Chapter 20
Verse 1 – “The first day of the week” is a locative of time in the Greek. It is a reference to Sunday. The reason we have church services on Sunday is because Sunday is the day of resurrection, the feast of the firstfruits—Leviticus 23:9-14 cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20-24. There is an allusion to Sunday in Psalm 22:24 as well.
“cometh Mary Magdaline” – present active indicative of e)rxomai, the present tense is dramatic. She is one of the greatest trophies of grace of all time. She went from demon-possessed prostitution to a believer with an ECS in a very short period of time.
“early” is an adverb, and it means probably the fourth watch of the night which is between three and six AM, and it indicates she probably had not done any sleeping that night. So we could say that she came to the grave with a definite loss of sleep. That in itself is very pertinent. It can often mean lack of utilisation of Bible doctrine which you possess and can even temporarily neutralise the effectiveness of the ECS.
Mary Magdaline
1. Seven demons were cast out of her—Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2.
2. She was a prostitute—Luke 7:37; 8:2.
3. After her conversion she was one of the women who ministered to Jesus—Luke 8:2.
4. She was present at the cross—Luke 23:49.
5. She was present at the burial of Jesus, along with Joseph of Arimathaea And Nicodemus—Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55.
6. She brought spices to anoint the body of Jesus—Mark 16:1.
7. She was the first one to approach the tomb of Jesus on resurrection day—Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1,2.
8. She brought the news of the resurrection to Peter and John—Luke 24:10; John 20:1,2.
9. She was actually the first person to see the resurrected Christ—John 20:11-18.
She cam early while it was yet dark for the simple reason that she apparently had had no sleep. This means that the whole death weighed very heavily, and
because she fulfils the principle found with the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon chapter four. The fragrance of memories of the Lord kept her awake. She had gone through a terrible ordeal in His death and she was concentrating and focussing her attention on Him during that time when He was in the grave. Also, she was a very courageous woman because the gangster organization was operating in Jerusalem. She obviously walked a long distance in the darkness to arrive at an empty tomb.
“and seeth the stone” – present active indicative of blepw, which means she gave it a glance; “taken away” – a)irw, which means lifted up and removed. To pick it up and remove it means that someone with strength had to remove it—angels. The perfect tense of a)irw means the stone was removed in the past with results that stand forever—the empty tomb, Christ is resurrected. This is a perfect passive participle of a)irw.
The passive
voice: the subject receives the action of the verb
1. The stone was removed by angels—Matthew 28:2. Passive voice: the stone received lifting and removing.
2. Jesus was already gone from the tomb when the angels removed the stone.
3. The stone was removed from the entrance so that Mary and the others could see the empty tomb.
4. The stone was removed not to let Christ out but to let the world in.
5. In His resurrection body Jesus Christ passed through the stone in the same manner that He passed through the closed door in v. 19.
6. The incarnation began with the miracle of the virgin birth; it terminates from the resurrection from the dead, plus the resurrection body passing through what appears to be solid to us—stone.
Verse 2 – Mary must immediately inform Peter and John with regard to the empty tomb. Notice that everyone in this passage runs.
“she runneth” – present active indicative of trexw. She ran all the way back. Present tense: she kept on running until she arrived. Active voice: she ran from
her own volition; “and cometh” – she close in on them. She didn’t know what to do; she didn’t know how to cope with this. So the fact that she runs and comes to Peter and John indicates she is not able to personally cope with the empty tomb.
“to Simon Peter” – proj plus the accusative, face to face with Simon Peter; “and face to face with the other of the same kind of disciple.” The word for disciple, maqhthj, means to learn Bible doctrine categorically—the experience of GAP. The other disciple is John.
“whom Jesus loved” – imperfect active indicative of filew, total soul love.
“and saith unto them, They have lifted up and carried away” – the same verb that is used for the stone, a)irw. She has made a mistake here. The grave clothes are still there. So obviously, no one could pick up Jesus and haul Him out of there and leave the grave clothes inflated like a body was in them. Why didn’t she notice this? Because she is so distraught and so filled with bona fide emotion of sorrow that she is blinded by her emotion to the reality of the facts. Therefore her emotion causes her to assume the worst. Mary said that “they” had lifted Him up and taken Him away, and that isn’t true. Mary saw the empty tomb but she did not see the grave clothes inflated. In her sorrow she was emotionally blinded to this.
Notice that she give an indefinite “they.” She does not know who were the culprits. Obviously she assumes the worst because she adds, “we know not where they have paid him.” The thought of resurrection simply does not occur to Mary Magdalene, although she knows the doctrine.
Verses 3 & 4, the race to the empty tomb.
Verse 3 – “Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple.” The words went forth is e)cerxomai, they went back the other way, back to where Mary had come from.
Verse 4 – the mechanics. “So they ran both together” – imperfect tense of trexw, they kept on running.
“the other disciple did outrun”—protrexw, which means to outrun or to run ahead.
1. John won the race with Peter and was the first male believer to see the empty tomb.
2. But John did not enter the tomb.
3. The fact of resurrection occurred to John immediately.
4. The next verse says that John stooped down and stared intently into the tomb, while Peter busted by him.
5. To Mary Magdalene the empty tomb meant that someone had stolen the body. Like a woman in love she didn’t investigate carefully.
6. She knew the doctrine but emotion phased it out temporarily.
7. She was so emotionally involved that she failed to recognise the plan of God, which in this case was the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
8. On the other hand John, who also had an ECS, immediately identified the plan of God. In fact, the plan of God halted him in his tracks.
9. John is a case of where his emotion is a source of blessing to him because it is based on doctrine.
10. Therefore the importance of orienting to the plan of God through doctrine rather than through emotion. 2 Corinthians 6:11,12; Romans 16:17,18.
11. The dominance of emotion in the soul of Mary Magdalene causes her to fail momentarily in recognising the plan of God.
12. This will be illustrated again in verse 17 when Mary clings to Jesus.
13. The reality of doctrine in the soul of John caused instant objectivity.
14. Subjectivity of the soul is overcome through a continuance of the function of GAP. Even when you have an ECS you do not quit.
15. Even with an ECS it is possible for a believer to lapse into temporary subjectivity. This always causes emotion to go out of control.
16. Emotion must always be preceded by doctrine. Therefore the function of GAP converts deep emotional response into fantastic happiness.
Verse 5 – “stooping” is the aorist active participle, parakuptw. It means to stoop down and concentrate, stare intently. It is used in two other passages of
significance—James 1:25; 1 Peter 1:12 where it refers to concentration on doctrine. Here it refers to John concentrating on the grave clothes of our Lord. In other words, the evidence of resurrection is confirmed from his own personal observation. But John, too, failed. John’s failure is that he had to observe. Later on he is going to say in this passage that he believed. He believed in resurrection because he saw the empty grave clothes and he realised the significance of the grave clothes empty and the napkin (face cloth) folded up. John sees all of that and he concludes resurrection. It shows that John can think under pressure, which is a rare thing; but what is wrong with it? Why did he have to wait until he saw the empty grave clothes? What’s wrong with doctrine, which Jesus taught during three years? And which was taught by Daniel and Isaiah? John is going to believe in resurrection because he saw the empty tomb. That is basing reality on empiricism. But what is wrong coming to the same conclusion a year before this happened?
“saw the linen clothes” – o)qonion, the word used for grave clothes and also “swaddling clothes.” In other words, Jesus was wrapped in grave clothes at His birth, and he was wrapped in grave clothes at His death. In His resurrection He moved right through the swaddling clothes or the grace clothes. It is obvious that if the body had been stolen the grave clothes would also be gone. The grave clothes were inflated and full but empty, and this caused John to stare and concentrate intently. Even in a glance he did all of this because he was thinking. John ran and thought; Mary went one way running and emoting. John came back the other way running and thinking. The grave clothes were inflated and empty. This is in contrast to Lazarus who had to be unwrapped after his resuscitation.
He “saw the linen clothes lying” – keimai, present middle participle, they kept on staying that way. This means that they were still inflated.
Verse 6 – “Then cometh Simon Peter” – e)rxomai; “following” – a)kolouqew. If there’s anything Peter hates it is to be following. He’s thinking about beating John in getting there, he’s not thinking about what he is going to find! No matter what Peter did he couldn’t do anything but follow.
“and went into the sepulchre” – e)ij e)rxomai; “and seeth” – this time it is not blepw. Mary = blepw, and all she saw was the empty tomb—emotion. John = blepw, and he saw the grave clothes—thinking. Peter = qeorew, which means to view with interest and attention, to observe and reflect and come to some conclusions. In other words, he really concentrated on that air in the empty grave clothes.
“lie”—the grave clothes were lying as though occupied by a corpse, but the body is not there.
Verse 7 -- “And the napkin that was about the head.” This is not a napkin at all, it is a soudarion. This is face cloth, a head piece for a corpse. It is like a sack, it is put over the head and tied under the chin. The sack was not inflated. It was taken off and carefully folded.
“not lying” – keimai with the negative. It was separated from the rest of the grave clothes.
“wrapped together” – not quite correct, it is e)ntulissw, which means to be folded up. Perfect passive participle, folded in the past with results that go on forever. Passive voice: the crown of death received folding.
Why did the body of Jesus come through the grave clothes but not the headpiece or face-cloth?
Answer:
1. Because the resurrected Christ must remove the crown of death and roll it up forever. In this way the grave has been robbed of its victory.
2. The resurrection body of Jesus came through the grave clothes, death could no longer hold Him. The part that covered the soul remained intact so that the volition of His soul could act in removing the crown of death. This is a physical resurrection. The soul of Jesus Christ was not changed in any way, just His body.
3. The first act of the resurrected Christ was to remove by His own power the crown of death.
4. Death had lost its sting, the grave had been robbed of its victory—1 Corinthians 15:51-57.
“in a place” – e)ij e(na topon, which means with reference to one place. Jesus Christ put down on the ground a memorial. We don’t have to know where that
ground is or see that actual cloth. It is recorded in the Word, so we don’t need it.
“by itself” – xwrij, the adverb, means apart. So, “with reference to one place apart.” And that is set apart in the Word of God forever. The crown of death is on the ground, the resurrection body of Jesus was now walking about.
Verse 8 – John now goes into the tomb. “Then went in also that other disciple”—e)iserxomai; “which came first to the sepulchre”—aorist active participle of e)rxomai. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, and we have two main verbs. The first main verb is “he saw”—o(raw, the panoramic view, the plan of God from beginning to end. Everything falls in place for John but it falls in place on the basis of empiricism. He had to o(raw and pisteuw; it should have been e)piginwskw and pisteuw. The final main verb is “and believed” – aorist active indicative of pisteuw. This is great except for one little thing. Why do you have to see to believe? You don’t!
There are two main verbs here whose action precedes the action of the aorist participle. John came first to the tomb; he saw [o(raw]and believed. He was the first disciple to believe in the resurrection. But his faith has the weakest possible base—empiricism. Seeing is believing but it is the weakest type of believing. Knowing doctrine is the best type of believing, and we have a great advantage over John and Peter. We can have a faith based on Bible doctrine which is infinitely more powerful than faith based upon observation. GAP is the best basis for faith and the only consistent one. Empiricism will never replace doctrine. This is what Peter said when he died—2 Peter 1:12-21, what you see is not a real as what the Word says.
Verse 9 – a simple explanation for understanding the resurrection by empiricism. “For as yet they knew not the scripture.” The know about the resurrection but not the scripture. “As yet” is literally, not yet, o)udepw; “knew not” is pluperfect active of o)ida, they had not yet known the scripture. Their faith was not based on doctrine, it was based on observation.
“that it was necessary for him to rise again” – aorist active infinitive of a)nisthmi [i(sthmi = to stand; a)na = up, or again]. When Jesus Christ’s body went into the grave clothes, He stood up. When He stood up His body went right through the grave clothes ad the grave clothes stayed on the ground. So He stood up again.
Verse 10 – “Then the disciples [the two of them] went away”—a)perxomai, which means to go away from that place; “unto their own home” is literally, face to face with their own. It doesn’t say home. It is proj plus the accusative of i)dioj, which means one’s own. It doesn’t mean a house or a home, it means people that belong to you.
Verse 11 – But Mary returns to the empty tomb. They all returned to their own! Mary Magdalene does not understand resurrection yet, but she is going home and home to her is that empty tomb, the last place where she saw the Lord. So we suggest that her love is greater than their love. Remember that home is a person whom you love. Mary is responding to what she has at the moment, a place to weep.
Verse 11 – “But,” and that is the trouble with Mary. The problem is she knew more doctrine than anyone else and yet she blew it. Everyone blew it, but the manner in which Mary blew it teaches many wonderful spiritual lessons. So this begins with the conjunction of contrast, de, and the contrast is between Peter and John who went home and Mary Magdalene who went home, but she went to an empty tomb. Peter went home to his wife and his mother-in-law; John went home to his mother and the mother of the humanity of Christ. Everyone had somewhere to go. They went where they wanted to go, by the way. Mary went where she wanted to go, she loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Here capacity to love Him under category #1 love was greater than that of anyone else. And she went to the empty tomb. That was her home for the moment. It also indicates the state of her soul. So she is in contrast to Peter and John.
“Mary stood without the tomb” – the word for stand is unusual, it is the pluperfect active indicative of i(sthmi. The pluperfect is the past perfect tense and is rarely used. The principle was Mary loved Jesus Christ so much that it never even occurred to her to go anywhere except to the empty tomb. Her soul is filled with the fragrance of love. When there is the fragrance of love you can only follow the dictates of your soul. The last time she had seen Jesus she had helped to place His body in that tomb. She had gone back and had seen the empty tomb, and when Peter and John go home so does she. But the pluperfect indicates she wouldn’t go anywhere else; she wouldn’t be anywhere else. It indicates the state of her soul and her phenomenal capacity to love. Generally the pluperfect in i(sthmi is used as an imperfect. Here it has great stability. Active voice: this was her own free will.
The word without is the preposition, proj plus the accusative, which means face to face with the empty tomb. So it should be literally translated, ‘But Mary, having stood face to face with the tomb outside of it.’ She didn’t go in. The adverb for outside is e)cw. She doesn’t go in, she is rooted in one spot because she is weeping, the present active participle of klaiw.[1]
“and as she wept” – imperfect active indicative. Present active participle of klaiw: she started weeping, kept on weeping; imperfect active indicative: she didn’t stop. She wept for a very long time.
“she stooped down into the sepulchre” – it doesn’t say she looked. She bent over and concentrated—parakuptw, aorist active indicative. She concentrated in the direction of the empty tomb.
Mary’s weeping
1. The weeping of Mary Magdalene is the weeping of a woman’s love responding to what she has. She has an empty tomb and she has her memories.
2. She cannot express her love in any other way at this point. She has been expressing her love to Jesus for several years bit now He isn’t there. She is expressing her love to a person who is not there. When you love someone and that someone is no longer there, and you have wonderful fragrant memories, you are going to weep.
3. Mary has privacy for her tears, there is no one there. Whatever memories you possess that are wonderful, fragrant and beautiful, they belong to you; they are in your soul and in no one else’s. Therefore you have, as it were, a private album of your own memories.
4. This teaches another principle, the principle of a woman’s love. It must have privacy plus free will—the ingredients of a woman’s love.
5. If Mary had remained with Peter and John they would still be talking, and they would have removed from her, her volition and her privacy, both of which she wanted at this time. She chose to face the empty tomb. She had privacy to express the fragrance of her memories in tears.
6. Mary does not want conversation. At a time like this a woman in love has to think as a woman in love and the last thing she needs is conversation.
7. In solitude and privacy with your volition intact you discover what you believe, you discover what memories have fragrance. But in the company of friends you often discover what you understand.
Verse 12 – “And seeth two angels in white sitting.” The word for see is qeorew, which means she observed them. The word means to see and perceive, to
Observe, to reflect on the observation. She reflects on the fact that she is no longer alone. Angels in scripture always appear to be a male. Their presence in the empty tomb is God’s very gracious way, compassionate way, of comforting Mary Magdaline. They are sitting—present active participle of kaqezomai. They are constantly sitting there. The present active participle means that they have been sitting there all the time, but they had not been visible up to this point. Neither Peter nor John had seen these two angels. God permitted only Mary Magdaline to see the angels. He made them very apparent to her. Why? Because in the first place she has a theory that the body has been stolen. The fact that two angels are sitting there means the body of Jesus could not have been stolen and her presumption is erroneous. According to Psalm 91:11 the two angels had been sitting in the tomb since Jesus was placed there three days before. They had permitted no one to steal the body.
“one at the head, and the other at the feet” – proj plus the accusative, one was facing the feet and one was facing the head.
“where the body of Jesus had lain” – imperfect active indicative of keimai.
Verse 13 – “And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?” This question has two purposes: a) to remove any fear that they mean any harm; b) to give her a chance to compose herself because she is no longer under conditions of privacy. They know why she is weeping, they have been there all the time.
She gives the answer which expresses her theory. It is erroneous but it is what she thinks. “She saith unto them, Because they [unknown] have taken away my Lord.” The word taken away means the body has been lifted up and carried off—a)irw; “my Lord”—He belongs to me.
“I do not know where they have laid [placed] him”—tiqhmi means to place.
The angels know why Mary is weeping. The question is designed to give Mary a chance to shift gears, to go from memory to the present circumstances, and to draw the proper conclusions.
.Verse 14 – “And when she had thus said.” She had been talking to two angels and she wasn’t impressed. She had expressed the fact that she is certain that the Lord’s body has been stolen.
“she turned herself back” – aorist passive indicative of strefw: “and saw Jesus standing” – present active indicative of qeorew, she “perceived.” She perceived the form of a person. If she had actually seen the colour of His hair, the bone structure of His face, it would have been blepw. And if she had found Him a very attractive man is would have been o(raw, a panoramic view. But she simply perceives the form of a person there without identifying or distinguishing the person in any way. This tells us something about her soul at this point. In her soul everything is turned inward. Her grief is so intense that everything has turned completely inward, she has become subjective to excessive emotional activity under grief. Therefore she is not able to identify the Lord Jesus Christ. The present tense here means in that moment of time she saw a human form there. The human form is standing—“Jesus standing,” perfect active indicative of i(sthmi. In other words, He stood there and had been standing there for some time. Apparently He had been listening to the conversation between Mary and the two angels. Now when Mary turns around and moves away from the tomb she comes face to face with a human form. Notice that is says, “and knew not that it was Jesus.” “Knew not” is a pluperfect of o)ida, and o)ida in the pluperfect is used as an imperfect, she kept on not knowing it. In other words, until the time of identification coming up she kept on being totally oblivious to the fact that the resurrected Christ was standing in front of her and she is the first human being to see Him. Jesus Christ in His resurrection body revealed Himself to the greatest trophy of grace during His ministry, a former prostitute by the name of Mary Magdaline who had more doctrine than anyone else and who, at this point with her whole ECS, is disoriented to the situation because her grief is out of line with her ECS.
Why did Mary not
recognise Jesus?
1. Under the stress of emotion, with eyes filled with tears, vision is impaired. But her vision is not impaired because of the tears in her eyes, her vision is impaired because there are two kinds of emotion and she is under the influence of negative emotion. Negative emotion is one of the worst things in life because it blinds you to truth that you know is truth. Mary knew all about the resurrection and yet it hasn’t even occurred to her.
2. Her mind is made up with regard to something that is false. Jesus is not dead, He is risen. While it is not true, Mary thinks the body of Jesus has been stolen. Principle: Reality lies in what people think, not in the truth. If you think something is true, even though it is false, it is true to you. In other words, ‘Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up.’
3. Since Mary assumes Jesus to be dead she cannot associate any living person with Him. Jesus is standing in front of her but she can’t make the association. In her mind Jesus is dead; in reality He is alive. The truth is resurrection; to her He is dead.
4. Reality is found in what people think and/or believe. Remember that believing is a system of thinking. It is a non-meritorious system of thinking and it can be positive where doctrine is involved; it can be negative where falsehood is involved: you can believe a lie. Therefore this person cannot be Jesus, and since He is in a gardener this must be a gardener.
5. Mary’s failure to identify Jesus emphasises the importance of getting the facts before drawing conclusions.
Verse 15 – “Woman.” Jesus uses this word woman many times. We have the vocative singular from the noun gunh, the Greek word for woman. This is the same vocative which Jesus used in addressing Mary in John 19:26.
“Why weepest thou?” – present active indicative of klaiw.
1. Mary Magdaline’s tears are from excessive grief, a part of the function of the emotion of the soul. Weeping comes from the emotion of the soul related to the lobes. In this case here excessive grief causes her negative emotion to be excessive. Negative emotion is a blinder; positive emotion is an appreciator. Grief is an expression of love toward someone else, and when Mary Magdaline was there at the burial of Jesus her grief was a bona fide thing. But after Jesus had been dead for several days self-pity set in, and that is a sin. The emotion itself is not a sin. Here there is an excessive negative emotion that short-circuits the line, and that causes the norms and standards to lose grace orientation and divine viewpoint, because it is not divine viewpoint to think the body has been stolen; it is divine viewpoint to think He is risen.
2. It is possible for the emotional pattern of the soul to frustrate the application of doctrine from the human spirit and from the right lobe.
3. Before Mary will recognise Jesus she must stop being enslaved by negative emotion.
4. Application to us: Emotion hinders the function of GAP and causes one to get into false things—like the tongues movement. 2 Corinthians 6:11,12; Romans 16:17,18.
5. Both sorrow and negative amotion can take a believer out of bounds where divine viewpoint is lost. Once you are out of bounds you can’t learn doctrine.
6. Excessive negative emotion short-circuits frame of reference, and the value of the ECS and its doctrine is lost—temporarily.
7. Reality is in the mind of Mary Magdaline. In her mind Jesus is dead, His corpse is stolen. This isn’t true, but this is true to her. There is a true criterion for life and a false criterion. The true criterion is Bible doctrine; the false criterion is what you think, unless you are thinking Bible doctrine.
8. Therefore Mary Magdaline did not recognise Jesus when He spoke to her.
9. Reality should have been in the facts. Jesus is alive; He is standing in front of Mary. But Mary does not recognise Jesus because in her mind He is dead. Now Jesus speaks and she doesn’t even pick it up from His tone as yet. Like any woman who has a great capacity for love she is tone oriented, but because her mind is so strong and the fact that Jesus is dead her ear is not picking up the tone of the voice.
So Jesus asks a second question: “whom seekest thou?”—present active indicative of zetew. Jesus is observing Mary, even though Mary is not observing
Jesus; she is looking for the corpse. Here is a question to cause Mary to begin to conclude resurrection.
“She, supposing” – present active participle of dokew, the sloppiest type of thinking. It means to assume something to be true on the basis of how you feel about it. This word means two things. It means to imagine, to presume without the facts. It is a verb for negative thinking, a present active participle which is linear aktionsart. It means she is going to stick with what she is thinking—“She, assuming him to be the gardener.”
“gardener” – khpouroj [khpoj = gardener; ouroj = watcher], he is a guardian of the garden.
“Sir” – she addresses him with a vocative respect and authority; “if you have picked him up and carried him away” – aorist active indicative of bastazw, which indicates what she is thinking. The word means to pick Him up violently and haul Him off.
“tell me” – aorist active imperative. She demands to be told where she can find the body. These are bold words which are coming from her own emotions.
“and I will take him up [tenderly] carry Him off” – a)irw, not bastazw.
1. Obviously Mary Magdaline is under the control of her grief and emotion. Therefore she has short-circuited and doctrine is not coming from her e)pignwsij or from her right lobe.
2. Mary is not thinking the truth, she is actually under slavery to negative emotion.
3. Therefore she assumes that because Jesus is dead yesterday that He is dead today.
4. So the solution to her problem is to recover from negative volition. How? Start right in with GAP again, and that is exactly what is going to happen. No matter how great you are as a believer, once you get some negative emotion in your soul the only way to flush it out is to listen to the Word. Even mature believers need the daily function of GAP!
5. There are some short circuit systems. Negative emotions is not sinful as such, but negative emotion does the same thing as mental attitude sins, and some times mental attitude sins trigger mental attitude emotion. Mental attitude sins and negative emotion do the same thing: they short circuit the line between the human spirit and the right lobe. Also, excessive negative emotion always has a hang-over—despondency.
1. Mental attitude sins.
2. Negative emotion. This always floods the soul and becomes the criterion: whatever you assume, that’s it!
3. Making conclusions without the facts—an off-shoot of point #2.
4. A break-down of the faith-rest technique.
Under these short-circuit systems a mature believer can fail, although he has greater protection against failure because of his stability from the ECS. But
remember that David in “operation Bathsheba” already had an ECS.
Verse 16 – “Jesus saith unto her, Mary,” Mariam, the Aramaic form for the word Mary. Previously He used the vocative, woman; now He calls her Mary. Mary is under negative volition and under deep grief, but in that one word Mary she recognises the voice of Jesus. Why does she suddenly do it? First of all, that same voice cast seven demons out of her. That voice now releases here from sorrow and grief. Apparently she had been turning away, and when she heard His voice she turns herself toward Him, “and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.” Rabbwni means My teacher. It is Aramaic. The “i” on the end is simply the Aramaic and Hebrew possessive suffix. Notice her instant recovery and the point of orientation of her instant recovery—teaching! Doctrine! Mary snaps back with the important thing, the short-circuit is over.
“Master” – didaskalh. Didaskaloj means public teaching, and this is public teaching. Master doesn’t mean master, it is the vocative of the Greek word for teacher.
Verse 17 – When Jesus said that she ran to Him and threw her arms around Him, and she was clinging to Him. “And Jesus saith [kept on saying, present linear aktionsart of legw].
“Touch me not” – present middle imperative of a(ptw plus the negative mh. A(ptw in the middle voice means to cling, to encircle, to grasp, to hang on. The middle voice means she has her arms around Him, she is hugging Him. He is saying to her, “Stop clinging to me, stop hugging me,” and so on. The present active imperative plus the negative means stop doing something that is already in progress. She is clinging to Him; the reflex of a woman in love. All of the negative emotion has been cleared out and replaced by positive emotion. She made certain that Jesus was not a ghost and she is clinging to Him. (By the way, this is one of the proofs of the bodily, physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.)
Jesus knew in eternity past just what would be in Mary’s soul and that uttering one word, Mary, and she saying Rabboni [teacher], would bring all the doctrine back, evaporate all of the negative emotion, and replace it by positive emotion. She now recognises one doctrine and everything is changed: resurrection. Why was this? She already knew the doctrine. It was e)pignwsij and in her right lobe. She has an ECS and therefore with an ECS she does a magnificent thing. She runs to the Lord and throws her arms around Him.
Jesus says, “Stop clinging.” This is because the plan of God at this point must move on.
“for I am not yet ascended” – perfect active indicative of a)nabainw. This is the next stage in the plan of God. How is the Lord going to ascend with a woman wrapping her arms around Him and holding on tight? We go from resurrection to ascension, which is the next item on the agenda, though it won’t occur for forty days. But all He has to do is to mention that the plan must go on and she will let go. Why? She has doctrine! Her emotion is positive now and is not going to stand in the way of progress.
“unto my Father” – proj plus the accusative, face to face with my Father. Before the victory of the angelic conflict can be completed Jesus must be glorified. The fact that He is in a resurrection body on earth does not mean glorification yet. It is the resurrection body in heaven that is going to change the angelic conflict. If Jesus was still walking around in a resurrection body the angelic conflict would not be won. It is the fact that a human being in a resurrection body went all the way through the angelic hosts into the presence of the Father and is now superior to all angels—Hebrews 1 & 2. The plan of the Father is that He must be seated in the place of glory at the right hand of the Father.
In order for the resurrection to go forward someone must announce the resurrection to the disciples. So Jesus says, “But go”—present active imperative of the verb poreuomai, which means to go from one place to another. It means leave the presence of Jesus and go into the presence of the disciples with the information. Obviously, she can’t go and tell them if she is going to cling to Him for the rest of the day.
“but go” – here is the command. If Jesus is going to get Mary from around His neck He must give her something to do, because her capacity is so phenomenal that she is not going to stop clinging unless there is a good reason. Jesus is giving her the next part of the plan. He is including her in the resurrection. Her life has suddenly expression and meaning and purpose apart from the expression of her love for Him, and that is precisely the reason that He told her next, “but go” – present active imperative from poreuomai, the only word that Jesus could use in this situation. Ordinarily the word for go would be e)rxomai, but He doesn’t use it because it simply means come or go. Poreuomai means to go from one place to another. This gives us the second explanation for the second command of Jesus, “Stop clinging to me.” Mary Magdalene cannot cling to Jesus and at the same time announce the resurrection to the disciples. The Father’s plan calls for Mary to be separate from the Lord for a little while, while she goes and announces that Jesus is risen.
“to my brethren” – proj plus the accusative mean face to face with; “and say to them” – dative of advantage. This is the next phase of the Father’s plan announced.
“I
ascend” – present active indicative of a)nabainw again. This is next. The present tense is dramatic. Any advance in
the plan of God is dramatic. The indicative mood is the reality of the next
step in the plan of God.
“unto my Father” – proj plus the accusative, face to face with my Father. Jesus is speaking from His humanity; “and your Father” – this means that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ the Father was their Father as well.
Mary Magdaline would like to keep on clinging to Jesus and enjoy this moment but the plan of God must go on. She has a job to do and now she is going to fulfil it.
The doctrine of
ascension
1. The resurrection body is capable of space travel—John 20:17.
2. The acceptability of the humanity of Christ guarantees the acceptability of regenerate mankind—Ephesians 1:6.
3. The ascension and session of Christ produces victory in the angelic conflict—Hebrews 1:3-13.
4. The ascension begins a new sphere in the angelic conflict—Ephesians 1:20-22; 4:7-10.
5. The ascension of Christ, then, begins operation footstool—Psalm 110:1. This is the most intensified stage of human history; the angelic conflict shifts gears.
6. The Second Advent of Christ will conclude operation footstool—Daniel 7:13-14; Zechariah 13:2; Colossians 2:15; Revelation 20:1-3.
7. The ascension explains the uniqueness of the Church Age. Every believer is the target of Satan in the Church Age; every believer is in full time Christian service in the Church Age—2 Corinthians 5:20.
Verse 18 – the obedience of Mary Magdaline.
“came and told the disciples” – now we have the word e)rxomai, the obedience verb here, present active indicative. Once the negative emotion is cleared out
the circuit is restored and Mary recalls the doctrine—death, burial and ascension. She was able to relate in detail what was occurring. This means, first of all, she stopped clinging to the Lord Jesus. She departs. There is a sense in which she is still clinging to Him: in her soul she has that great capacity of love. As she goes back into Jerusalem there is a sense that she will never let go of the Lord Jesus. But she is obedient and she is fulfilling the plan of God for her life as Jesus Christ executes the plan of the Father in the incarnation. In other words, she is still exhaling category #1 love for the Lord Jesus. That grief and that negative emotion had immobilised her but doctrine has made her operational again.
“and told” – ordinarily the word for telling is legw but here we have an entirely different word, a)ggellw, from which we get the word angel. It means to proclaim an important message. The present active participle means she had to tell it over and over again.
“that she had seen” – perfect active indicative of o(raw, the panoramic view. She had seen the Lord with results that would go on forever—that is the perfect tense. This is a panoramic view in the sense that she now has the whole plan of God in her mind. Her frame of reference has been re-established.
“and that he had spoken these things unto her” – the word for spoken is legw.
Verses 19-23, the first appearance of Jesus to the disciples.
Verse 19 – “the same day” is Sunday. Jesus rose on the first day of the week, Sunday. The church meets on Sunday because it is the resurrection day. This is in the evening. The appearance to Mary Magdaline was in the morning. The disciples are now all holed up and they have the door locked.
“when the doors were shut”—the word for shut here [being shut] is the present active participle of e)imi, the absolute status quo verb. It is connected with a perfect passive participle to show that the doors closed were not merely closed, they were locked. The verb is kleiw and it means to close and lock. Passive voice: the doors received locking for security.
“where the disciples were assembled” – the word assembly isn’t here, it is the imperfect tense of e)imi again, “where they were being.” They weren’t assembling, they kept on being there. Being means they were neutralised.
“for fear of the Jews” – dia plus the accusative of foboj. It should be translated “because of fear of the Jews.” Because they were afraid they were merely existing behind locked doors.
“came Jesus” – we have e)rxomai again, aorist active indicative, and this time it is Jesus Christ coming through the locked door. Jesus did not knock down the
door, He simply walked right through it.
“and stood” – all of a sudden He is standing there, aorist active indicative of i(sthmi. Here are the disciples all afraid and then Jesus is standing there in the midst. Why are they frightened? Mary Magdaline had clued them in, and yet they were all frightened. Jesus Christ is our wall of fire, and we are in His plan. Since we are in union with Him we can use all our security measures, that is just common sense, but ultimately whether we survive or not depends entirely upon who and what Jesus Christ is. That is grace, and that is the way we like it.
“and saith unto them, Peace” – this is a salutation, it also has other concepts. E)irhnh is the noun. It means tranquillity, unity, felicity, blessing; and all of those are to replace the fear, the insecurity that has possessed the disciples up to this point. Jesus knows they are frightened but He does not rebuke them. There is no reproach, and that is grace. The plan of the Father is going to move on in spite of their failure. The plan depends on who and what Christ is, not who and what they are. Because it depends on Him, notice that His first word was “Peace.” This word is used three times.
Verse 20 – “he shewed unto them.” The word shewed means to exhibit, deiknumi; “his hands” – they can identify them, they have seen them often enough. Now they have scars; “and his side” – this is where the scars and wounds were located. This indicates that this is the same Jesus who died on the cross.[2] The scars that our Lord possesses in His resurrection body are badges of honour. When we see those scars through all eternity it is a reminder to us that those scars are a part of purchasing our salvation. Every time we see the scars in His resurrection body the first word that will come to mind is “grace.”
“Then were the disciples glad” – the disciples saw before they were glad. They had inner happiness—aorist passive indicative of xairw, the received inner happiness. The aorist tense: the point of time they had the panoramic view of the resurrected Christ.
There is a principle that comes out of this. The resurrection is the basis for happiness in time, as well as future eternal happiness. The resurrection produces both confidence and inner happiness and when this doctrine is cycled from the human spirit to the norm and standard lobe as a part of our frame of reference, that frame of reference produces inner happiness. That is why it says, “they received happiness.” It is a reality to them now.[3]
Notice it says “they saw”—aorist active indicative of o(raw. O(raw occurs first as far as the sentence is concerned. It means to have a panoramic view. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. First of all they saw Him—panoramic view—and then they were glad or had +H. It should be translated, “and having seen him they had great happiness.” This teaches us a principle. Happiness has three sources. It has its first source in memory. The memory centre of the frame of reference is the source of happiness. Once they identify the Lord Jesus Christ it stimulates their memories of the past three years. Secondly, the capacity for love in the ECS is a source for happiness. The third is the exhale experience toward God or to some member of the human race with whom you have rapport.
Verse 21 -- “Peace unto you.” The word peace in verse 19 refers to the doctrine of reconciliation as it relates to His resurrection appearance. The second time, here, we have a reference to phase two function and grace production. The third time, verse 26, we have the grace principle of rebound.
Here is verse 21 Jesus announces phase two of the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. Here is one of those announcements where Jesus says things are going to get rough on earth.
“to them” is dative of advantage; “again” – this is the second time He has said “Peace.” The word peace, again, refers to the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
“as the [not my] Father” -- the Father is the author of the divine plan, operation grace; “hath sent me” – notice: a)postellw. Shortly Jesus is going to send them, but it is not a)postellw, it is the word pempw. The first [a)postellw] is perfect active indicative. The perfect tense means that the Father designed the incarnation in the past all the way from the virgin birth to the resurrection and ascension with the result that it was accomplished historically. Active voice: the Father designed the plan for the Son. Indicative mood: the reality of the incarnation. The Father sent the Son. “Me” is Jesus Christ in hypostatic union executing the purpose of the incarnation from the virgin birth to the ascension. The verb for sending indicates sending some with great authority. When the Father sent the Son the Son had tha authority to go to the cross and fulfil the Father’s plan.
Now He says, “so send I you,” and it is pempw, present active indicative. Pempw simply means to send a representative. The disciples were the first representatives of the absent Christ in the Church Age. They were the advanced guard. Later on there would be a)postellw or apostles but at this stage they are merely sent to represent the Lord Jesus Christ during those ten days that He is absent from the earth. In this sense all of the eleven disciples are in full-time service. The present tense is linear aktionsart. Active voice: they acted as representatives. Indicative mood: the reality of it.
Verse 22 – Note: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” When Christ ascends there will be a ten-day interlude before the Church Age begins, and during that time the disciples are in status quo pempw, they are His representatives. They will also represent Him for the forty days that He is on the earth. During this time when they represent Him between the ascension, when Christ is absent from the earth and is present with the Father, until the Church Age begins [ten days] these disciples could not have survived without the Holy Spirit. So He gave them the Holy Spirit. And during that period there also had to be a witnessing principle: “whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them.” That is simply witnessing.
“And when he had said this” – the word this, touto, refers to a believer under fire before the Church Age begins. There is an intense period of ten days in which fallen angels concentrate their fire. Therefore the disciples must be protected. There must be a cadre to begin the Church Age.
“he breathed on them” – e)nfusaw, which means to inhale or to inflate, to inhale and to be stimulated by the inhale. Aorist tense: this point of time. Active voice: He gave them the Holy Spirit under a previous dispensation. Remember that in the Age of Israel there was no such thing as the universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
“receive ye” – aorist active imperative of lambanw. For the rest of the time of the ten days they are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and they are living in the Age of Israel.[4]
Verse 23 – with the reception of the Holy Spirit we have the authority for witnessing. “Whose soever” is not whose soever. The Greek is a)n tivwn. It means “If [the sin] of any” and it is a 3rd class condition. Every believer is a witness to Jesus Christ in the Church Age, but this is prior to the Church Age. In the ten days prior to the Church Age only certain believers on the earth represented the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Lord’s representative one would lead a certain person to Christ.
“If the sins [pl] of any ye remit” – aorist active subjunctive of a)fihmi. The word means to dismiss, cancel, pardon, forgive, send away. For the next 50 days the disciples will be the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as His representatives they have received the Holy Spirit. As they witness and lead people to Christ they will have the authority to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven or pardoned.’ Aorist tense.
“they are remitted” – perfect passive indicative of a)fihmi. Passive voice: the new believer receives the action of the verb—salvation. The indicative mood is the reality of the forgiveness of sins to those who believe in Jesus Christ; “unto them” – dative of advantage. This is simply the authority to make certain dogmatic statements when witnessing. God’s representative must be dogmatic. Their dogmatism came from the ministry of the Spirit plus what they had learned. Our dogmatism comes from GAP.
“whose soever sins” – the word sins is not repeated, a)n tinwn again is literally, “if that of any.”
“ye retain” – again, a 3rd class condition. The 3rd class condition in both cases depends on whether a person accepts Christ as saviour or not. Here we have a present active subjunctive of kratew. Present tense: they keep on being retained, they have rejected Christ. Active voice: they went negative, they used their own volition. The subjunctive mood is potential, they are still alive, they can still accept Christ.
“they are retained” – perfect passive subjunctive. The perfect tense means that as long as they remain in status quo rejection of Christ their sins are retained. Passive voice: they receive this status quo by their own volition. Indicative mood: the reality of it.
Summary of this verse:
1. The disciples as the Lord’s representatives have the authority to announce who is pardoned [believers] and who is not pardoned [unbelievers]. They have this authority for fifty days.
2. This foreshadows the authority of witnessing as a part of the ambassadorship of Christ for the Church Age.
3. The fulfilment of this prerogative is associated in the Church Age with several of the disciples/apostles: a) with Peter, Acts 10:43; b) Paul, Acts 13:38.
4. In effect, the disciples for fifty days had the authority to proclaim the gospel, including the resurrection—1 Corinthians 15:3,4.
5. This authority includes the power to assure all who respond by faith in Christ that their sins are pardoned.
6. This does not mean the disciples had the power to forgive sins.
7. But it does mean the disciples have the power to announce the forgiveness of sins when a person believes in Christ during those 50 days.
8. As illustrated by the verb kratew the disciples also had the authority to declare whose sins are not forgiven—the unbeliever’s.
9. Only Christ can forgive sins. At this point only the disciples have the authority to provide assurance of this in witnessing—for 50 days.
10. The principle of providing assurance to new converts is now the prerogative of every believer-priest who witnesses for Jesus Christ.
Verse 24 – “But Thomas.”
Thomas
1. He was called an apostle—Matthew 10:3.
2. In John 11:16 Thomas has the courage to die but not the doctrine for which to die. Thomas made the decision to die as a cynic and he wound up eventually dying on the basis of doctrine.
3. Thomas was sceptical and learned everything the hard way, through empiricism. He was sceptical and cynical. He doubted the Lord’s resurrection—John 20:24-27.
4. Because of predilection for empiricism Thomas had difficulty with GAP—John 14:5.
5. When Thomas died he died for doctrine. He eventually went to Persia where he was a great missionary and he died with a Persian lance in his chest.
“called Didymus” – this means that somewhere in that part of the world there were two Thomas’s. Didymus is simply the Aramaic word for a twin.
“Was not with them when Jesus came” – resurrection appearance. Thomas missed the boat because he was not there at the right time.
“was not” – imperfect active indicative of e)imi. E)imi is used rather than pareimi. Pareimi usually means to be present or absent, but e)imi is used because
he was not absent because he didn’t want to be there. The problem was that this was a formal assembly on Sunday when Jesus came and he wasn’t there. The negative here is o)uk—e)imi plus o)uk, the strongest negative (except for a double negative) in the Greek. The tense is imperfect—past linear aktionsart. In other words, Thomas was not there with the result that he kept on not being there.
Why isn’t Thomas with the other disciples? He wasn’t there because he didn’t want to be there. In other words, when you don’t want to be there you are obviously negative about something. When you boil it all down you are negative about doctrine. Thomas is having a malfunction of GAP, and it must be remembered that GAP functions on faith. Malfunction of GAP is based upon negative volition toward doctrine. Thomas operated during the ministry of our Lord in the energy of the flesh because he was negative toward doctrine. He was exposed to the teaching of our Lord but he was negative toward it. The absence of Thomas can be attributed to his negative volition and the accumulation of human viewpoint.
Principle: If you attend an assembly where doctrine is taught and you do not take it in because of some malfunction of GAP in an assembly situation, when that local assembly has come kind of a catastrophe you will peel off.
Thomas missed blessing by his absence from the assembly.
Verse 25 – the human viewpoint of doubting Thomas. “The other disciples therefore kept on saying unto him” – they rubbed his nose in it! The word other is a)lloj which means others of the same kind. This indicates that Thomas is a born-again believer. The word for disciples is maqhthj which means a learner of doctrine. This was Thomas’s problem—he was exposed without learning.
“We have seen” – prefect active indicative of o(raw. They saw it in the perfect tense, they saw it with the result that they were bubbling over. The indicative mood is the reality of their contact with the resurrected Christ. So Thomas has to take a stand, and he takes a stand which reveals all the cynicism of his soul. He has rejected the authority of our Lord’s teaching ministry.
“But he said” – e)an plus the subjunctive introduces a 3rd class condition: “If [maybe yes, maybe no].” A cynic without doctrine has to use the 3rd class condition.
“I shall see” – here is where empiricism comes in. The word for seeing is o(raw. He doubts the resurrection, or at least puts up a front of doubt. Cynics are usually people smart. Thomas believes the others have been taken in.
“the print” – tupoj, one of the Greek words for scars; also the word for type. “If I shall see the scars of the nails.”
“and put [or, thrust]” – ballw. Thomas knows that because of the wound in the side there is going to be a hole there. A Roman spear puts a big hole in the side and if this is really the Lord He is going to have a hole in His side.
“I will not believe” – aorist active subjunctive. The cynic has arrived! Not only does he use the word o)u but he uses o)u mh, “I will not ever.” The word for believe is the aorist active subjunctive of pisteuw—maybe I will believe and maybe I will not. While Thomas had witnessed the resuscitation of Lazarus from the dead he refuses to believe that Jesus was resurrected. This is inconsistent and there are several reasons for his inconsistency, one being the malfunction of GAP throughout the earthly ministry of our Lord. Secondly, he relied upon the wrong perceptive system. When you reject GAP inevitably you go toward your trend of thinking, either toward rationalism or toward empiricism. There is also another factor, a lack of faith-rest.
Between verses 25 & 26 we have the elapse of eight days.
Verse 26 – “And after eight days” means that this is a reference to the following Sunday night. Sunday was the day of assembly worship and Jesus makes the second step through the door in the same manner that He made the first one.
“again” – the adverb palin means that He did the same thing again. This indicates the disciples were again assembled, with one difference—“and Thomas with them.” The word meta means that he was associated with them in worship. Thomas was with them even though there was disagreement. There is a principle there. Difference of opinion is healthy as long as it is objective.
“then came Jesus” – dramatic present tense of e)rxomai; “the doors being shut” – perfect passive participle of kleiw. Prior to the assembly worship they had already shut the doors. Notice that here we are still in the dispensation of Israel but already the worship day has changed. Why would the doors be shut? They were worshiping on a different day to the Jews and the Jews would be very antagonistic about this.
“and stood in the midst” – suddenly He is standing there; He becomes visible.
“Peace unto you” – this is the third time He has uttered this phrase and this time it has the connotation of grace and the rebound technique.
Verse 27 – the education of doubting Thomas. “Then saith he to Thomas” – nothing has been said, and this is going to be the greatest demonstration. How do you break down the empiricism of a cynic? You hit him with the essence box. Jesus knew in eternity past that Thomas was going to make all those cynical remarks. If empiricism is going to be overcome it has to be done by going back to eternity past. Empiricism lies in what I see and what I touch, in what I hear from the person. In other words, the sensory system has to be related to it. So this is broken down by hitting him with the essence box. So Jesus takes Thomas back into eternity past and indicates that He knew what Thomas would say and. Since He is God He was also omnipresent. Since He is omnipresent, as deity He was there when Thomas made the remark. Now He is quoting back to Thomas his own remark.
“Reach hither” – present active imperative of qerw, which means to bring forward. Apparently Thomas was so shocked that Jesus said, “Keep on bringing forward your hand.”
“and behold my hands; and bring forward they hand” – present active imperative again.
“and thrust into my side” – ballw, the same word that Thomas used, meaning to throw or to thrust. This is an aorist active imperative: do it now.
“and be not” – present middle imperative of ginomai, so it is not be not at all. It means “do not become” or “stop becoming.”
“faithless” – the noun a)pistoj. It means three things: without confidence, disbelieving, treacherous. The one that applies here is disbelieving.
“but believing” – pistoj. In other words, switch from empiricism on this to faith.
1. No one told Jesus what Thomas had said.
2. Jesus knew in eternity past that Thomas had said verse 25.
3. So Thomas now sees the truth of divine essence—omniscience, omnipresence.
4. Jesus repeated the exact words of Thomas, which Thomas had uttered in His absence.
5. Thomas in reality received a lecture on the deity of Christ as well as the resurrection of the humanity of Christ. Jesus proved his resurrection not by going through the empiricism of Thomas but by going back to His essence. Thomas has already established the fact that Jesus is God. If Jesus is God and true humanity the resurrection is no problem. But if you forget for the moment the essence of God then you revert to empiricism. One of the strongest deterrents to human viewpoint is going right back to the essence box—who and what God is. Every time you go back there you never miss. The problem with Thomas was not that he didn’t know the doctrine at this time but because he didn’t apply it.
Verse 28 – the confession of cynical Thomas. “My Lord and my God.” Notice that he sticks with the essence of deity.
“answered” – aorist passive of a)pokrinomai. He answers from the ultimate source of himself. But notice, he doesn’t do it at all. The aorist tense says he is
speaking but the passive voice of a)pokrinomai means the answer was in him. In other words, he did have resident in his frame of reference in the right lobe some doctrine—the essence box. So now he recalls. So “he had an answer” is a better way of translating it.
“and said” – aorist active indicative; “My Lord” – kurioj [deity]. Now it is humanity that is resurrected, but what sticks in Thomas’s mind? The essence box. If he had just thought of that he would never have made such an ass of himself. He is now thinking straight. And what is the basis for thinking straight? Doctrine! He is now occupied with Christ.
“and my God” – qeoj. Kurioj is a recognition of the deity of Christ; qeoj is the recognition of His essence. There is no record that Thomas ever thrust his fingers into the nail prints or the hand into the side. He is now believing.
Verse 29 – the dynamics of GAP in phase two. Here is the rebuke. Notice that the lesson is learned before the rebuke is given. Human viewpoint is rebuke and then try to teach a lesson out of it—teach from rebuke. Jesus teaches and then rebukes. Then the rebuke is meaningful because it is based on information.
“because thou hast seem me” – o(raw. The whole point of the perfect active indicative here is that ‘you have finally arrived where the other disciples have arrived.’ You have seen me and therefore you have believed. Thomas now believes in the resurrection—perfect active indicative of pisteuw. He has believed on the basis of seeing. But he didn’t have to see on the basis of empiricism. Empiricism is not going to be necessary during the Church Age.
“blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” – makarioi, happinesses. Thomas missed the blessing and instead received a rebuke. Where is the happiness in not seeing and yet believing? The daily function of GAP!
This leads to the editorial policy of the apostle John. This is not the end of the book but John decides that this is the time to establish the editorial policy, and he says that the editorial policy of this Gospel is to emphasise faith. Thomas is brought in to show what is wrong with believers. They need faith—faith is the way of salvation, faith is therefore the way you orient to grace the first time.
Verse 30 – the editorial selection of pertinent material. “And many other” – the word other means other of the same kind—a)lloj. After His resurrection Jesus did a lot of things. So other means similar type miracles or supernatural phenomena.
“signs” – shmeion, which really connotes remarkable events, extra-natural phenomena; the word truly is not found in the original.
“did” – aorist active indicative of poiew, which means to do. Aorist tense: in this point, from the point of Thomas to the point of His ascension.
“in the presence of his disciples” – they actually saw them; “which are not written in this book” – present passive participle, written in the past with results that will stand forever. The passive voice indicates that John received this information and certain things he was permitted to exhale in writing. Other things he kept in his soul but was not permitted by the Holy Spirit to write them. Why? Why do we not have the great and beautiful thoughts of category #1 love, the beautiful principles of occupation with Christ which were resident in the soul of John? Category #1 love has a shade of privacy, like category #2. There is an area of category #1 love which is private and here the Holy Spirit respects the privacy of John. “This book” is for eternal consumption, therefore certain things are a matter of privacy.
Verse 31 – the editorial policy stated. “But these are written” – perfect passive indicative. Perfect tense: the permanence of the canon of scripture. Passive voice: the subject receives the action of the verb. This connotes true doctrine by inspiration. The indicative mood is the reality of God’s Word in writing.
“that” introduces a purpose clause—i(na; “ye might believe” – since this is written to all generations and since this is permanent John must here recognise a point of doctrine: every person has a free will. So he puts it in the present tense to cover every generation of the human race right down to the end of the Millennium. Active voice: everyone must believe for himself. Subjunctive mood: volition/free will will exist until the end of time.
“Jesus” – the humanity of Christ is emphasised now; “is” – present active indicative of e)imi, Jesus keeps on being the Son of God.
“and that believing” – present active participle for those who have accepted Christ; “you might have life through his name.” The word for have means to have and to hold—e)xw. You will always have it, there never will be a time when you do not have it.