As I may have mentioned in a recent post, I finally finished reading through the Gospels in my current reading through the Bible from start to finish. I came across a quote that was both very insightful and powerful that I wanted to share with you. Not only was it insightful and powerful, but it also cuts across another common Biblical interpretation that I not only disagree with but honestly, it gets to me. As much as possible, I would rather let Scripture interpret itself. It does not need man’s help.
First, the passage on which the commentary was written:
First, the passage on which the commentary was written:
“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, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to 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, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””John 20:19-29 NKJV
Now for the quote:
“We’ve [referred to Thomas as] Doubting Thomas, but Jesus never called him that. All the disciples doubted until they saw Jesus with their own eyes. Jesus never shame Thomas for questioning things; instead, He meets Thomas in his doubts and questions.”
– Tara-Leigh Cobble of The Bible Recap, Day 319 (Luke 24; John 20-21), page 656.
All the disciples doubted. For every Christian and so-called Christian who likes to beat Thomas up for doubting, you all miss the fact that every single disciple doubted until Jesus revealed Himself. The only difference was Thomas happened to not be there the first time Jesus showed up, and he spoke his mind. So what’s the real lesson here? “Don’t speak up”? I think not. After all, if God knows our hearts and our innermost thoughts (which He does), then we might as well speak up. Although Scripture does say that we must have faith, and that without it we cannot please Him, struggling to believe certain things does not automatically equate to utter faithlessness, and it certainly does not warrant human condemnation. (It is certainly different if one has tasted the goodness of God and yet still willfully refuses to give Him their trust! What Thomas was doing here was not that.)
“Then [Jesus] blesses us all: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ”
– Tara-Leigh Cobble of The Bible Recap, ibid.
Although the printed text stops there on that topic, in the video Cobble went on to say that here Jesus is referring to all of us, including every believer in history who came to faith after Jesus’s ascension. None of us ever got to meet Jesus in the flesh, and so our step of faith is to believe and trust in Him and in His finished work on the cross without needing Him to appear in the flesh to prove it to us. Thomas’s excuse is that the resurrection had just happened and he hadn’t known about it, so it is perfectly understandable that he would doubt it at first (again, just like the rest of the disciples had done). The difference is for us, we’ve known about his resurrection for a very long time, and so to not believe that now would be an act of willful doubt. That is not what Thomas was guilty of. So I exhort all who have subscribed to the doctrine of Doubting Thomas as indicting his doubt as some horrible gross sin, to learn to examine Scripture for yourself, especially study its context, and then see what the text shows you. Everything I posted above is the result of my process with it.
[And to address what appears to be a discrepancy between what I said earlier in this post and including the quote from The Bible Recap, Cobble regularly articulates the importance of letting Scripture interpret itself, and as such, when she appears to “interpret” it, what it reveals is Scripture’s interpretation of itself. If none of the other disciples doubted at first, then why would Jesus need to first say, “Peace be with you?” If I am to follow the whole thing about always having faith no matter what even when it doesn’t make sense, then shouldn’t Jesus’s first response upon arrival in verse 19 have been to rebuke them for their lack of faith? He totally could have done that. But He didn’t. He met their lack of faith by saying “Peace be with you,” and not to rebuke their slowness of heart like He had done with the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:25). The bottom line is, I think He knows when to rebuke someone and when to assure someone. And all Cobble was doing was presenting Scripture, highlighting what it says as well as what it doesn’t say so as to debunk common myths that have arisen over time.]
Nonetheless, Thomas did also say this:
“And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!””John 20:28 NKJV
Maybe it’s time we start calling him “Believing Thomas,” based on Scripture. Just a thought.