Thomas the Doubter

Thomas is one of the more fascinating figures in the New Testament. He is given the dubious title “Doubting Thomas” and has been maligned through church history because of his disbelief that the Lord rose from the dead (John 20:24,25). However, I think we need to take a closer look at the apostle and determine if the title “Doubting Thomas” is appropriate.

Thomas is a chosen apostle of Jesus and was commissioned on several occasions to go to cities and preach the Lord’s coming (Mark 6:7 Luke 10:1). Thomas, like all the other disciples, was given power over demons (Luke 10:17). His name is only mentioned a couple of times in the gospels. Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18 and Luke 6:15 all mention the Lord selecting Thomas along with all the other apostles.

From the time of his selection Thomas is only mentioned in John 11:16 when Jesus is going to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, and again at the last supper (John 14:15). So the majority of what we know about Thomas comes from John’s interpretation of events after the Lord’s resurrection (John 20:24-29). John spells out the details of Thomas’ doubt in verse 25 when Thomas is quoted as saying to the other apostles, ”Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side I will not believe.” Wow, that pretty much defines disbelief.

To be fair to Thomas I should point out that the Lord rebuked the other ten apostles for their refusal to believe the women who told them of the empty tomb and seeing the Lord (Mark 16:11,14 Luke 24:11). If the other ten apostles also doubted the Lord’s resurrection (Luke 24:41) then why is Thomas looked at with such distain? Namely because he refused to believe the Lord rose from the dead even after the other apostles told him they had seen Him.

In Jesus’ day women were looked down upon so it was one thing to not believe them. However, Thomas took it a step further and doubted ten men who were like brothers to him. These were the men he had lived with on the road for three years. They slept out in open fields or in barns and watched the Lord heal people and even raise the dead. Yes, Thomas saw the Lord raise people from the dead.

So to me the story of Thomas’ refusal to believe would look something like this:

Thomas walks in on a gathering of apostles along with some of the women who knew Jesus and saw the empty tomb. Every member of this group has seen the resurrected Jesus. Several of the men say excitedly to Thomas, “We (the men) have seen the Lord, He is alive.” Thomas is now thinking to himself, “Not this again, first the women now my friends also. What is wrong with these nuts anyway? Can’t you just let Him rest in peace?”

But they continue to press him and he shows little interest in their testimony. Finally he tells them that they are all under a lot of stress and need to take the night off and go see a ball game. The apostles are undeterred and press him further. “Why don’t you believe us?” they demand. “Because I didn’t believe the women when they came back from the grave so why should I believe you?” Thomas responds. “Because women are emotional, so it’s easy to doubt them,” Peter blurts out. “Yea and we are not,” came John’s accommodating response. The women in the room are clearly uplifted by the support the men have just offered.

Thomas remains adamant, and is now becoming increasingly agitated. Finally he blurts out in disgust, “Unless I see with my own eyes that it is Jesus and feel His flesh and can personally vouch for the type of death He suffered by placing my hand in his side I simply will not believe.

The apostles take a step back. Some of the more astute are beginning to wonder if anyone will believe them. Thomas is a friend and he does not believe what they are saying about the Lord’s appearing, what will everyone else think?

Thomas’ disbelief is no different than Paul’s disbelief and the Lord’s brother’s disbelief (John 7:5). What is interesting is that the Lord had to personally appear to all three before they believed (1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Acts 1:14). And that raises a more troubling question. Why should Thomas, Paul and the Lord’s brothers receive eternal life if Jesus had to appear to them before they believed? Wouldn’t that be true of any non-believer today? Aren’t all non-believers today the same as Thomas? They would believe also if Jesus appears to them.

To be fair, Jesus had to appear to someone. He couldn’t just call out from heaven saying, “I’m here.” In order for Jesus to prove He had power over death He had to rise from the dead. Additionally, in order for anyone to believe Jesus had power over death Jesus had to appear to him or her. So, from that we must conclude that Jesus had to appear to someone after He rose from the dead.

Still in all, at one point Jesus would return to heaven and leave the job of evangelism to those He had trained for three years. Then it was incumbent upon the trainees to persuade the non-believers to accept the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. A feat more easily accomplished after they had seen the Lord in the flesh shortly after they saw Him executed (Luke 24:36-43).

Therefore, the apostle’s experience witnessing Thomas disbelief would have greatly impacted them. They would have seen in Thomas the true nature of unbelief. Additionally, the apostles were aware of something else about Thomas. He walked with Jesus for three years and knew that Jesus was no ordinary man. If Thomas did not believe them when they spoke about the resurrection of Jesus, why would anyone else?