The twin; Thomas, a Christian
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G2381 names Thomas, the disciple John also calls Didymus, and his Gospel portrait is larger than the phrase doubting Thomas. Thomas speaks with costly resolve when Jesus turns toward Judea, admits confusion when Jesus speaks about the way, is absent when the risen Jesus first appears to the disciples, refuses secondhand testimony, and then answers Jesus with the confession, My Lord and my God.
Reader summary
Full entry for Θωμᾶς (G2381) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2381 names Thomas, the disciple John also calls Didymus, and his Gospel portrait is larger than the phrase doubting Thomas. Thomas speaks with costly resolve when Jesus turns toward Judea, admits confusion when Jesus speaks about the way, is absent when the risen Jesus first appears to the disciples, refuses secondhand testimony, and then answers Jesus.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Thomas (10), to Thomas (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 10:3. Its strongest book concentrations include John (7), Acts (1), Luke (1), Mark (1).
G2381 names Thomas, the disciple John also calls Didymus, and his Gospel portrait is larger than the phrase doubting Thomas. Thomas speaks with costly resolve when Jesus turns toward Judea, admits confusion when Jesus speaks about the way, is absent when the risen Jesus first appears to the disciples, refuses secondhand testimony, and then answers Jesus with the confession, My Lord and my God.
John presents a movement from courage and confusion through absence and refusal into worshipful recognition. Thomas should not be used to flatter skepticism or to shame honest struggle. The passage presses readers toward the risen Christ who calls doubting disciples to believe.
G2381 traces Thomas in John from courageous loyalty and confused questioning to resurrection absence, Jesus' gracious confrontation, and the climactic confession, My Lord and my God.
Then Thomas called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
Thomas urges the disciples to go with Jesus so they may die with Him. The scene shows resolve, even if his understanding is incomplete.
“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”
Thomas admits they do not know where Jesus is going or how to know the way. His question opens Jesus' answer about being the way, truth, and life.
Now Thomas called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Thomas is absent when Jesus first comes to the disciples. John marks the gap that will become a resurrection-witness scene.
Eight days later, His disciples were once again inside with the doors locked, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Eight days later Thomas is with the disciples when Jesus comes and speaks peace. The risen Lord meets him within the gathered witness.
Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Jesus invites Thomas to see and touch and commands him to stop doubting and believe. Grace confronts refusal directly.
Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!”
Thomas answers with personal confession: My Lord and my God. The Gospel's resurrection witness reaches worshipful clarity.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. the twin; Thomas, a Christian
:--Thomas.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Thomas
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Hebrew roots and equivalents that share conceptual or etymological ground with this Greek word.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2381 matters because Thomas gathers several pastoral tensions in one disciple. He is not cowardly in John 11, where he is ready to go with Jesus toward danger. He is not pretending in John 14, where his question lets Jesus teach that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Yet John 20 does not romanticize Thomas' refusal. He is absent from the first resurrection appearance and will not receive the other disciples' testimony.
Jesus meets him, but He also commands him to stop doubting and believe. Thomas' final word is not skepticism but worship: My Lord and my God. Teachers should let the whole arc stand. Jesus is patient with weak disciples, but His patience aims at faith.
John.20.28
G2381 is a personal name, with John also identifying Thomas as Didymus. The twin label identifies the disciple; the theology comes from the scenes of questioning, resurrection appearance, command, and confession.
Scripture often moves God's people from fear and partial understanding into confession before the Lord. John centers that movement on the risen Jesus, who receives Thomas' confession without correction.