John 20:19-29

1. The appearance of Jesus when the doors were shut (John 20:19; John 20:26) is a point which we are unable to explain. The evangelist has not stated the facts of the case with sufficient definiteness to make any conclusion absolutely certain. That Jesus had a body after His resurrection, which could be touched, and which bore the marks of the nails; that He could eat and walk, and could speak with the same voice as before His death; that He was seen and known to be the same person whom the disciples had been familiar with in their past association with Him, is evident from all the Gospel narratives. That, on the other hand, He appeared and disappeared at will, as He had not done before His death; that He was not recognized with the same immediateness, apparently, as He had been; that He even passed some hours with the disciples who were going to Emmaus, without any recognition on their part, seems equally clear. The mystery of His ascension may also be borne in mind in its relation to this question.

In the consideration of the particular words found in these verses (John 20:19; John 20:26), two points are worthy of notice: first, that we have no indication in other passages of any such thing as passing through the wood of closed doors a thing which, in itself, would seem to be in the highest degree improbable; and, secondly, that we find the fact somewhat prominently suggested that, during the forty days, Jesus made Himself visible or invisible at will. May not these points, when taken together, indicate that Jesus here did not enter, at the time mentioned, into the room where the disciples were, but simply appeared to their view within it; that He appeared now as He disappeared at the close of His meeting with the disciples from Emmaus?

2. In John 20:21-23 Jesus renews to the disciples their commission, or assures them again that they have it, and then bestows upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit. With respect to this gift it may be observed: (a) that it is, according to the natural interpretation of the words, an actual gift; (b) that the distinction made by some writers between πνεῦμα ἅγιον and τὸ πνεῦμα ἅγιον can hardly be sustained, and the words must here designate the Holy Spirit in the same sense in which the latter phrase is used (comp. John 7:39, John 16:13); (c) that the full gift of the Spirit seems to be placed in this Gospel, as in the Acts, after the glorification of Jesus. From these three considerations it follows that the gift here referred to was of the same nature, but not of the same measure, with that of the Day of Pentecost. It was, as Meyer remarks, an actual ἀπαρχή of the Holy Spirit.

3. The power of remitting and retaining sins which is spoken of in John 20:23 is not something bestowed as a mere official prerogative on the disciples, so that their mere word and will accomplish the end. Jesus Himself exercised forgiveness only on the conditions of faith and repentance, and in accordance with the will of the Father. The whole teaching of the New Testament shows that the apostles could, at the most, only pronounce the man who believed forgiven, and, as they did not possess omniscience, this pronouncing could not go beyond the point of declaring that the man was forgiven, provided he had the faith required. It was under the guidance and in accordance with the mind of the Spirit that they were to exercise this power, but not in any such sense that forgiveness depended on them or was to be determined by them alone.

4. The exclamation of Thomas, in John 20:28, is the final declaration of the faith of the apostles as given in this Gospel. Immediately after the record of it the writer closes his book. That this is a declaration of belief in the Divinity of Christ is proved by the words εἶπεν αὐτῷ, by which it is introduced these words show that it is not a mere exclamation of surprise or astonishment; by the fact that ὁ κύριός μου is most naturally used as referring to Jesus (see John 13:13, John 20:13); by the connection of these words with John 20:30-31; by the whole progress of faith and testimony in this Gospel, as leading up to the end. If it is such a declaration, the 29th verse shows that it was accepted by Jesus. At such a moment indeed, at any moment, but especially at such a moment, when He was soon to send forth the apostles on their great mission in the world, in which they were to proclaim His message and even to expose themselves to the danger of death in His cause

He could not have allowed them to remain under a delusion and to believe Him to be Divine when He was not. He could not have pronounced a solemn benediction on all who believed what He knew to be untrue. These words of Thomas, therefore, together with those of Jesus which follow, become a fitting climax of the whole book, both with respect to the testimony of Jesus to Himself and the answering faith of His immediate disciples.