John 20:28

My Notes

What Does John 20:28 Mean?

John 20:28 records the highest Christological confession in the Gospels — and it comes from the mouth of the doubter. "And Thomas answered and said unto him" — apekrithē Thōmas kai eipen autō. Thomas answered — apekrithē, responded to what he'd just experienced. Jesus had appeared, shown His hands and side, and said: "be not faithless, but believing" (v. 27). Thomas isn't speaking into a vacuum. He's responding to an encounter.

"My Lord and my God" — ho kurios mou kai ho theos mou. Two titles. Both with the definite article. Both with the possessive pronoun. Ho kurios mou — the Lord of me, my Lord, my sovereign, my master. Ho theos mou — the God of me, my God, my deity. Thomas doesn't say "a lord" or "a god." He says the Lord. The God. With the definiteness of someone who has just arrived at the most certain conclusion of his life.

The confession is addressed directly to Jesus — autō, to Him. Thomas isn't making a theological statement about God in general. He's looking at the man standing in front of him — the man with nail holes in His hands — and calling Him God. To His face. In front of the other disciples. Without qualification.

Jesus doesn't correct him. This is the critical detail. If Thomas were wrong — if calling Jesus "my God" were blasphemy or overstatement — Jesus would have corrected it immediately, as any faithful Jew would (cf. Acts 14:14-15, where Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes when people try to worship them). Jesus accepts the title. He receives the worship. And verse 29 responds: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." The confession stands. The God-title is affirmed. The doubter has spoken the highest truth in the Gospel.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Has your doubt ever been the pathway to a deeper confession — a clearer seeing than casual belief could have produced?
• 2.What does Jesus accepting Thomas's worship (not correcting it) tell you definitively about who Jesus is?
• 3.Can you say 'my Lord and my God' to Jesus — personally, directly, with Thomas's certainty?
• 4.How does the doubter making the highest confession in the Gospels change how you view your own struggles with belief?

Devotional

My Lord and my God. Seven syllables. The highest confession in the New Testament. Spoken by the man who doubted the most.

Thomas — the one who said "except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails... I will not believe" (v. 25) — looks at the risen Jesus and says the thing no other disciple says in the Gospels: You are my God. Not just Lord. Not just Teacher. Not just Messiah. God — ho theos mou. The definite article. The possessive pronoun. My God. Directed at a man with visible wounds.

The journey from doubt to this confession is the journey the Gospel of John has been building toward. Chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Chapter 20: Thomas looks at the Word-made-flesh and says: my God. The theological declaration of the prologue becomes the personal confession of the doubter. What John stated as theology, Thomas speaks as worship.

Jesus doesn't correct him. That's the verification. In a culture where calling a human being God was the highest possible blasphemy — in a religious system where men tore their clothes at the suggestion — Jesus stands there and receives the title. He doesn't say: don't call me that. He doesn't redirect the worship to the Father. He accepts it. Because it's true. Because Thomas, in this moment, has seen more clearly than anyone — and what he sees, he names correctly.

The doubt was the pathway to the confession. Thomas wouldn't believe without evidence. Jesus provided the evidence. And the evidence produced not just belief but the highest declaration of Christ's identity in the entire New Testament. The doubter who demanded proof became the worshiper who declared deity.

Your doubt isn't disqualifying. It might be the road to the deepest confession you'll ever make.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture