John 20:19-31
20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
20:20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
20:21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
20:22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
20:23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
20:24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
20:25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
20:26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”
20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
20:31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
[19]Οὔσης οὖν ὀψίας τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων, καὶ τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων ὅπου ἦσαν οἱ μαθηταὶ συνηγμένοι διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων, ἦλθεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν.
[20]καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἔδειξεν αὐτοῖς τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ. ἐχάρησαν οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ ἰδόντες τὸν Κύριον.
[21]εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς πάλιν· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν. καθὼς ἀπέσταλκέ με ὁ πατήρ, κἀγὼ πέμπω ὑμᾶς.
[22]καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐνεφύσησε καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· λάβετε Πνεῦμα ῞Αγιον·
[23]ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφίενται αὐτοῖς, ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται.
[24]Θωμᾶς δὲ εἷς ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα, ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος, οὐκ ἦν μετ᾽ αὐτῶν ὅτε ἦλθεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς.
[25]ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ οἱ ἄλλοι μαθηταί· ἑωράκαμεν τὸν Κύριον. ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ἐὰν μὴ ἴδω ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὴν χεῖρά μου εἰς τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω.
[26]Καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ πάλιν ἦσαν ἔσω οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Θωμᾶς μετ᾽ αὐτῶν. ἔρχεται ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων, καὶ ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον καὶ εἶπεν· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν.
[27]εἶτα λέγει τῷ Θωμᾷ· φέρε τὸν δάκτυλόν σου ὧδε καὶ ἴδε τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ φέρε τὴν χεῖρά σου καὶ βάλε εἰς τὴν πλευράν μου, καὶ μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος, ἀλλὰ πιστός.
[28]καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Θωμᾶς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου.
[29]λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· ὅτι ἑώρακάς με, πεπίστευκας· μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες.
[30]Πολλὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλα σημεῖα ἐποίησεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐνώπιον τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, ἃ οὐκ ἔστι γεγραμμένα ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ·
[31]ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται ἵνα πιστεύσητε ὅτι ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύοντες ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ.
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[19] Οὔσης οὖν ὀψίας τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων, καὶ τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων ὅπου ἦσαν οἱ μαθηταὶ συνηγμένοι διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων: the pericope begins with two gen. absolutes of time, ‘it being evening’ and ‘the doors having been locked’ (the latter phrase is repeated in v.26).
θυρῶν is pl. to denote double or folding doors (LSJ s.v. A.1).
ὀψία, ‘evening’, used without δείλη, is prob. late Greek.
ὅπου ἦσαν οἱ μαθηταὶ συνηγμένοι: συνηγμένοι, pf. part., pass. vc., ‘gathered together’ < συνάγω, ‘gather together’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.1). Thus ‘where the disciples had been gathered together, were gathered together’; the translation’s ‘had met’ seems inaccurate. They had gathered not, of course, to deliberate or to celebrate (see LSJ s.v.2), but ‘out of fear of the Jews’.
ἦλθεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς: the succession of vbs in the aorist (past tense) and the dramatic (or historical) present suggests the style of oral narrative in written discourse (v. 30, γεγραμμένα ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ; v. 31, ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται): ‘came’ (aor.), ‘stood’ (aor.) and ‘tells’. Cf. vv. 22, 26, and 29.
ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον: koine syntax; in cl. Gk the prep. phrase would be ἐν τῷ μέσῳ.
[20] ἐχάρησαν οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ ἰδόντες τὸν Κύριον: the particle οὖν is here simply connective, ‘proceeding to a new point’ (Denniston, p. 426). ‘So the disciples rejoiced on seeing the Lord.’
[21] καθὼς ἀπέσταλκέ με ὁ πατήρ, κἀγὼ πέμπω ὑμᾶς: the comparison, introduced with the rel. adv. καθὼς, is very emphatic (‘just as… so also…’). The vbs ἀποστέλλω (> ἀπέσταλκε) and πέμπω are synonyms (‘send’), as others have noted.
[22] ἐνεφύσησε καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· λάβετε Πνεῦμα ῞Αγιον: ἐνεφύσησε < ἐμφυσῶ (άω), ‘I breathe upon’; here with dat. obj. αὐτοῖς, ‘upon them’, ‘at them’. Cf. Gen 2:7 (God breathes upon Adam’s face).
Homer uses ἐμπνέω, ‘I blow, breath upon’, of a god who breathes a fighting spirit (μένος) into a hero; in Hesiod, Theogony 31 the Muses ‘breath into’ the poet an articulate voice. Jesus breathes upon them Πνεῦμα ῞Αγιον, lit., ‘Holy Breath’. There is no article before Πνεῦμα ῞Αγιον, so it is not, apparently, the Holy Breath or Spirit.
[23] ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφίενται αὐτοῖς: ἀφῆτε < ἀφίημι, act. vc.; ἀφίενται, pass. vc. ἀφίημι in cl. Gk has a legal sense, ‘I acquit, excuse’ (c. acc. pers. + gen. criminis); the same meaning carries over into LXX, ‘to forgive’, e.g. c. acc. of sin & dat. pers. (LSJ s.v. II.1b; Muraoka s.v.).
[24] Θωμᾶς δὲ: the force of δὲ is continuative, ‘Now, Thomas…’ or adversative, ‘But Thomas’.
[25] ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ: ἔλεγον, ‘they kept telling’ is a conative impf., as others have suggested (e.g. R. E. Brown, p. 1025). Indeed, ‘they kept telling’ is very much like ἔπειθον, ‘they kept persuading, i.e. they strove to persuade’ in cl. Gk prose (see Smyth, Grammar, par. 1895 on the conat. impf.).
τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων: ‘the imprint (i.e. scar) from the nails’ is twice repeated in the verse for emphasis.
βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὴν χεῖρά μου εἰς τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω: βάλλω, in koine, ‘put or place something somewhere’, ‘lay’ (Bauer s.v. 3), with no connotation of violent motion. Βάλλω (βάζω) in modern Greek has the same meaning. The 2nd aor. subj. βάλω is repeated for emphasis.
οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω: a negation that could not be more forceful; the double negatives οὐ μὴ + fut., as here, or aor. subj. is the equivalent of ‘in NO WAY whatever will I…’ Thomas is a strong denier.
[26] ἔρχεται ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων: the lack of a connective (asyndeton) before the main vb ἔρχεται adds vividness to the sentence, as does the historical present. εἶτα λέγει , v. 27, is another asyndeton with the same force.
τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων: here the gen. absolute may be concessive (‘although the door had been/ were closed’) or temporal (‘while the doors were closed’).
[27] φέρε τὸν δάκτυλόν σου ὧδε καὶ ἴδε τὰς χεῖράς μου: lit., ‘bring your finger here and see my hands’. Jesus means ‘touch, feel’; the 2nd aor. imper. ἴδε (< *εἴδω), ‘behold, voilá my hands!’ is deictic. We can imagine Jesus pointing to his scarred forearms.
μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος, ἀλλὰ πιστός: the 2nd pers. sg. present imper. < γίνομαι, ‘I am, prove myself to be’. Thus” ‘Don’t be unbelieving…’,
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 