Doubt about the resurrection of Thomas

 

Doubt about the resurrection of Thomas

 

John 20:25 『The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.』

Thomas did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus was resurrected and appeared to the disciples, Thomas was the only one who was not there. When the disciples told Thomas that Jesus had risen, he did not believe it. Of course, the other disciples did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus at first, but Thomas did not believe it even after hearing the other disciples’ story of Jesus’ resurrection. If another disciple had been in the same situation as Thomas, they would not have believed it. This is because they could not believe in the resurrection of Jesus when they saw it with their physical eyes. It is difficult to understand how a dead person could appear to those who had been with him before.

The other disciples' words to Thomas were because they spoke as if Jesus' dead body had come back to life. John 20:19-20『Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you.

And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD .』 It is talking about Jesus appearing to the disciples when Thomas was not present. And in verse 25 of chapter 20, it is a scene where the other disciples speak to Thomas.

However, in Luke 24:36-40, the resurrected Jesus appeared where the eleven disciples were. 『And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and afrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.』

Clearly, when Jesus appeared to the other disciples without Thomas, Jesus showed them his hands and side, and the disciples were happy. But when the eleven disciples with Thomas were there, they were all surprised and afraid, thinking that Jesus was a spirit. So Jesus showed them his hands and side and said, “A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” In context, the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke seem to be contradictory. Clearly, the content of the Gospel of Luke precedes the content of the Gospel of John, because the Gospel of John is written in the absence of Thomas.

Based on the Gospel of Luke, why were the disciples afraid when they saw the resurrected Jesus again? In the Gospel of John, the ten disciples, excluding Thomas, saw the resurrected Jesus, saw his hands and side, but Jesus disappeared immediately. They saw the resurrected Jesus and spoke to Thomas, but they began to doubt. They said that the resurrected Jesus was not a body but a spirit. So when Jesus appeared to the disciples again, including Thomas, they said, “I am not a spirit, but I have a body.”

This situation is expressed more specifically in the Gospel of John (20:26-29). 『And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed..』In summary, it emphasizes that Jesus had a body, not a spirit.

When the other disciples thought, "The first thing that doubted was the spirit, not the body," Thomas doubted the resurrection itself. Jesus clearly showed Thomas that it was the body, not the spirit, through his hands and side. However, Jesus showed Thomas his body that was being transformed.

In Luke 24:39, it says, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." In the Greek Bible, this reads,『 πόδας μου ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι αὐτός· ψηλαφήσατέ με καὶ ἴδετε, ὅτι πνεῦμα σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει καθὼς ἐμὲ θεωρεῖτε ἔχοντα.』

If we translate it again, it says, "See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. He who touched me and saw that I am a spirit, and I have no bones, as you see me with bones." What Thomas saw was not the nail marks and spear marks that Jesus had while he was dead, but the sight of those marks being transformed and being surprised. Likewise, the disciples were probably surprised and happy because of the appearance of the resurrection, just like Thomas. The English translation may make it seem as if Jesus had flesh and bones, which may lead to the illusion that he had returned to his previous body. However, the body is a spirit body (πνεῦμα σάρκα pneuma sarka). And it has no bones. In other words, it is not a body like the one that people in this world need bones to move around.

Jesus is said to be the first fruit of the resurrection. If most church people think of resurrection as the body coming back to life after death, then they cannot help but mention the three miracles Jesus performed while he was alive. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, raised the dead son of the widow of Nain, and raised the dead daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader. These people died and came back to life, so why don’t they say they were resurrected? It’s because they are different from Jesus’ body. The bodies of the three people are bodies that die again, but Jesus’ body is a spiritual body that never dies, and so he is the first fruit of the resurrection.

That is, it shows that the body received from parents cannot be transformed into an eternal body. The body must die (baptism by water) and be reborn as an eternal body from heaven (baptism by the Holy Spirit). That is why Jesus said through Nicodemus that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, believers today believe in resurrection as the dead body coming back to life. That is why they do not believe in the present resurrection. There is no true gospel for them.

Today, in the church community, there are three types of people who doubt the resurrection. Those who doubt the present resurrection itself, like Thomas. They do not believe in the resurrection while alive. They believe in the resurrection after death. And those who think of the resurrection as a spirit, like the other disciples. They do not believe in the resurrection of the body. However, there are some believers who believe in the present resurrection as a spiritual body. Ultimately, most believers do not believe in the present resurrection or the resurrection as a spiritual body. This is because when humans look at the resurrection, they see it as if the dead body has come back to life.

The present resurrection is the resurrection of the dead spirit from the dead, and the return to the previous state of the spiritual body. Although it is not visible to the physical eye because of the body, it can be known by the spiritual eye. Faith must come from heaven, and it becomes a faith that can be achieved despite the impossibility. If you cling to the flesh that exists while you live in this world, you can miss the spiritual world.