A Creation Theme
The allusion implicit in Christ’s breathing on them takes the
reader back to the event of Adam becoming a living soul, and this makes Christ
a mediator of the creation of a new man (cf. Ephesians 2:15). It is because the
Lord Jesus Christ has this creative
role in respect of the new creation of men and women, that Thomas calls him “my God” (with the stress on my). Thomas had been absent on the
occasion of the original “breathing” upon the disciples, but eight days later,
again on the first day of the week, with the door shut once more, Thomas in
effect invites Jesus to breathe on him by calling him “my God”—addressing one
who had the power to create (John
1:3, 4).
It is precisely because Christ breathes on the disciples, with
Thomas absent, that when Thomas recognises him, he recognises him as his “God”
(John 20:28). His assertion is consistent with Christ’s role as an eloah (cf. the creation of the first
Adam by the elohim, Genesis 1:26).
Had Thomas not made this assertion, we could have still deduced that this was
Christ’s status from his creative role. (Brother John Thomas explains this
perspective in Phanerosis.)
A Trinitarian may quote Thomas’ confession, but the context
contains information which goes totally against the doctrine of the Trinity.
Jesus himself used the expression “my God”—see, for example, Matthew 27:46 and
Revelation 3:12. His God, he says, was also Mary Magdalene’s God, and is the
Father. Does Thomas have a different God from that of Christ or Mary Magdalene?
This question is like asking whether the “Lord
God” of Genesis 2:7, who forms man from the dust of the ground, is different
from the “us” who decide to make man in Genesis 1:26. The fact is that “God”,
as a title, is applied to angels and God the Father, and there is no conflict
between what Christ and Thomas say, since both Christ and the Father can and do
bear the title “God”. In order to understand how this is possible, we have to
understand the names and titles of God in the Bible.
In the context of John 20, Jesus had just been raised from the
dead by the Father: God had breathed into him
once more the breath of life. This happened on the first day of the week, while
it was dark (cf. Genesis 1:2), but
with the resurrection there was light. For the disciples, this power of
resurrection had been given to Christ
by God the Father; and so for Thomas, Christ is the “God” who must raise him
from the dead. The distinction here between God the Father and Jesus is
analogous to that expressed by David in the words: “The Lord said unto my lord” (Psalm 110:1). In the Hebrew of this
verse, the distinction is made between YHWH
and Adonai. Jesus appealed to this
text to indicate his exalted status in relation to David, but David’s words
also show that Christ’s status as “lord” is subordinate to the Lord. (Andrew Perry,
"'My Lord and My God'," The Christadelphian 131, no. 1564 [October
1994], 374–375)
