John 20:19-29

The Coming to the Disciples. The first Christian Sunday is spent in Jerusalem, where the disciples are in hiding. The interpretation of Mark 14:50 as implying an immediate flight of the apostles to Galilee is purely conjectural. The account of the first appearance to the disciples is told so as to emphasize the fulfilment of the promises, and the teaching, of chs. 14- 17. Jesus comes (cf. John 14:18), He gives them His peace (John 14:27), they were glad (ὲ?χάρησαν) when they saw (John 16:22), He sends them, as He was sent (John 17:18), He gives them the Spirit, and power to deal with sin (John 16:7 ff.). The showing of the hands and side has its parallel in Luke 24:39, which is original, though Luke 24:40 is probably a later addition to the Lucan text. The word used for forgive is the normal LXX translation of the Heb. nasa-' and salah. The corresponding noun is used for the Jubilee, or remission. There is no exact parallel for retain in the sense it has here. It is the natural opposite (grasp, hold fast, cf. Luke 24:16) of sending away, letting go.

John 20:24. Doubt and Faith. All the accounts of Resurrection appearances record the fact of doubt (Matthew 28:17; Mark 16:11; Mark 16:13 f., Luke 24:11; Luke 24:25; Luke 24:38; Luke 24:49). John follows his usual custom of giving one typical and named instance. The bearing of this fact on the historical value of the incidents concerned must be determined by the consideration of the whole series, and their intrinsic probability. The attitude of Thomas is true to his character as depicted elsewhere in the gospel (John 11:16; John 14:5). The incident is recorded to teach the superiority of faith which interprets evidence by spiritual intuition rather than by the senses. A parallel to John 20:27 is found by some in the story of Apollonius of Tyana (cf. Philost. John 7:41; John 8:12). Jewish thought offers a more interesting parallel; Tanchuma John 20:8 a, The Israelites without the great sights on Sinai would not have believed, the Proselyte who has not seen all is therefore more loved by God (quoted by Bauer, HNT, p. 184). The words of the confession are significant in the light of the claim, first put forward by Domitian, to be addressed as Dominus et Deus noster (Suetonius, Domit. 13).