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him” (v. 16). But Thomas’s pessimism should not be allowed to obscure his courage; though he thought the situation was hopeless, he nonetheless was willing to lay his life on the line for the Lord. His love for Jesus was so strong that he would have preferred to die with Him rather than to be separated from Him.

Thomas next appears in the upper room. Jesus had just announced His imminent departure (14:2–3), and reminded the disciples that they knew where He was going. Heartbroken that Jesus was leaving, Thomas promptly contradicted Him, saying despondently, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” (14:5), suggesting such devotion that he seemed to think it would be better to die with his Lord than to try to find Him later. Such was his love for Christ.

It is too bad that Thomas missed the Lord’s appearance. Why was he not there? Was it due to his being negative, pessimistic, even melancholy? Was he off somewhere feeling sorry for himself because his worst fear had come true?

Thomas may have felt alone, betrayed, forsaken. His hopes may have been crushed. The One he had loved so greatly was gone and his heart was irreparably torn. He may not have been in a socializing mood. Maybe being alone seemed best. He could not be in a crowd, even with his friends.

But when Thomas returned from wherever he had been, the other disciples were exuberantly and eagerly saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he would have none of it. Thomas was certain he would never see Jesus again. He refused to get his hopes up, only to have them dashed once more, so he announced skeptically, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” It was that remark that earned him the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” But the track record of the other ten apostles was no better; they too had scoffed at the initial reports of the resurrection (Mark 16:10–13; Luke 24:9–11) and failed to believe the Scriptures that predicted it (20:9; Luke 24:25–26). What made Thomas different was not that his doubt was greater, but that his sorrow was greater.

Thomas would soon be taken up on his skeptical offer. After eight days the disciples were again inside, but this time Thomas was with them. Once again, the doors had been shut, and once again that proved to be no deterrent to the risen Lord. As He had done eight days earlier, Jesus came in and stood in their midst. He immediately singled out Thomas. Ever the sympathetic High Priest (Heb. 4:15), Jesus gently, lovingly, compassionately said to him, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” The Lord met Thomas at the point of his weakness and doubt, without rebuke because He knew Thomas’s error was connected to his profound love. In patient compassion, He gave Thomas the empirical proof he had demanded.

That was enough for the doubter; his melancholy skepticism dissolved forever in light of the irrefutable evidence in the person confronting him. Overwhelmed, he made perhaps the greatest confession of any of the apostles, rivaled only by Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah (Matt. 16:16), exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” Significantly, Jesus did not correct him, but accepted Thomas’s affirmation of His deity. Indeed, He praised Thomas for his faith, saying to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed?” But looking ahead to the time when the tangible, physical evidence Thomas had witnessed would no longer be available, the Lord pronounced those “blessed … who did not see, and yet believed” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Peter 1:8–9). They, who will never see physical evidence of Christ’s rising, will have a greater measure of the Holy Spirit to empower faith in the resurrection. This is the second beatitude in this gospel (cf. 13:17). Blessed does not just convey a condition of happiness, but also declares the recipient to be accepted by God.

It must be noted that our Lord’s words do not indicate anything defective about the faith of Thomas.

Thomas’s confession and Christ’s response are a fitting lead in to John’s summary statement of his goal and purpose in writing his gospel: Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book (cf. 12:37; 21:25). Those who have not and will not see the Lord risen will depend on this gospel penned by John (as well as the other three) to provide the word concerning Christ by which the Spirit can give them regeneration and faith (Rom. 10:17).

And there are many more miraculous signs that Jesus did beyond the miracles recorded in chapters 2–12 (and the other Gospels), including the greatest sign—His resurrection—but they are not necessary because what has been written is sufficient. This statement establishes that this gospel of John is about the miraculous signs pointing to Jesus as Christ and Lord—for the purpose John explicitly expresses in the next statement.

But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. As has been said, to expand this verse one need only to go back through the whole gospel. This is the summary statement. To believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate (1:1, 14), the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29), and the resurrection and the life (11:25) is to believe that truth that when accepted provides forgiveness of sin and eternal life (3:16). John’s purpose is clearly evangelistic. Again, Carson aptly unifies the thought: