Doubt has always been with those who believe.  The nature of true belief requires that some doubt be there in order for that true belief, or faith, to be genuine.

Thomas the Apostle provides an example of such doubt.

Doubt is not a sin.  Our Lord Jesus shows us that by having chosen an Apostle whom He knew would doubt, and whose story of doubt is recorded for us as well as our Lord Jesus’s response to the doubt.

The Doubt of Thomas

The day our Lord Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the Apostles.  However, one Apostle was not there to witness it: Thomas.

Try to imagine what was going on through his mind about the events of the past week: The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus’s last preaching, the Last Supper, the Arrest of Jesus, and the Crucifixion and death of Jesus.  His beloved Teacher whom he had followed for 3 ½ years, whom he thought was the Messiah, whom he was ready to die for as he indicated in the Gospel of John 11:16, whom he thought would be King, had died, died being betrayed by one of his fellow disciples, arrested in the dead of night as if he were a dangerous warlord, killed right before the most important feast of the Jewish calendar, and the betrayer committed suicide at the same time from the guilt.

It had been a very bad and emotionally trying week.  He had lost his Teacher and a fellow disciple.  He had lost his hopes.  He had lost any sense of direction for the future.  He was simply wandering now, lonely in the world.

Saint Thomas by Georges de La Tour, 1615-1620

That day, he came back to his friends and fellow disciples, people whom he had walked with for around 3 ½ years, people with whom he was grieving the loss of their Teacher, the Teacher they had followed for 3 ½ years, the Teacher they thought was the Messiah, the teacher they thought would be King.

It was around evening when he came to some shocking news from the other Apostles that they had seen Jesus risen from the dead, not a ghost as some thought at first, but truly risen from the dead.

The Apostles were not expecting this at all as it is made clear multiple times in the Gospels that they did not understand what Jesus meant when he indicated that He was going to rise from the dead.  They may have thought he was speaking metaphorically.

The Apostle Thomas, being bombarded by all this news of them having seen the truly risen Lord, said, “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” (John 20:25).

Since they were claiming that He was truly risen and not a ghost, Thomas was more than specific with his demands.  He had three conditions in order for him to believe:

1. To see the prints of the nails
2. To put his finger in the print of the nails
3. To put his hands into His side

He had to have evidence in order to believe.

Yet, he must have doubted his own doubt.  The people he had spent 3 ½ years with were also sharing his grief, think of Peter the Apostle, for example, who had denied Jesus on the night of his arrest.  And they were not crazy, nor were they stupid.  One was a trained tax collector, another was a religious Jew studied in the Scriptures.  They all were sharing the same grief.  No one believed Jesus was going to rise from the dead.  The Scriptures did not indicate anyone would rise except on the last day, and they did not understand what Jesus meant when He said He would rise.  They also were cowardly because during the arrest they all scrambled fast except for John and Peter.

But here was the unique situation, 10 others plus the women that followed Jesus with them could not be playing a game in addition to 2 others who had seen Him at Emmaus.  Women especially, when they grieve never show the slightest bit of a smile, much less prank a fellow griever.  All was out of place.  They could not be joking, but people don’t rise from the dead either, at least in Jewish belief, not until all would rise from the dead on the last day.  What was going on with these people?

Could Jesus have risen from the dead?

The week before the Resurrection was emotionally trying, but the week following must have been so too for Thomas.

His thoughts must have been super loud, full of questions to himself and proposing possible answers.

Why were the others saying that Jesus rose from the dead?  Were they hallucinating?

You do not get 10+ hallucinations of the same event at the same time; it is not possible.

Plus, the women saw him early in the morning by themselves as well.

Also, 2 others said they saw him before he appeared to the 10 Apostles.

There were three separate events where people claimed that Christ appeared to them all within the same day.

If Jesus rose from the dead, was He upset from Thomas?  Is that why He did not appear to Him?  Why?  What did he do wrong?  He was willing to die for Jesus?  He was loyal to Jesus just as much as the others?  Did Jesus not love him like the other Apostles? (The answer to these questions will be answered below).

Day by day came and went that week after the reported appearances, and no more.  In the meantime, he was without guidance for the future, no course set, disillusioned by the events of the past two weeks.

Then, the following Sunday our Lord Jesus appeared again.

He responded to Thomas’s challenge with the three conditions telling him, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe” (John 20:27).  And Jesus was not there when Thomas set the conditions for the Apostles, but here He was fulfilling them for Thomas.

It does not say whether Thomas even bothered to touch Him after seeing Him and His wounds, but he confessed, “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28).

Then he answered Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (John 20:28).

Why Did These Things Happen?

All these things were done for us who have come to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have not seen Him risen from the dead like the Apostles did, but by their witness, and by their experiences like Thomas, we have come to believe through them.

The reason he told Thomas “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (John 20:28) was not to scold Thomas but to teach us who have lived after the Apostles.

Thomas could have actually believed on the witness of the other Apostles, but our Lord chose a different way for Thomas in order that we could believe knowing that one of the witnesses truly doubted and was not inclined to believe until he saw the truly risen Christ.

We are all like Thomas, and the reason Jesus did not appear to Him that first week was not because he did not love him like the other Apostles but because He loved him just like the others.  He was not upset with him, but used him and his doubt for His purposes.  He came back for him just like the others.  If Thomas believed, then we can believe too.  If Thomas doubted the others, they were still telling the truth, and he came to know that truth for himself.

Doubt Leading to Faith

Contrary to modern cultural beliefs, faith is not belief without evidence.

Faith is based on evidence.  In the Scriptures, most of the time the word faith is used it indicates trust, not blind belief.  The fact that Jesus appeared to His Apostles and others after His Resurrection demonstrates that.  The fact that they saw miracles demonstrates that.  The fact that the Prophets foretold the Messiah demonstrates that.  Faith is not blind belief, but trust, trust in God based on His works such as these aforementioned.

Like all trust, sometimes we do not see, and this may be where people associate faith with not seeing, but this not seeing is partial, not total.  It is a leap, like when we leap off the ground, our feet are not on the ground, but in order to leap we have to start and end with the ground, which is the evidence and reasons for our faith.

For these reasons, some doubt leads to faith.  Doubt often arises when we have questions about things we do not understand clearly.  But that doubt leads to better understanding or clarification.

Doubt Leading to Disbelief

Some doubt, on the other hand, is not really doubt, but pretends to be doubt.  This type of doubt is when people are unwilling to believe.  It is not actually doubt, but it appears to be in order to show others that they may be open to believe when their minds have already been made up prior to any evidence.

What We Can Learn from Thomas

The Apostle Thomas was unable to believe; he was not unwilling to believe.

I think the main reason people do not want to believe today is because they know that believing entails obedience to Christ and following Him.  There is no gray area.  It is either you will follow Him or you will not.  Partial obedience is actually disobedience.  It is either you are with Him or you are against Him (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23).  Those who disbelieve and doubt for these reasons are not willing to believe even if they see.  They have already decided that they will not obey and make any changes if believing demands so.

Inability is more easily remedied than unwillingness.

The Apostle Thomas was not unwilling to believe and to obey and to follow.  He doubted for a simple matter of fact: that people do not rise from the dead.  If he was shown otherwise, he was prepared to believe.  When he was shown otherwise, he believed.  He continued following Jesus, spread his word, and died as a martyr of Jesus, so in a way he did die with Christ as he intended originally in John 11:16.

Let us have faith.  Let us understand that this faith requires a change on our part and obedience.  Let us be prepared to obey and make the changes required by that obedience.  May we all learn from this holy Apostle Thomas, the doubter-believer, whose name is written on the foundations of the heavenly city and is constantly before us in our churches, who was chosen by our Lord and followed Him, who showed us that our Lord Jesus is worth living and dying for, and who passed down to us the faith and way of Christ.

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