Metaphysical meaning of Thomas (mbd)
Thomas, thom'-as (Gk. fr. Heb.)--joined; conjoined; doubled; twain; twin.
One of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. This disciple is also called Didymus (John 14:5; 21:2).
Meta. Thomas is the disciple of Jesus Christ who represents the understanding faculty in man. Understanding and will function, or should function, in unison; each has its center of activity in the front brain, the forehead.
Among the disciples of Jesus, Thomas stood for the head, representing reason and intellectual perception. Jesus did not ignore Thomas's demand for physical evidence of His identity, but respected it. He convinced Thomas by corporeal evidence that there had been a body resurrection and that it was not a ghost body that he saw, but the same body that had been crucified, as was evidenced by the wounds that Thomas saw and felt.
In John 14:5 Thomas represents reason functioning in the realm of sense, seeking to discern the things of Spirit through outer signs. The truth contained in Jesus' answer to Thomas, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me," is that the I AM in man, or the Christ, is the open door to the kingdom of God.
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Preceding Entry: thieves
Following Entry: thought
