Many Trinitarians point to Thomas’ statement
“My Lord, and my God” in John 20:28.
Let’s look at the context.
25 The
other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen Jehovah. But he said unto
them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not
believe.
26 And
after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then
came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you.
27 Then
saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach
hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but
believing.
28 And
Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord
and my God.
29 Jesus
saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
30 And many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book:
31 But
these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
The
context is belief that Jesus is alive, not that he is God. And the passage concludes with a declaration
that it was written so that people would know that Jesus is the Christ, not
that he is God. One would think that, if
Thomas was declaring Jesus to be God in the flesh, then that would be the most
important thing. Instead, the writer of
John says a few verses later that this was written to convince people that
Jesus is the Messiah.
So,
does Thomas’ declaration actually mean that Jesus is God?
There
are many other reasons to doubt that.
First,
in the Old Testament God’s human and angelic representatives are often referred
to as God (Genesis 16: 7-13, Exodus 7:1, Judges 13:21-22, Psalm 82: 6). Jesus, being a recently resurrected Messiah,
certainly fits that category.
Second,
Thomas did not say, “My Lord and my God”.
The original Greek records him as saying ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου
(the Lord of me and the God of me). This
seems to indicate that Thomas was speaking of two persons and was acknowledging
something Jesus taught.
John 12:44-45,
“And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me,
believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him
who sent me.”
Third, this passage seems to
echo an expression found in the Old Testament.
1 Samuel 20:12,
“And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father
about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good
toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee”.
Some translations add “bear witness” after
“God of Israel”, but that is not in the original Hebrew. This passage seems to indicate that Jonathan
is calling David, God, just as Thomas appears to be calling Jesus, God. However, we clearly understand that Jonathan
is addressing both David and God in the same sentence. Could this be what Thomas was doing?
