Thomas was not in the room when Christ first appeared to the gathered disciples (Jn. 20:24). The other Gospels mention this interesting disciple, but it is only in John that we get his personal details. The first striking detail is his nickname: “the Twin.” It is unknown whether this was given to him in childhood or from Christ, who had the habit of giving His disciples names (Mk. 3:17; Jn. 1:42). Thomas has been likened to “Eeyore,” the character in the Winnie the Pooh children’s stories: whatever the news may be, he is able to find the dark cloud in it.

The above characterization may not be strictly fair, but Thomas did appear to have struggles with faith; he needed to see in order to believe. We could describe him like many others before and after him, as an unbelieving believer. He truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but he had difficulty accepting that He had been raised from the dead after being crucified.

What grace we see in the Lord’s dealings with the doubts of His struggling, discouraged disciple! Upon the second appearance of Christ to the disciples, Thomas was present (20:26–27). He is immediately singled out by the Lord who would not have him (or us) remain in unbelief in so important a matter: “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands … Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” The response of Thomas is thrilling: “My Lord, and my God!” This is one of the clearest confessions of Christ’s divinity in all the Bible. Another lesson here is that Thomas, as representative of all the disciples, shows that they were not gullible people, predisposed or susceptible to fables; this fact enhances the reliability of the testimony of Scripture to the resurrection of Christ. We can thank Thomas—the unbelieving, now believing disciple—for that.