Thomas the Apostle in Early Christian Writings
Early Christian writings present Thomas as one of the Twelve who doubted until he saw the risen Jesus, then confessed, “My Lord and my God.” Tatian, Ignatius, Victorinus, Novatian, Hippolytus, and Origen repeat this as a major resurrection witness. Bible passages in John 20, John 11, Matthew 10, Mark 3, and Luke 6 give the clearest picture of Thomas’s role.
113 early-church witnesses · 173 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about thomas the Apostle?
Early Christian writings present Thomas as one of the Twelve, as the disciple who doubted the resurrection until he saw and touched Jesus, and as the one who confessed Jesus as "My Lord and my God." Tatian, Ignatius, Victorinus, Novatian, Hippolytus, and Origen all repeat or explain this scene, showing that it was read as a key witness to both the real resurrection and Christ’s divinity.
The Bible passages tied to Thomas are broad and direct, especially John 20:24-29, with supporting references to his place among the apostles and his words in John 11:16. The evidence is strong for Thomas’s role in the resurrection story and his confession, but thin for any larger teaching about Thomas beyond those texts. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Thomas is remembered first as one of the Twelve apostles.
- John 20 is the main passage for Thomas’s doubt, touch, and confession.
- Early Christian writers used Thomas’s words to defend the real resurrection and Jesus’ divinity.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Was Thomas counted among the Twelve apostles?
The Gospels and early Christian compilations consistently list Thomas among the Twelve. Some sources also place him in post-resurrection apostolic contexts, showing he was remembered as a recognized member of the apostolic group.
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Matthew 10:3 Direct teaching
Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
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Luke 6:15 Supporting witness
and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
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Mark 3:18 Supporting witness
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Direct teaching
...p the mountain. He called his disciples and chose twelve from them, and these are the ones he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Cephas, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who was the one who betrayed him. Jesus went down with them and stood on a level place, with the company of his disciples and a great crowd of people. These twelve he chose to be with him, so that he might send them to preach, and to have power to heal the sick and cast out demons.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...athered in one place—Peter and Andrew; James and John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, who was surnamed Thaddaeus; and Simon the Canaanite, Matthew 10:2, and Matthias, who was counted among us in place of Judas; and James the brother of the Lord and bishop of Jerusalem; and Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, the chosen vessel—having all come together, have written this catholic doctrine to you for your strengthening, to you who have been entrusted with the oversight of the universal Church. In it we declare to you that there is only one Almighty God, besides whom there is no other, and that you must worship and adore Him alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the most Holy Spirit; that you are to use the sacred Scriptures, the law, and the prophets; to honor your parents; to avoid all unlawful actions; to believe in the resurrection and the judgment, and to expect retribution; and to use all His creatures with thankfulness, as the works of God, with no evil in them; to marry lawfully, for such marriage is blameless. For the woman is suited to the man by the Lord, Proverbs 19:14, and the Lord says, "He wh
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
Of whom are Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
Thomas and Matthew; James the son of Alphæus, and Lebbæus who is surnamed Thaddæus;
What did Thomas say after seeing the risen Jesus?
The supplied sources repeatedly quote Thomas saying, "My Lord and my God," after Jesus showed him his wounds. Early Christian writers use that confession as a witness to Christ’s divinity and the reality of the resurrection.
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John 20:24 Direct teaching
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
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John 20:25 Direct teaching
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
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John 20:26 Direct teaching
And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Direct teaching
... After eight days, on the next first day of the week, the disciples were again gathered inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came while the doors were shut, stood in the middle, and said to them, "Peace be with you." John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, "Bring your finger here, and look at my hands. Bring your hand here, and place it on my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." John 20:28 Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God." John 20:29 Jesus said to him, "Now since you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me and have believed."
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness
But Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Thama, was not there with the disciples when Jesus came. So the disciples said to him, "We have seen our Lord." But he said to them, "If I do not see the marks of the nails in his hands, put my fingers on them, and place my hand over his side, I will not believe."
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness
17 John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Thama, was not there with the disciples 18 when Jesus came.
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Supporting witness
For Thomas, who was so long incredulous, said: Lord, we know not whither You go;
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Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness
Let my (doubting) Thomas see them, let him hear them, let him handle them — and he is convinced.
Was Thomas hesitant to believe in the resurrection?
John 20 presents Thomas as absent when Jesus first appeared and then unwilling to believe without seeing the wounds. The early Christian witnesses repeat this scene to show that his belief came after direct encounter with the risen Jesus.
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John 20:27 Direct teaching
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
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John 20:29 Direct teaching
Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
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Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (Long Version) Direct teaching
Wherefore Thomas also says to Him, “My Lord, and my God.” And on this account also did they despise death, for it were too little to say, indignities and stripes.
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Ignatius of Antioch, Connection to John 20:27 Supporting witness
And He says to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger into the print of the nails, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; " and immediately they believed that He was Christ. Wherefore Thomas also says to Him, "My Lord, and my God."
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness
John 20:28 Thomas 22 answered and said to him, My Lord and my God.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
...ment, lack of self-control and fornication and the devil. This is what he says while explaining the Apostle. But in a sophistical way he evades the truth, using what is true to support what is false. For we also confess that lack of self-control and fornication are devilish vices and passions. But the agreement of moderate marriage stands in between. This both leads with self-control to prayer, and also joins husband and wife honorably for the begetting of children. Indeed, Scripture used the word “knew” for the time of begetting children when it says, “And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Seth: for God has raised up for me another seed instead of Abel,” Genesis 4:25. You see whom they attack with curses when they attack honorable and moderate sowing of seed and assign generation to the devil. For it did not simply say “God.” By putting the article first, saying “the God,” it pointed to the One who is Almighty. And what the Apostle next says, “And come together again because of Satan,” 1 Corinthians 7:5, is said for this purpose: to take away the opportunity of turning aside to other desires. For the agreement that is for a time does
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Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
But, they say, those are more blessed who have not seen and yet believe, than those who have seen and have believed, and for this they quote the saying to Thomas at the end of the Gospel of John, Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.
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Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness
John 2:1-10 true and real also was the touch of the then-believing Thomas.
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Didache, Connection to John 20:25 Supporting witness
on which He gave me Thomas, who was hard of belief, full assurance, by showing me the print of the nails, and the wound made in His side by the spear.
How did early Christians use Thomas’s doubt and faith?
They used Thomas as a witness that Jesus truly rose in the body. Ignatius says the disciples believed after Jesus showed his wounds, and Origen and Victorinus use Thomas’s story to defend belief in the risen Christ.
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Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (Long Version) Supporting witness
...irit without a body. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” And He says to Thomas, “Put your finger here into the print of the nails, and put your hand into My side;” and immediately they believed that He was Christ. Therefore, Thomas also says to Him, “My Lord, and my God.” Because of this, they despised death, and not just hardships and beatings. Furthermore, after He showed Himself to them, proving that He had truly risen and not just in appearance, He ate and drank with them for forty whole days. Then He, with His flesh, was taken up in their sight to Him who sent Him, and He will come again with that same flesh, accompanied by glory and power. As the holy scriptures say, “This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have seen Him go into heaven.” But if they say that He will come at the end of the world without a body, how shall those who pierced Him see Him, and when they recognize Him, mourn for themselves? For incorporeal beings have neither form nor figure, nor the appearance of an entity with shape, because their nature is inherently simple.
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Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (Long Version) Supporting witness
When, for instance, He came to those who were with Peter, He said to them, “Lay hold, handle Me, and see that I am not an incorporeal spirit.” “For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have.” And He says to Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger into the print of the nails, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side;” and immediately they believed that He was Christ.
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Hippolytus, Connection to John 20:27 Supporting witness
For He, having risen, and being desirous to show that that same (body) had been raised which had also died, when His disciples were in doubt, called Thomas to Him, and said, "Reach hither; handle me, and see: for a spirit hath not bone and flesh, as ye see me have."
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
...ist alone declared this saying from the consciousness of His divinity; and if, finally, the Apostle Thomas, instructed by all the proofs and conditions of Christ’s divinity, says in answer to Christ, “My Lord and my God,” as John 20:28 says; and if, besides, the Apostle Paul says, “Whose are the fathers, and of whom Christ came according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forevermore,” in Romans 9:5, writing in his letters; and if the same apostle declares that he was ordained an apostle not by men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ; and if the same apostle contends that he learned the Gospel not from men or by man, but received it from Jesus Christ, then reasonably Christ is God. Therefore, in this respect, one of two things must be established. Since it is clear that all things were made by Christ, He is either before all things, since all things were by Him, and so He is rightly God; or, because He is man, He is after all things, and rightly nothing was made by Him. But we cannot say that nothing was made by Him, when we see it written that all things were made by Him. Therefore He is not after all things. That is, He is not man only, who is after all things, but He is
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
and if, finally, the Apostle Thomas, instructed in all the proofs and conditions of Christ's divinity, says in reply to Christ, My Lord and my God;
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
and if, finally, the Apostle Thomas, instructed in all the proofs and conditions of Christ's divinity, says in reply to Christ, My Lord and my God;
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
Jesus accordingly, having called Thomas, said, Reach hither your finger, and behold My hands;
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, Twelve Topics on the Faith Supporting witness
But Christ, on rising from the dead, showed His disciples the print of the nails and the wound made by the spear, and a body that could be handled, although He also had entered among them when the doors were shut, with the view of showing them at once the energy of the divinity and the reality of the body.
Common Questions
What is Thomas the Apostle best known for?
He is best known for doubting Jesus’ resurrection until he saw and touched the risen Lord, then confessing, “My Lord and my God.”
Did early Christians treat Thomas as one of the Twelve?
Yes. Bible passages and early writers like Tatian and the Apostolic Constitutions list Thomas among the Twelve apostles.
Why is Thomas important in John 20?
Thomas’s confession after seeing Jesus was used to show that the resurrection was real and that Jesus was truly Lord and God.
Source Index for Thomas the Apostle
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 140 ranked source links from 173 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 140 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 113
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Ignatius of Antioch, Connection to John 20:27
Bible Passages 60 included
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.