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Joh_20:19-20. Comp. Luk_24:36 ff., where, however, the handling and the eating is already added from tradition. The account in Mar_16:14 is different. Schweizer’s reasons against the Johannean origin of Joh_20:19-29 amount to this, that, according to John, the resurrection of Jesus was no external one on this side of the grave, and that consequently the appearances could only be visionary. Against this Joh_2:21-22, Joh_10:17-18 are already decisive, as well as the faith and the testimony of the entire apostolic Church.
τ . θυρῶν κεκλεισμ .] can all the less be without essential significance, since it is repeated in Joh_20:26 also, and that without διὰ τὸν φόβον τ . Ἰουδ . It points to a miraculous appearance, which did not require open doors, and which took place while they were closed. The how does not and cannot appear; in any case, however, the ἄφαντος ἐγένετο , Luk_24:31, is the correlate of this immediate appearance in the closed place; and the constitution of His body, changed, brought nearer to the glorified state, although not immaterial, is the condition for such a liberation of the Risen One from the limitations of space that apply to ordinary corporeity. Euth. Zigabenus: ὡς λεπτοῦ ἤδη καὶ κούφου καὶ ἀκηράτου γενομένου τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ . More minute information concerning this change withdraws itself from more definite judgment; hence, also, the passage can offer no proof of the Lutheran doctrine of ubiquity, especially as the body of Jesus is not yet that which is glorified in δόξα . According to B. Crusius, and already Beza and several others (comp. also Thenius, Evangel. der Evangelien, p. 45), the doors must have suddenly opened of themselves. But in this way precisely the essential point would be passed over in silence. According to Baeumlein, nothing further is expressed than that the disciples were assembled in a closed room.[266] But how easily would John have known how actually to express this! As he has expressed himself, τ . θυρῶν κεκλεισμ . is the definite relation, under which the ἦλθεν , κ . τ . λ . took place, although it is not said that He passed ΔΙᾺ Τ . ΘΥΡ . ΚΕΚΛ ., as many Fathers, Calovius and others, represent the matter.
ΕἸς ΤῸ ΜΈΣΟΝ ] into the midst, after ἔστη , as in Herod. iii. 130, and frequently. Comp. on Joh_20:7; Joh_21:3.
ΕἸΡΉΝΗ ὙΜῖΝ ] The usual greeting on entrance: Peace to you! This first greeting of the risen Lord in the circle of disciples still resounded deeply and vividly enough in the heart of the aged John to lead him to relate it (in answer to Tholuck); there is therefore no reason for importing the wish for the peace of reconciliation (comp. εἰρήνη ἡ ἐμή , Joh_14:27).
ἜΔΕΙΞΕΝ ΑὐΤΟῖς , Κ . Τ . Λ .] In proof of the corporeal identity of His Person; for on the hands and on the side they must see the wounds. This was sufficient; it was not also required to exhibit the feet. Variation from Luk_24:40, when the feet are shown instead of the side, the piercing of which is not related by the Synoptics. All the more groundlessly is the present passage employed against the nailing of the feet (see generally on Mat_27:35); the more groundless also is the opinion that the σάρξ of Christ was only the already laid-aside earthly envelope of the Logos (Baur). Comp. on Joh_1:14.
ΟὖΝ ] In consequence of this evidence of identity. Terror and doubt, certainly the first impression of miraculous appearance, now gave way to joy. And from out their joyful thoughts comes the utterance of John: ἰδόντες τὸν κύριον .
[266] Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 474, does not make the room at all, but only the house to be closed, and says there “may also have been somebody who had been appointed to open.” Schenkel, to whom the Risen One is “the Spirit of the Church,” can, of course, only allow the entrance through closed doors to pass as an emblem. Scholten, who considers the appearances of the Risen One to be ecstatic contemplations of the glorified One, employs the closed doors also for this purpose.