My Lord and my God
The narrator says Thomas answered him; the immediate addressee is Jesus. Jesus does not correct the confession and speaks of Thomas having believed.
Historical context
The risen Jesus invites Thomas to inspect his wounds. Thomas addresses him, and Jesus responds in terms of belief.
Reception
Direct wording
Tradition note
The shared Nicene Protestant reading begins with the passages in context, connects their testimony, and confesses the Son’s deity without erasing his humanity or distinction from the Father. Protestant readers differ on individual constructions and allusions; non-Nicene alternatives here are argument checks, not a claim that every Protestant tradition holds the same doctrine.
Avoid overclaiming
Jesus is distinct from the Father: earlier in the same chapter he speaks of my God and your God. The confession must be held together with that distinction, not used to collapse Father and Son.
Strongest alternative reading
A competing reading takes the confession as acknowledgment of God revealed through Jesus, or divides it between Jesus as Lord and the Father as God. An exclamation directed elsewhere is also proposed.
Key points
- The narrator says Thomas answered him; the immediate addressee is Jesus. Jesus does not correct the confession and speaks of Thomas having believed.
- Address to Jesus is the plain narrative reading of answered him. Dividing the address needs an unstated change of addressee, while the representative reading still must account for the personal my God.
Common questions
- What does the text explicitly say before a theological conclusion is drawn?
- What is the strongest competing reading, and which details weigh against it?
Doctrinal connections
- This is a direct personal confession naming Jesus as Thomas’s God, a fitting climax to a Gospel that began with the Word was God.
Scripture
- John 20:27–29 — The risen Jesus invites Thomas to inspect his wounds. Thomas addresses him, and Jesus responds in terms of belief.
- John 20:17 — Jesus calls the Father my God and your God.
- John 20:30–31 — The signs support believing Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
- John 1:1 — The Gospel’s opening divine predication frames the closing confession.
Primary sources
Jesus is distinct from the Father: earlier in the same chapter he speaks of my God and your God. The confession must be held together with that distinction, not used to collapse Father and Son.
The narrator presents Thomas' Lord-and-God confession as an answer addressed to Jesus.
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Passage context and translation
The risen Jesus invites Thomas to inspect his wounds. Thomas addresses him, and Jesus responds in terms of belief.
Before the excerpt
John 20:27 — Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t …
After the excerpt
John 20:29 — Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Sources and further reading
- John 20:27–29 · World English Bible
Primary passage checked in context; excerpt uses the public-domain WEB. The argument and competing reading are original study notes.