Friday, May 28, 2010

Profession of Faith

 John 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

28 ἀπεκρίθη Θωμᾶς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου. 29  λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ὅτι ἑώρακάς με πεπίστευκας; μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες.

If you want to get a moniker hung on you for eternity, just doubt who Jesus is.  "Doubting" Thomas refused to believe in the resurrection of Christ until he was able to touch the wounds himself.  This is his response to doing just that.  There is nothing fancy to point out in the Greek other than to say that ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου is written as explicitly as it can be.  Putting μου on each side of the καὶ removes all doubt about what Thomas was saying.  Jesus is both his Lord and his God.

There are those who say that Jesus was the son of God, lived a perfect life, was crucified, and on the third day rose again; however, they also say that He was not God.  Let's assume that they are correct for a minute.  Take a Rabbi who was perfectly devout.  If He was not truly God then Thomas just committed blasphemy here.  Jesus rebukes Thomas a bit, but not for blasphemy.  He simply makes a point about how weak Thomas' faith was and how much more blessed those who would know Him later (read: us) would be because they required a measure of faith.

It is inconceivable how Jesus' would let such blatant blasphemy slide if He was not God.  By His silence Jesus gives tacit approval to Thomas' statement.  In fact, He also gives implicit agreement by what He says.  In other words, Jesus says, "You believe rightly, but only because you have seen me.  Those who believe rightly without the physical benefits you just enjoyed will be even more blessed."

Jesus is God.  I don't see how else you can read this with integrity.

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