John’s Gospel & the Worship of Jesus Pt. 2

In this post (https://www.samshmnthelogy.net/post/john-s-gospel-the-worship-of-jesus-pt-1) I will demonstrate that John’s Gospel affirms that Jesus is to be worshiped as God in the flesh. I will prove that John depicts Jesus as the human incarnation of the uniquely begotten Son of God who is worthy of the same exact worship, which the Father receives.

Honoring the Son

The Lord himself plainly stated that it is the Father’s express will for everyone to give the Son the exact same honor, which is to be given to the Father:

“For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, EVEN AS they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.” John 5:22-23

Previously our Lord proclaimed that the kind of honor that the Father is to receive is worship that is done in the Spirit, and in accord with the truth or proper manner of worship, which the Spirit has revealed in the Word: 

“But a time is coming, and it is already here! Even now the true worshipers are being led by the Spirit to worship the Father according to the truth. These are the ones the Father is seeking to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.” John 4:23-24 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Seeing that the Son is to receive this same exact honor, this means that the Son must also be worshiped in Spirit and truth.

Note the logic behind this:

A. The Son is to be given the same honor that the Father receives.

B. True believers are to worship the Father in Spirit and truth, meaning by the regenerating work and energizing grace of the Holy Spirit in accord with the Spirit’s revelation.

C. Since the Son is to receive the exact same honor, this means that believers are to also worship him in Spirit and truth.

This demonstrates that the Father and the Son are essentially coequal, a fact that is further confirmed by their mutual glorification of each other:

“Jesus answered, ‘I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, “If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?’

“Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God. You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.’

“The Jews therefore said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.’ Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, having gone through the middle of them, and so passed by’” John 8:49-59

“When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him immediately.” John 13:31-32

“Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him… Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.’” John 17:1-2, 5

The Hearer of Prayers

Another way that John depicts Jesus as receiving the worship due to God is by his depiction of Christ being the Object of prayers:

“Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14

Christ explains that the reason why his followers will perform a greater number of works that he himself had done while on earth is because once he goes to be with the Father in heaven, the disciples could then pray to him and invoke his authority, and he would be the One who would personally do the miracles for them.

Jesus claims to do what the Hebrew Bible says YHWH does from heaven:

“Praise waits for you, God, in Zion. Vows shall be performed to you. You who hear prayer, all men will come to you. Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions.” Psalm 65:1-3

Interestingly, not only does Jesus answer prayers from heaven but he also grants salvation from sins, just like YHWH does, and grants everlasting life to all who believe on his name:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God.” John 3:16-18  

“They said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.’” John 4:42

“If anyone listens to my sayings and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:47

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’ The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, ‘I am the bread which came down out of heaven.’ They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, “I have come down out of heaven”?’ Therefore Jesus answered them, ‘Don’t murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up in the last day.’” John 6:35-44

“‘This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ Jesus therefore said to them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:50-58

The Divine Son of Man

Related to Jesus’ being worshiped is his self-identification as the Son of Man:

“Jesus answered him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.’” John 3:10-15  

“Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” John 6:62

“Jesus answered them, ‘The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die. The multitude answered him, ‘We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up”? Who is this Son of Man?’” John 12:23, 32-34

Jesus wasn’t claiming to be a mere mortal figure, but was referring to himself as that very Divine Being whom the prophet Daniel saw appearing as a Man:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.  Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him (yipelachun). His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14

What makes Daniel’s figure so glorious is that he rides the clouds of heaven like God does,

“Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Extol him who rides on the clouds: to Yah, his name! Rejoice before him!…to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, his strength is in the skies.” Psalm 68:4, 33-34  

“He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.” Psalm 104:3

“Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3

And receives the exact same worship that God does, and does so from all nations in every language as he rules over them forever and ever!

“The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve (yipelachun) and obey him.” Daniel 7:27

“There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not respected you. They don’t serve your gods, and don’t worship the golden image which you have set up.’… Nebuchadnezzar answered them, ‘Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and you don’t worship the golden image which I have set up?’… ‘If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.’… Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God.’” Daniel 3:12, 14, 17-18, 28

“Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. The king spoke and said to Daniel, ‘Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.’… When he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?... I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and steadfast forever. His kingdom is that which will not be destroyed. His dominion will be even to the end.’” Daniel 6:16, 20, 26

Most remarkably, the Greek rendering of Daniel has the nations granting this divine Son of Man latreuo, which is the very worship that Jesus says is to be given only to YHWH God!

“Jesus answered him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only (kai auto mono latreuseis).”’” Luke 4:8 – Cf. Matt. 4:10

Now compare this with the following quotation of Daniel 7:9-28 taken from the writing of the 2^nd Christian apologist Justin Martyr:

“But if so great a power is shown to have followed and to be still following the dispensation of His suffering, how great shall that be which shall follow His glorious advent! For He shall come on the clouds as the Son of man, so Daniel foretold, and His angels shall come with Him. These are the words: 'I beheld till the thrones were set; and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The books were opened, and the judgment was set. I beheld then the voice of the great words which the horn speaks: and the beast was beat down, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. And the rest of the beasts were taken away from their dominion, and a period of life was given to the beasts until a season and time. I saw in the vision of the night, and, behold, one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven; and He came to the Ancient of days, and stood before Him. And they who stood by brought Him near; and there were given Him power and kingly honour, and all nations of the earth by their families, and all glory, serve Him (latreuousa). And His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not be taken away; and His kingdom shall not be destroyed. And my spirit was chilled within my frame, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and inquired the precise meaning of all these things. In answer he speaks to me, and showed me the judgment of the matters: These great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall perish from the earth, and shall not receive dominion for ever, even for ever and ever.

“Then I wished to know exactly about the fourth beast, which destroyed all [the others] and was very terrible, its teeth of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, made waste, and stamped the residue with its feet: also about the ten horns upon its head, and of the one which came up, by means of which three of the former fell. And that horn had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things; and its countenance excelled the rest. And I beheld that horn waging war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of days came; and He gave judgment for the saints of the Most High. And the time came, and the saints of the Most High possessed the kingdom. And it was told me concerning the fourth beast: There shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall prevail over all these kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall destroy and make it thoroughly waste. And the ten horns are ten kings that shall arise; and one shall arise after them; and he shall surpass the first in evil deeds, and he shall subdue three kings, and he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall overthrow the rest of the saints of the Most High, and shall expect to change the seasons and the times. And it shall be delivered into his hands for a time, and times, and half a time. And the judgment sat, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom, and the power, and the great places of the kingdoms under the heavens, were given to the holy people of the Most High, to reign in an everlasting kingdom: and all powers shall be subject to Him, and shall obey Him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was possessed with a very great astonishment, and my speech was changed in me; yet I kept the matter in my heart.' (Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 31. If Christ's power be now so great, how much greater at the second advent!; emphasis mine)

Since Jesus as the Son of Man receives pelach/latreuo this merely reinforces the fact that Christ in John’s Gospel is indeed being worshiped as God Almighty.

The God Whom Isaiah Saw

As if this weren’t enough proof that John depicts Jesus as being the object of divine honors, the Evangelist goes so far as to identify Christ as that very glorious Divine Being that Isaiah saw in his vision:

“Then Jesus told them, ‘You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.’ When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

“Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: ‘Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’

“For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.’ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

“Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

“Then Jesus cried out, ‘Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.’” John 12:35-46 New International Version (NIV)

The Evangelist quotes Isaiah to show that the prophet had already foretold of the Jewish opposition to Jesus, and explains the reason he did so is because he had actually seen the glory of Jesus beforehand.

The text that John quotes to prove this is Isaiah 6:10, where in context the prophet beheld YHWH God in visible form seated on a visible throne:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!’ The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

“Then I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.’

“I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!’ He said, ‘Go, and tell this people, “You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.” Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.’” Isaiah 6:1-10

According to John, this was the time that Isaiah actually saw the glory of the prehuman Jesus!

In other words, Jesus is that very God whom the prophet beheld with his very own physical eyes!

No wonder that Christ could say that seeing him is to see the One who sent him since both the Father and he are essentially one in nature and glory.

Seeing YHWH’s Glory

Nor is this the only passage from Isaiah, which John associates with Christ.

The Evangelist has John the Baptist identifying himself with the emissary that Isaiah announced would be sent ahead of YHWH in order to prepare Israel for his coming:

“This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, ‘I am not the Christ.’ They asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?” He answered, ‘No.’ They said therefore to him, ‘Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.’ The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.’ These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” John 1:19-28

Here is the prophecy in question:

“The voice of one who calls out, ‘Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.” Isaiah 40:3-5  

Carefully note that the voice who is said to be the Baptist isn’t sent to herald the coming of another envoy or creature. Rather, the agent in Isaiah is explicitly stated to prepare Israel for the appearance of YHWH their God. And yet remarkably, John himself expressly testifies that he had been sent ahead of Jesus Christ in order to make him known to the people of Israel!

“The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about him. He cried out, saying, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.”’” John 1:14-15

“The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.” I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water, that he would be revealed to Israel.’ John testified, saying, ‘I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, “On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’ Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!” John 1:29-36

In other words, Jesus is YHWH God Almighty who has become a flesh and blood human being!

This now brings me to my final point.

The Lord God of Believers

With the foregoing in view, it should come as no surprise that the climax of John’s Gospel is the confession of doubting Thomas when he beholds the risen Christ approximately eight days after his physical, bodily resurrection:

“Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God (ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou)!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:24-29 NIV

The Greek is unambiguously clear that the Apostle is directing his confession to Jesus, and not to the Father.

Thomas’ statement of faith is virtually identical to David’s praise of YHWH:

“Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.” Psalm 35:23 NIV

This is especially so when we examine the Greek rendering of this verse:

“Awake, O Lord, and attend to my judgment, [even] to my cause, my God and my Lord (ho theos mou kai ho kyrios mou).” Psalm 34:23 LXX

Jesus is to Thomas, and by extension to all true believers, what YHWH is to David and Israel. I.e., the risen Christ is the Lord God of all Christians, in fact of all creation:

“looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (tou megalou theou kai soteros hemon ‘Iesou Christou), who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works” Titus 2:13-14

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (tou theou hemon kai soteros ‘Iesou Christou):… For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (tou kyriou hemon kai soteros ‘Iesou Christou).” 2 Peter 1:1. 11 – Cf. 2:20; 3:2, 18

Such a confession could never be uttered of a mere created being by a monotheistic Jew, no matter how exalted. That Jesus accepts and blesses all who would make this same declaration of faith is an explicit testimony that Christ is no mere creature. Rather, he is the uniquely begotten Son of God who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in essence, glory, majesty and honor.

Hence, Thomas’ declaration serves as the height and epitome of what it means to honor the Son in the same way that the Father is honored. Since believers are to honor the Father by virtue of being truly God in essence, as even our Lord declared,

“This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” John 17:3

“Jesus said to her, ‘Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’” John 20:17

The Son, likewise, is to be honored for being the God who entered into human flesh in order to save the world from sin:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (theos). He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people… He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth… No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God (monogenes theos), who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” John 1:1-4, 8-14, 18 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

Unless indicated otherwise, scriptural citations taken from the World English Bible (WEB).

ADDENDUM

The Expositors

I conclude this post by citing the commentaries of a select few biblical interpreters, scholars and/or theologians in relation to the key Johannine texts that deal with Jesus being worshiped as God.

John 5:23

In these verses Jesus’ equality with God is revealed with the result (v. 23, hina) that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Here their complete equality is expressed in terms of people’s proper attitude toward Jesus: the very same honor given to the Father is to be given to the Son. Again the Jewish idea of agent is used and transcended (see note on 5:21). An agent was to be received as the one who sent him would be received. But here God is the one sending, and no one sent by God in the Old Testament ever claimed equal honor with God! Unless Jesus is wholly and completely God this verse promotes blasphemy. Indeed, the last part of the verse makes the point even more strongly: failure to honor the Son is failure to honor the Father. Honoring God, which was at the heart of the Jewish religion, is said to be dependent on honoring Jesus as the Son of God.

This keynote section states clearly the scandal of particularity that some Christians find discomforting today. The complex language of these verses shows the struggle to guard the truth of monotheism while claiming that Jesus is God. The concerns of monotheists such as Jews and Muslims are legitimate, and this Gospel reveals that God is indeed One, though not in the way these other religions understand. This Gospel encourages monotheists to understand their truth in light of what has now been revealed by the Son of God about himself and the Holy Spirit. This Gospel, however, offers no encouragement to Christians who wish to say that Jesus is not the unique Son of God with exclusive and ultimate authority over every person on earth. All judgment has been given to him, and all are to honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John allows for no syncretism, for that would deny the uniqueness and exclusivity of Jesus. (Rodney A. Whitacre, John, vol. 4, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series [Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1999], pp. 129–130; emphasis mine)

5:23. The reason why the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son is now disclosed: it is so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whatever functional subordination may be stressed in this section, it guarantees, as we have seen, that the Son does everything that the Father does (cf. notes on vv. 19–20); and now Jesus declares that its purpose is that the Son may be at one with the Father not only in activity but in honour. This goes far beyond making Jesus a mere ambassador who acts in the name of the monarch who sent him, an envoy plenipotentiary whose derived authority is the equivalent of his master’s. That analogue breaks down precisely here, for the honour given to an envoy is never that given to the head of state. The Jews were right in detecting that Jesus was ‘making himself equal with God’ (vv. 17–18). But this does not diminish God. Indeed, the glorification of the Son is precisely what glorifies the Father (cf. notes on 12:28), just as in Philippians 2:9–11, where at the name of Jesus every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, and all this is to the glory of God the Father. Because of the unique relation between the Father and the Son, the God who declares ‘I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another’ (Is. 42:8; cf. Is. 48:11) is not compromised or diminished when divine honours crown the head of the Son.

Granted that the purpose of the Father is that all should honour the Son, it is but a small step to Jesus’ conclusion: He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him. In a theistic universe, such a statement belongs to one who is himself to be addressed as God (cf. 20:28), or to stark insanity. The one who utters such things is to be dismissed with pity or scorn, or worshipped as Lord. If with much current scholarship we retreat to seeing in such material less the claims of the Son than the beliefs and witness of the Evangelist and his church, the same options confront us. Either John is supremely deluded and must be dismissed as a fool, or his witness is true and Jesus is to be ascribed the honours due God alone. There is no rational middle ground.

Such a statement also betrays a strong salvation-historical perspective (as the church Fathers of the first three centuries understood). Jesus is not saying that Abraham, Moses and David were not truly honouring the Father because they failed to honour the Son who had not yet been sent. Rather, he is focusing on the latest development in the history of redemption: the incarnation of the Word, the sending of the Son. Just as there were many who did not listen to the prophets of old, leaving but a remnant who faithfully obeyed Yahweh’s gracious disclosures, so now with the coming of the Son there will be some who think they honour God while disowning God’s Word, his gracious Self-Expression, his own Son. But they are deluded. Now that the Son has come, the person who withholds the honour due the Son similarly dishonours the Father (cf. 14:6; Acts 4:12). The statement not only makes an unyielding Christological claim, but prepares the way for the obduracy motif that dominates ch. 12. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary [Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991], pp. 254–255; emphasis mine)

John 14:13-14

14:13–14. The reason why the ‘greater things’ are done consequent upon Jesus’ going to the Father (v. 12) is now clarified further: the disciples’ fruitful conduct is the product of their prayers, prayers offered in Jesus’ name. Whether this prayer is directed to the Father or to Jesus (cf. ‘You may ask me’, v. 14–but cf. Additional Note, below), it is offered in Jesus’ name, and he is the one who grants the request (I will do it, v. 14). This demonstrates that the contrast in v. 12 is not finally between Jesus’ works and his disciples’ works but between the works of Jesus that he himself performed during the days of his flesh, and the works that he performs through his disciples after his death and exaltation. Glorified with the glory he had with the Father before the world began (17:5), the Son is no longer limited by the pre-death humanness that characterized his ministry. At that point redemption is won, the kingdom of God is triumphantly invading the nations with saving and transforming power, the locus of the covenant community stretches outward from its Jewish confines to embrace the world, and the disciples themselves are empowered and equipped to engage in far-reaching ministry. The latter turns on the gift of the Holy Spirit, which gift is about to be introduced into the discussion (vv. 15ff.).

In the post-Easter situation, the Son’s mediatorial role extends even to the prayers of his followers. Prayers in his name are prayers that are offered in thorough accord with all that his name stands for (i.e. his name is not used as a magical incantation: cf. 1 Jn. 5:14), and in recognition that the only approach to God those who pray enjoy, their only way to God (cf. vv. 4–6), is Jesus himself (cf. H. Bietenhard, TDNT 5. 258–261, 276). Such prayer is never abstracted from the Father; for the Son’s purpose, even as he answers the prayers of his followers, is to bring glory to the Father (v. 13). During his ministry on earth, the Son’s consistent aim, and his achievement, was to bring glory to his Father (5:41; 7:18; 8:50, 54). That was, no less, the Son’s purpose in completing his mission by going to the cross (12:28)—which was simultaneously the means by which the Son would be supremely glorified (12:23). Now in the splendour of his exaltation, the Son’s purpose does not change: he enables his own to do ‘greater things’ in order that he may bring glory to the Father.

Additional note

14:14. This verse is omitted by a minority of witnesses, some of them important, including a substantial number of ancient versions. Nevertheless the verse is almost certainly original. Reasons why it was omitted may have included the following: (1) A copyist’s eye may have inadvertently dropped from the first word of v. 14 (ean) to the first word of v. 15 (ean), an accidental error called ‘haplography’. (2) Alternatively, a copyist might have thought, wrongly, that the verse contradicts 16:23, and decided to drop it. (3) Someone may have omitted it on the ground that it was too repetitive of truth already expressed in v. 13a. Amongst the witnesses that support the verse are a minority that drop the me in the first clause, thereby giving the impression that the prayer is addressed to the Father in Jesus’ name, rather than to Jesus in Jesus’ name. Textual evidence favours the inclusion of the pronoun. The seeming awkwardness of ‘ask me in my name’ is paralleled elsewhere (Pss. 25:11; 31:3; 79:9). In any case, it is very doubtful that the Evangelist would be interested in drawing overly fine distinctions in the proper object of prayer, since he can happily refer to the gift of the Spirit as the result of the Son’s request to the Father (vv. 16, 26), or as the Son’s own emissary (15:26; 16:7). Cf. notes on 15:6–7, 16. (Carson, The Gospel according to John, pp. 496–498; emphasis mine)

The works founded upon the “going” of Jesus to the Father (14:12) can, therefore, only involve the post-Easter mission of the church. To gain some insight in this matter we turn briefly to Luke. In writing the introduction to his exciting Book of Acts, in which he details the powerful works involving the early Christians, Luke also reminds us of a similar crucial perspective. In the introduction to Acts he asserted that the “former book,” namely, the Gospel of Luke, detailed “all that Jesus began to do and teach” until his exaltation to heaven (Acts 1:1–2). The implication of the statement in Acts is not that Jesus ceased to work at that point but that Luke’s second volume implied that Jesus continued to work through the early Christians. Accordingly, when Peter heals Aeneus, Peter says, “Jesus Christ heals you” (Acts 9:34). Moreover, when the pre-Christian Saul/Paul is on the way to persecute the Christians in Damascus and he is struck blind, he hears the voice saying, “Why do you persecute me?” When he asks who the voice is, the reply comes, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Saul was in fact persecuting Christians, but the voice identified the persecuted one as Jesus (Acts 9:1–5). The conclusion can only be that for Luke, Jesus was still active in mission; but although he was with God, he was now working in and through the church.

Although John does not express himself in the same way as Luke, there is a commonality of viewpoints. John’s postresurrection perspective is enunciated in the words of Jesus to the disciples, “I will do whatever you ask in my name” (14:13). These words, as Brown argued, suggest a prayer context because asking either God or the departed Jesus can hardly be accomplished in a face-to-face conversation. But the coordinating idea here with Luke is that Jesus continues to act, which is expressed in the future verb “I will do” (poiēsō).

But even more significant is the implication of v. 14. The construction here is a conditional sentence, which is not fully evident in the NIV but is much clearer in the KJV, RSV, NRSV, and others. The setting is once again to be seen as referring to a pattern of prayer, and Jesus promises to act in response to prayer (“ask”). What is most intriguing is that the most likely reading of the Greek text here would have the prayer addressed not to the Father but to Jesus.

In dealing with this anomaly of praying to Jesus, some manuscripts simply omit the entire verse whether purposefully or accidently. It if were accidental, it would be a variant of sight whereby the scribe’s eye moved accidentally from ean (“if”) of v. 14 to ean of v. 15. If it were purposeful, the copyist may have considered the verse to be either inconsistent with the focus of asking in v. 14 or theologically inconsistent with a church tradition concerning the one to whom prayer should be addressed. The other variant in 14:14 is merely the deleting of the Greek me. (“me”), which would deal with the theological idea of praying to Jesus and assume the praying is to God. Both these variants, however, are suspect. The most likely reading of the text here that can explain the presence of the other readings and has the weight of the strongest manuscript history would be “if you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.” Although such a translation seems to be both a little clumsy and at variance with the way systematic theologians might wish to discuss prayer from a theocentric perspective, the style is a typical Semitic redundancy that here has been applied to asking me in my name. Such a writing style of asking God for the sake of his name is found elsewhere in the Bible (cf. Pss 25:11; 31:3), and it agrees with the Johannine idea that the Holy Spirit will be sent in the name of Jesus (cf. 14:26).

This meaning of the expression here of asking me in my name, as H. Bietenhard has suggested, probably means praying both “according to his will” and “with the invocation of his name.”

Excursus 16: John’s Gospel on the Trinity

The fact that John can here speak of praying both to Jesus (14:14) and to the Father in Jesus’ name (cf. 15:16 and 16:23) would not likely trouble this Gospel writer because he would clearly see an intertwining of the two ideas in his thinking about God (cf. 1:1 and 20:28). The problem for Western Christians is that we usually define things by mean of distinction whereas the Semitic mind defines things by description or in picture-thinking. The overlap of Jesus and God in the statements of John may trouble us, but John was apparently not troubled. Therefore the Semite had no trouble in his Trinitarian formulation of speaking of God as the one who is, was, and is to come, the Spirit as the seven spirits, and Jesus as the firstborn from the dead (Rev 1:4–5)—and in that order. But we have come to speak of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and in that order.

There is a freedom in Johannine picture-thinking that irritates our mind-set and has led to a number of church arguments. For example, in the next section on the Holy Spirit the text of 14:16 reads, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor [Paraclete].” This text has been used by the Western church to argue that the Holy Spirit must be the third “persona” of the Trinity and that the Holy Spirit must have proceeded from the Father and the Son. Accordingly, the Western creed reads “and the son” (filioque). But the Eastern church has consistently argued that the filioque clause is totally unnecessary. The arguments over this expression have been intense with bishops deciding to excommunicate each other from their fellowships.

Although theological formulations are intensely important, one still has to wonder whether the argument was really worth it, especially since it could be argued that the pre-Chalcedonian formulation of the Trinity in Rev 1:4–5 might not fully support such precision, to say nothing of the fact that the order of the Trinitarian formulation in 1 Pet 1:2 is exactly the same as that in the opening words of Revelation.

Matthew’s order of the Godhead is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (28:19), but the fact that there are different patterns in the New Testament should warn us against an absolutist approach to the subject. The reality of the Godhead is clear. Yet there is no question that the early Christians were struggling to describe the relationship between the members or persona of what we today call the Trinity. So we must be exceedingly careful in our theological formulations not to treat some inspired biblical statements as illegitimate because they do not fit our Western style of formulations. We must always remember that God is bigger than our formulations, and we will never pour the ocean of God’s truth into the teacups of our minds or completely encapsulate truth in our neat little formulations about God. On the other hand, it should not stop us from trying to describe this divine reality as long as we maintain our humility concerning our attempts at comprehending the incomprehensible (cf. Paul at Rom 11:33–36).

14:14 (Cont.) Having thus introduced the intense feeling of loss by the disciples, John has in this final subsection sought to give his readers a sense of hope in the promise of the coming power that will be experienced through the believer’s relationship to Jesus. But the invitation to pray for “anything” (14:14) in this context is not, in fact, to be understood as “anything” in the absolute sense because the guiding principle of the believer’s prayer must be the same principle that Jesus followed throughout his life. That principle was the glorification of the Father in and through everything done by the Son (14:13). To read this promise of Jesus concerning asking in any other way would be a complete misunderstanding of the promise.

Jesus lived in the will of the Father, and the Christian is duty bound to live in the will of Jesus. Appropriate praying/asking here, therefore, must follow the same model Jesus exemplified. Mere reciting of the name of Jesus must not be understood as a mantra of magical power that provides the petitioner with his heart’s desire. A “name” in the Semitic context carries a special sense of the nature of the name bearer. Accordingly, from Adam and Eve through Abram/Abraham to Jacob/Israel and Joshua/Jesus, names are purposive designations of important realities. So to pray in the name of Jesus implies that in the praying one recognizes the nature of the name the praying person is using.¹³⁷

In discussing the subject of prayer in this manner as a crucial aspect of the believer’s reliance on divine power, the stage is thus set for the introduction of the next major section of the Farewell Cycle—namely, Part I of the texts related to the Paraclete, or the Holy Spirit. (Gerald L. Borchert, John 12–21, vol. 25B, The New American Commentary [Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002], pp. 116–119; emphasis mine)

John 20:28

Jesus Appears to Thomas (20:24–29) John now tells us that Thomas had not been present on that first day of the resurrection (v. 24). The disciples tell him they have seen the Lord, but he does not believe them. Perhaps they have only seen a ghost (cf. Mt 14:26 par. Mk 6:49). In fact, Luke tells of a meeting between Jesus and the disciples at which the disciples think they are seeing a ghost (Lk 24:37). So to convince them he is not a ghost, Jesus invites them to touch him and he eats a piece of broiled fish (Lk 24:39–43). Perhaps Thomas is simply saying he needs to see the same evidence that they have seen (Westcott 1908:2:353).

John’s description of Thomas touching the wounds is quite dramatic (v. 25). Thomas wants to shove his hand into Jesus’ side! On the assumption that the disciples have told Thomas about Jesus’ wounds, some have taken Thomas’s statement as evidence that Jesus’ wound was large enough for one to put one’s hand in and that it was not closed over. But more likely Thomas is simply being dramatic, as he was earlier in the Gospel (11:16). Similarly, the language he uses when he says he will not believe is very emphatic (ou mē pisteusō).

A week later, the next Sunday after the resurrection, the disciples (including Thomas) were again in a locked room (v. 26). Jesus’ appearances on Sundays, along with the timing of the resurrection itself, contributed to the church’s making that the primary day of worship (cf. Beasley-Murray 1987:385). The expression John uses is literally “after eight days,” since Jews counted the beginning and the ending of a period of time. This term itself was taking on special meaning at the time John is writing. In Barnabas (from about A.D. 96–100) the eighth day represents “the beginning of another world” (15:8). The author links it with Jesus’ resurrection: “That is why we spend the eighth day in celebration, the day on which Jesus both arose from the dead and, after appearing again, ascended into heaven” (Barnabas 15:9).

Faith throughout the Gospel is depicted as progressive, renewed in the face of each new revelation of Jesus. The other disciples have moved on to the next stage, but Thomas has not been able to. To not move on when Jesus calls us to do so is to shift into reverse and move away. Both believing and unbelieving are dynamic—we are growing in one direction or the other. Thus, when Jesus appears in their midst he challenges Thomas to move on ahead in the life of faith, to stop doubting and believe (v. 27). The actual expression used may capture the dynamic quality, since ginomai often has the sense of “becoming” and the present tense “marks the process as continually going on” (Westcott 1908:2:355). Translated woodenly this reads, “Stop becoming unbelieving and get on with becoming believing” (mē ginou apistos alla pistos). To get Thomas moving in the right direction again Jesus offers him the chance to feel his wounds. His offer echoes Thomas’s own graphic language from verse 25, suggesting that Jesus was actually present when Thomas was making his protest or that he could at least perceive what was going on, an ability Jesus had even before he was raised from the dead (cf. 1:48).

John does not say whether Thomas actually did touch Jesus’ wounds. The impression is that he did not, for John says, “Thomas answered and said to him …” That is, Thomas’s confession is an immediate response to seeing Jesus and hearing his offer. Furthermore, in Jesus’ response to Thomas he mentions seeing but not touching (v. 29).

Thomas’s confession of Jesus as my Lord and my God is yet another climax in this Gospel. Jesus has invited him to catch up with the others in their new stage of faith, and he shoots past them and heads to the top of the class. His confession is climactic not only as part of the Gospel’s story line, but also as an expression of the core of John’s witness to Jesus in this Gospel. Thomas confesses Jesus as God when he sees that the crucified one is alive. It is in the crucifixion that God himself is made known, for he is love, and love is the laying down of one’s life (1 Jn 4:8; 3:16). But God is also life. In John, this God is revealed perfectly in the death of the Son, but this death would be nothing without the life. When Thomas finds death and life juxtaposed in Jesus he realizes who the one standing before him really is.

Thomas has accepted the revelation, but he gets no commendation from Jesus. Rather, Jesus looks ahead to those who will believe through the witness of these disciples who have seen (cf. 15:27; 17:20): blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (v. 29). This beatitude, like others Jesus had spoken, is a shocking reversal of common expectations (cf. Mt 5:3–12; Lk 6:20–26). It suggests that if seeing is believing, as it was for Thomas, believing is also seeing. What matters is the relationship established by faith. But this faith is not a vague or general feeling, nor is it merely an intellectual assent to a position. It is openness and acceptance and trust directed toward God in Jesus. In John, as in the rest of the New Testament, the concern is not simply with various conceptions of God or various ideas, but with events in history that demand an interpretation and a response. If John is the “spiritual Gospel,” as Clement of Alexandria said (Eusebius Church History 4.14.7), it is so not in the sense of being nonmaterial or ahistorical, for in John there is no sharp dichotomy between spirit and matter, though the two are not confused with one another. Rather, this Gospel is spiritual in the sense that it interprets historical events in the light of divine reality. As E. C. Hoskyns and Noel Davey have said, “The Fourth Gospel persuades and entices the reader to venture a judgment upon history” (Hoskyns and Davey 1947:263). Thomas’s confession was such a judgment, and now Jesus challenges all who come after to venture a judgment upon this history, that is, upon his person, his presence through the Spirit in this particular community and through the life he offers. Peter later describes such believers: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:8–9). (Whitacre, John, vol. 4, pp. 484–486; emphasis mine)

20:28. The historicity of both the confession itself and the incident as a whole has come under grave suspicion. The issues are too complex to be addressed in detail here, but a few observations should be made. Are we to think that the church made up a story that pictures one of the Twelve as incredulous to the point of unreasonable obstinacy (v. 25), and that reports the Lord’s public reproof of that apostle (vv. 27, 29)? Even if the narrative has an apologetic purpose, that is scant reason for assessing it as unhistorical: it is surely as justifiable to conclude that the account was chosen precisely because it was so suitable. At least one part of the story (v. 25) finds a parallel elsewhere (Lk. 24:39); and the portrait of Thomas is in thorough agreement with what we learn of him from 11:16 and 14:5. The speed with which Thomas’ pessimistic unbelief was transformed into joyful faith is surely consistent with the experience of the other witnesses (e.g. vv. 16, 20).

If it be objected that this Christological confession is too ‘high’ or ‘developed’ at this early date, several points must be observed: (1) The view which insists on this point does so on the basis of a slow evolutionary development of the rise of Christological titles, and this reconstruction, so far as the sources go, is not unassailable (cf. Introduction, § III). (2) Thomas, like most Jews, was doubtless familiar with Old Testament accounts of believers who conversed with what appeared to be men, only to learn, with terror, that they were heavenly visitors, possibly Yahweh himself. Moreover it is arguable that as Judaism developed after the Exile, the reaction against idolatry and the punishments it attracted generated a view of God that made him more and more transcendent, but correspondingly less personal; and into the vacuum left by this shift rushed a mounting number of intermediaries, angels and other ill-defined beings (Carson, esp. pp. 41–121). Within two hundred years of this Thomas episode, and probably much earlier, one of these could actually be referred to as ‘little Yahweh’. This is not to suggest that Johannine Christology is indistinguishable from the angelology of Judaism. Christianity, by definition, is messianic.

But it does suggest that Thomas was not devoid of categories to begin to make sense of the resurrection of Jesus. (3) The use of kyrios (‘lord’) for both common courtesy (e.g. v. 15) and in addressing God himself facilitated the development of Christological understanding. (4) In any case, kyrios is an early post-resurrection title (e.g. Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:9–11), and because it is used of God himself in the lxx, in many of its occurrences it cannot be considered less elevated than theos (‘God’). (5) It is hard to see why my Lord, an exceedingly rare pairing of words, should be ruled out of court, when the Aramaic marana (‘our Lord’) was early used as an invocation even in Greek-speaking churches (1 Cor. 16:22; cf. notes on Jn. 16:20).

Finally, if the Evangelist is none other than the apostle John, or even if the Evangelist is someone else who derives his information from the apostle John, then we are dealing with eyewitness testimony.

Thomas’ utterance cannot possibly be taken as shocked profanity addressed to God (if to anyone), a kind of blasphemous version of a stunned ‘My word!’ Despite its popularity with some modern Arians, such profanity would not have been found in first-century Palestine on the lips of a devout Jew. In any case, Thomas’ confession is addressed to him, i.e. to Jesus; and Jesus immediately (if implicitly) praises him for his faith, even if it is not as notable as the faith of those who believe without demanding the kind of evidence accorded Thomas. Nor are Thomas’ words most easily read as a predicative statement addressed to Jesus: ‘My Lord is also my God.’ The overwhelming majority of grammarians rightly take the utterance as vocative address to Jesus: My Lord and my God!—the nouns being put not in the vocative case but in the nominative (as sometimes happens in vocatival address) to add a certain sonorous weight.

The repeated pronoun my does not diminish the universality of Jesus’ lordship and deity, but it ensures that Thomas’ words are a personal confession of faith. Thomas thereby not only displays his faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but points to its deepest meaning; it is nothing less than the revelation of who Jesus Christ is. The most unyielding sceptic has bequeathed to us the most profound confession.

The thoughtful reader of this Gospel immediately recognizes certain connections: (1) Thomas’ confession is the climactic exemplification of what it means to honour the Son as the Father is honoured (5:23). It is the crowning display of how human faith has come to recognize the truth set out in the Prologue: ‘The Word was God …; the Word became flesh’ (1:1, 14). (2) At the same time, Jesus’ deity does not exhaust deity; Jesus can still talk about his God and Father in the third person. After all, this confession is set within a chapter where the resurrected Jesus himself refers to ‘my Father … my God’ (v. 17). This is entirely in accord with the careful way he delineates the nature of his unique sonship (5:16–30). (3) The reader is expected to articulate the same confession, as the next verse implies. John’s readers, like Thomas, need to come to faith; and this is what coming to faith looks like. Clearly this has critical bearing on how vv. 30–31 are interpreted.

20:29. The editors of the Greek text (NA²⁶) take the first part of Jesus’ response to Thomas as rebuke cast as a question: ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed?’ So also Lindars (p. 646), who compares 1:50 and 16:31. But the point of the latter passages is that the people involved do not really believe, whereas here Thomas has truly come to faith. It is better to understand the first part of Jesus’ response as a statement (and to that extent a confirmation of Thomas’s faith)—one that prepares the way for the beatitude that follows: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

The Fourth Gospel reports only one other beatitude (13:17), and, like most beatitudes (e.g. Mt. 5:3–12), both strike a note of admonition. The word makarios (‘blessed’) does not simply declare ‘happy’ those who meet the conditions, but pronounces them accepted by God. Thomas, like all the witnesses of the resurrection, ‘saw and believed’, to use the language applied to the beloved disciple (v. 8)—though all the latter saw, at least until the Sunday evening (vv. 19–20), were the grave-clothes, not the resurrected Lord. But Jesus here foresees a time when he will not provide the kind of tangible evidence afforded the beloved disciple and Thomas; in short, he will ascend to his Father permanently, and all those who believe will do so without the benefit of having seen their resurrected Lord. That is as true today as it was for those who first believed after the ascension. This does not (or should not) mean that our faith is diminished or our joy truncated: ‘Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls’ (1 Pet. 1:8–9).

The major commentaries cite the saying of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish (c. ad 250), who reportedly said (Tanḥuma § 6 [32 a]: cf. SB 2. 586):

The proselyte is dearer to God than all the Israelites who stood by Mount Sinai. For if all the Israelites had not seen the thunder and the flames and the lightnings and the quaking mountain and the sound of the trumpet they would not have accepted the law and taken upon themselves the kingdom of God. Yet this man has seen none of all these things yet comes and gives himself to God and takes on himself the yoke of the kingdom of God. Is there any who is dearer than this man? (tr. Barrett, p. 574)

Yet for Rabbi Simeon the contrast is stark, while Jesus’ words in v. 29 are cautious and balanced. Thomas’ faith is not depreciated: rather, it is as if the step of faith Thomas has taken, displayed in his unrestrained confession, triggers in Jesus’ mind the next step, the coming-to-faith of those who cannot see but who will believe—and so he pronounces a blessing on them. Within the context of the Fourth Gospel as a whole, however, ‘but for the fact that Thomas and the other apostles saw the incarnate Christ there would have been no Christian faith at all. Cf. 1:18, 50f.; 2:11; 4:45; 6:2; 9:37; 14:7, 9; 19:35’ (Barrett, p. 573). The witness theme in the book has not been lost to view; later believers come to faith through the word of the earlier believers (17:20). Blessed, then, are those who cannot share Thomas’ experience of sight, but who, in part because they read of Thomas’ experience, come to share Thomas’ faith. For us, faith comes not by sight, but from what is heard (or read!), and what is heard comes by the word (i.e. the declaration) of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Indeed, that is why John himself has written, as he proceeds to make explicit. (Carson, The Gospel according to John, pp. 657–660; emphasis mine)

Further Reading

John 5:23: A Blessing for the Trinitarian Pt. 1 (https://answeringislam.blog/john5_23__p1/), Pt. 2 (https://answeringislam.blog/john5_23__p2/)

Honoring Jesus as God (https://www.samshmnthelogy.net/post/honoring-jesus-as-god) (https://answeringislam.blog/honoring-jesus-as-god/)