Scripture
John 20:28
Thomas confesses the risen Jesus as Lord and God.
Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”
A confession to Jesus
Thomas does not praise God in the abstract after seeing Jesus. He addresses the risen Christ directly as his Lord and his God.
Where this passage comes up
- John 1:1 says "a god"The missing article in John 1:1 marks what the Word is, not a lesser god; John separates the Word from all created things and ends with Thomas calling Jesus 'my God.'
- John did not write the Gospel of JohnDisputed authorship is not the same as unreliability. John's Gospel claims eyewitness roots, circulated early, and its view of Jesus appears in earlier sources.
- The Trinity is paganThe word and formula are later, but pagan triads were three gods, and Christians worshiped Jesus two centuries before the councils that defined the Trinity.
- Jesus is GodThe New Testament places Jesus inside the identity of Israel's one God, the Creator, while still distinguishing him from the Father.
- The Trinity is monotheismThe Bible says there is one God, distinguishes the Father, Son, and Spirit from one another, and treats each as that one God. The Trinity is the summary that keeps all three.
- The bodily resurrection of JesusLuke, John, Paul, and Acts all tie the risen Jesus to the body that died. Paul's "spiritual body" describes a body made new, not a body left behind.
- Liar, lunatic, or LordJesus taught about himself as well as how to live. If he made those claims, 'only a good teacher' does not fit, and the question is whether they are false, invented, or true.