Note 3 at Lk. 6:15: The name "Thomas" is taken from the Hebrew word "ta'om" meaning "a twin." He was also called Didymus, a Greek name that also means "a twin." His name appears in scripture 12 times altogether. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts each mention his name only once, but he is mentioned 8 times in the Gospel of John.

Thomas, who Jesus chose as one of His twelve apostles, was willing to die for Jesus (Jn. 11:16) when faced with returning with Him to a potentially hostile Jewish crowd when Lazarus died. When Thomas asked, "How can we know the way?", Jesus replied in John 14:6 with "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

Thomas earned the designation of "doubting Thomas" in John 20:25 when he declared he would not believe Jesus was risen until he saw Him personally. Eight days later, Jesus appeared to all the disciples, including Thomas, and said to him, "be not faithless, but believing" (v. 27). Jesus went on to say in verse 29, "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

John 21:1-23 relates the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples when seven of them, including Thomas, went fishing. Thomas is mentioned for the last time in scripture in Acts 1:13 as abiding in the upper room with the other disciples waiting for "the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4).

One tradition holds that Thomas labored in Parthia and Persia and died in Persia. Another tradition says he worked and died a martyr's death in India.

A book called "The Gospel of Thomas"---one of the Gnostic gospels containing "supposed" sayings of Jesus--was found in Egypt in 1945, but is not considered scripture.