Defending the Faith

Some have claimed that the expression “ho theos” used by Thomas in John 20:28 shows that Thomas was calling Jesus the Supreme Being, since “theos” with the definite article usually refers to the only true God.

Actually, the article before THEOS in John 20:28 is used because of the possessive nature of the phrase, literally translated “the god of me”. This kind of possessive usually needs the article. It is the same usage as that used in the phrase used of Satan, “the god of this world”, in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Thus, if the usage in John 20:28 means that Jesus is God Almighty, then one should also reason that Satan is God Almighty.

However, when one person is being referred to, the Greek usually only requires one article, even if two titles are used connected by kai (and). We find an example of this just a few verses before, where two titles are used of the God and Father of Jesus, connected by “kai”:

John 20:17
legei autee ieesous mee mou haptou oupw gar
IS SAYING TO HER JESUS NOT OF ME BE TOUCHING, NOT YET FOR
3004 0846_6 2424 3361 1473_2 0680 0681 3768 1063
anabebeeka pros ton patera poreuou de pros
I HAVE ASCENDED TOWARD THE FATHER; BE GOING BUT TOWARD
0305 4314 3588 3962 4198 1161 4314
tous adelphous mou kai eipe autois anabainw
THE BROTHERS OF ME AND SAY TO THEM I AM ASCENDING
3588 0080 1473_2 2532 1511_7 0846_93 0305
pros ton patera mou kai patera humwn kai theon
TOWARD THE FATHER OF ME AND FATHER OF YOU AND GOD
4314 3588 3962 1473_2 2532 3962 4771_5 2532 2316
mou kai theon humwn
OF ME AND GOD OF YOU.
1473_2 2532 2316 4771_5

Notice the whole phrase “the father of me and father of you and God of me of God of you” has only one article for the whole possessive phrase.

However, let us look at:

John 20:28
apekrithee thwmas kai eipen autw ho kurios mou
ANSWERED THOMAS AND HE SAID TO HIM THE LORD OF ME
061 2381 2532 1511_7 0846_5 3588 2962 1473_2
kai ho theos mou
AND THE GOD OF ME!
2532 3588 2316 1473_2

There is an article both before “Lord” and “God”. There are a few scholars who have argued that this peculiar structure indicates that Thomas first said to Jesus in exclamation “the Lord of me”, and then turned his attention to heaven in adding the rest, “and the God of me,” as acknowledging his God as being the One who sent his Lord.

Whether this is true or not, the fact that the article appears before theos simply designates the possessive nature being used, not that Jesus was being called Yahweh.

We find no custom elsewhere in the NT writings of anyone referring to Jesus as “my God” or “our God”. All through the New Testament, a strict distinction is overwhelmingly kept between God and Jesus. Thus, if Thomas was actually applying the title of THEOS to Jesus, it would be in the nature of the might, strength, power and authority in rulership that God has given to Jesus as the Son of God, not that it would be identifying Jesus as Yahweh. In effect, it would mean something like: My Lord and my strength, or My Lord and my Ruler. In the Old Testament, the words from which THEOS is translated are forms of EL, ELOHIM, and ELOAH. All of these words, especially EL and ELOHIM, can carry the basic meaning of strength, power, might.

While the words EL, ELOHIM and ELOAH usually refer to Yahweh as “God”, there are several times EL and ELOHIM are translated in their more basic meanings of strength, power, might, etc. One can easily see this on Crosswalks Lexicon:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/OldTestamentHebrew/heb.cgi?number=0410

On this page it shows that the King James Version renders the Hebrew word EL:

God 213, god 16, power 4, mighty 5, goodly 1, great 1, idols 1, Immanuel + (06005) 2, might 1, strong 1

If we look at the New American Standard listing for the same word:
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0410&version=nas

we find that the NAS renders EL as:

El-berith* 1, God 204, god 16, God’s 2, gods 3, helpless* 1, mighty 3, Mighty One 3, power 1, strong 1

The same is true concerning the Hebrew ELOHIM:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/OldTestamentHebrew/heb.cgi?number=0430

The KJV renders the forms of ELOHIM as:

God 2346, god 244, judge 5, GOD 1, goddess 2, great 2, mighty 2, angels 1, exceeding 1, God-ward + (04136) 1, godly 1

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0430&version=nas

The NAS renders forms of the word ELOHIM as:

divine 1, divine being 1, exceedingly 1, God 2326, god 45, God’s 14, goddess 2, godly 1, gods 204, great 2, judges 3, mighty 2, rulers 1, shrine* 1

Thus it should be readily seen that these words can take on a more general meaning of great, mighty, power, rulers, etc., when applied to others than Yahweh. Jesus, of course, was a mighty ruler to Thomas.

For more on John 20:28, see:
http://godandson.reslight.net/john-20-28.html
http://reslight.net/forum/index.php?topic=260.0
http://reslight.wordpress.com/2007/09/19/john-2028/
http://reslight.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/john-2028-part-b/

Christian love,
Ronald