Thomas appears mostly as a minor figure in the first three Gospels but comes into his own in John's Gospel. His nickname Didymus means "twin" in Greek; his Aramaic name Toma means the same. Scripture does not record his twin's identity. Thomas first shows real courage in John 11, when Jesus announced He was going to Judea (where they had recently tried to stone Him) to raise Lazarus. The other disciples urged Jesus not to go; Thomas said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (John 11:16) — loyalty to the point of death. In the upper room (John 14), when Jesus said "where I go you know, and the way you know," Thomas honestly admitted: "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" That honest question drew from Jesus one of the greatest verses in Scripture: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). But Thomas is most famous for the scene in John 20. When the risen Christ appeared to the other disciples, Thomas was not there. When they told him, he said, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25). Eight days later Jesus appeared again, this time with Thomas present, and invited him to do exactly what he had demanded: "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas did not need to touch. He fell to his knees and confessed the highest Christology in the Gospels: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). Jesus answered: "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (20:29). Thomas's doubt became the occasion for one of the clearest declarations of Christ's deity. Tradition says Thomas took the gospel to India, where he was martyred; an ancient Christian community in South India still traces its origin to him.