'Jn 20:24-31

Back to John~

Back to Contents

164. One week later (John 20:24-31)

Thomas had been absent when Jesus appeared among the disciples in the locked room, and refused to accept the word of the others that he was alive (John 20:24-25).

His doubts vanished when Jesus appeared among the disciples (this time including Thomas) in the same locked room the next Sunday night. But faith that depended on seeing Jesus’ actual body was not good enough, because soon he would return to his Father and people would no longer see him (John 20:26-29).

However, they could still hear the preaching of his disciples or read their written records. Through believing in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, they could have eternal life (John 20:30-31).

Note: In Bible times people had various ways of counting the number of days in a specified period. Often they included both the day on which the period began and the day on which it concluded. In discussing events on two consecutive Sundays, most people today would refer to the second as being ‘a week later’ (John 20:26 GNB, NIV), but many in Bible times would refer to it as being ‘eight days later’ (John 20:26 RSV), because they counted both Sundays. By the same reckoning, Jesus was in the tomb three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), though the actual time was probably about thirty-six hours (from about 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Sunday).