An Apology for "Doubting" Thomas (Part 2)
Why Thomas' doubt was actually doubt, but it was also obedience.
This is the second post in a two-part series. For part one, click here.
There are two other reasons to suspect that what is going on in Thomas’ doubt is not what we typically think: Jesus’ commands and Jesus’ response to Thomas’ “doubt.”
Jesus’ Commands
“See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray…Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.” | Matthew 24:23-26
Question: What is the general command here? Answer: don’t be had by those claiming to be the returned Christ, and don’t believe anyone who tells you they have found him.
Scenario: You are one of the 12. You return from being out and about and the other disciples tell you, “We have seen the Lord!” Immediately, the above teaching of Jesus that you heard earlier that very week, bursts into your head: “See that no one leads you astray…If anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it…If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ [the disciples saw Jesus while hiding inside a house] do not believe it.”
What do you do? You have not seen him for yourself. All you have to go on is the testimony of others claiming to have seen him–the very situation presented in Matthew 24. What do you do? It would be entirely reasonable for you to conclude that to believe the claim would be in directly violation of Jesus’ command in chapter 24.
If this is the case, then rather than doubting, Thomas did exactly what he was supposed to do. Or, really, Thomas did exactly what he was supposed to do which was doubt. People had come to him and said, “We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25). Jesus had said not to believe people who said such things (Matt. 24:23-26). So, Thomas replies, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). He doesn’t say he will never believe, but in essence “I will never believe until…” He doesn’t doubt that it is possible. His answer implies he believes it is possible; he just needs to see for himself because that’s what Jesus commanded. And because his Lord commanded that his followers not be led astray, he even has tests for validity.
Now, what may work against this at first blush is that the immediate context for the command of Jesus in Matthew 24 is his second coming. That is, admittedly, a different context than Thomas’ doubt occurs in. Two things:
1) Thomas doesn’t know that. None of the disciples seem to because in the first chapter of Acts they ask if it’s time for Jesus to restore the kingdom of Israel–a second coming kind of thing. All of them, it seems, are cloudy on the second coming prior to Christ’s ascension. In John 20, all Thomas knows is that his Lord was gone, and now is said to be back. Understood in those simple terms this is not a different context than Matthew 24 deals with.
2) Commands have principles that lay behind them. The principle for the commands in Matthew 24 is: do not believe those who say they have seen the Christ. Whatever the context, Sunday after Good Friday, or in the year of our Lord 2024, the principle remains. Do not believe those who say they have seen Christ. Why? Because there are false christs and prophets and you do not want to be led astray by them. Don’t even go to where they say they saw him. He will reveal himself to you, is the idea.
So, I would contend that Thomas does obey the principle of the command in Matthew 24. Not only that, but he likely thinks he is obeying the literal scenario the command addresses–even if we know now that was not the case.
From this perspective, Thomas’ doubt is doubt, but it is a doubt warranted by Jesus’ command to doubt (“not believe”) those who say they have seen the Christ. Thomas’ “doubt” is, in light of this command of Jesus, obedience. If nothing else, this command of Jesus not to believe should give us pause as to what kind of not believing we see Thomas doing in John 20.
The next consideration helps the reader know what kind of not believing Thomas’ doubt is.
Jesus’ response
One of the most surprising aspects of the entire scene of Thomas’ “doubt” is Jesus’ response to it. He does not rebuke Thomas. The closest thing to a rebuke Thomas receives is when Jesus responds to his belief by saying that those who believe without seeing are the blessed ones. But he never says anything that hints that Thomas had been in the wrong to not believe the disciples’ claim. If Thomas were a doubter in the sense that we have held him to be, where he had erred by doing so, wouldn’t Jesus have responded differently?
If Thomas was in the wrong for his disbelief, we would expect Jesus’ response to be more along the lines of, “You of little faith” “How long must I put up with you lack of belief” or simply, “Happy now?”. Jesus responds to lack of faith throughout his ministry in these kinds of ways. Time and again Jesus meets unwillingness or inability to believe with rebuke. But here with Thomas, Jesus doesn’t venture near any of those statements.
Why? Might it be because of what kind of “doubt” this is? Could it be because Thomas has obeyed Jesus’ command not to believe quickly those who say he has returned, but waited until he saw for himself the returned-from-the-grave Christ? Is it because Thomas’ doubt is actually his obedience, and Christ rewards it?
On this reading, in John 20 Thomas is terrified of being had. Of being led astray. Of following a false Christ. Because, again, Thomas is a true believer. He will die with his Lord (John 11), the thought of following another claiming to be him is abhorrent to him and so he just can’t do it. He can’t, and thinks he shouldn’t, take the other disciple’s word for it.
And Jesus, knowing this about Thomas, knowing that he had intentionally revealed himself to the other disciples when Thomas was absent, knowing Thomas’ refusal to believe them, and knowing the very words Thomas had used for his validity tests, gives him exactly what he said he needed in order to really believe that this person in front of him is Chris his Lord. Thomas says he will not believe until he “see[s] in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will never believe.” The very things Christ invites him to do.
And before Thomas can even open his mouth or take him up on the offer, Jesus gives him permission to believe. Jesus, in effect, tells Thomas, “Don’t worry, Thomas, it’s safe to believe. It really is me. You were right not to believe before. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Because Thomas has obeyed. He has doubted the disciples, but not his Christ. He has followed the Lord’s instruction to disbelieve those who say they have seen the Christ; and now, he can finally do what his heart had surely longed to do all along: believe.
Conclusion
If nothing else, what I hope I have accomplished is to demonstrate that John 11 and Jesus’ commands in Matthew 24 have import for how we understand what is happening in John 20. More than we typically assume. As I see it, we are left with four views on the matter:
Thomas is a dark character who sarcastically says “let us go die with him” and then willingly doubts his Lord’s resurrection. If this is the case then he is a far dark and cynical figure than we typically hold him to be. (Traditional view)
Thomas is truly willing to die with Christ and is unwilling to be taken in by the disciples when Christ has commanded him not to believe those who say they have seen him return. Thomas’ “doubt” is a kind if disbelief but an honorable kind. (The view I have tried to present)
The traditional reading of John 20 and the above reading of John 11 are both correct. He really is willing to die with Christ but doubts at the end. If this, then Thomas’ doubt is particularly shocking, far more than the traditional reading sees it. (A mix)
A final, and in my opinion very unlikely, scenario is that Thomas is sarcastic in John 11 when he says he is willing to die with Christ but then disbelieves out of obedience to Christ’s commands of not being fooled by others who say they have seen him return.
If we land on either #1 or #3, then Thomas raises uncomfortable questions we don’t typically ask after reading John 20 such as, “How does the willing-to-die became the quick-to-disbelieve?” “How sure are we of our own resolve?” “Why in the world would Jesus intentionally reveal himself to the 11 sans Thomas in the first place?” “Why so much attention on such a cynical, dark character?”
As I said at the end of part 1, I would like to believe the best about our brother Thomas; and, I believe there is good reason for doing so when you take into account the full picture of Thomas in the John’s Gospel, the command of Jesus not to believe people who say they have seen the returned Christ, and Jesus’ response to Thomas’ doubt. My contention is that the reading of Thomas in John’s Gospel as a true believer who is willing to die alongside Christ and unwilling to believe without seeing Christ himself lest he be led astray (#3), is just as coherent of a reading as the traditional one. Perhaps even more so.
So, does Thomas doubt? Absolutely. The real questions are: who Thomas is, what Thomas doubts, and why Thomas does so. When these questions are probed, as I’ve attempted to show, we find that Thomas is one of the most loyal disciples of the whole bunch; that yes, he does doubt, but he doubts the claims of the disciples not Christ; and he does so because of what Christ himself had commanded him; and by doing so, his doubt is obedience.
If that is the case, it no doubt seems worthy of a change in nickname. Or, at least, the name should be viewed as a title of honor rather than derision.
Just had not compared the two. Thanks for making the distinction and making good connection between the two passages.
Nice job landing the plane! You make a convincing case.