John 3:33

3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ¹ 

John 4:26

4:26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

John 7:49

7:49 But this rabble ²  who do not know the law are accursed!”

John 11:23

11:23 Jesus replied, ³  “Your brother will come back to life again.” ⁴ 

John 17:17

17:17 Set them apart ⁵  in the truth; your word is truth.

John 20:3

20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. ⁶ 

John 20:28

20:28 Thomas replied to him, ⁷  “My Lord and my God!” ⁸ 

[3:33]  ¹ tn Or “is true.”

[7:49]  ² tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

[11:23]  ³ tn Grk “Jesus said to her.”

[11:23]  ⁴ tn Or “Your brother will rise again.”

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Or “Consecrate them” or “Sanctify them.”

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “went out and were coming to the tomb.”

[20:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[20:28]  ⁷ sn Should Thomas’ exclamation be understood as two subjects with the rest of the sentence omitted (“My Lord and my God has truly risen from the dead”), as predicate nominatives (“You are my Lord and my God”), or as vocatives (“My Lord and my God!”)? Probably the most likely is something between the second and third alternatives. It seems that the second is slightly more likely here, because the context appears confessional. Thomas’ statement, while it may have been an exclamation, does in fact confess the faith which he had previously lacked, and Jesus responds to Thomas’ statement in the following verse as if it were a confession. With the proclamation by Thomas here, it is difficult to see how any more profound analysis of Jesus’ person could be given. It echoes 1:1 and 1:14 together: The Word was God, and the Word became flesh (Jesus of Nazareth). The Fourth Gospel opened with many other titles for Jesus: the Lamb of God (1:29, 36); the Son of God (1:34, 49); Rabbi (1:38); Messiah (1:41); the King of Israel (1:49); the Son of Man (1:51). Now the climax is reached with the proclamation by Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” and the reader has come full circle from 1:1, where the author had introduced him to who Jesus was, to 20:28, where the last of the disciples has come to the full realization of who Jesus was. What Jesus had predicted in John 8:28 had come to pass: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” (Grk “I am”). By being lifted up in crucifixion (which led in turn to his death, resurrection, and exaltation with the Father) Jesus has revealed his true identity as both Lord (κύριος [kurios], used by the LXX to translate Yahweh) and God (θεός [qeos], used by the LXX to translate Elohim).