On what day of the week did Thomas first meet the resurrected Christ?
score:1
The quick answer is Thomas met the resurrected Lord on a Sunday, eight days, counting inclusively from when the others had met Him.
There are a few ideas being presented that only make sense from an 8 day counting inclusive understanding. One is between the first day (Sunday) and the eighth day (Sunday), from old creation to new creation. Two is for the count to Pentecost. Three would be a priest connection. I'll only look at number two.
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week... John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: ...
At John 20:19, as it's phrased, the first day after the Sabbath (week) is Sunday at 20:19.
At John 20:26, the word translated "after" is meta, which may also be translated "with", as in with the eight days, a full period, from the previous Sunday to the next Sunday. And with the eight days, the disciples had gathered again. Jesus again appeared to them.
One might ask why did they gather again 8 days later (counting inclusively) on the next Sunday? Did they have Christians in mind? They had begun their count of 7 weeks plus the one day to get to Pentecost (50 days). They would have gathered to count on the morrow of the Sabbath, as they had done the previous Sunday. Christ was fulfilling the shadows (Tabernacles, Passover, Unleavened Bread, First fruits, Pentecost). Don't miss it.
Lev. 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
Sunday (tomb empty), Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sabbath is 1 week and 1 Sabbath. Sunday (Thomas present), Mon .... Sabbath is 2 weeks and 2 Sabbaths.
This count of course led to the well-known pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2.
Is this a reason to meet on the first day aka the eighth day? Absolutely. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Sunday, not because of resurrection, but because its the day the Spirit was poured out.
Upvote:0
The answer to the OP question is - Tuesday.
After his crucifixion and death, Jesus was buried late on Friday evening in the sepulchre John 19:42. Early on Sunday morning (the third day) John 20:1 the women, then Peter and John, found the sepulchre empty after which Jesus appeared, first, to Mary Magdalene John 20:16
Late on that same day, the first day of the week (Sunday) Jesus appeared to the ten, Thomas being absent John 20:19. After a further eight days, he appeared again to all eleven John 20:26.
Some have attempted to say that Thomas was the eighth apostle and that this is relevant but the facts do not support this theory. The table on Wikipedia plainly shows that in all five accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts) Thomas is numbered seventh.
After the appearance to the ten on the third day, there is a pause of eight full days ("after eight days"). The next day, therefore, is the twelfth day, numbered from the death of Jesus Christ.
So Jesus appeared to Thomas on the twelfth day, which would have been a Tuesday.
Since Thomas had been absent, he was not (yet) a witness of the resurrection of Jesus. But he was an apostle. So on the twelfth day - a significant day - Jesus appears again and Thomas, calling him 'My Lord and My God' testifies to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Whatever the reason for his absence, and whatever the reason for his doubting, Thomas, neveretheless, together with his fellow apostles, receives a visitation on the twelfth day of Jesus' rising from the dead - a significant event. And there were twelve present, Jesus and the eleven, Jesus himself being an Apostle, Hebrews 3:1.
Thomas would have been numbered with the rest of us who receive the testimony of the apostolic witnesses, and who are especially blessed (having not seen, but believed).
But he did not rise to that, so he required a special visitation (apostolic in significance) and he thus takes his place as a seeing witness, not an unseeing receiver of apostolic testimony, which is our privilege, if we so believe.
I wanted to cite a reference to what I have just written but I cannot find one, so it remains my own observation of the facts on record.
Upvote:1
It would seem to me that the reason the disciples were meeting on the Sunday is that it is the third day after the crucifixion and a Jewish holiday called coincidently enough the "The Feast of First Fruits". This is a picture of Christ as the first fruits 1Co_15:20 of those risen from the dead and is symbolized by the priest waving the sheaf in the presence of the congregation as Christ was displayed risen to the congregation. You have Passover followed by the 7 days of unleavened bread in which they would have met every day. I also agree with another poster in that the eighth day is a metaphor for a new beginning and could refer to the time period following the 7th day/millennium. In either case I think it was a Sunday.
It is also dangerous in my opinion to rely upon a translation especially of a dead language and be dogmatic about a definition. It seems to me that the word "meta" in this case has many shades of meaning including "among" and "within". As examples I will cite Mat_1:23, Mat_9:15, Mat_18:23, Mar_14:62, Luk_1:58, Luk_1:72, Luk_9:39, Luk_17:20, Luk_22:37 as alternate meanings.
The point being context is king and you would want to translate with the local context of the passage and within the context of the gospels. It is the method of the atheist who wants to translate a passage which would create a contradiction when an alternative definition doesn't create one.
An example of this is Mar_8:31 where this word is translated "after" when the scriptures plainly tell us that Christ would be raised ON the 3rd day, not AFTER the 3rd day. So by translating the word "during' would have not caused a contradiction.
So applying the prevalent definition which is with/within/among to this passage would render the eighth day Sunday. I would translate it: Joh 20:26 So afterward, eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Meaning on the eighth day.
More post
- 📝 When a Jehovah's Witness is reinstated how does the congregation react?
- 📝 Was Abel regenerated before the offering according to the Calvinist?
- 📝 How can we be with Christ when we die, if Christ has a glorified body and we won't until the resurrection?
- 📝 What is the Biblical support for praying for the dead?
- 📝 Was Jesus in unity with the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 Does God care about countries?
- 📝 Can a Catholic visiting Protestant Parents attend the Parents Church?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, are sex positions that can’t bear children sinful?
- 📝 How does reformed theology view hypnosis?
- 📝 What was Satan's view on the authority of Scripture?
- 📝 When was the number of the beast, 666, first identified as referring to Emperor Nero?
- 📝 Why did Jesus address Yahweh as God at the Cross?
- 📝 Are any Classical Hebrew translations of the New Testament based on ancient languages other than Koine Greek?
- 📝 Is it possible for God to allow or tolerate something that he never originally intended? If yes, does that still make him omnipotent?
- 📝 How many modern day pages were lost by Martin Harris?
- 📝 Is to ignore Satan also to underestimate the potential he has to assault the Christian?
- 📝 What is the origin of holding hands when praying around a circle before a meal?
- 📝 Why are Kingdom Halls sometimes built in the "quick-build" manner?
- 📝 Was Christ's suffering unusually harsh for the standard of the Roman times?
- 📝 Heart of the earth
- 📝 Is Jesus talking about supererogatory merit in Matt 5:38-48? i.e. earning a reward rather than sin
- 📝 How do Leslie Weatherhead's views on the will of God compare to contemporary Baptist thought?
- 📝 In the parable of the ten minas, why does the king kill his enemies?
- 📝 Is there a projection of when Bible translation into all the languages of the world will be complete?
- 📝 Who are the "extreme Anabaptists" who believed that regeneration makes people incapable of sin?
- 📝 How pure were the witnesses of the martyrs?
- 📝 Is the God of Christianity a just God?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witness view divorce?
- 📝 Does God need our praise and glory?
- 📝 How does Reformed Theology consider passages that may imply that God is the "subject of sufferings"?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 On what day of the week did Thomas first meet the resurrected Christ?
- 📝 On what N(th) day of the week did Jesus die according to the Adventist?
- 📝 What was the light of the first day of creation?
- 📝 On what basis did Mary Queen of Scots first reject the Scots Confession?
- 📝 What religious beliefs did the Galatians hold when Paul first preached the gospel to them?
- 📝 Why did Christ need to be the first person to be resurrected?
- 📝 What were the nice things Jesus Christ did in his life that he is loved by so many people around the world?
- 📝 How do we know what day of the week Jesus died?
- 📝 Are there documented reports about Jews around the time of Jesus? And what did they say about the first christians?
- 📝 According to Catholic teachings, what was the First Temptation of Christ basically about?
- 📝 What did the Gnostics in first and second century believed about Jesus
- 📝 What day and year was the first public and general confession held in the Church of England?
- 📝 What did Thomas Aquinas teach about the renewal of the world after judgement and what kinds of bodies will be renewed?
- 📝 On what Biblical basis did Mormon prophet Joseph Smith teach that the "Ancient of Days" at Daniel 7:22 is the first man Adam?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law but did not abolish it?
- 📝 What were the Nephilim, and what role did they play in the Bible beyond just being mentioned?
- 📝 What are the main differences between 7th Day Adventists and Catholic/Protestant churches?
- 📝 What exactly does it mean that Jesus Christ is the son of God?
- 📝 When did the one-way monologue sermon first become a normal feature of church assemblies?
- 📝 What effect did the Reformation have inside the Catholic Church?
- 📝 What effect did the 1897 decree regarding the Johannine Comma have on Catholic scholarship?
- 📝 What evidence do we have today about Christian groups not represented at the first four ecumenical councils?
- 📝 Did God kill the first borns in Exodus, according to Jehovah's Witnesses?
- 📝 What did Jonathan Edwards have to say about the fact that he owned slaves?
- 📝 Did the first Christian believers keep the Sabbath and if so on which day?
- 📝 What doctrinal changes did the Westminster Confession bring to the Church of Scotland?
- 📝 What are the first references to a tradition of fasting before partaking of the Lord's Supper?
- 📝 Why did God need to plant the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden in the first place?
- 📝 What is the Catholic understanding of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve?
- 📝 What happened to the wives of priests when celibacy was first instituted in the Catholic church?