Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 20:19-23

"When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first [day] of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you. And when he had said this, he showed unto them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained." — John 20:19-23 (ASV)

1. Having described how Christ appeared to the holy women, the Evangelist now tells of His appearance to the apostles. This is covered in three parts: first, His appearance at Jerusalem to all except Thomas; second, His appearance when Thomas was present, and after eight days (John 20:26); and third, the events near the Sea of Tiberias, after this, Jesus showed himself again (John 21:1).

   Regarding the first appearance, he mentions two things: the Lord's appearance itself, and the disciples' doubts, starting at now Thomas, one of the twelve (John 20:24).

   The account of the appearance itself involves three points: first, we see our Lord appear; second, we see a duty imposed on the apostles, he said therefore to them again: peace be with you; and third, our Lord gives them a spiritual gift, when he had said this, he breathed on them.

   In describing the appearance, the Evangelist does three things: first, he mentions the circumstances; second, he gives the details of the appearance, Jesus came and stood in their midst; and third, he describes the result, the disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.

   The Evangelist mentions four circumstances: first, the time of day, when it was late; second, the specific day, that same day; third, the condition of the place, the doors were shut; and fourth, the state of the disciples, where the disciples were gathered together, for fear of the Jews.

2. The time of our Lord’s appearance was in the evening, and there were two literal reasons for this. First, He wanted to appear when they were all together. Consequently, He waited until evening, so that those who had been in various places during the day would be found together when they gathered.

   Second, our Lord appeared to strengthen and comfort them. He chose a time when they would be more afraid and in need of comfort and strength, which was in the evening. As the psalmist says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalms 46:1).

   There is also a mystical reason: at the end of the world, our Lord will appear to the faithful in the middle of the night when the cry is heard that the bridegroom is coming to reward them. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to the steward: call the laborers and pay them their wages (Matthew 20:8).

3. The day Christ appeared was the very day on which He arose, for it was the evening of that same day, the first day of the week—Sunday. About this, it is said, on the first day of the week (John 20:1).

   The meaning of the phrase the first day of the week has already been explained.

   From the Gospels, we can see that our Lord appeared five times on that day:

   1. To Mary Magdalene alone, which we just considered.
   2. Again to her and the other women as they were returning to the disciples, when they approached and held our Lord’s feet (Matthew 28:9).
   3. To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13).
   4. To Simon Peter. We do not know how, when, or where He appeared, but only that He did: the Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon (Luke 24:34).
   5. To all the disciples together in the evening, as John mentions here.

   This is the reason we sing, this is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalms 118:24).

   We can also understand from these events that on the day of the general resurrection, Christ will appear openly to all—women, sinners, pilgrims, apostles, and apostolic men—because every eye will see him, every one who pierced him (Revelation 1:7).

4. The place is described as having the doors shut. The literal reason for this was that it was late at night and also for fear of the Jews. From Christ’s perspective, the doors were shut so He could show them His power by entering through them.

5. Regarding this point, some say that entering through closed doors is a property of a glorified body. They claim that due to some inherent property, a glorified body can be simultaneously present in the same place as another body. If this were true, it would be accomplished without a miracle.

   But this position cannot stand. The fact that a non-glorified human body cannot be in the same place as another body at the same time is due to its very nature. Consequently, if a glorified body had an inherent ability to occupy a place already filled by another body, it must be because it lacks the property that now prevents this. However, this property—the very dimensions of a quantified body through which it has a physical location—cannot be separated or destroyed from a body. It is not, as some say, a mere mathematical bulk.

   Thus, the Philosopher, arguing against those who posit ideas and matter, asserts that even if the entire region above the earth were a vacuum, no sense-perceptible body could exist in the same place as another because of their quantitative dimensions. No property of a glorified body can remove these dimensions and still have it remain a body. Therefore, we should say that Christ did this miraculously by the power of His divinity. Whenever something similar happens with the saints, it is also miraculous and requires a new miracle.

   Augustine and Gregory teach this explicitly. Augustine says, Do you want to know how Christ could enter through closed doors? If you understood how, it would not be a miracle. Where reason falls, faith instructs. He adds, He was able to enter with the doors shut, who was born without His mother’s virginity being taken away. Therefore, just as Christ’s leaving the womb of His virgin mother was a miracle of His divine power, so was His entering through closed doors.

6. In the mystical interpretation, we can understand that Christ appears to us when our doors—that is, our external senses—are closed in prayer: but when you pray, go into your room and shut the door (Matthew 6:6). It is also a reminder that at the end of the world, those who are prepared will be admitted to the marriage feast, and then the door will be shut (Matthew 25:10).

7. We should imitate the conduct of the apostles, for they are described as gathered together. This is not without its own mystery, for Christ came when they were united, and the Holy Spirit descended on them when they were united. This is because Christ and the Holy Spirit are present only to those who are united in charity: for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20).

8. Now three things are mentioned about the appearance of Christ:

   • The way He showed Himself.
   • The greeting He gave them.
   • The way He gave them definite evidence of His real presence.

9. Christ showed that He was present with them beyond any doubt, for Jesus came and stood in their midst. Jesus came personally, as He had promised: I go away, and I come unto you (John 14:28). And He stood in their midst so that each one could recognize Him with certainty. Thus, the Jews who did not know Him are blamed: but there is one who stands in your midst, whom you do not know (John 1:26).

   Again, Jesus stood among them, the disciples, to show that He was human like them: with a garland of brethren around him, he was like a young cedar on Lebanon . He also stood in their midst to lower Himself, for He lived among them as one of them: if they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself; be among them as one of them ; I am among you as one who serves (Luke 22:27).

   Finally, He stood in their midst to show that we ought to stand among the virtues: this is the way, walk in it; do not turn aside to the right or to the left (Isaiah 30:21). One who goes beyond the middle road of virtue goes to the right; one who falls short of it goes to the left.

10. He greets them with the words, peace be with you. It was necessary to say this because their peace was disturbed in many ways. Their peace with God was troubled, for they had sinned against Him—some by denying Him, others by running away: you will all fall away because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’ (Matthew 26:31). To cure this, Jesus offers them the peace of reconciliation with God: we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son (Romans 5:10), which He accomplished by His suffering.

    Their peace with themselves was disturbed because they were depressed and hesitant in their faith. He offers His peace to cure this: great peace have those who love your law (Psalms 119:165).

    Their peace with others was disturbed because they were being persecuted by the Jews. To this He says, peace be with you, to counter their persecution: peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you (John 14:27).

11. Jesus gives them sure proof that it is really Himself by showing them His hands and side. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side, because the marks of His passion remained in them in a special way: see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself (Luke 24:39). And when in glory, He will show Himself in the same way: if anyone love me, he will keep my word (John 14:23), and I will manifest myself to him (John 14:21).

12. Now the effect of His appearance is mentioned: the joy in the hearts of the disciples when they saw the Lord, as He had promised: I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice (John 16:22). This joy will be complete for the good in their heavenly homeland, when they have the clear vision of God: you will see and your heart will rejoice; and your bones will flourish like the grass (Isaiah 66:14).

13. Now He charges the apostles with their ministry:

    • First, He grants them the bond of peace.
    • Second, He charges them: as the Father has sent me.

14. He said therefore to them again: peace be with you. He said this to counter a twofold anxiety. The first time He said, peace be with you, it was to combat the anxiety caused by the Jews. But the second time He said, peace be with you, it was to deal with the anxiety that would come from the Gentiles: in me you may have peace. In the world you will have distress (John 16:33). He said this because they were about to be sent to the Gentiles.

15. Accordingly, Jesus immediately commissions them: as the Father has sent me, I also send you. This shows that He is the intermediary between us and God: there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). This was a source of strength for the disciples, for they recognized the authority of Christ and knew that He was sending them by divine authority. They were also strengthened because they recognized their own dignity as apostles, for an apostle is one who is sent.

    As the Father has sent me, I also send you means this: just as the Father, who loves Me, sent Me into the world to suffer for the salvation of the faithful—for God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17)—so I, who love you, send you to undergo suffering for My name: I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16).

16. Jesus makes them adequate for their task by giving them the Holy Spirit: God, who has qualified us to be ministers of a New Covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:6).

    Then follows, when he had said this, he breathed on them. In this giving of the Spirit, He first grants them a sign of the gift, which is that he breathed on them. We see something similar in Genesis, when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7)—namely, natural life. The first man corrupted this life, but Christ repaired it by giving the Holy Spirit.

    We should not suppose that this breath of Christ was the Holy Spirit Himself; it was a sign of the Spirit. As Augustine says in On the Trinity, This bodily breath was not the substance of the Holy Spirit, but a fitting sign that the Holy Spirit proceeds not just from the Father but also from the Son.

17. Note that the Holy Spirit was sent upon Christ first in the appearance of a dove at His baptism (John 1:32), and then in the appearance of a cloud at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:5). The reason for this is that the grace of Christ, given by the Holy Spirit, was to be distributed to us by being proliferated through the sacraments. Consequently, at Christ’s baptism, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove, an animal known for its fruitfulness. The luminous cloud signifies Christ as teacher, as the voice from the cloud said, listen to him (Matthew 17:5).

    The Spirit descended upon the apostles the first time through a breath to indicate the proliferation of grace through the sacraments, of which they were ministers. Thus Christ said, whose sins you will forgive, they are forgiven them, and also, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

    The second time, the Spirit descended on them in tongues of fire to indicate the proliferation of grace through teaching. And so we read in Acts that right after they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak (Acts 2:4).

18. We see the words used when the Spirit was given: receive the Holy Spirit.

    But did they receive the Holy Spirit then? It seems not, for since Christ had not yet ascended, it was not yet fitting for Him to give us gifts. Indeed, according to Chrysostom, some argued that Christ did not give them the Holy Spirit at that time but merely prepared them for the future giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. They held this opinion because Daniel could not endure the sight of an angel (Daniel 10:8), and so these disciples could not have endured the coming of the Holy Spirit unless they had been prepared.

    But Chrysostom himself says that the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, not for all tasks in general, but for a specific task, that is, to forgive sin. Augustine and Gregory say that the Holy Spirit is connected to the two precepts of love: love of God and love of neighbor. Therefore, the Holy Spirit was given the first time on earth to signify the love of neighbor, and the second time from heaven to signify the love of God.

19. Third, we see the fruit of the gift: whose sins you will forgive, they are forgiven them. The forgiveness of sins is a fitting effect of the Holy Spirit. This is so because the Holy Spirit is charity, and through Him, charity is given to us: God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Romans 5:5). Now, it is only through love that sins are forgiven, for love covers all offenses (Proverbs 10:12), and love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).

20. We can ask here why we read, whose sins you will forgive, they are forgiven them, since only God forgives sins. Some say that God alone forgives the sin, while the priest only absolves from the debt of punishment and pronounces the person free from the stain of sin.

    This is not true. The sacrament of penance, being a sacrament of the new law, gives grace, just as baptism does. In the sacrament of baptism, the priest baptizes as an instrument, and yet he confers grace. It is similar in the sacrament of penance: the priest absolves from the sin and the punishment as a minister, sacramentally, insofar as he administers the sacrament in which sins are forgiven.

    The statement that God alone forgives sins authoritatively is true. In the same way, only God truly baptizes, but the priest is the minister, as was said.

21. Another question arises from the statements, receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you will forgive, they are forgiven them. It seems from this that one who does not have the Holy Spirit cannot forgive sins.

    We should say that if the forgiveness of sins were the personal work of the priest—that is, if he did it by his own power—he could not sanctify anyone unless he himself were holy. But the forgiveness of sins is the personal work of God, who forgives by His own power and authority. The priest is only the instrument.

    Therefore, just as a master can accomplish his will through a servant, whether good or bad, so our Lord, through His ministers, can confer the sacraments in which grace is given, even if those ministers are evil.

22. Again, a question arises about the phrase, whose sins you will forgive, they are forgiven them.

    We should say, as we did before, that in the sacraments the priest acts as a minister: this is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1). Thus, the priest forgives and retains sins in the same way that God does. God forgives sins by giving grace, and He is said to retain sins by not giving grace because of some obstacle in the one who is to receive it. Likewise, the minister forgives sins insofar as he dispenses a sacrament of the Church, and he retains sins insofar as he deems someone unworthy to receive the sacrament.