19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Commentary
Vs. 19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Now it was Sunday evening, which according to Jews calendar is the first day of the week, and the disciples being gathered together in one place with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, that Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Thus, in midst of their fears Jesus comes to them and brings peace to them. Something which He not only bestows upon them but us all who believe in Him, having made peace with God for us all through the blood of His Cross, that is through His suffering Crucifixion death for all our sins and transgressions (Col. 1:20). The Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Author and Finisher of our salvation (Heb. 11:2), but He is also the Prince of Peace in our persons and lives. This then is Jesus’ first appearance to all the disciples after His Resurrection.
Vs. 20 “When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
To prove to the disciples that it is He, Jesus now shows them His hands and His side. And so, when the disciples saw this, they were glad, that is by His Presence there with them they were transferred from a state of fear to now a state of peaceful joy! This state of peaceful joy then is not for them only in that instance, but is for us all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because we also always have Him with us (John 14:27; Heb 13:5).
Vs. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Having visited the disciples, and having secured peace for them, Jesus once again now pronounces peace upon them, saying to them, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” In doing so, in both securing their peace and then granting them His peace Jesus now sends them out into the hostile world that they feared, just as He also sends us out into the hostile world that we also fear. For discipleship always means facing our own fears, so that we might do the Will of God which He has ordained and prepared for us to do. Of course, the disciples could not even begin to imagine what this would entail, and all that He would and achieve through them as they followed Him. But that is not for them or for us to know anyway, to know how the whole thing is going to unfold or work out, ours is simply to start the journey in faith and continue on it in faith, letting the Lord then worry about those things that He has Promised to take care of while we follow Him.
Vs. 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
In the this most beautiful of passages Jesus now breathes on them and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Thus, Jesus in doing so harkens back to when God created Adam and breathed into him the breath of life, and so here Jesus now breathes on the disciples the breath of new and everlasting life which would be given each one of them at the Holy Spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost. And thus, is now given each one of us the moment we believe in Him (Eph. 1:13-14).
Vs. 23 “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Having done so Jesus now says to them, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Now it must be stated here that Jesus was granting the disciples the authority to declare ones sins either forgiven by their belief in and reception of the Gospel, that is the Persson of the Lord Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead, or to declare ones sins retained because they did not and repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ at their preaching! Again, Jesus saying this to them is directly linked with His sending them out to preach the Gospel. Any power or authority then to remit or retain sins would’ve then been done by them alone solely in accord with one’s reception of or rejection of the Gospel. Now later this Apostolic authority given them by the Lord Jesus Christ was employed by them in their administering the churches affairs, which continues on down to us through their written Word in the New Testament. Thus, their judgments there, and either one’s acceptance of them, or rejecting of them can also entail either the remitting or retaining of sins. That said this is not one’s eternal judgment, for that Judgment alone belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, rather those judgments there are the judgments that they render in this life.
Vs. 24-25 24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Now Thomas who is one of the twelve but he was not there at Jesus’ first Resurrection Appearance to them all, and so when he was told these things by them he likely still hurting from the sting of Christ’s death, said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Vs. 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
It is now eight days since Jesus first Appeared to the assembled disciples Raised from the dead, and so once again the disciples being assembled inside with the doors shut, and this time Thomas also being with them, Jesus once again stands in the midst of them all and says, “Peace to you!”
Vs. 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
Now as Jesus stood in the midst of them, He tells Thomas to put his finger in where the pierce holes are in His hands, as well to put His hand where He was thrust with the spear in His side, having done so He then boldly tells Thomas, (and anyone else who has their doubts), “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
Vs. 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
And so, Thomas seeing Jesus raised from the dead and seeing the unmistakable wounds in His flesh, now cries out, “My Lord and my God!”
Vs. 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Though Thomas’ exuberant declaration of faith was most sincere, Jesus now lays the ground work for all future saving faith, and that is believing in Him though not seeing Him (consider Gen. 15:6; Heb. 11:1). For that is what Jesus means when He says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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