Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 20:26 - 20:29

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Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 20:26 - 20:29


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_20:26-29

26After 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." 27Then 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." 28Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

Joh_20:26 "after eight days" This is a Hebrew idiom for a week. This was another Sunday evening. Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room (possibly John Mark's house) three Sunday nights in a row and thereby set a precedent for Christian worship. See note at Joh_20:19.

Joh_20:27 "and do not be unbelieving, but believing" This is a present middle (deponent) imperative with negative particle which usually means to stop an act in process. All believers are a strange mixture of doubt and faith!

Joh_20:28 Thomas' confession may be theologically related to Joh_20:17. Thomas' confession may have had an OT precedence in that whenever the titles YHWH Elohim (i.e., Gen_2:4) occurred together, the name is translated "Lord God." Jesus fully accepts this shocking affirmation of His Deity. From chapter 1, Joh_20:1, John's Gospel asserts the Deity of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus claimed deity several times in John (cf. Joh_8:58; Joh_10:30; Joh_14:9; Joh_20:28) and the author asserts His deity in Joh_1:1; Joh_1:14-18; Joh_5:18. Other biblical authors also clearly assert that Jesus is divine (cf. Act_20:28; Rom_9:5; Php_2:6-7; Col_1:15-17; 2Th_1:12; Tit_2:13; Heb_1:8; 2Pe_1:1; 2Pe_1:11; 1Jn_5:20).

Joh_20:29 This opening phrase can be a statement or a question expecting a "yes" answer. The grammatical structure is ambiguous.

This is similar to the blessing in Joh_17:20 (cf. 1Pe_1:8).