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John 20 · a question people ask

The other disciple "saw and believed" (20:8). The next verse says, "For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead" (20:9). What did he believe, and which Scripture is meant?

In the text

Here are the two verses together: "So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead" (20:8-9). John 20 doesn't say what he believed, and it doesn't name the Scripture. These notes don't say either, and don't supply a passage the Gospel doesn't name. Favor's chapter on John 5 does the same where Jesus says the Scriptures "testify about me" (5:39).

The verses

“So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”
John 20:8-9 · World English Bible
““You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.”
John 5:39 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 20

John 20: We have seen the Lord

The word nails is in only one verse of the whole New Testament, in Greek and in the WEB: Thomas's "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails" (20:25). After eight days, Jesus says to him, "Reach here your finger, and see my hands" (20:27).

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions