"If the Gospel of John were an ordinary biography, there would be no chapter 20. I am an incurable reader of biographies, and I notice that almost all of them conclude with the death and burial of the subject. I have yet to read one that describes the subject's resurrection from the dead! The fact that John continued his account and shared the excitement of the Resurrection miracle is proof that Jesus Christ is not like any other man. He is, indeed, the Son of God."617
John viewed Jesus' resurrection as part of His exaltation. Jesus' exaltation would have been incomplete without His resurrection. Because of John's viewpoint I have outlined the Resurrection as part of the passion ministry of Jesus even though in another sense Jesus' passion ended with His death.
"For John, as for all the early Christians, the resurrection of Jesus was the immutable fact upon which their faith was based; and their faith in large part depended on the testimony and transformed behaviour of those who had actually seen the resurrected Jesus. Their Master was not in God's eyes a condemned criminal; the resurrection proved that he was vindicated by God, and therefore none less than the Messiah, the Son of God he claimed to be [cf. 1 Cor. 15:14-17]."618
"In each of the following [resurrection appearances] we will discover a pattern with the following features: (1) The beneficiaries of the appearance are engulfed in a human emotion (Mary, grief; the disciples, fear; and Thomas, doubt). (2) The risen Christ appears to them in the midst of their condition. (3) As a result, their condition is transformed (Mary, mission; the disciples, gladness; Thomas, faith)."619
"With Mary, the emphasis is on love; with the ten, the emphasis is on hope; and with Thomas, the emphasis is on faith."620
John omitted the earthquake, the angel rolling away the stone that covered the tomb entrance, and his sitting on the stone (Matt. 28:2-3). He also did not include the appearance of two angels to the women who visited the tomb early Easter morning, before Peter and John did, and the women's reactions (Matt. 28:5-8; Mark 16:5-8; Luke 24:4-8).
20:1 "The first day of the week"was Sunday. It is interesting that all the Gospel writers referred to the day of Jesus' resurrection this way rather than as the third day after His death. The latter description would have connected the Resurrection with Jesus' predictions of it more directly. Perhaps they did this to associate Easter more clearly with a new beginning.621John may have mentioned the darkness of the night to associate darkness with Mary's limited understanding then (cf. 13:30).622Alternatively this may simply have been a detail that adds credibility to the narrative.
The other evangelists noted that several women came to the tomb.623
Mary Magdalene evidently came first with the other women (cf. v. 2). Another possibility is that she came first and the other women followed shortly, but this seems less likely in view of the other evangelists' descriptions. John wrote that she saw (Gr. blepei) the open tomb of Jesus. He implied that she did not enter it. Perhaps John mentioned Mary Magdalene and none of the other women because of the testimony that she gave after she had seen Jesus (v. 18).
20:2 It would have been natural for Mary, and perhaps others of these women, to report the incident to the leading male disciples. The "other disciple"was probably John himself (cf. 13:23; et al.). Mary first assumed that grave robbers had stolen Jesus' body. Evidently robbing graves was not uncommon around Jerusalem (cf. Matt. 28:13-15). Obviously Mary meant that some of Jesus' enemies had stolen His body, but exactly who she thought they may have been remains a mystery. Mary's reference to "the Lord"could not have been as full of meaning as it was after His resurrection appearances. Here Mary probably used the title only in great respect.
20:3-4 The detail of John outrunning Peter to the tomb was probably just confirmation of an eyewitness report. It also shows that these disciples had not removed Jesus' body. There is no basis in the text for allegorizing these men and making them stand for the Gentile church and the Jewish church.624This is only one of two New Testament instances of people literally running (cf. Matt. 28:8). Both references show them strongly motivated.
20:5 John saw (Gr. blepei, cf. v. 1) the linen strips (ta othonia, cf. 19:40) that had formerly covered Jesus' body lying in the tomb. If grave robbers had removed the body, they would have undoubtedly taken the expensive cloth with which Joseph and Nicodemus had prepared it for burial. John may have assumed that Jesus' body was still there since the light was bad at that hour. Perhaps John did not enter the tomb because he did not want to violate its sanctity or incur ritual defilement.
20:6-7 When Peter arrived at the tomb, he barged right in, probably because he wanted to know exactly how things stood regardless of the consequences. He also beheld (Gr. theopei, beheld intently) the linen burial clothes (Gr. ta othonia) but also the cloth that had covered Jesus' face (Gr. soudarion, cf. 11:44). Evidently John could not see this from his vantage point. It's distance from the other clothes and the care with which someone had positioned it were unusual. Jesus was obviously not there, but someone had been there. That person had apparently been the resurrected Jesus. A grave robber would not have taken the time to fold the head covering neatly but would have left it lying in a heap. It is not clear whether the head covering lay where Jesus' head had lain. What is clear is that someone had folded it up carefully.
20:8 Encouraged by Peter's boldness John also proceeded into the tomb. There he saw (Gr. eiden, perceived intelligently) this evidence and believed what it implied. He believed that Jesus was alive. In this chapter, John carefully recorded that disciples who saw the resurrected Jesus believed on Him (cf. vv. 16, 20, 25, 29). John did not explain what he believed here, but in the context of this chapter it seems clear that he believed that Jesus was alive (cf. 2:22; 11:25; 16:22). The evidence of Jesus' resurrection convinced John even before he met the risen Jesus. Disciples since John can believe in Him because of this evidence too even though we have not yet seen the risen Jesus (cf. v. 29; 1 John 1:1-4).
The writer did not say that Peter also believed. This omission does not necessarily mean that Peter failed to believe. The writer was simply confessing his own belief, not contrasting it with Peter's reaction. Nevertheless John seems to have understood the significance of the empty tomb and the orderly grave clothes better than Peter did (cf. Luke 24:12). He evidently did not confess his belief to others then (cf. vv. 10-18).
Jesus had passed through the grave clothes and through the rocky tomb. The angel opened the tomb to admit the disciples, not to release Jesus (Matt. 28:2).
20:9 John's faith rested on the evidence that he had seen.625Later he and the other disciples would have additional reasons for believing that Jesus had arisen, namely the prophetic Scriptures that the Resurrection fulfilled (e.g., Lev. 23:11; Ps. 16:10-11; 110:1, 4; Isa. 53:11-12; Hos. 6:2; cf. Acts 2:24-31; 1 Cor. 15:3-7). John's faith took a step forward here, but it was not yet as strong as it would be (cf. Luke 24:25-27, 32, 44-47).
"The empty cross and the empty tomb are God's receipts' telling us that the debt has been paid."626
This is the first of four of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances that John included in his Gospel.
20:10 This is a transitional verse. The NASB joins it to verses 1-9 whereas the NIV connects it with verses 11-18. Since verse 11 begins with "but,"it seems natural to view verse 10 as beginning a new paragraph.
The translation "to their homes"implies that Peter and John had permanent residences in Jerusalem. That seems unlikely. The Greek phrase eis ta idialiterally means "to their own"(cf. 1:11). Since the gender is neuter, John may have meant that these disciples returned to their own friends or temporary lodgings.
20:11 Apparently Mary Magdalene had returned to the empty tomb after she had informed Peter and John about it. Perhaps she returned with them. The other women had evidently departed by then. John presented her as lingering there after Peter and John had departed. She was still grieving over the death and now the missing body of Jesus. She had not yet realized what John did. She now peered into the tomb for the second time (cf. Mark 16:5).
"I recall Proverbs 8:17--'I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. . . . Another verse comes to mind--Psalm 30:5, Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'"628
20:12 The Gospel writers did not describe the structure of the interior of the tomb in detail. It is of little importance. It was obviously large enough to accommodate two man-size angels sitting at either end of the place where Jesus' body had lain.629The presence and positions of the two angels were of more consequence. Evidently Mary had seen them earlier (Matt. 28:5-7; Mark 16:5-7; Luke 23:4-7). The angels' white apparel distinguished them as angels (cf. Acts 1:10), but Mary apparently did not recognize them as such. She responded to them as she would have responded to human beings, probably because she was in the shock of grief and was weeping (cf. v. 15).
20:13 The angels asked Mary why she was weeping because weeping was inappropriate in view of Jesus' resurrection. However, Mary did not yet comprehend that Jesus had risen. Her answer revealed that she still thought that someone had removed Jesus' body from the tomb. She still doubted the Resurrection in spite of the angels' earlier announcement that Jesus had risen from the dead. That earlier announcement had produced some initial enlightenment and joy (Matt. 28:6, 8; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6, 8). Mary still wanted to mourn over Jesus' body but did not know where it was. Perhaps her inconsistent behavior is more understandable if we remember that many people in that part of the world still express their grief almost uncontrollably.
20:14 Mary's near hysteria could account for her failing to recognize Jesus at first too. She apparently withdrew from the tomb and saw (Gr. theorei, cf. v. 6) Jesus standing outside it. She beheld Him attentively, but she did not recognize Him for who He was.
"The fact that He appeared to Mary rather than to Pilate or Caiaphas or to one of His disciples is significant. That a woman would be the first to see Him is an evidence of Jesus' electing love as well as a mark of the narrative's historicity. No Jewish author in the ancient world would have invented a story with a woman as the first witness to this most important event. Furthermore, Jesus may have introduced Himself to Mary first because she had so earnestly sought Him. She was at the cross while He was dying (John 19:25), and she went to His tomb early on Sunday morning (20:1)."630
20:15 Jesus addressed this heartbroken disciple by respectfully calling her "woman"(Gr. gynai), as had the angels (v. 13; cf. 2:4; 19:26). He also asked the same question that they had asked (v. 13). Jesus' first recorded post-resurrection words were these in which He combined compassion and mild rebuke. He also asked whom she was seeking as preparation for His self-revelation to her. He meant, what type of Messiah did she think Jesus was?
Mary did not answer either of Jesus' questions. Her grief had made her mildly irrational (cf. 11:21, 32). However there seems to have been something about Jesus' resurrection body that made immediate recognition of Him difficult for many people (Mark 16:12; Luke 24:16; John 21:4; cf. 1 Cor. 15:35-49). Perhaps this was due partially to the terrible beatings that He had received. Instead she asked this apparent gardener for Jesus' body and promised to assume care of it. Her request revealed her devotion to Jesus. She thought that the gardener had removed it for some reason. Her "sir"(Gr. kyrie) here obviously was a courteous address, not a confession of faith.
20:16 Mary recognized Jesus when He called her by name (cf. 10:3-4). She responded by calling Him by the name she had undoubtedly used to address Him numerous times before. John accommodated his readers by translating the Aramaic word. This title probably did not reflect insight into Jesus' true identity. It simply expressed the joy of a restored relationship that she had concluded had ended. Mary swung from the depths of despair emotionally to the height of joy in one brief second. This is one of the greatest recognition scenes in literature.
"Never was there a one-word utterance more charged with emotion than this."631
20:17 Jesus' next words help us to understand that Mary also embraced Jesus. Mary probably prostrated herself before Jesus and embraced His ankles (cf. Matt. 28:9).
Jesus' words are very difficult to interpret. The translators rendered them, "Touch me not"(AV), "Stop clinging to me"(NASB), and "Do not hold on to me"(NIV). The meaning depends to some extent on what Jesus meant when He said, "For I have not yet ascended to the Father."
One view is that Jesus' second statement connects with what follows it rather than with what precedes it.632Since Jesus had not yet ascended to His Father (Gr. anabebeka, perfect tense) Mary should go to the disciples and tell them that He was not yet ascending (Gr. anabaino, present tense). According to this view the initial prohibition against touching Jesus stands alone. The weaknesses of this view are two. First, there is no other example of this anticipatory use of "for"(Gr. gar, translated "since") in the New Testament. Second, it fails to explain any reason for Jesus' prohibition.
Advocates of a second view understand Jesus as telling Mary to release Him because she must go to the disciples with a message.633However it is very unusual for the preposition "for"(Gr. gar) to link a prohibition and an imperative.634Furthermore this reading makes "for I have not yet ascended to the Father"a rather meaningless parenthetical remark.
A third view is that it was inappropriate for Mary to hold Jesus since He had not yet ascended to the Father, but it was appropriate for Thomas to touch Jesus (v. 27). Therefore Jesus must have ascended to the Father and returned between His appearances to Mary and Thomas.635Yet there is no biblical evidence that Jesus ascended to the Father and returned from Him between these two appearances. Moreover it is unclear why ascending to the Father should make any difference in the disciples' physical contact with Jesus' body.
A fourth view regards Jesus' statement as not expressing temporal sequence. Advocates regard it as a theological point instead. Jesus was contrasting His passing presence in His post-resurrection state with His permanent presence through the Spirit.636What Jesus meant was that Mary should refrain from touching Him because even though He had not yet ascended to the Father He would do so shortly. The resurrection had introduced a new relationship between Jesus and His disciples in which physical contact was inappropriate. This view puts more emphasis on Jesus' exaltation in His passion than the New Testament writers did, including John. Moreover it is impossible to dissociate Jesus' statement from a sequence of events since His death, resurrection, and ascension did happen in sequence (cf. vv. 28-29). Finally this view fails to explain why Jesus permitted Thomas to touch Him (v. 27) but did not allow Mary to do so.
The best explanation seems to be that Mary was holding onto Jesus as though she would never let Him go. Jesus told her to stop doing that or, if He knew she was about to do it, He told her not to do it. He was almost ready to disappear permanently. The reason she should release Him was that He had not yet ascended to the Father. He had other work to do first. Only in heaven would it be possible for loving believers such as Mary to maintain contact with Jesus forever. Rather than remaining with Jesus from then on Mary needed to carry out a mission. She needed to inform the other disciples of Jesus' resurrection. This was the time for telling good news (i.e., the gospel), not for remaining with Jesus ceaselessly.637This view makes good sense of the text and harmonizes with Jesus' invitation to Thomas (v. 27). Thomas needed to touch Jesus to strengthen his faith. Mary needed to release Him because He would not depart immediately, and Jesus had something else for her to do.
The message that Mary was to carry to the disciples was that Jesus was going to return to the Father. She would obviously report that Jesus was alive, but Jesus wanted her to communicate more than that. Jesus had spoken of His ascension before (e.g., 7:33; 14:12, 28; 16:5, 10, 17, 28). His disciples needed to understand that His death and resurrection had not wiped out these earlier predictions.
Jesus described the Father in a new way. He was Jesus' Father, but He was also the disciples' Father. Jesus did not say "our"Father. He and His disciples had a different relationship to the Father. Nevertheless they were all sons of the Father albeit in a different sense (cf. 1:12-13, 18; 5:19-30). Therefore Jesus called the disciples His "brothers"here. The context clarifies that Jesus was referring to the disciples and not to His physical half-brothers (v. 18). Likewise Jesus' relationship to God was similar to, though not exactly the same as, the disciples' relationship to God. The emphasis in Jesus' statement was on the privileges that His disciples now shared with Him because of His death, resurrection, and ascension (cf. Rom 8:15-16; Hen. 2:11-12).
20:18 As an obedient disciple, Mary went to the other disciples and told them that Jesus was alive plus the message that Jesus had given her. Again "the Lord"probably meant "Jesus"to her at this time, but she spoke better than she knew. Later she would understand more about the implications of that title. Mark mentioned that the disciples were weeping and mourning when Mary met them, and they failed to believe that Jesus was alive (Mark 16:10-11).
John did not mention Jesus' appearance to the other women that followed His appearance to Mary Magdalene (Matt. 28:9-10). He also omitted Matthew's account of how the guards at Jesus' tomb reported to the Jewish rulers that it was empty (Matt. 28:11-15). Likewise he passed over Jesus' appearances to the two disciples on the Emmaus road (Mark 16:12-13; Luke 24:13-32) and to Peter (Luke 24:33-35; cf. 1 Cor. 15:5).
This pericope contains another post-resurrection appearance of Jesus that bolstered the disciples' faith. It also contains John's account of the Great Commission.
20:19 John moved his readers directly from the events of Easter morning to those that happened that evening.
"The seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, commemorates God's finished work of Creation (Gen. 2:1-3). The Lord's Day commemorates Christ's finished work of redemption, the new creation.' . . .
"For centuries, the Jewish Sabbath had been associated with Law: six days of work, and then you rest. But the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, is associated with grace: first there is faith in the living Christ, then there will be works."638
Apparently the Eleven except Thomas were present (cf. Mark 16:14; John 20:24).639The disciples had gathered in a secure room because they feared the Jewish authorities. The Jewish authorities had crucified their rabbi, so it was reasonable to think that they might come after them as well.640
John implied that Jesus appeared miraculously even though the disciples had shut up (Gr. kekleismenon, i.e., "locked"NIV) the doors (cf. v. 26). Jesus' resurrection body had passed through grave clothes and a rocky tomb. Now it passed through the walls of this structure.
Jesus' greeting was common enough (i.e., Heb. shalom alekem). However, He had formerly promised His disciples His peace (14:27; 16:33). Consequently He was imparting rather than just wishing peace on them. This seems clear because Jesus repeated the benediction two more times (vv. 21, 26). "Shalom"summarized the fullness of God's blessing, not just the cessation of hostility (cf. Rom. 5:1; Phil. 4:7).
"Shalom!' on Easter evening is the complement of it is finished' on the cross, for the peace of reconciliation and life from God is now imparted . . . Not surprisingly it is included, along with grace,' in the greeting of everyepistle of Paul in the NT."641
20:20 Evidently Jesus showed the disciples His hands and side with their wounds to convince them that it was really He and not just a phantom (cf. Luke 24:37). Luke added that He showed them His feet too (Luke 24:39). Then these disciples rejoiced because they saw (Gr. idontes, i.e., perceived intelligently, cf. v. 8) who Jesus really was.
"Thus the disciples were forced to grasp what became a central confession of the church: the risen Lord is none other than the crucified sacrifice."642
The disciples' initial reaction to Jesus' unexpected appearance was terror (Luke 24:37). However upon examining His wounds their fear turned to faith. The disciples' joy was the proof of their perception and the testimony to their faith.
"Christian joy has been born, the joy of the redeemed, which Jesus had promised would be theirs after the travail pangs had passed (see xvi. 20-22)."643
Clearly Jesus' resurrection body resembled His former body, but evidently His beatings and crucifixion had so scarred Him that even His closest friends could hardly recognize Him (cf. Isa. 52:14). His resurrection body also possessed properties of immortality that enabled Him to pass through solid objects and to materialize and dematerialize at will, though it was not ethereal.
20:21 Jesus repeated His benediction (v. 19). He then commissioned His disciples for their mission from then on.644He expressed this commission in terms of the relationships that John recorded Jesus teaching extensively in this Gospel. Jesus was sending His disciples on a mission just as His Father had sent Him on a mission (cf. 17:18). The emphasis here is on the sending and the authoritative person doing the sending. Thus Jesus' disciples became apostles (lit. sent ones) in a new sense.645
Each Gospel plus Acts records a different version of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8). Jesus apparently gave this commission on at least three separate occasions.646The reader of the Gospels can scarcely escape its crucial importance. It expresses God's will for every believer in the present age.
Some Christians believe that Jesus intended this commission only for His original disciples. They point to the fact that the writers of the New Testament epistles never referred to it. However even though they did not refer to it explicitly they clearly presupposed its validity for the whole church. They simply cast it in different terminology (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:20). The universal scope of the commission also argues for its continuation. Third, the repetition of this commission five times suggests that Jesus intended all of His disciples to carry it out. Finally, this was the last charge that Jesus gave His disciples before He returned to His Father. This fact also suggests that He intended it for all succeeding generations of disciples.
Clearly on this occasion Jesus was presenting His mission as a model for His disciples' mission. Many Christians have concluded, therefore, that what characterized Jesus' ministry must characterize the church's ministry. They see this mission including healing the sick, casting out demons, and feeding the hungry. They believe that the church's mission is much broader than just preaching the gospel, baptizing, teaching, and planting churches.
However the emphasis on Jesus' mission in John's Gospel has been primarily that Jesus always carried out God's will in perfect obedience (cf. 5:19-30; 8:29). Even before His crucifixion Jesus stressed the importance of the believer's obedience as the fulfillment of this paradigm (15:9-10). The purpose of Jesus' incarnation was the spiritual salvation of the world (1:29). That is also the believer's primary, though not our exclusive, purpose (cf. Gal. 6:10). As Jesus always operated in dependence on the Father with the Spirit's enablement, so should His disciples (cf. 1:32; 3:34; 4:34; 5:19; 6:27; 10:36; 17:4). As He was a Son of God, so are His disciples sons of God (cf. 1:12-13; 3:3, 5; 20:17).
Since believers no longer belong to the world (15:19), it was necessary for Jesus to send His disciples back into the world. Our mission does not replace Jesus' mission, however. He carries out His present mission through us.647We must consider all the versions of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to understand our mission correctly, not just this one.
". . . what is central to the Son's mission--that he came as the Father's gift so that those who believe in him might not perish but have eternal life (3:16), experiencing new life as the children of God (1:12-13) and freedom from the slavery of sin because they have been set free by the Son of God (8:34-36)--must never be lost to view as the church defines her mission."648
Jesus and John reminded all disciples of these central issues in the verses that follow (cf. vv. 23, 30-31).
20:22 These disciples needed supernatural spiritual power to carry out such a task, but what did Jesus really do next? There are several views.
One view is that Jesus gave these disciples a temporary infusion of His Spirit.649The act of breathing on them recalls the Creation in which God breathed His life into Adam (Gen. 2:7). Thus Jesus was suggesting that He was doing a new creative work by filling these men with His Spirit. Later Jesus explained that the Spirit would come upon these disciples again (Acts 1:8). This present act of Jesus then represented a preliminary and temporary enabling that helped the disciples understand what they could expect more fully and permanently later. That baptizing came on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5; 2:4; 11:15).
Some problems with this view are as follows. Two bestowals of the Spirit seem unusual in view of Jesus' earlier promises to send the Spirit (chs. 14-16) and the importance in Acts of the Spirit's coming at Pentecost (Acts 1:5; 2:4; 11:15). Also there is no indication that this temporary infusion with the Spirit had any effect on the disciples. Furthermore there is no evidence that when Thomas returned to the scene Jesus gave him the Spirit as one would expect if the Spirit's presence was essential for the disciples then (v. 26-29).
Many readers of the Greek text have noted that "Holy Spirit"(Gr. pneuma hagion) does not have a definite article preceding it. This has led some of them to conclude that the Holy Spirit is not in view, but the breath (Gr. pneuma) of God is. They take this breath of God to be symbolic of God's gift of spiritual power in an impersonal sense.650However, John earlier referred to the personal Holy Spirit without the article (7:39). That seems to be his meaning here as well. The absence of an article before a noun often has the effect of stressing the quality of the noun. In this case that would be the holiness of the Spirit.
Many modern scholars view this verse as John's account of Pentecost.651However this view requires a weak view of the inspiration of John or Acts, or it does not take the chronological sequence of events that these books present seriously. Clearly the occasion that John described here and the events of the day of Pentecost were different.
Still others believe that Jesus was giving these disciples a symbolic and graphic reminder of the Spirit who would come upon them later. It was a demonstration of what Jesus would do when He returned to the Father and which He did do on Pentecost. He was not imparting the Spirit to them in any sense here.652This interpretation accounts for Thomas not receiving the Spirit before Pentecost. It also explains why this event had no changing effect on the disciples. Evidently there was only one coming of the Spirit on these disciples, and that happened on Pentecost.
20:23 The Great Commission not only requires supernatural power to carry it out (v. 22), but it also involves the forgiveness of sins (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Matt. 26:28). In the similar passages in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18, the context is church discipline. Here the context is evangelism.
The second part of each conditional clause in this verse is in the passive voice and the perfect tense in the Greek text. The passive voice indicates that someone has already done the forgiving or retaining. That person must be God since He alone has the authority to do that (Matt. 9:2-3; Mark 2:7; Luke 5:21). The perfect tense indicates that the action has continuing effects; the sins stand forgiven or retained at least temporarily if not permanently.
Jesus appears to have been saying that when His disciples went to others with the message of salvation, as He had done, some people would believe and others would not. Reaction to their ministry would be the same as reaction to His had been. He viewed their forgiving and retaining the sins of their hearers as the actions of God's agents. If people ("any"or "anyone,"plural Gr. tinon) believed the gospel, the disciples could tell the believers that God had forgiven their sins. If they disbelieved, they could tell them that God had not forgiven but retained their sins. Jesus had done this (cf. 9:39-41), and now His disciples would continue to do it. Thus their ministry would be a continuation of His ministry relative to the forgiveness of sins, as it would be in relation to the Spirit's enablement. This, too, applies to all succeeding generations of Jesus' disciples since Jesus was still talking about the disciples' mission.
". . . all who proclaim the gospel are in effect forgiving or not forgiving sins, depending on whether the hearer accepts or rejects the Lord Jesus as the Sin-Bearer."653
This resurrection appearance has threefold importance in John's Gospel. It validated again Jesus' bodily resurrection, and it provided the setting for the commissioning of Jesus' disciples. It also provided the background for Jesus' appearance when Thomas was present and Thomas' climactic statement of faith that followed (vv. 24-29).
The last witness to Jesus' resurrection in John's Gospel is Thomas, and the record of it has two parts. The first part sets the scene for the second. John is the only evangelist who recorded this post-resurrection appearance. Thomas' confession is John's climactic argument for belief in Jesus as the divine Messiah, the Christ.
