John 20:19

Contents

John 20:19 is the nineteenth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. It recounts the appearance of the risen Jesus among his disciples in a locked room of a house.

Content

The original Koine Greek, according to the Textus Receptus, reads:

In the King James Version of the Bible, this verse is translated as:

The modern World English Bible translates the passage as:

Analysis

The account of Jesus' appearance in "the house where the disciples had gathered" (John 20:19–23) is similar to the account in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24:36–49), when Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem (after the return of two of his followers who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus) on the evening of the day of his resurrection.[1]

Only John mentions that the door was locked, along with the stated reason in the text: διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων ("for fear of the Jews"). In the Gospel of John, the phrase "the Jews" (οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι) typically refers to the Judean authorities or leaders who opposed Jesus, rather than Jewish people in general (a usage seen throughout the Gospel, e.g., in contexts of synagogue expulsion or hostility from Jerusalem-based leaders).[2] This reflects the disciples' concern over potential persecution or arrest by those authorities following Jesus' crucifixion.[3] The "function" of the locked door is to show the "miraculous nature of Jesus' appearance",[4] showing that the risen Jesus is "no longer bound by normal space conditions".[1] For Bede, the evening represented the time when the disciples would have been "most afraid".[5] The words Peace be with you (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν, Eirēnē hymin[6]) is a common traditional Jewish greeting[7] (shalom alekem, or שלום לכם shalom lekom;[6] cf. 1 Samuel 25:6[8]) still in use today;[4] repeated in verses 21 and 26[8]), but here Jesus conveys the peace he had previously promised to his disciples (John 14:27; 16:33), causing the rapid switch of their emotion from "fear" (verse 19) to "joy" (verse 20).[9]

The number of the disciples present is not certain, although Thomas' absence is singled out in verse 24, and Judas Iscariot would not have been present. It is possible that some other disciples, less tightly connected to the group, could have been there.[4]

Usage

The passage from John 20:19 to the end of the chapter provides the gospel reading for the Sunday after Easter in all three years of the liturgical cycle in the Revised Common Lectionary.[10]

References

  1. 1.[1.2]Kieffer 2007, p. 997.
  2. 2.See, for example, the commentaries by D.A. Carson, Andreas Köstenberger,) and Francis J. Moloney, who describe "the Jews" in John as primarily the authorities in conflict with Jesus and his followers; cf. Raymond E. Brown on contextual interpretation.
  3. 3.For discussion of the phrase and its implications, including avoiding anachronistic anti-Jewish readings, see works on Johannine usage such as Adele Reinhartz or Raymond E. Brown.
  4. 4.[4.2][4.3]Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel According to John. Pillar New Testament commentary (reprint ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 646. ISBN 9780851117492.
  5. 5.Bede, quoted by Thomas Aquinas in Catena aurea: commentary on the four Gospels, collected out of the works of the fathers: Volume 6, St John, page 603, edited by John Henry Newman, Parker: Oxford, 1874
  6. 6.[6.2]Greek Text Analysis: John 20:19 Archived 2023-03-26 at the Wayback Machine. Biblehub
  7. 7.Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 180 New Testament. ISBN 9780195288810.
  8. 8.[8.2]Köstenberger, Andreas J. (2004). John. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Vol. 4 (illustrated ed.). Baker Academic. p. 572. ISBN 9780801026447.
  9. 9.Guthrie 1994, p. 1063.
  10. 10.Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Revised Common Lectionary, accessed on 12 April 2026