Jesus declares Thomas to be a believer even though he was slow in his acceptance of the truth. Jesus is no less gracious with us today! Thomas must have thought, “If only I had believed sooner, I would have saved myself so much grief!”

Jesus said that those who believed without seeing were blessed. He is not speaking of seeing the objects of our faith which are invisible (Heb 11:1, 2 Cor 4:18), but proof of our faith, the miracles of Jesus and His resurrected body. This blessing is backward looking and forward looking (Heb 11:39, 1 Peter 1:8).

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

2 Corinthians 4:18  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Hebrews 11:39  These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.

1 Peter 1:8  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

Why is it better to believe without seeing than to believe because you have seen? Perhaps because it speaks of a nobler character which more readily embraces the truth (Acts 17:11), or maybe because it speaks of a greater work of grace (Matt 16:17). The Jews had a saying, “That one proselyte is more acceptable to God than all the thousands of Israel that stood before Mount Sinai; for they saw and received the law, but a proselyte sees not, and yet receives it.” (Qt’d by Lightfoot in Matthew Henry’s Commentary)

Acts 17:11  Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Matthew 16:17  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.