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Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)
To Trinitarians and those who believe in the “deity of Christ,” this verse is slam-dunk evidence that Yahushua is Yahuwah.
But is it? I believe the “deity of Christ” interpretation ignores and contradicts Yahushua’s teaching in the Gospel of John. There is a much better way to understand Thomas’s words.
Which “God” did Thomas mean when he said “my God”?
If you think Thomas recognized a 2nd God-person in Yahushua, a God-essence, or a “God the Son incarnate” in Yahushua, I think you are not listening to and contradicting what Yahushua tells us in John’s Gospel.
Yahushua, in John’s Gospel, said that it is Yahuwah, the Father that Thomas saw in Yahushua.
"...believe the works, that you may know and understand that THE FATHER IS IN ME" (Yahushua, in John 10:28, cf. John 14:10-20)
A Challenge
Let me challenge you to think how biblically foreign the Trinitarian claim is. Trinitarianism claims that because Thomas saw the once dead, now resurrected, flesh-and-bone Yahushua, “Thomas called Yahushua his God.” Be honest with yourself. Put yourself in Thomas’s place in first-century Jerusalem. If you saw and touched the dead-but-now-resurrected-man Yahushua, would you think that Yahushua was Yahuwah, or would you think that Yahuwah (known as the Father) had raised Yahushua from the dead?
Contrary to the “deity of Christ” interpretation, Thomas did not fail to acknowledge the work of the Father, the One Eternal Life-Giving God, in the resurrection of Yahushua from the dead.
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Some Ancient Near Eastern and Greek religions believed in the death and resurrection of their god. Worshipers of Baal, for instance, claimed Baal was dead and came alive. But unlike pagans, biblical-thinking Jews believed that the eternal Yahuwah does not die, nor does he come back to life. Instead, the only God, Yahuwah, the Father, promised to raise humans from the dead. This is one of the reasons why Yahuwah is called “the Father” -- because He gives life to humans both in this age and in the age to come.
Contrary to the “deity of Christ” interpretation, Thomas did not fail to acknowledge the work of the Father, the One Eternal Life-Giving God, in the resurrection of Yahushua from the dead. Indeed, Thomas acknowledged the Father, seeing two “persons” involved in the resurrection of Yahushua:
- my “Lord” is Yahushua, the Messiah, who suffered and died but was raised from the dead.
- my “God” is the Father, who raised Yahushua from the dead.
The Trinitarian “deity of Christ” interpretation of John 20:28 fails to see or acknowledge the Father who raised to life the dead Yahushua.
Apostles’ Reaction to the Resurrection of Yahushua:
“Yahuwah raised him from the dead!”
Not: “He is Yahuwah!”
Over 30 references in the New Testament state that Yahuwah raised Yahushua Christ from the dead.
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In all other places in the Bible where the apostles react to the resurrection of Yahushua, the Messiah from the dead, they do not react by declaring, “This proves Yahushua is Yahuwah.” Instead, they react by declaring: “Yahuwah (the Father) raised the Lord Yahushua from the dead” (Acts 2:22-24, 2:36, 4:10, 5:30, 10:40, 13:30-37; Rom. 1:4, 10:9, Gal 1:1, 1 Pet. 1:21, etc.) Over 30 references in the New Testament state that Yahuwah raised Yahushua Christ from the dead. The reaction of the other apostles is evidence that Thomas is reacting in the same way. “This Yahushua, Yahuwah raised up, and of that, we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32).
The apostles, including Thomas, saw their God at work in the resurrection of Yahushua from the dead.
To emphasize, nowhere in the New Testament is Yahushua’s resurrection interpreted by the apostles to show Yahushua’s deity. Instead, the apostles interpret Yahushua’s resurrection as an act of Yahuwah (the Father), the Giver of Life, who designated Yahushua as Lord Messiah/Christ, Son of Yahuwah, savior, and judge (Acts 2:22-36, 3:15, 5:30-31, 13:23-40, 17:31, Rom.1:4, 10:9, Gal. 1:1, etc). The Father (Yahuwah) is made known, revealed, and represented by the resurrected Son (John 1:18).
Seeing Yahuwah, but No one has seen Yahuwah
John 12:45 and John 1:18
Just days before he was crucified, Yahushua shouted in Jerusalem, “He who sees me sees Him who sent me” (John 12:44-45). The One who sent Yahushua is Yahuwah (the Father, John 3:16, 5:23, 20:21). When we see Yahushua, we can see Yahuwah (the Father) who sent him. There are two “persons” seen here. 1) Yahushua, who Yahuwah sent, and 2) Yahuwah, the Father who sent Yahushua.
But how could Yahushua say, “he who sees me sees Him who sent me” and “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 12:45, 14:9) when the same Gospel states, “no one has ever seen Yahuwah” (John 1:18)?
Because John 1:18 uses “seen” literally and Yahushua uses “seen” figuratively (John 10:6; 16:25, 29). The word “see” is often used in a figurative sense to mean “perceive, know, understand,” as we might say, “I see what you mean.”
We see Yahuwah the Father in Yahushua because Yahushua perfectly represents Yahuwah and because Yahuwah was behind the scenes and involved in everything that Yahushua was and did.
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Yahushua represents someone else, specifically Yahuwah, the Father who sent him. We see Yahuwah the Father in Yahushua because Yahushua perfectly represents Yahuwah and because Yahuwah was behind the scenes and involved in everything that Yahushua was and did. When we see Yahushua, we see, i.e., perceive Yahuwah (the Father). When Thomas saw Yahushua resurrected from the dead, he saw, i.e., understood that Yahuwah (the Father) was working.
Even before his death and resurrection, Yahushua could say that the apostles had seen the Father because the Father was seen, i.e., known in the works that Yahushua did (John 14:7-9). By the works Yahushua did, the apostles could “know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (John 10:38).
“No one has ever seen Yahuwah, the unique Son, who is at the Father's side; he has made Him known.”
By claiming that Thomas saw Yahuwah, the “deity of Christ,” the interpretation of Thomas’s words directly contradicts the Gospel of John’s statement that “no one has ever seen Yahuwah.”
“Lord, show us the Father”
(John 14:8, Not “Lord, show us Yahuwah the Son”)
We ask again. When Thomas said, “My Lord and my god,” which God did Thomas see?
Trinitarianism says that Thomas saw “God the Son incarnate” or God's Essence. Yahushua said differently. Yahushua said that Thomas would see “the Father” (Yahuwah).
John 14
The evening before Yahushua’s crucifixion, Yahushua told Thomas: “If you have known me, you also will know my Father. From now on you do know HIM and have seen HIM" (John 14:7).
Keep in mind that Yahushua was speaking to Thomas. To know Yahushua was to know and see the Father. Thomas had already seen Him (the Father). Again, “seeing” is being used in the figurative sense of “understanding” and “knowing.”
To suggest that Thomas sees or knows a different God other than Yahuwah the Father in the resurrected Yahushua turns a deaf ear to Yahushua’s teaching and contradicts what Yahushua told Thomas.
Then, in the next verse, with Thomas undoubtedly still listening, Philip asked:
“Lord, show us the Father” (John 14:8).
Philip’s request, “Lord, show us the Father,” involves two “persons”:
1) Lord -- is Yahushua.
2) the Father -- is Yahuwah.
Two “persons,” but only one of them is Yahuwah. These are the same two “persons” that Thomas acknowledges and sees in the resurrection of Yahushua from the dead.
...for Philip, as for Yahushua, Moses and Paul, there was “only one God, the Father” (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29-32; John 5:44, 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 1:17, 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5)
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“Lord, show us the Father.” We might wonder why Philip didn’t ask Yahushua to show the apostles “God the Son”? Why didn’t Philip ask Yahushua to show them the Trinity? Why would Philip only be interested in seeing the Father? Could it be that for Philip, there was no such thing as “God the Son” or “God the Trinity” and that for Philip, as for Yahushua, Moses and Paul, there was “only one God, the Father” (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29-32; John 5:44, 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 1:17, 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5)?
Yahushua replied to Philip, Thomas still listening:
“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who remains in me does HIS works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (14:9-11).
Could Yahushua have made it any clearer? The Father was in Yahushua. “The Father who remains in me does HIS works….”
Seeing and Believing
Philip wanted to see the Father. “Lord, show us the Father.” Yahushua did show Philip and Thomas and all the apostles the Father. It is the Father that Yahushua showed and that Thomas saw.
Yahushua stated over and over again that his words and works show that it is the Father working in and through Yahushua (cf. Acts 2:22). “Deity of Christ” theologians ignore Yahushua and instead create a fictitious “God the Son” that they see in Yahushua. But “Yahuwah the Son” was not working in or through Yahushua. Neither Yahushua nor anyone else in Scripture mentions “Yahuwah the Son.” To suggest that there is any other God-person in Yahushua other than the Father ignores what Yahushua told the apostles over and over again. Yahushua said continually that the Father was working in and through him. Yahushua said he would show the apostles the Father. Thomas saw (perceived) the Father.
Resurrection: “When you see me again, you will know that I am in my Father’
Yahushua continued his discussion that night with Thomas, Philip, and the other apostles. Yahushua said that it would mainly be in seeing him after his death and resurrection that they would know (see) that Yahuwah the Father was at work in Yahushua: “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (14:19-20).
Thomas Finally Gets It, when you see Yahushua, you see the Father.
Some eight days after Yahushua told Thomas and Philip that they would see the Father in him (eight days after Yahushua was raised from the dead), Thomas saw and touched the once dead but now alive flesh-and-bone-human Yahushua (Luke 24:39). Thomas finally knew (understood and believed) what Yahushua was talking about. Yahushua's life, death, and resurrection revealed the Father, the only God (John 17:3), the Giver of Life. Thomas saw (i.e., understood, knew) that the resurrection of Yahushua was the work of Yahuwah the Father that the Father had given life to Yahushua, that indeed the Father was in Yahushua, the Father is known by the resurrected Yahushua, the Father is declared in the resurrected Yahushua, the resurrected Yahushua represents the Father. Like Yahushua said, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me…” (John 14:11). Thomas finally did.
Yahushua's life, death, and resurrection revealed the Father, the only God (John 17:3), the Giver of Life.
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My Lord, and my Yahuwah
Thomas did not say to Yahushua, “YOU are my Lord and my God”. Compare Nathaniel’s words to Yahushua when Nathaniel expressed that Yahushua was both the King of Israel and the Son of Yahuwah: “Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of Yahuwah; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49).
Unlike Nathaniel’s declaration, Thomas’s does not contain “you” at all because Thomas understood that he was seeing another “person” at work in the resurrected Yahushua, the Father. Thomas’s exclamation has two titles for two different “persons”: “My Lord” (Yahushua) and “my God” (the Father) because Yahushua has told Thomas - many times! - that “when you see me,” in this case, resurrected from the dead, “you have seen the Father” (John 12:45, 14:19-20).
Paging “God the Son,” “God the Son,” where are You?
No “God the Son incarnate” exists in the Gospel of John or Scripture. “God the Son” is never credited with why Yahushua is who he is or does what he does. Many Trinitarians claim that Yahushua did what he did and said what he said: “because Yahushua is Yahuwah.” But the Trinitarian claim contradicts the Bible, especially in the Gospel of John. Yahushua says in the Gospel of John:
- The Father is “the only true God” (John 17:1, 3).
- The Father is in Yahushua. Yahushua’s works are the Father’s works. The Father did the works in Yahushua (10:32, 10:37, 14:10, cf. Acts 2:22).
- Yahushua’s words are the Father’s (8:48, 12:49-50, 14:10, cf. Deut. 18:18).
- Yahushua’s glory is from the Father (1:14, 8:54, 17:5).
- Yahushua has declared or made known the Father (1:18, 14:10-11).
- If people knew Yahushua, they would know the Father (8:19, 12:45, 14:7-11).
- Because Yahushua spoke the Father’s words and because of the miraculous works Yahushua did from the Father, people could “know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father" (10:38, 12:49, 14:10).
Again, there is no indication of another divine person, a so-called “God the Son incarnate” at work or “in” Yahushua.
“Believe me”: The Resurrection or Deity?
What did Yahushua tell the apostles to believe the night before he was crucified? “Believe me that I am God”? Far from it. “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me…” (John 14:11).
When the other apostles told Thomas that they had seen the resurrected Yahushua, Thomas didn’t believe that Yahushua was alive (John 20:25), literally raised from the dead by Yahuwah.
It is the death and resurrection of Yahushua, the Messiah, that the apostles later preached, not the deity of Yahushua (Acts 2:22; 1 Cor. 1:23, 2:2, 15:3-6, 12; 1 Pet. 1:21, etc.).
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It was a belief in the resurrection of Yahushua from the dead - prime evidence that the Father is in Yahushua - that Yahushua commended. “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me…Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 14:11, 20:29).
It is the death and resurrection of Yahushua, the Messiah, that the apostles later preached, not the deity of Yahushua (Acts 2:22; 1 Cor. 1:23, 2:2, 15:3-6, 12; 1 Pet. 1:21, etc.).
My God and Your God, My Father and Your Father: Context and John’s Purpose for Writing
Understanding that Thomas’s declaration “my God” refers to the Father fits the context of John chapter 20. Interpreting Thomas to be calling Yahushua “my God” does not fit the context.
On the day of his resurrection, in words that John recorded only 11 verses before Thomas’s “my God” statement, Yahushua said to Mary Magdalene, “Go to my brothers and say to them ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). Yahushua has a God, who is the same as the apostles’ God. Yahushua’s and Thomas’s God is also known as the Father. Yahushua said he was Thomas’s brother, not Thomas’s God.
Those who want to claim that “Thomas called Yahushua God” should explain from Scripture why Yahuwah has a God because the “deity of Christ” interpretation means that “God-Yahushua” has a God. Also, if Thomas is brother to “God-Yahushua,” does this mean that Thomas is (a) God?
John tells us why he recorded the signs/miracles.
Further, just two verses after John recorded Thomas’s declaration, John stated why he recorded the signs that Yahushua did.
“Now Yahushua did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Yahushua is the Christ, the Son of Yahuwah, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
John does not say that he recorded these signs so we would believe that Yahushua is Yahuwah. Instead, John recorded the signs so we might believe that Yahushua is the “Christ/Messiah, the Son of Yahuwah.”
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John does not say that he recorded these signs so we would believe that Yahushua is Yahuwah. Instead, John recorded the signs so we might believe that Yahushua is the “Christ/Messiah, the Son of Yahuwah.” “Christ/Messiah” in the Bible is never a title for a deity. Likewise, the “Son of Yahuwah” in the Bible is never a title for a deity but is the title for the human King of Israel (2 Sam. 7:14, Psa. 2:7, 89:26, John 1:49, 11:27).
Do we believe John? Or do we ignore John and believe someone else who says that John wrote his book to tell us that Yahushua is Yahuwah? Why does Trinitarianism refuse to believe John when John tells us the reason he wrote?
The context of John 20, including events and statements by the author of the Gospel of John immediately before and after Thomas’s declaration, shows that Thomas declared that Yahushua is his Lord and the Father is his God.
Lord and Yahuwah, two different titles in the Gospel of John
The New Testament consistently uses the same titles that Thomas used to distinguish between Yahuwah (the Father) and the Lord Yahushua Christ. Yahuwah is not the Lord Yahushua Christ. The Lord Yahushua Christ is not Yahuwah. There are many, many biblical examples where the Lord Yahushua Christ is differentiated from Yahuwah. Here are a few:
- “that the Yahuwah of our Lord Yahushua Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom (Eph. 1:17).
- “Grace to you and peace from Yahuwah our Father and the Lord Yahushua Christ” (1 Cor. 1:3, cf. Ephesians 1:3, Rom. 15:6, 1 Pet. 1:3).
- “Blessed be the Yahuwah and Father of our Lord Yahushua Christ, the Father of mercies” (2 Cor. 1:3).
Yahuwah is always differentiated from the Lord Yahushua Christ. The Lord Yahushua Christ is always differentiated from Yahuwah. The Lord Yahushua Christ in the New Testament has a God who raised him from the dead. The God of the Lord Yahushua is the only God, also known as the Father (John 17:1, 3; Rom. 15:6; Eph. 4:6).
In the Gospel of John, Yahuwah is never called Lord unless John quotes a passage directly from the Old Testament, which has Yahuwah’s name Yahuwah. But this is rare, only three times in the Gospel of John (1:23, 12:13, 38). Outside of those quotes from the Old Testament, the Gospel of John never refers to Yahuwah as Lord. On the other hand, Yahushua is called Lord 40 times in the Gospel of John, all used as an honorific title denoting authority, “Master, Sir.” Here are a few examples:
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?” (9:35-36).
“Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of Yahuwah” (11:27).
“A servant is not greater than his Lord” (13:16, 15:20).
“You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am” (13:13).
Father, this is eternal life.
In the Gospel of John, Yahushua stated that receiving eternal life (life in the age to come, resurrection life) involved knowing two “persons”: “Father…this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Yahushua Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:1, 3).
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In the Gospel of John, Yahushua stated that receiving eternal life (life in the age to come, resurrection life) involved knowing two “persons”:
“Father…this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Yahushua Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:1, 3). These are the same two “persons” that Thomas saw in the raised to eternal life Yahushua. “My God” is the Father. “My Lord” is Yahushua Christ. The Trinitarian interpretation of Thomas’s declaration ignores the Father, the only true God, the Giver-of-Life (John 1:13).
Seeing Yahuwah at work in Human Affairs
A central biblical theme is that humans should be able to recognize or see Yahuwah at work in the deeds, sometimes miraculous, that Yahuwah does on earth through human beings. The Israelites could know it was Yahuwah who brought them out of Egypt by the miraculous deeds that Yahuwah performed through Moses (Exo. 29:46, Deut. 4:35).
The Canaanite saw what “Yahuwah your God…did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan”. They saw Yahuwah in victories done through Moses and Joshua (Josh. 9:9-10).
The Queen of Sheba could see that it was “Yahuwah your God” who placed Solomon on the throne as king (2 Chron. 9:8). She didn’t fail to recognize Yahuwah as the one responsible for Solomon’s greatness.
When Yahushua healed a lame man, “the crowds saw it, they were in awe, and they glorified Yahuwah, who had given such authority to men.” (Matt. 9:6-8).
When Yahushua raised to life a dead man, “they glorified Yahuwah, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ and ‘Yahuwah has visited his people!’” (Luke 7:15-16). The people didn’t fail to recognize, glorify and credit Yahuwah with the life-restoration miracle that had been performed through Yahushua.
When Yahushua healed many in the Gentile district of Decapolis, “the crowd was in awe, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the Yahuwah of Israel.” Again, these Gentiles could see the God of Israel at work in Yahushua.
In a statement that also involved victory over death, Paul recognized the work of Yahuwah through Yahushua: “Thanks be to Yahuwah, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yahushua Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
Summary
“Thanks be to Yahuwah, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yahushua Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
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Thomas’s statement in John 20:28 is touted as one of the chief pieces of evidence in the Bible for the “deity of Christ” and for the Trinity. But the “deity of Christ” interpretation gets it very wrong.
Trinitarianism claims it was “God the Son” in Yahushua. But Yahushua said that it was Yahuwah the Father, the only God, who was in him (John 8:40, 10:38, 14:9-10, 17:3).
Should we believe in Trinitarianism or Yahushua?
This is a non-WLC article by Bob Schlegel.
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team