WHO WAS THOMAS’ GOD IN JOHN

20:28, 29? -Part 1

By Derrick
Gillespie
Some in Adventism fail to recognize the deep implications of Thomas calling Jesus “my Lord
and my God” (literally “the God of me”) and Jesus himself endorsing and accepting his
declaration in John 20:28, 29. Many try to lamely explain away Jesus being truly God by
saying he is simply “God” by nature as the Father’s Son, but, they argue, since he has the
Father as His God, then Jesus is therefore certainly not “our God” as the Father is. But let me
say from the outset that only after Jesus became man can he be quoted calling the
Father His “God” (thus worshipping Him as a Man, like his “brethren”- Heb. 2:11, 12),
and only as a Man was Jesus made lower than even the angels. Nowhere in the entire
Scriptures can this reality be shown before Jesus became human. He has since
returned to his glory, but by virtue of His RETAINED HUMANITY, He will, in that
sense only, have the Father being forever His God since His incarnation. However “if
He lacked one iota of being [always] EQUAL with the Father” (said E.J. Waggoner of
Adventism, 1888) then He could not be NATURALLY AND RIGHTFULLY called “God in
the highest sense”, or “Jehovah, the self- existent One” (as Waggoner also said), as the
begotten Son of God!!! To call Jesus “my Lord and my God” is not the same as saying
he is just “God” in nature, and it is not enough to give honor to Jesus simply because
we are only obeying the Father’s command to honor him as His Son. The expression
“my God” means that the first of the Ten Commandments is truly obeyed and only
obeyed when we accept Jesus as rightfully our God just like and along with the Father
because of His natural RIGHT (!!!) as the Father’s Son from all eternity; not just
because the Father commands it (as if it is a requirement against the true nature of
things). Jesus as a man calling the Father His God does not deny his right to being
Thomas’ God in the same sense as the Father is, yet it is natural that Jesus could not
worship Himself despite he is Thomas’ God, so he directed attention to His Father,
and then accepted Thomas’ recognition of He himself being Thomas’ God along with
the Father.

Some in Adventism try to circumvent Jesus natural right to being our God (just like the
Father is) by saying the first of the Ten Commandments demand that only one person be
our God…the Father…and argue that if any worship is accorded Jesus then it is simply
because it is the command and will of the Father – the one person who is “our God” (or so
they lamely argue). But if only one person has the right to be our God, then those who
unwittingly deny Jesus this inherent right (from all eternity) of being so called have a
dilemma on their hands. Why?
 1. Their doctrine unwittingly accuses God the Father of commanding us to worship
two Gods (polytheism), i.e. we worship him by right because he is the un-begotten
and self-originate God, but the second person we worship only because he said so or
commanded us to; not because the second person is our God too by natural right as
the truly begotten Son of the Father, united naturally with Him from all eternity!!

2. Their doctrine unwittingly accuses Jesus of endorsing Thomas having another

person he calls his Lord and His God along with the Father, thus obviously breaking
the first commandment, yet Thomas was to have been an obedient follower of
Judaism in having no other person as His God beside the Father!!

3. Their doctrine unwittingly accuses Mrs. Ellen G. White of falsely declaring at least
two persons who are not just “God” by nature, but more importantly are together
“God over all” (i.e. supreme or “sovereign”), and “God in the highest sense” “from all
eternity, that is, the Father and Son!! Their doctrine also unwittingly accuse Mrs.
White in Adventism of further false doctrine because she herself declares that we
must “serve” not just the Father, but Father, Son and Holy Spirit, despite the bible
saying only God we must “worship”, and only who is truly called “the our Lord thy
God” we must “serve”.

If only the Father is by right our God, then it is only he who is supposed to be “God in the
highest sense”, and only he is supposed to be “God over all” from all eternity!! Those who
declare that only the Father is God (ignoring or missing the whole truth of the amplifying
and explanatory testimony of the whole Scriptures), don’t recognize that this means that
(according to their shortsighted doctrine) only he should be called “my Lord and my God”,
and thus Thomas should have been sternly rebuked by Jesus. They cannot have their cake
and eat it too. These shortsighted individuals in Adventism are usually heard arguing this
way:

The SDA pioneers always saw only the Father as God in the highest/supreme
or “sovereign” sense, since only He is un-begotten, since only he is truly from
all eternity, since only He is the Source and Head of the other personalities in
the Godhead, and since he is the “God” of even Jesus Christ, His Son that was
begotten by Him, who came after, and was only delegated ‘equal’ authority by
Him.

This is probably the easiest of arguments to answer, and those in Adventism who today
adhere to this argument as a means of relegating Jesus to a secondary position of honor
betray (usually unwittingly) their sympathy for the ancient spirit of Arianism and Arius
(Arius thought God the Father has no true equal in majesty or sovereignty in the Godhead),
even though they (unlike Arius) will often be seen and heard vehemently denying that they
are in fact teaching that Jesus is not true Deity. John 20:28, 29 and John 5:23 alone, in
response, can destroy this prime anti-Trinitarian argument which is steeped in the most
subtle garb of sophistry, since it is an argument that does appears true on the surface of it,
and yet in the end lacks teeth as well. But in the same way and in the same sense that
Jesus, in the highest honor rightfully accorded him (John 5:23), is “my Lord and My
God” (as Thomas testified to, and Jesus endorsed; John 20:28, 29), so too is the Father
in a united way, since they must be accorded equal honor (in the words of Jesus
himself)!! The Father is not excluded from this title, nor is he my Lord and My God in
a higher and different sense than Jesus is (despite I admit to the natural and rightful
“Headship” of the Father in the Godhead), otherwise I am talking about two Gods (!!),
a notion that has no place in the religion of the Bible. Yet the inescapable reality is
that more than one person in heaven is RIGHTFULLY “my Lord and my God” FROM
ALL ETERNITY; not just the Father!!
Jesus, by a “mysterious” eternal unity with the Father, is not just God in nature,
having the true “God” identity, but is also “God” in equal and rightful*AUTHORITY
and function even though He is not the Father in Person (who is often just called “God”,
simply because he never became man like Jesus). That is part of the “mystery of godliness”.
Note carefully below how true pioneering Adventism sees Jesus as “God”:

“Think of the life of Moses…Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews says, ‘for he endured as
seeing Him who is invisible [Hebrews 11:27]. Moses had a deep sense of the presence of
GOD. He saw GOD. He was not only looking down through the ages to a Christ that
would be revealed [God manifested], but [in reality and at that very time] he saw Christ
[God] in a special manner accompanying the children of Israel in all their travels
[1Corintians10: 1-5]. God [Christ] was real to Him and present in his thoughts. When
called upon to face danger…for Christ’s [God’s] sake, he was persevering… God [Christ]
was to Him a present help in every time of need”.
-E.G. White-Letter 42, April 7, 1886; or in “The Upward Look”(1986) pg. 111.

“Papal [Roman Catholic] priests pretended… to convert the simple bread and wine into
the actual ‘body and blood of *CHRIST’… with blasphemous presumption, they openly
claim to the power of creating *GOD [Christ], the Creator of all things…”
E.G. White- Great Controversy, pgs. 59-60

Notice that Mrs. White saw Jesus as God, to the point where the words “Christ” and “God”
were interchangeable to her without any need for clarification. Jesus was, and is God,
*just like the Father!! That is why the Pope could assume the place of God by
pretending to be, not the Father, but another Jesus (2 Thess. 2:4), thus equating
himself with the Father. But the question is, was Jesus just “God” on earth on behalf of His
(unseen) Father, or in His Father’s ‘absence’, but is not “God” in His Father’s presence along
with Him in Heaven? Note again what Adventists really believe:

“From everlasting [Micah 5:2/Psalms 93:2] He [Jesus] was the Mediator of the Covenant
[Hebrews 7:3]… was *GOD essentially and *IN THE HIGHEST [nothing higher] SENSE…
[existing] from *ALL ETERNITY GOD OVER ALL [Rom. 9:5]… a distinct [separate] Person,
yet one [united] with the Father”.
 E.G. White- Review and Herald, April, 1906

“The Son of God was the acknowledged *SOVEREIGN [‘supreme ruler’] of Heaven, *ONE
[equal and united] in power and *AUTHORITY with the Father”.
–E.G. White- Great Controversy, pg. 494

“Christ ascended to Heaven [after coming to earth as God] amidst a cloud of angels who
glorified Him saying ‘who is this King of Glory?’ [so He is not just ‘Prince of Heaven’] And
from thousand times ten thousands the answer comes, the LORD [Jehovah], *HE [Jesus]
IS the King of Glory”.
E.G. White- Signs of the Times, May 10, 1899 and
*Desire of Ages, pgs. 832-833

That is very clear dear reader about Jesus and the Father * BOTH being recognized and
served as “God over all” and as “Jehovah”. The fact that Jesus was pictured as being ‘given
all things’ by the Father, does not diminish, even by one iota, His rightful equality with the
Father in the office of being “GOD over all”, and Him being such from *ALL eternity,
whether He is in or out of the Father’s immediate presence. No true Adventist would deny
this truth! No true Adventist today would fail to recognize too that Thomas’ God was
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the same God who spoke the following words (according to
Adventism’s chief pioneer):

"God says, [notice after this whom she means says this] "Come out from among
them, and be ye separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive
you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
[or pledges] the Lord Almighty." [Now notice carefully] This is the pledge of [not
just one person, but] the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [i.e. the *pledge of
“the Lord Almighty” to receive and be a Father to you]; made to you if you will
keep your baptismal vow, and touch not the unclean thing…”

                     -E.G. White, Signs of the Times, June 19, 1901