But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
All Commentaries on John 20:24 Go To John 20
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didimus, was not with them when Jesus came. Didymus means a twin. See notes on. chap. xi16. But here he is so called (double, doubtful) because he wavered and doubted as to Christ"s resurrection. He was at that time weaker than the other Apostles, but afterwards (after Christ again appeared) was bolder and more full of faith than all of them, inasmuch as he alone traversed nearly the whole world in preaching the Gospel. Stapleton (de Vita Thomæ) says that he went to the furthest part of India, to Abyssinia and China, and even to America.
Was not with them. S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius suppose that having fled away with the other Apostles, he had not yet returned. But S. Augustine, Bede, Lyranus, D. Thomas, and others say in reply that he was with the other Apostles when the two disciples returned from Emmaus, but that he disbelieved their story, and went away. It is supposed that when S. Luke says (xxiv11), "their words seemed to them as idle tales," he was referring to S. Thomas.
