John 20:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
John 20:26
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
disciples
μαθηταὶmathētai
G3101
a learner · noun — nominative plural masculine
were
ἦνēn
G2258
I (thou
within
ἔσωesō
G2080
inside (as preposition or adjective) · adverb
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
Thomas
ΘωμᾶςThōmas
G2381
the twin · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
with
μετ᾽met᾽
G3326
properly · preposition
them
αὐτῶν.autōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
came
ἔρχεταιerchetai
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
Jesus
ἸησοῦςIēsous
G2424
Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
doors
θυρῶνthurōn
G2374
a portal or entrance (the opening or the closure · noun — genitive plural feminine
shut
κεκλεισμένωνkekleismenōn
G2808
to close (literally or figuratively) · verb — perfect passive participle, genitive plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
stood
ἔστηestē
G2476
to stand (transitively or intransitively) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
in
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
midst
μέσονmeson
G3319
middle (as an adjective or (neuter) noun) · adjective — accusative singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
said
εἶπεν·eipen
G2036
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
Peace
εἰρήνηeirēnē
G1515
peace (literally or figuratively) · noun — nominative singular feminine
unto you
ὑμῖνhymîn
G5213
to (with or by) you
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the J…
Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace…
Isaiah 26:12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
Matthew 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Luke 9:28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it b…
John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Isaiah 27:5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 20:26–end
We have here an account of another appearance of Christ to his disciples, after his resurrection, when Thomas was now with them. And concerning this we may observe,
I. When it was that Christ repeated his visit to his disciples: After eight days, that day seven-night after he rose, which must therefore be, as that was, the first day of the week.
1. He deferred his next appearance for some time, to show his disciples that he was not risen to such a life as he had formerly lived, to converse constantly with them but was as one that belonged to another world, and visited this only as angels do, now and then, when there was occasion. Where Christ was during these eight days, and the rest of the…
And after eight days--that is, on the eighth, or first day of the preceding week. They probably met every day during the preceding week, but their Lord designedly reserved His second appearance among them till the recurrence of His resurrection day, that He might thus inaugurate the delightful sanctities of THE LORD'S DAY (Rev 1:10).
disciples were within, and Thomas with them . . . Jesus . . . stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Adam Clarke on John 20:26
After eight days - It seems likely that this was precisely on that day se'nnight, on which Christ had appeared to them before; and from this we may learn that this was the weekly meeting of the apostles; and, though Thomas was not found at the former meeting, he was determined not to be absent from this. According to his custom, Jesus came again; for he cannot forget his promise - two or three are assembled in his name; and he has engaged to be among them.
John Gill on John 20:26
And after eight days,.... That is, after another week, the same day a week later, which taking in the day in which Christ rose and appeared to Mary Magdalene, and his disciples, and the day in which he now appeared to the disciples with Thomas, made eight days; a like way of speaking see in Luke 9:28 compared with Matthew 17:1. And Dr. Hammond has proved from Josephus (w), that the Jews used to express a week by eight days.
Again, his disciples were within; within doors, in some private house; probably the same as before, in some part of the city of Jerusalem:
and Thomas with them: which shows their harmony and agreement, their frequency and constancy in meeting together, and their Christi…
The Church Fathers
(in Serm. Tap. ad Cat. ii. 8.) You ask; If He entered by the shut door, where is the nature of His body? (ubi est modus corporis.) And I reply; If He walked on the sea, where is the weight of His body? The Lord did that as the Lord; and did He, after His resurrection, cease to be the Lord?
And why doth He not appear to him straightway, instead of "after eight days"? In order that being in the mean time continually instructed by the disciples, and hearing the same thing, he might be inflamed to more eager desire, and be more ready to believe for the future. But whence knew he that His side had been opened? From having heard it from the disciples. How then did he believe partly, and partly not believe? Because this thing was very strange and wonderful. But observe, I pray you, the truthfulness of the disciples, how they hide no faults, either their own or others', but record them with great veracity.
The Lord came again, and offered his side to the unbelieving disciple to touch, showed his hands, and by displaying the scar of his wounds, healed the wound of that man's unbelief. What, dearest brothers, what do you observe in these things? Do you think it happened by chance that this chosen disciple was absent then, but coming later heard, hearing doubted, doubting touched, touching believed? This did not happen by chance, but by divine dispensation. For heavenly mercy acted in a wondrous way so that the doubting disciple, while he touched the wounds of flesh in his master, might heal in us the wounds of unbelief. For the unbelief of Thomas profited us more for faith than the faith of the believing disciples, because while he is brought back to faith by touching, our mind, all doubt set aside, is strengthened in faith. For thus the Lord permitted his disciple to doubt after his resurrection, yet did not abandon him in his doubt, just as before his birth he willed Mary to have a spouse, who nevertheless did not attain to marriage with her. For thus the doubting and touching disciple became a witness of the true resurrection, just as the spouse had been the guardian of the mother's perfect virginity.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
John The Apostle — was the son of Zebedee, a fisherman on the Lake of Galilee, and of Salome, and brother of James, also an apostle. Peter and James and John come within the innermost circle of their Lord’s friends;…
John, Gospel of — The genuineness of this Gospel, i.e., the fact that the apostle John was its author, is beyond all reasonable doubt. In recent times, from about 1820, many attempts have been made to impugn its…
Resurrection of Christ — One of the cardinal facts and doctrines of the gospel. If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain (1 Cor. 15:14). The whole of the New Testament revelation rests on this as an historical fact. On the…
Sabbath — (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning “to rest from labour”), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). “The sabbath was made for…
Resurrection Of Christ, The · He appeared after to: Apostles, Thomas being present — He appeared after to: Apostles, Thomas being present
Sabbath, The · First day of the week kept as, by the church — First day of the week kept as, by the church
Skepticism · Of Thomas — Of Thomas
Thomas · Sees Jesus after the resurrection — Sees Jesus after the resurrection
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John 20:24-25
24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Didymus, [211] was not with them when Jesus came. 25. The other disciples, therefore, said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, If I do not see in his hands the print [212] of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, [213] and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26. And after eight days, his disciples were again within, and Thomas with them. Then Jesus came, while the doors were shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be to you. 27. Then he saith to Thomas, Reach hither thy linger, and behold my hands; and reach thy hand, and put it into mv side; and be not faithless, but believi…
Eight days later was Sunday, one week after Jesus’ resurrection (it was customary to include the current day when counting forward). Jesus’ appearance on the following Sunday helps explain the disciples’ meeting on “the Lord’s Day” (see Rev 1:10). • Peace be with you: This scene was exactly like Jesus’ first appearance (John 20:19-20). Jesus had already heard Thomas’s complaint and now answered directly. • Believe! Jesus challenged Thomas to believe in the resurrection like the others.
