The Real Meaning of Doubting Thomas

If I was asked to define the popular concept of a ‘doubting Thomas’, I would be tempted to describe a person who is pointedly sceptical, prioritises evidence and reason, and refuses to believe anything without sufficient empirical grounds.

And though I can’t deny this is an accurate representation of how his name has come to be used, it is not - as I will argue in this article - an accurate representation of the man to whom it belonged.

In an age of growing biblical illiteracy, the origins of the familiar moniker are less widely known. They stretch back to a story in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus’ own disciple, Thomas, doubts his fellow disciples’ testimony of Jesus’ resurrection.

Naturally, not being with the disciples when they saw Christ, he demands more evidence: ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and thrust (ballō) my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

Yet, as we know, Thomas’ demand to see Christ is met. And Thomas’ doubt dissipates before the risen Christ. The lesson is drawn in Jesus’ beatitude: ‘You have believed because you have seen; blessed are those who have believed without seeing.’

A pair of messages can be drawn from the story: to believe is to be content without hard evidence; to doubt is to be like the unfaithful (and disproven) Thomas.

Yet in this post, I would like to challenge this reading of Thomas.

I think we have read Thomas all wrong; here is why…