Thomas

The Restored Rationalist

READ John 20:24–29

Faith and doubt have an interesting relationship. At first we might think they’re opposites, but that’s not quite true. As the book of Hebrews says, faith is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (11:1). While “assurance” and “confidence” sound complete, with no room for doubt whatsoever, the fact is that on this side of eternity our faith is always dancing a tango with at least a little bit of doubt. Seasons of doubt will always crop up in life. I have yet to meet a Christian for whom this is not true.

The apostle Thomas is often called “Doubting Thomas” because of his disbelief in the other disciples’ testimony that they had seen Christ risen from the dead. While it is easy to disparage Thomas for his doubt, in truth we can hardly blame him. Jesus had died a gruesome death, executed upon a cross. When the other disciples told Thomas they had seen Jesus, he was skeptical.

Thomas’s skepticism does seem consistent with the little glimpses of his personality that we get elsewhere in John’s gospel. When Jesus told his disciples they were heading to Judea, where the Jewish leaders had obvious hatred and animosity toward Jesus, Thomas responded with what sounds like forlorn resignation: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (11:16). When Jesus told the disciples he was going to leave them to prepare a place for them, Thomas gave a clinically practical response: “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (14:5).

Perhaps Thomas’s key trait is not doubt but realism. He took a rational posture to life, which, in the case of Christ’s death, manifested itself as skepticism. After all, people don’t just come back to life after being executed on a cross. Christ had been speared in the side, wrapped in grave clothes, and put in a tomb. Wouldn’t the rationalists among us think the same thing as Thomas?

Here’s the amazing thing: Christ is patient with doubt. In fact, Christ seemed more bothered by fear than by doubt (Matthew 8:26). Perhaps this is because fear keeps people from experiencing the love of God, but doubt can be held by that love. Matthew’s account of Christ’s resurrection shows that even after Jesus appeared to his disciples, “some doubted” (28:17). So it seems Thomas was not the only one! Yet Jesus did not chastise them. Instead, he drew them to himself.

We see this in the story of Thomas. Christ appeared and offered Thomas the chance to do the exact thing Thomas had named as a requirement for believing Jesus was alive: touch the wounds in Christ’s body. When Thomas saw Jesus, however, both his doubt and his faith turned to sight: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Thomas went from doubting to professing Christ as his Lord and God.

Thomas’s experience should be a tremendous comfort. God is patient with our doubts. Doubt does not disqualify us from being children of God. Our moments of doubt do not surprise God. He just invites us to come closer to Jesus. The important thing is not that we are empty of doubt, but that our faith carries us to Jesus despite our doubts. As the hymn by Charlotte Elliott, penned in the 1830s, says: “Just as I am, though tossed about / with many a conflict, many a doubt / fightings and fears within, without / O Lamb of God, I come!”^* Doubts will come, but the important thing is never to let doubt keep you from moving toward Christ.

The goal is not to live a life free of any doubt. In this life, we’ll never fully achieve that. What matters is sharing in the powerful confession of Thomas, coming to Christ, and declaring him to be our Lord and our God. In our moments of both certainty and struggle, we can rest in his grace. As Jesus promised his first-century followers and still promises us today, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). Though we may yet have seasons of conflict and doubt, we are invited to come to the Lamb of God.