26 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!” 27 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.”
20:26
And after eight days
It was now eight days after Jesus’ previous meeting with the apostles in the upper room (Jn 20:19), the following Sunday evening.
His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.
The apostles were again meeting and barricaded inside, but this time Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst,
The fact that Jesus went through shut doors indicates the reality of His resurrection body. This body had continuity with His pre-resurrection body (Jn 20:27).
and said, “Peace to you!”
Jesus again, for the third time since His resurrection, greeted the apostles with the word “peace” (Jn 20:19, 21).
20:27
Then He said to Thomas,
Thomas had asserted that he wanted empirical evidence that Jesus’ body rose from the dead or he would not believe. The Lord now offered that evidence. Jesus responded specifically to Thomas’ assertion that he would never believe that Jesus rose from the dead without the empirical evidence of touching His hands and side.
“Reach your finger here,
Jesus asked Thomas to touch His hands and side.
and look at My hands;
Although Jesus invited Thomas to touch His hands and side, all that was necessary for this disciple was to look at Jesus.
and reach your hand here, and put it into My side.
Jesus here again made the emphatic point of testing Thomas’s demand for empirical evidence. Either he exercised faith or non-faith.
Do not be unbelieving, but [emphatic] believing.”
Jesus challenged Thomas to stop his unbelief about the resurrection and develop a stronger belief system. He was a believer in the initial sense but not in the sense of a strong faith. Thomas had heard the testimony of the other apostles, but he did not believe them.
PRINCIPLE:
There is no such thing as blind faith.
APPLICATION:
Faith is at the heart of trust in God. There is no such thing biblically as a vacuous leap of blind faith. The biblical principle is to believe in something, in content, in a proposition from God (1 Pe 1:8-9).
