John 20 - CSB Disciple’s Study Bible

20:1-9 JESUS CHRIST, Secret—Christ’s resurrection surprised his disciples. Despite thinking they had understood Jesus’s teaching (18:29-30), they understood Christ’s resurrection only after experiencing the resurrected Christ.

20:8,24-31 SALVATION, Belief—God wants all persons to believe in his Son. Doubting Thomas believed in the end. Seeing the physical presence of Jesus is not necessary for belief. The testimony of the Gospel writer is sufficient to lead you to faith in Christ.

20:10-18 JESUS CHRIST, Resurrection—Meeting the resurrected Christ surprised Mary. Jesus did not want Mary to hold on to him. She needed to tell the others and to be ready to live with the Spirit, who would come, rather than with Jesus, who was to go to the Father.

20:16 EDUCATION, Jesus—See notes on 1:38; Mt 23:8.

20:17,28 GOD, Trinity—The separate Persons of the Trinity appear clearly here. Jesus must leave earth and return home to the Father. Jesus called the Father, “my God.” Still Thomas can call Jesus, “God.” The separate Persons constitute one God in the mystery of the Trinity. See note on Mt 3:16-17.

20:19 LAST THINGS, Resurrection Body—In his resurrection body Jesus clearly transcended time and space. He had power to vanish so as to cease to be seen by others (Lk 24:31). The descriptions of his resurrection body are our best source of information about the nature of resurrection bodies of believers. See note on Php 3:20-21. The recognizability of Jesus in his resurrection body, even to the presentation of the scars of crucifixion (Jn 20:20), suggests visual continuity between physical bodies and those of the resurrection. See note on 1Co 15:35-49.

20:20 SALVATION, Joy—Those who saw the crucified Christ as their resurrected Lord were overjoyed. The joy of our salvation is needed to fulfill the Great Commission.

20:21 MISSIONS, Command—This is one of five occasions in the Gospels and Acts on which Jesus presents the Great Commission to the disciples, calling them to continue his mission until his return. See note on Mt 28:18-20. This repetition of the Great Commission shows that the world mission of the church was neither an afterthought nor a onetime comment. This great verse defines the source, the model, and the authority for the mission of making disciples. What Jesus did in his life becomes our model or pattern for taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. What he said becomes our authority for living life on mission. The model for our mission is that of Jesus. He was sent from the Father; declared the Father’s message; and engaged in preaching, teaching, healing, receiving outcasts, unmasking sin, serving, and finally dying for others. The Father sent the Son because God loves the lost world (Jn 3:16). God’s purpose was to reconcile the lost world to himself through Jesus Christ. See 3:17; 2Co 5:19. He sent Jesus as the God-Man, to walk the dusty roads of everyday experience, speak the human language, understand the people, love them, serve them (Mk 10:40), and declare the Father’s message for them. In the same way the Father sent the Son, the risen Lord sent his disciples to a lost and needy world. The mandate is clear. We are to be like him. Jesus is continuing his mission and his ministry through us, his church. We are sent as the Father sent him with the same purpose, method, and authority—to be his ambassadors in the power of the Spirit.

20:21-22 HOLY SPIRIT, Mission—The Spirit allows disciples to take up the mission the Father gave the Son. That mission is to preach forgiveness in Christ’s name. Such proclamation is possible only under the Spirit’s leadership. All disciples are called to receive the Spirit and testify to the gospel of forgiveness.

20:21-23 EVANGELISM, Call to Evangelize—Jesus sent the church to evangelize the world. The church carries forward the ministry God gave Jesus. The church’s witness is possible only as we experience the Holy Spirit’s power. In that power, our testimony confronts people with salvation in Christ. Those who accept him find freedom from guilt. Those who reject him lose the opportunity for forgiveness.

20:25-28 JESUS CHRIST, Lord—The disciples recognized Jesus as their Master and as divine. See note on Luke 1:5-23.

20:29 SALVATION, Blessing—Christ gives the blessing of eternal life to all who believe in him. The ultimate meaning of blessing is to have eternal life in Christ. Without that, no other blessings have meaning.

20:29 THE CHURCH, Redeemed of All Ages—The church can be seen from different perspectives, each of which contains part of the meaning of church: (1) a local congregation (the most frequent meaning); (2) believers in a geographical area; (3) believers in a particular time period; and (4) all believers throughout history. Jesus described his small group of followers as believers. At the same time he pointed ahead to the church of all history, the believers who could not see Jesus in the flesh and yet trusted him for salvation. See note on Mt 12:46-50.

20:30-31 MIRACLE, Vocabulary—Jesus performed “signs” to provoke faith. This was not faith in a magician but faith in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. Many of his miracles were not recorded in the Bible, but all were signs to produce faith. Those recorded should lead us to faith in Jesus. Have you seen the signs, believed in Christ, and received eternal life? Or do you read the stories but miss the signs? Are you still spiritually blind?

20:30-31 HOLY SCRIPTURE, Writing—Not all of Jesus’s miracles and deeds were recorded. The written Gospels do not claim to be complete biographies (21:25). They are selected events and teachings that reveal the nature and purpose of Christ, thus leading readers to faith. They provide a witness of God’s revealed truth to all readers.

20:31 SALVATION, Eternal Life—John’s Gospel, indeed all Scripture, is written that persons may believe Jesus is the Savior of the world and receive his love gift of eternal life.

20:31 EVANGELISM, Call to Salvation—John wrote his Gospel to lead people to faith in Christ and thus to full, meaningful life. Evangelists today follow the Fourth Evangelist and seek to bring people to confess Jesus as God’s promised Christ or Messiah, the very Son of God in whose name is life.