Let me share my thoughts on a bib­li­cal pas­sage, which in my view is very badly mis­in­ter­preted. Let us con­sider the story of the doubt­ing of Thomas. What was his quest really? Was it about the per­son of Jesus, or per­haps whether he was really risen? Let us con­sider the text:

Jn. 20:25 …“Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my fin­ger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

Wow! He sim­ply dis­be­lieved his res­ur­rec­tion. So when Jesus appeared to them, we read the following:

John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your fin­ger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faith­less, but believing.”

So you don’t believe I am risen? Here is the test: check me out. The request Jesus made for belief was not about his per­son, but about his res­ur­rec­tion, which Thomas doubted, and this con­text should deter­mine his answer also.

John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

To take this state­ment as a dec­la­ra­tion of belief about Jesus’ per­son is totally out of con­text. This was not made con­cern­ing who Jesus was, rather, it was a state­ment of awe directed towards God, a shock­ing recog­ni­tion of His mirac­u­lous power man­i­fested in the res­ur­rec­tion of Jesus.