Smart's rule and John 20:28

Dan Parker stoixein at sdf.lonestar.org
Sun Oct 22 21:32:00 EDT 2000


> I have never heard anyone else say that he is addressing 2 people.
> 
> David McKay
> musicke at ozemail.com.au

David, I don't think the rule says anything about address. As for whether one
or two persons are in view, consider Augustine in "Tractate CXXI":

	"Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my
	God." He saw and touched the man, and acknowledged
	the God whom he neither saw nor touched; but by the
	means of what he saw and touched, he now put far
	away from him every doubt, and believed the other."

Also, from a more modern commentator:

	"Naturally, the interpretation of Thomas's words
	was hotly debated by early church theologians
	who wanted to use it in support of their own
	christological definitions. Those who understood
	'My Lord' to refer to Jesus, and 'my God' to refer
	to God were suspected of christological heresy
	in the fifth century CE. Many modern commentators
	have also rejected that interpretation and instead
	they understood the confession as an assertion
	that Jesus is both Lord and God. In doing so they
	are forced to interpret 'God' as a reference to
	logos [logos]. But it is perfectly appropriate for
	Thomas to respond to Jesus' resurrection with a
	confession of faith both in Jesus and his Lord and
	in God who sent and raised Jesus. Interpreting the
	confession in this way actually makes much better
	sense in the context of the Fourth Gospel. In 14.1
	belief both in God and in Jesus is encouraged, in
	a context in which Thomas is particularly singled
	out ... If we understand Thomas's confession as an
	assertion that Jesus is God, this confession in
	20.31 becomes an anti-climax. (Margaret Davies,
	Rhetoric and Reference in the Fourth Gospel"
	(JSNTSup69; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
	1992), 125-126)

But more importantly, so as not to get into a theological debate, I am
more interested in whether "Smart's rule" has exceptions to it in
the GNT.


Sincerely,
Dan Parker



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