#67 Dognox20
1. Worship
2. God the Father is Spirit!
The Word is Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is Spirit.....
3. Jn 1:1
4. Jn 20:28
#69 Dognox20
5. Jn [1:]18
6.
Philippians 2:6
.....................................
4.
Jn 20:28
The very fact that the words of Thomas are not a complete statement show that it is probably the abbreviated form of a common expression or doxology (#2 above) and not a statement of identification such as “
you are my lord and my god.” Whereas doxologies and other common expressions are frequently abbreviated to the point of not being complete statements (cf. Dana and Mantey, p. 149), statements of identification appear to be complete statements (certainly in the writings of John, at least), e.g., Jn 1:49, “Rabbi,
You are the Son of God;
You are the King of Israel.” -
NASB. Cf. Jn. 6:14, 69; 7:40, 41; 9:17; 11:27; 21:7. Furthermore, when using the term “Lord” (at least) in address to another person, a different form of the NT Greek word is used than the form found at John 20:28 (
ho kurios mou).
“The vocative is the case used in
addressing a person ....
kurie [kurie] (O Lord),
Θee (O God) ... are almost the only forms found in the N.T.” - pp. 14, 15,
The New Testament Greek Primer, Rev. Alfred Marshall, Zondervan, 1978 printing.
This is especially true of “Lord” and “my Lord” in both the Septuagint and the New Testament.
Kurie, not
kurios, is the form used when addressing someone as “Lord” or “My Lord.” (“God,” Θεε, however, is not so certain. In fact, it is very rare in the NT which normally uses the nominative Θεὸς in address).
We can see a good example of this vocative form, which is used in addressing a person as “Lord,” at 3 Kings 1:20, 21 (1 Kings 1:20, 21 in modern English Bibles) in the ancient Greek of the Septuagint: “And you, my Lord [
kurie mou], O King ...” - 3 Kings 1:20, Septuagint. Then at 3 Kings 1:21 we see the same person (King David) being spoken about (but not addressed) in the same terms as Jn 20:28: “And it shall come to pass, when my Lord [
ho kurios mou] the king shall sleep with his fathers .... - 3 Kings 1:21, Septuagint.
We also find Thomas himself, at Jn 14:5, addressing Jesus as “Lord” by using
kurie. And, when addressing the angel at Rev. 7:14, John himself says
kurie mou (“My Lord”)! There are 33 uses of
kurie in the Gospel of John alone. Here are a few of them: John 9:38; 11:3, 12, 21, 27, 32, 34, 39; 12:38 (from OT quote-'Jehovah' as
kurie); 13:6, 9, 25, 36, 37; 14:5. (Compare these with an actual identification of the lord: “
it is the lord [
kurios],” John 21:7 – Also, for Colwell’s Rule fans, note the use of the article and the word order of the clause in the two clauses identifying the Lord here.)
Therefore, it is probably safe to say that when John wrote down the incident with Thomas at Jn 20:28 and used the nominative form for “My Lord” [
Kurios] he was not saying that Thomas was addressing Jesus as “My Lord and my God”, but it was a
doxology (praise to God) like “
my Lord and my God [is to be praised]”.
Again, some scholars have interpreted John 20:28 as merely “an exclamation of
astonishment” by Thomas. And, although a few modern trinitarians would like us to believe that such exclamations as this are really only modern idioms and were not used in ancient times, that is simply untrue. For example, Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia (350-428 A.D.) was “an early Christian theologian, the most eminent representative of the so-called school of Antioch. .... he was held in great respect, and took part in several synods, with a reputation for orthodoxy that was never questioned.”
This respected Bishop of Mopsuestia was a very early trinitarian and a friend of John Chrysostom and of Cyril of Alexandria. -
Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th ed., Vol. 22, p. 58. This highly-respected, very early trinitarian wrote, 1700 years ago, that Thomas’ statement at John 20:28 was “
an exclamation of astonishment directed to God.” - p. 535, Vol. 3,
Meyer’s Critical Exegetical Hand-book to the Gospel of John, [corrected title] Funk & Wagnalls.
