What Does John 20:28 Mean?
And Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.THE KEY
Thomas’s double “my” makes the confession both intimate and total: he addresses the risen one as his authority and his God.
THE MEANING
The repeated “my” makes this recognition personal, joining authority and divine identity in a single address. The one encountered is not merely described; he is spoken to as Lord and God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the claim that Jesus can be called Lord yet kept outside divine identity: Thomas addresses him as both “my Lord” and “my God.”
THE ROOT
κύριος
kyrios
GROWS FROM
κυρ
kyr
Authority; the recognized right or power to rule.
The Greek κύριος (kyrios, lord or master) belongs to a word family around κύρος (kyros, authority or validity): κύριος names one who holds authority, while κυριεύω (kyrieuō, to rule) and κυριότης (kyriotēs, lordship) show that authority in action and as a domain. Thomas’s “my” makes that authority personal, while “my God” names the identity of the one he addresses.
ALSO GROWS
kyros: Authority, validity
κύρος
This related word makes clear that “Lord” carries the sense of recognized authority, not only respectful address.
kyrieuō: To rule, exercise authority
κυριεύω
It shows the authority in κύριος as something active: the power to rule.
kyriotēs: Lordship, dominion
κυριότης
This noun names the domain or status implied when Thomas calls Jesus “my Lord.”
ἀπεκρίθη
apekrithē
GROWS FROM
κρι
kri
Distinguish, judge, decide.
The verb ἀπεκρίθη (apekrithē, answered) is a form of ἀποκρίνομαι (apokrinomai, to answer or respond), built on the Greek family κρι (kri, distinguish or decide). Thomas’s answer reads as recognition resolved into speech: his response declares who he sees.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: To judge, distinguish, decide
κρίνω
This verb makes visible the discernment within the word family behind Thomas’s answer.
krisis: Judgment, decision
κρίσις
It names a judgment or decision, linking an answer with a settled recognition.
kritēs: Judge, one who decides
κριτής
It names one who discerns and reaches a judgment, extending the same root family.
THE PATTERN
Recognition of divine authority becomes personal confession and opens into a wider testimony.
Rouse yourself, and awake to my judgment, to my cause, my God and my Lord.And every tongue should say the same aloud, that Jesus the Anointed One is Lord, to the weight of God the Father.Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have perceived me, you have leaned your full weight. Flourishing are those who have not perceived, and yet have leaned their weight.THE THREAD
And every tongue should say the same aloud, that Jesus the Anointed One is Lord, to the weight of God the Father.The Greek κύριος (kyrios, Lord) appears in both confessions. Philippians widens Thomas’s personal “my Lord” into a confession voiced by every tongue.
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