My Lord and My God

An Examination of Doubting Thomas' statement

Sami Zaatari

 

One of the most common passages that Trinitarians use in trying to prove that Jesus was God, comes from John 20:28, And in this passage the disciple Thomas supposedly says the following:

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God (John 20:28)

So from this passage Christians conclude that Jesus must be God because Thomas called Jesus his Lord and God. On top of this they assert that the immediate context following John 20:28 shows that Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for his confession, rather Jesus accepted the confession, and blessed Thomas. From this they reason that if Jesus was not God, then he would have rebuked Thomas and corrected, however so he did no such thing therefore they assert that Jesus must be God.

For starters anyone who reads the Gospels in context will see that they clearly show that Jesus was not God, rather he was a prophet, and a Messiah. Furthermore on top of this, no where in the Gospels do any believers take Jesus as God, rather the believers always take Jesus to be a prophet, and Messiah.

Here are a few articles that prove that Jesus was not God, nor did the people believe him to be God:

 http://muslim-responses.com/Son_of_God_and_Messiah/Son_of_God_and_Messiah_

http://muslim-responses.com/Just_a_Prophet/Just_a_Prophet_

http://muslim-responses.com/Jesus_has_a_God/Jesus_has_a_God_

http://muslim-responses.com/God_is_God/God_is_God_

http://muslim-responses.com/10_Reasons/10_Reasons_

http://muslim-responses.com/Jesus_in_the_Bible/Jesus_in_the_Bible_

http://muslim-responses.com/Adoni/Adoni_

So with all of that said let us now turn our attention to John 20:28, for the sake of convenience I re-quote the passage:

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God (John 20:28)

As you all know, the Gospel of John was written in Greek, and when one consults the Greek language one will notice that the words for Lord and God are called KYRIOS and THEOS. So here is the passage quoted again, only this time the actual Greek words are placed in brackets right beside the English translation, and we read:

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord (KYRIOS) and my God (GOD)

 (John 20:28)

So doubting Thomas calls Jesus his KYRIOS and THEOS. Now if anyone has studied the New Testament, as well as the Septuagint, which is basically the Greek version of the Jewish Bible, then one will find out that these exact words are not exclusive for God alone, and that these two terms are applied to many men.

Strong's own Greek lexicon defines the Word KYRIOS as follows:

is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master

So one of the definitions of the term KYRIOS is a title of honour and respect, specifically a title of honour and respect given to a master by the servant. As we all know Jesus was a leader, he was the Messiah, a prophet, a judge, and the leader of his 12 disciples. Hence it would be no surprise for one of his disciple to call him KYRIOS, in fact this is what we would expect, and this indeed what we get.

So the fact is this, the term KYRIOS is not an exclusive Greek word to identify the almighty God. Furthermore as I said above, the term KYRIOS is used of other men besides Jesus, hence are we going to now claim that all of those who are called Lord must be God? Off course not.

Now let us move on to the word THEOS, Strong's lexicon translates the word THEOS a follows:

-God's representatives or vice-regents

-Magistrates and Judges

So again even the term THEOS does not exclusively have to refer to the almighty God, rather God's representatives can also be called THEOS, and the same applies for judges and magistrates. As we all know Jesus was God's representative, he was God's prophet, as well as his Messiah, so indeed Jesus was God's representative, and in that sense one can call Jesus a THEOS.

So the fact is this, Thomas calling Jesus his KYRIOS and THEOS in no absaloute way means he was calling Jesus his almighty God.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus always identifies himself as a prophet, a messiah, and the Son of God. Each one of these titles do not denote divinity, hence we can confidently say that when Jesus was called KYRIOS and THEOS it was not a reference to any divinity, but a reference to his honourable position as a leader, and as a prophet.

Moving on, if one reads the Greek Bible one will learn that many people are called THEOS, the devil himself is called THEOS in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, we read:

In whom the god (THEOS) of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not

So the devil himself is called THEOS, should we all bow and worship satan now? Obviously not! On top of this Moses himself is called a THEOS, and so are the Jewish judges found in the book of Psalms. Yet nobody is going to claim that these people are the almighty true God, and that we should start worshiping them!

So the simple fact is this, in no shape or form is Jesus the almighty God for being called KYRIOS and THEOS. We know from the context of the four Gospels that in no way do these terms refer to a divinity; rather they refer to his prophet hood, and him being The Messiah.

And Allah Truly Knows Best!

www.muslim-responses.com

 

Addendum

 

Now the above explanation I gave is simply one interpretation you could take, which is that if Thomas was really speaking to Jesus, then it still would not make Jesus God, yet this is not the only interpretation one could take.

Another very easy interpretation is that when Thomas said My Lord and My God, he was not actually referring to Jesus. One must not forget the context of this chapter, Thomas as we all know is called ?Doubting' Thomas, his faith was greatly shaken, because he believed Jesus to be the prophet, and the Messiah. He knew the Messiah could not die as a false prophet, rather the Messiah would destroy his enemies, and usher in his kingdom, and bring in an age of peace, obviously this did not happen, and Jesus was supposedly killed off, so Thomas was greatly shaken.

Now some others were starting to claim that Jesus was alive, and not dead, yet Thomas DOUBTED (hence the name doubting Thomas) this, he did not believe them. Yet Jesus eventually comes right infront of Thomas for Thomas to see the proof that he is alive, and Thomas is astonished, Jesus is not dead, God has saved Jesus, Thomas' faith has been saved, so in a moment of happiness and joy Thomas goes on to praise God and says ?My Lord and My God'. 

Now some Christians say well no Jew would say God's name in vain, for starters I am not saying Thomas said God's name in vain, so do not attack straw man, I am saying that Thomas was joyful, happy, and he was PRAISING GOD.

Christians may reply back and say but Thomas was speaking TO JESUS, that Thomas SAID TO JESUS My Lord and My God. This does not mean much, many times people talk to each other, and say Thank God, or Praise God. In fact this is very common for the Muslims, often times when the Muslims are talking each other they say Alhamdurillah, obviously no one is going to say that one Muslims is referring to the other Muslim as God!

So this explanation is yet another interpretation that one could take, the interpretation that one can never take, is that Thomas thought that Jesus was the almighty God, that is the interpretation that will never add up, nor fit the context.

And Allah Knows Best!