person · also Didymus
Thomas
Θωμᾶς
Thomas, also called Didymus, was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, known for doubting Jesus' resurrection until he saw him in person.
- verses
- 12
- first named
- Matthew 10:3
- last named
- Acts 1:13
- period
- the New Testament
- role
- Apostle
Description
Who was Thomas?
Thomas, also known as Didymus (meaning "twin"), was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. He is mentioned in all four Gospels and the Book of Acts (Mat.10.3; Mrk.3.18; Luk.6.15; Jhn.11.16; 14.5; 20.24-29; 21.2; Act.1.13). Thomas is best known for his doubt about Jesus' resurrection, earning him the nickname "Doubting Thomas." When Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, Thomas was absent and refused to believe unless he could see and touch Jesus' wounds (Jhn.20.24-25). A week later, Jesus appeared again, inviting Thomas to touch his wounds. Thomas then confessed, "My Lord and my God!" (Jhn.20.26-28). Jesus praised those who believe without seeing (Jhn.20.29). Thomas also showed devotion to Jesus, willing to die with him (Jhn.11.16) and asking questions during the Last Supper (Jhn.14.5). According to tradition, Thomas later preached the gospel in India, where he was martyred. His initial doubt and later confession serve as an encouragement for believers who struggle with doubts.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 11 are drawn. All 11 are listed below.
Places
Where this happens
A person is placed by the events they take part in, and an event has to clear three things to place them: it must say where it happened, that place must be one the gazetteer can put a coordinate on, and the verse must report it rather than foretell, command or ask it. Nothing anchored here clears all three. Where the text names a setting no gazetteer surveys — a vineyard, a palace, a plot of ground — it is left off rather than guessed at; where a place is named only in a prophecy, the map does not draw what was said to be coming as though it had happened; and a place reached only through a relation is not inherited, because standing beside somebody is not being somewhere.
No verse Atlas has read as a report puts this person anywhere.
Not read yet
The pattern
Where Thomas is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
12 verses across 5 of 66 books; 61 write the name nowhere. Named in Matthew (1), Mark (1), Luke (1), John (8) and Acts (1).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 12, across 5 books. The name is written 15 times in them.
Onward
Where this page goes
Nothing in the graph stands one hop from this entity yet. These are the best-connected entities of the same type, so the page still ends somewhere. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- John 11Thomas proposes that the disciples go with Jesus so that they may die with Him.
- John 14Thomas says that the disciples do not know where Jesus is going and therefore cannot know the way.
- John 20Thomas refused second-hand testimony, naming the wounds he would need to see and touch, and then answered Jesus with “My Lord and my God!”
- John 21Thomas was among the disciples who went fishing and came ashore for breakfast.
- Acts 1Thomas is named among the apostles gathered in the upper room.
Sources