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John 20

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The Empty Tomb Discovered 1–10

1
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. ​
2
Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. ​
3
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
4
So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5
And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
6
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7
And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. ​
8
Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. ​
9
For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. ​
10
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 11–18

11
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. ​
13
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
14
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. ​
15
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. ​
16
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. ​
17
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. ​
18
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples 19–23

19
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. ​
20
And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. ​
22
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: ​
23
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. ​

Doubting Thomas 24–29

24
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. ​
25
The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. ​
26
And after 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.
27
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. ​
28
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. ​
29
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ​

The Purpose of John's Gospel 30–31

30
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: ​
31
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for John 20

Verse 1

The first day of the week — Literally 'the first of the sabbaths' (sabbaton), the Gospels' name for the day after the sabbath; Acts 20:7 has the church gathering 'upon the first day of the week… to break bread'. Mary Magdalene came 'when it was yet dark'. The stone 'taken away' is airo, the verb she repeats in vv.2, 13 and 15.

Verse 2

whom Jesus loved — Here alone the disciple is 'loved' with phileo, affection; in 13:23, 19:26 and 21:7, 20 the verb is agapao. 'They have taken away' is the same airo as the stone in v.1. 'We know not' is plural: other women were with her (Luke 24:10).

Verse 7

the napkin… wrapped together in a place by itself — Soudarion, the face-cloth. The same word is used of Lazarus, who 'came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin' (11:44). Here the napkin lies separate from the 'linen clothes' (othonia), 'wrapped together' (entulisso, folded up) in one place.

Verse 8

he saw, and believed — Three verbs for seeing mark the scene: he 'saw' (blepo) the cloths from the door (v.5), Peter 'seeth' (theoreo) them (v.6), and this disciple 'saw' (eido) once inside. No object is given for 'believed'; v.9 says they 'knew not the scripture', and v.10 that they 'went away again unto their own home'.

Verse 9

he must rise again — Dei, 'it is necessary', the word of divine necessity, as in Luke 24:26, 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things', and Luke 24:46. A scripture the apostles applied to it is Ps 16:10, 'neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption' (Acts 2:27–31); Paul says Christ 'rose again the third day according to the scriptures' (1 Cor 15:4).

Verse 12

two angels in white — They sit 'the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain'. Matt 28:3 describes the angel at the tomb: 'his raiment white as snow'; Luke 24:4 has 'two men… in shining garments'. Mary 'seeth' (theoreo, to look at) them, and their question in v.13, 'Woman, why weepest thou?', is the one Jesus asks in v.15.

Verse 14

knew not that it was Jesus — She had 'turned herself back' (strepho) and sees him standing. Others fail in the same way: the Emmaus travellers, whose 'eyes were holden that they should not know him' (Luke 24:16), and the disciples at the sea, who 'knew not that it was Jesus' (21:4). In v.16 she turns again.

Verse 15

the gardener — Kepouros, found only here in the New Testament; the tomb stood in 'a garden' (19:41). 'Whom seekest thou?' recalls Christ's first words in this Gospel, 'What seek ye?' (1:38), and his question in the garden at the arrest, 'Whom seek ye?' (18:4). 'Sir' is kyrios, the word she uses for 'my Lord' in v.13.

Verse 16

Rabboni — The Aramaic form of Rabbi, 'my master', found elsewhere only in Mark 10:51, where the blind man uses it. John glosses it 'Master' (didaskalos), as he glosses 'Rabbi' in 1:38. 'He calleth his own sheep by name' (10:3): she is recognised when her name is said. She 'turned herself' again, a second turn after v.14.

Verse 17

Touch me not — Haptomai is to lay hold of; as a present command with 'not' it can mean 'stop holding me', and the reason follows: 'I am not yet ascended to my Father'. Jesus keeps 'my' and 'your' apart: 'my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God'. He calls the disciples 'my brethren', as in Ps 22:22, taken up in Heb 2:11–12.

Verse 19

the doors were shut — 'For fear of the Jews', the fear named of Joseph of Arimathaea in 19:38. Jesus 'stood in the midst' and says eirene humin, 'Peace be unto you', the ordinary greeting, shalom; it is said three times in this chapter (vv.19, 21, 26). He had promised in 14:27, 'my peace I give unto you'. Luke 24:36 records the same words that evening.

Verse 21

as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you — Two verbs: 'hath sent' is apostello, the root of 'apostle', and 'send' is pempo. The saying repeats 17:18, 'As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world'. It follows the greeting of v.19, said 'again'.

Verse 22

he breathed on them — Emphusao, to breathe upon, found only here in the New Testament; the Greek Old Testament uses the same verb at Gen 2:7 for the LORD breathing life into man, and at Ezek 37:9, 'breathe upon these slain, that they may live'. 'Spirit' and 'breath' are one word, pneuma. The Spirit 'was not yet given' while Jesus was 'not yet glorified' (7:39).

Verse 23

Whose soever sins ye remit — Aphiemi is to let go, release; krateo, 'retain', is to hold fast. The authority is the binding and loosing of Matt 18:18, and the content of the preaching Christ named: 'repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations' (Luke 24:47).

Verse 24

Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus — Thomas is Aramaic and Didymus Greek, each meaning 'twin'; John gives both names at 11:16 and 21:2. 'One of the twelve' keeps the name of the company, though Judas was gone and Luke 24:33 speaks of 'the eleven'. At 11:16 he said, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him.'

Verse 25

the print of the nails — Tupos is the mark struck by a blow, the root of 'type'; helos, a nail, occurs only here in the New Testament. His list is finger, hands and 'side', the wound of 19:34, 'one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side'. 'I will not believe' is the emphatic negative ou me, 'by no means'.

Verse 27

Reach hither thy finger — Jesus uses Thomas's own terms from v.25: finger, hands, 'thrust it into my side'. Ginomai, 'be', is 'become': 'become not faithless (apistos), but believing'. The text does not say that Thomas touched him; in v.29 the reason given is 'because thou hast seen me'. Compare 1 John 1:1, 'our hands have handled'.

Verse 28

My Lord and my God — Thomas 'answered' a command. 'Lord' (kyrios) has run through the chapter, from Mary's 'my Lord' (v.13) to 'We have seen the Lord' (v.25); 'God' (theos) is the word of 1:1, 'the Word was God'. Thomas says to Jesus the words Jesus used of the Father in v.17, 'my God', and Ps 35:23 reads 'my God and my Lord'.

Verse 29

blessed are they that have not seen — Makarios is the word of the beatitudes. Peter writes of believers who never saw him: 'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice' (1 Pet 1:8), and Paul, 'we walk by faith, not by sight' (2 Cor 5:7).

Verse 30

many other signs — Semeion, sign, is the Gospel's word for Christ's miracles from the first, 'This beginning of miracles' at Cana (2:11). 'Written in this book' is biblion; the same limit closes 21:25, where the world could not contain the books if every thing were written. The signs were done 'in the presence of his disciples'.

Verse 31

that ye might believe — The purpose of what is written. The confession named is Martha's: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of God' (11:27); Nathanael's was 'the Son of God… the King of Israel' (1:49). 'Life through his name' recalls 1:4, 'In him was life'. 1 John 5:13 states a like aim: 'that ye may know that ye have eternal life'.