Interesting Questions-33

"My Lord and my God"
(John 20:28)

Letter to the Editor:
GOD'S MESSAGE, November 2004, p.4

HOW  CAN YOU say that Jesus Christ is not God when  Thomas, an postle of Christ, clearly called Him God. In John 20:28 we can read,   "And  Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and MY GOD!"" Doesn't the pronoun ''Him" refer    to   Christ?   Clearly,   Thomas referred to Christ as God because He is God.

Ian Parks
Madison Wisconsin, USA

Editor's reply:

We are not the only ones who say that Jesus Christ  is not God. Christ Himself proved this when He declared that He is man (Jn. 8:40; 4:24; Lk. 24:39).

 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. (John 8:40, NKJV)

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, NKJV)

Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” (Luke 24:39, NKJV)

Regarding Apostle Thomas' statement   in   John   20:28,   please   refer to the article on page  31, which discusses in full the context of such statement and the reason it is not a valid basis to further the false claim that Christ is God.

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Please read the following verses to get a good idea on what transpired prior Thomas' statement:

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

 ¹⁰ Then the followers went back home. ¹¹ But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. While she was crying, she bent down and looked inside the tomb. ¹² She saw two angels dressed in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been. One was sitting where the head had been; the other was sitting where the feet had been.  ¹³ The angels asked Mary, “Woman, why are you crying?” Mary answered, “They took away the body of my Lord, and I don’t know where they put him.” ¹⁴ When Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not know that it was Jesus.  ¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”   She thought he was the man in charge of the garden. So she said to him, “Did you take him away, sir? Tell me where you put him. I will go and get him.”  ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”    She turned toward him and said in Aramaic, “Rabboni,” which means “Teacher.”  ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “You don’t need to hold on to me! I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my followers ^[a] and tell them this: ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father. I am going back to my God and your God.’”  ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the followers and told them, “I saw the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.

Jesus Appears to His Followers

 ¹⁹ The day was Sunday, and that same evening the followers were together. They had the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ As soon as he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the followers saw the Lord, they were very happy.   ²¹ Then Jesus said again, “Peace be with you. It was the Father who sent me, and I am now sending you in the same way.” ²² Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of anyone, their sins are forgiven. If there is anyone whose sins you don’t forgive, their sins are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

 ²⁴ Thomas (called Didymus) was one of the twelve, but he was not with the other followers when Jesus came. ²⁵ They told him, “We saw the Lord.” Thomas said, “That’s hard to believe. I will have to see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side. Only then will I believe it.”  ²⁶ A week later the followers were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand here in my side. Stop doubting and believe.”  ²⁸ Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “You believe because you see me. Great blessings belong to the people who believe without seeing me!” (John 20:10-29, Easy To Read Version)

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The following are excerpt from the article referred above: How should we understand Thomas statement in John 20:28, GOD'S MESSAGE, November 2004, p.31-33:

A statement of amazement and disbelief:

When Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" was he at this point affirming his faith in the alleged deity of Jesus or was he in state of unbelief?

Think of the situation before Jesus showed Himself to them: the doors were shut when Jesus abruptly stood in their midst and summoned Thomas to come near to Him. What was Thomas' reaction? A reaction of unbelief and amazement. Is this kind of reaction something that is strange or unusual? No. The fact is, Thomas was not the only one caught perplexed but also the rest of his companions. Luke reported that when Jesus appeared abruptly in their midst while the disciples were gathered together, they were terrified and frightened (Lk. 24: 36-37).

³⁶ Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” ³⁷ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. (Luke 24:36-37, NKJV)

Even after Jesus showed His hands and His feet (Lk. 24:40), still they did not believe because of their joy and amazement (Lk 24:41).

⁴⁰When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹ But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any food here?" (Luke 40-41, NKJV)

It was at this time that Jesus upbraided them (Mk. 16:14).

¹⁴ Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. (Mark 16:14, NKJV)

It  is   not   surprising,  therefore,  for Thomas to react in such fashion  similar to the other disciples. Being in a state of wonder and disbelief, he uttered statements that were contrary to the message taught to them by Jesus through Mary Magdalene. What did Jesus tell Mary that Thomas and the rest of the disciples should believe concerning the question of who should be their God? Jesus taught Mary and the disciples that their God is His God (Jn. 20:17)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “You don’t need to hold on to me! I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my followers and tell them this: ‘I am going back to my Father and your Father. I am going back to my God and your God.’”  ¹8 Mary Magdalene went to the followers and told them, “I saw the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her. (John 20:17-18, Easy to Read Version, emphasis ours)

It must be remembered that during the preceding days before His death, Jesus taught His disciples the identity of the only true God whom they should believe. In His intercessory prayer to the Father in heaven, He emphasized the absolute oneness of God by saying, "Father,  ... You, the only true God" (Jn. 17:1,3, NKJV).  

 ¹ Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,  ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:1,3, NKJV,  emphasis ours)

Obviously,  Thomas failed to remember these words of his Master. What he uttered in John 20:28 should not be regarded as a statement of faith nor should they be considered as a strong biblical foundation to assert Christ's alleged deity.

Thomas' statement in John 20:28 should be rejected as basis in proving the alleged divinity of Christ. Remember that Thomas was not preaching at that moment. His statement was against the statement that was written about Christ, uttered by Peter when he was preaching under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, 22)

²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— (Acts 2:22, NKJV, emphasis ours)

If the proponents of the Christ-is-God theology were to summon Thomas as a witness to prove their point, their evidence is weak because the one they consider as their prime witness was at that time in a state of doubt.

A mistake rebuked

Others ask "Why did Jesus not rebuke Thomas if his statement was wrong?" They allege   that    Jesus  accepted Thomas' statement and even blessed him afterwards. Is it true that Thomas was not rebuked and was blessed later? What did Jesus tell him after he proclaimed, "My Lord and my God!"   Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? . . . . . (Jn. 20:29, Revised Standard Version)         

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." (John 20:29, RSV)

What do we see at this point?       Jesus was rebuking him, not blessing him. On the other hand, who are blessed according to Jesus? "..... .. .. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." (Jn. 20:29, Ibid.)

It is true that many of Christ's disciples had neither seen Him person-after He had risen nor had witnessed His resurrection. They had not seen His resurrected body, yet they believed His body had risen from the grave. Although many have not seen Jesus walked on earth as a man, many have accepted His testimony that He is a man telling the truth which He heard from God (Jn. 8:40).  Apostle  Peter  testified that  He  is    a  man proven by God through the miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him (Acts 2:22, Today's English Version). Apostle Paul taught the Christians that the man Jesus Christ is their Mediator to God (I Tim. 2:5, KJV). His disciples never proclaimed Jesus as God in their preaching and in their epistles.

Unfortunately, there are still those who insist on submitting the doubting apostle's statement in John 20:28 as their alleged evidence in proving their thwarted belief on Christ's state of being. The reason is simple. In the absence of explicit biblical evidences that could substantiate their  claim, they have no other recourse but to give much credit to the testimony of a doubting person. In a way, there are many "doubting Thomases" who, in spite of the overwhelming biblical evidences that it is not Jesus but the Father alone who is the only true God (Jn. 17:1, 3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:6) still contend that Jesus is God, using as basis erroneous  statements such as that which was uttered by the Apostle Thomas in John 20:28.

However, those who have done a thorough examination of the biblical narratives cited, after doing an exhaustive study, would agree to the truth that: Thomas' statement in John 20:28 is not a confession of faith but a statement made by a person who was in a state of amazement and disbelief.

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Bible Study Suggestion: If you have further questions, please feel free to visit the Iglesia ni Cristo congregation nearest you. A minister or an evangelical worker would be happy to answer any biblical question you have in mind.