The Character of Thomas - Descent of the Holy Spirit questioned

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.John 20:24

Let us further study what Christ did when he met the disciples on that first Sunday.

He breathed on them said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (v22)

This was a symbolic act of bestowing the Holy Spirit on the community of the apostles whom the Lord had chosen. The important thing to note here, is the "coming" of the Holy Spirit on command by Jesus, rather than who the recipients were. (the recipients had already been chosen, had been set apart and all except the traitor Judas Iscariot fulfilled their calling)

For more visible signs for critics of Thomas, note Luke 24:49, before His ascension, the Lord asks the apostles to "stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" which is the Holy Spirit. They received the Holy Spirit on the day of the Pentecost. So despite the Lord breathing the Holy Spirit onto
the community of the Apostles on that first Sunday of Resurrection, yet something was missing - a fuller manifestation of the Holy Spirit was needed before they began their task of Apostle-ship. Indeed Thomas was present on Pentecost to receive the power from the Holy Spirit along with the rest. So
Thomas was asked to "go" and "baptize" and the gift of the Holy Spirit needed to achieve this were given to him on Pentecost. What else is needed? Is there a "lesser" Holy Spirit and a "greater" Holy Spirit? How much more ridiculous do we make this?

Indeed Thomas received what was needed to fulfil his tasks despite being absent on that first Sunday. Did he lose anything by his absence?

Thomas received the same Holy Spirit(the life giving Lord of all) as the rest. The same Holy Spirit we receive in our Holy Baptism. The same Spirit gives different gifts to different people. Through the Holy Spirit Thomas received the gifts needed to "go" (apostle-ship) and "baptize"(priesthood). The priesthood is implied in the Apostle-ship. There is no evidence of any assessment of Thomas being considered any less by anyone of his colleagues because of his absence that Sunday. Today's defamation of Thomas has a totally different agenda and is a new invention, that does not stand the test of scriptural scrutiny.

Character of Thomas : Apostleship Maligned


Source : ICON