Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails. — This demand for the evidence of his own senses, and refusal to admit the testimony of eyewitnesses, though these were the whole of his ten brethren in the Apostolic band, remind us of the demand made to Christ Himself, “We know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?”
The reading of the second clause varies between “print of the nails” and “place of the nails.” The Greek words vary by only one letter (τύπος, “print”; τόπος, “place”), so that copyists may easily have taken one for the other. If we read “place,” it answers to the touch of the finger, as “print” does to the sight of the eye; but, on the other hand, there is in the repetition an expression of determination, almost, we may say, amounting to obstinacy, which corresponds with the position which Thomas is taking.
And thrust my hand into his side. — Comp. John 20:20. The feet are not mentioned, but the hands and the side would be demonstrative evidence. We cannot properly infer from this verse that the feet were not nailed.
I will not believe. — The determination is expressed in its strongest form by the double Greek negative, “I will by no means believe.”