After a full week had passed following His resurrection, Jesus appeared a second time to His apostles, on the eighth day. This time they were likely in Galilee, for Jesus Himself had instructed them to leave for there; Mat 28:10, cf. Mar 16:7. Thomas, who wasn’t with them earlier, had missed His appearance, as a reminder of the Lord’s presence that we also miss when absent from the assembly of His people. But now he was with them, perhaps intrigued by their insistence that they had seen Jesus alive. For as they themselves had been before the Lord appeared to them, so was he now; he couldn’t believe it. He rightly understood the power of death, the fear of which the devil had used to enslave mankind. And knowing the brutal death Jesus had suffered could not understand how He could really be alive. In spite of their testimony, as the Lord’s instrument to address our own unbelief, he supposed they must somehow have been mistaken or deluded. He told them there was no way he was going to believe it unless he could touch the imprints of the nails in His hands and put his own hand into His side that the soldier had pierced to drain out His life fluids. Appearing now the second time to them, Jesus bid Thomas to do just that, indicating that He was fully aware of their conversation, as if He had been present—not unlike God who alone is omniscient and omnipresent. Hence, Thomas’ great confession, “My Lord and my God”, expressing faith not merely in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, but in His divine nature.
What else did Jesus say to Thomas, as if to chastise him for his unbelief? See Joh 20:27. In what way was Thomas actually honest and truthful in his unbelief, refusing to believe something that was unbelievable to him, for which possible reason Jesus appeared to address his unbelief, not just for his benefit, but for all those after him who have the same honest doubts?[1] What is the difference between honest doubts and willful ignorance? Should we ever fault someone for having honest doubts, because of things they can’t see or understand in their present circumstances that prevent them in faithfulness to their conscience from pretending to accept something that in their heart is unbelievable to them? Cf. Luk 8:15, 1Ti 1:5. On the other hand, should we ever excuse willful ignorance of the truth because of ulterior motives—typically one’s love for the world and its sin—that prevent one in the deceitfulness of their heart from believing what could otherwise save him? Cf. Rom 1:18, 2Pe 3:4-6 (KJV For this they willingly are ignorant of, NET they deliberately suppress the fact, NRS they deliberately ignore). What does Jesus’ willingness to address Thomas’ honest doubts teach us about any notion that God expects blind, unquestioning faith of His followers, as is often demanded by various Christian and non-Christian groups? On the other hand, should we imagine that God is under obligation to answer the demand for a sign by those whose hearts are not entirely pure, as if they would really believe apart from some measure of true faith? Cf. Mat 12:38-39, Heb 11:6.
After Thomas finally believed and made his great confession, what did Jesus say to him? See Joh 20:29. Is it more likely that Jesus’ words about Thomas’ belief were a question as in the NAS, or a statement as in the KJV? Note: The Koine Greek in which the New Testament was written has no punctuation marks, and so such nuances are a matter of interpretation. From the entire point of John’s narrative, is there any question about why Thomas believed? As blessed as we consider the apostles for having walked with Jesus and experienced His resurrection, which having seen they could never again unsee and so deny its truth, what do Jesus’ words communicate about how much more blessed are those who come to the same faith without having seen and experienced what they did? What does this remind us about the reward of great faith? Cf. Heb 11:6. In what way does the life of Joseph especially exemplify this truth? See Gen 37:5,23-24, 39:1-2,20-21, 40:14-15,23, 41:1,46-47,54 and consider that Joseph lived in faith over 20 years before seeing the outcome of his dreams come to pass, and yet walked in righteousness and patiently waited for the Lord to bless him. Are we as patient in the midst of difficulties over such a long time to have faith that God will yet reward our own faithfulness? Who alone among the apostles is said to have believed without seeing, and in what ways does his faith seem to have been rewarded in ways that others were not? Cf. Joh 21:18-23.
[1] Thomas was permitted to doubt, that we might not doubt (Augustine). The unbelief of Thomas drew forth such an infallible proof of the identity between the crucified and the risen Lord that he who any longer disbelieves and is consequently condemned is left without excuse. (Fausset’s Bible Dictionary).