Proposition # 9: At John 20:28 Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, called Jesus “God.” For a Jew this would be blasphemy unless Jesus truly were God.
Response: Imagine yourself as Thomas: you followed someone who taught as no one else had ever taught; you saw miracles take place in abundance: the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead, the casting out of demons, etc.; and you came to the conclusion that this man must be the promised Messiah of the Scriptures, the one expected to liberate Israel from Gentile domination. Then, suddenly, in a period of 24 hours this man is arrested by the Jewish religious authorities, turned over to the very Gentiles from whom you anticipated liberation, and executed! Had you been duped; was this just another false messiah?
Thomas, whose faith was shaken by this turn of events, may have begun to have doubts about God! Upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, Thomas’ faith was restored in Jesus as Messiah, and in his God. (Consider John 14:1) Is it any wonder that he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”? That Thomas did not consider Jesus to be God literally is shown three verses later where John, the gospel writer, explains, “these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” If Thomas or John meant that Jesus was literally God, why didn’t John write so here? — John 20:31
On one occasion Jesus was charged with blasphemy for having called himself the Son of God. In response Jesus cited Psalm 82:6 where God refers to Israelite judges as “gods” [elohim]. If God can call human judges who were supposed to act as His representatives “gods” without meaning it literally, why couldn’t Thomas call the one who has been appointed as God’s representative to judge all the earth “God” without meaning it literally? — John 10:33-36
John 10:33-36 REV The Jews answered him, “We are not going to stone you for a good work, but for defaming words, and because you, being a man, make yourself a god.” (34) Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods? [From Ps. 82:6] (35) If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture is not able to be broken— (36) do you say of him whom the Father made holy and sent into the world, ‘You speak defaming words,’ because I said I am the Son of God?