DAY 210
CHALLENGE
“Why can’t we explain the Resurrection appearances by saying Jesus had a twin who was crucified, making the disciples innocently think Jesus was raised? An early Christian text called the Acts of Thomas says Thomas was Jesus’ twin brother (Acts of Thomas 11).”
DEFENSE
The Acts of Thomas is a Gnostic document from the third century. It has no historical value for learning about Jesus’ life. It also does not claim Thomas was crucified in Jesus’ place.
The Acts of Thomas claimed Thomas was Jesus’ twin because certain Gnostics venerated Thomas. They thus seized on the fact that, in Ara- maic, Thomas means “twin” and claimed he was Jesus’ own twin.
Thomas probably did have a twin, leading him to be called “the Twin” (John 11:16, 20:24, 21:2), but it was someone other than Jesus.
Only about 3 in 1,000 births involves identical twins, so it is antecedent- ently very unlikely that Jesus had a twin. When we look at the biblical evidence, this is confirmed. Scripture records Jesus’ birth (Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:7), but makes no mention of a twin, as it does on occasions when twins were born (Gen. 25:24–26, 38:27–30). Having a twin—especially an identical twin—is highly unusual and noteworthy, and we would expect it to be mentioned in the accounts of Jesus’ birth and infancy.
Further, Thomas was one of the apostles during Jesus’ ministry, but if he were Jesus’ twin, he would have been his brother, and John makes it clear that “even his brethren did not believe in him” during his ministry (John 7:5).
Also, if Jesus and Thomas were twins, the other apostles would have known it, and the question of who was crucified would have immediately arisen.
While the idea that Thomas was crucified could explain how Jesus appeared alive after the Crucifixion, it would not explain how the two could appear alive together (John 20:24–29), or why the Jerusalem authorities didn’t go to the tomb and produce Thomas’s corpse.
Finally, the twin hypothesis would not explain how the apostles saw Jesus ascend to heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9–11). Having a twin does not enable you to fly.
The twin hypothesis thus does not explain how the apostles could have innocently thought they saw Jesus alive after the Crucifixion.