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This is a classic, well known passage which anyone with a passing familiarity of Christianity will probably know. You have Jesus supposedly condemning Thomas for believing in the resurrection because he had to see Jesus and then gives his blessing to others for believing for not seeing him. This verse is the mantra for blind faith and unquestioning loyalty right? Only if you ignore that the other apostles in this Gospel also had to see to believe as well. They did not just take Mary's claim on faith. They went out to see what she had told them. So then, why is Thomas being condemned here for supposedly doing the same thing the other apostles did?

Thomas is interesting in that he did do something different from the other apostles. He gave a string of conditions defining what would make him believe that Jesus resurrected, all based on what he had previously seen of Jesus. He would not believe that this being they had seen was Jesus unless this being matched with his previous understanding of Jesus. This would be akin to someone saying, “I will not believe in evolution unless I see an animal evolve right in front of me.”

Thomas was not looking for a resurrected Jesus, but a Jesus that conformed to his previous understanding. “Because you have seen me, you have believed.” Jesus reveals himself in a way that Thomas could understand within the conditions that he had set forth. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” To some, this may appear to be a justification for blind belief but again this ignores that the other apostles also had to believe to see. What seems to be apparent at this point is that interpreting this passage as a justification for blind belief does not work. The word “believe” comes from the word “pisteuō” which not only translates as “believe” but also means “justified trust”. In the context of the passage “without seeing” means either it is something that one was incapable of actively seeing, such as a mental or psychological process; or it could mean something that could only be seen by not having biases.

So I am lead to believe that this quote could be read as the following, “Thomas you believe in me because you have seen the end result (or “I conform to your biases”). Blessed are those who believe in internal processes (or “without biases”).” While I am personally partial to the first interpretation, I am more inclined to accept the second interpretation in parentheses due to the sight/blindness duality frequently stressed throughout this particular gospel. Jesus, in the Gospel of John, heals the blind so they may see, says parables about seeing, etc. In this particular passage, he is now addressing a blindness that gives the illusion of sight, biases, in whatever form they take.

Church tradition, which I will freely admit I am skeptical of, teaches that Thomas was a doctor, meaning he was a very intelligent man. If this is true, then it would not only be consistent with the message of this passage, but also correlates with an article that a friend recently sent me, "The Science of Why We Do Not Believe Science". To summarize this article, or rather, to share what I gained from reading it. While we are quite capable of reasoning information, most of us are prone to rationalizing information which does not fit into our biases. What shocked me even more as I read this article is that those who are more intelligent, are more prone to rationalizing conflicting information. To illustrate this, let us re-examine the case of the person demanding to see an animal evolve. This means that if the hypothetical person demanding for proof is intelligent, then one of two things will happen upon presenting a case study showing evolution in action, such as a species of bacteria replicating into a new species of bacteria. In the first, and least likely, case this person accepts the information as it presented and will readjust his/her world view to accommodate for the new information. In the second case, the one most likely, this person will rationalize why this is not proof of evolution or why the results are faulty/wrong. While it may seem at first glance stupid, this person is actually being quite intelligent. This person’s fault is the “blind faith” in the world view of evolution being a lie, and is performing the “rational” course of action when confronted with information that conflicts with what this person believes to be true and possibly lacking the skill to properly test the information this person is presented

Thomas, in this passage, was blind with biases. He had expectations of what the risen Christ “had” to be like and would not believe in a risen Christ unless those conditions were met. When Christ did presented himself in a way that was not in conflict with his biases, he was able to believe that the person in front of him was Christ. Christ then uses Thomas as an example of the dangers of biases. Blessed are those who can let go of biases, for they will be able to see truth for it is.