PRINT (τύπος, the mark of a stroke or blow; cf. Athen. τοὺς τύπους τῶν πληγῶν ἰδοῦσα).—In the Gospels ‘print’ is found only in John 20:25, where in most Manuscripts it occurs twice: ‘Except I shall 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’ (for other uses of τύπος in NT see Grimm-Thayer and Cremer, s.v.).

At the second occurrence of the word a v.l. τόπον is found in AI, which Lach., Tisch., and Treg. [marg.] read (א has εἰς τὴν χείραν (sic) αὐτοῦ). There is considerable variety in the Lat. VSS [Note: SS Versions.] ; Cod. Brixianus (OL) gives ‘nisi videro in manibus ejus locum clavorum et mittam digitum meum in foramina clavorum’; others read ‘figuram’ (so D [Note: Deuteronomist.] lat. in both places), which occurs in Vulgate for τύτος in Acts 7:43, 1 Corinthians 10:6; 1 Corinthians 10:11; and ‘fissuram’ is also found. Vulgate gives ‘nisi videro in manibus fixuram clavorum, et mittam digitum meum in locum clavorum.’ ‘Fixuram’ seems to be a correction made by Jerome, since it is not found in the older codices; but it may mean the place where the nail was fixed. Augustine preferred the word ‘cicatrix,’ in one place (on 1 John 1:3) quoting Thomas’ words as ‘non credam nisi digitos meos misero in locum clavorum, et cicatrices ejus tetigero’; in another (on Psalms 21:17 (Psalms 22:17), ‘nisi misero digitos meos in cicatrices vulnerum, non credam.’ See full note in Wordsworth-White’s NT Lat. (Oxford). The reading τόπος would bring out more strongly what is implied in the story, that Thomas required the evidence of his senses, both of seeing and feeling; he wished to see the τύπος, and put his finger into the τόπος; cf. Grotius, ‘τύπος videtur, τόπος impletur.’ Westcott, however, holds that this reading is nothing more than an early and natural mistake; and Godet says that it takes away from the denial of the disciple precisely its marked character of obstinacy, which is shown in the deliberate repetition of his phrases.

When Jesus appeared on the evening of the Resurrection to His disciples during the absence of Thomas, it is related that He showed them His hands and His feet, evidently bearing the marks of the wounds, in order to convince them of the reality and identity of His risen body (Luke 24:39, cf. John 20:20). He also offered them the testimony of their sense of feeling, ‘Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having.’ Thomas refused to accept their account of what had taken place, and required that he himself should have proof similar to or even stronger than what they had received. The wounds inflicted upon Calvary were deeply engraven on his memory, and to all their repeated assurances (ἔλεγον, John 20:25) he had but one answer (εἶπεν). ‘Si Pharisaeus ita dixisset nil impetrasset, scd discipulo pridem probato nil non datur’ (Bengel). A week later Christ appeared again to the disciples, Thomas being present, and offered him just the test he had demanded, giving him back his own words, but making no mention of the prints of the nails, for ‘He does not recall the malice of His enemies’ (Alford). It is a moot question whether Thomas availed himself of this offer. Tertullian, Ambrose, Cyril, and others suppose that he did, but it is psychologically more probable that Thomas rose above such a material test; the presence of his Master, and the proof of His omniscience, shown in His knowledge of what Thomas had said on the former occasion, were sufficient; with a bound he rose to the vision of highest faith (so Meyer, Alford, Westcott, Edersheim, Dods, et al.). With this, too, agree the words of the Lord, ‘Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed,’ not ‘because thou hast touched me.’

If it be asked, how the prints of the wounds could be seen, and even remain open, in His risen and glorified body, it is but one of many difficulties arising from our ignorance as to the nature of that body. On the same occasion Christ entered the room with this same body in which the prints were visible, the doors being shut. Since, therefore, the account deals with matters of which we have no experience, we must accept the fact on sufficient evidence, even though we may not be able to account for it. Meanwhile there is deep significance in the fact that the marks of these wounds remain. They prove the reality of the Resurrection body, and its continuity with that body which was crucified; though Christ glorified was in many respects changed, yet He was essentially the same who suffered, seeing that the prints could become visibly present to Thomas and the others. They show also the abiding nature of His atoning work, and teach us to connect the issue of His Agony with His Work in triumph (cf. the use of the perfect tense, Ἰησοῦν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, in Matthew 28:5, cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23). ‘The prints of the nails are not only signs of recognition, but also signs of victory.… He points to His wounded hands and feet as proving that He bears even within the veil the tokens of redeeming love. The conception is one on which Art has always loved to dwell. We must all have seen, again and again, figures of the Lord in glory raising His wounded hands to bless, or pleading even on the throne of judgment with those who have rejected Him by the marks of His death, so showing that by these He is still known; that by these He still proclaims the unchanging Gospel, “Redemption through sacrifice” ’ (Westcott, The Revelation of the Risen Lord, p. 69 f.). ‘He gave them confidence in His unfailing sympathy, by shewing that He bore even to the throne of heaven the marks of His dying love’ (ib. p. 79).

The marks (στιγματα) which St. Paul bore in his body (Galatians 6:17) have by some been connected with these prints of our Lord’s passion, as if they were reproduced in the Apostle’s body, comparing 2 Corinthians 4:10, Romans 6:5-6 etc., and referring to the well-known stigmata of Francis of Assisi. But an entirely different explanation of the passage is now generally accepted, according to which the allusion is to marks of ownership branded on the bodies of temple slaves and others (see Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , Lightfoot’s note in loco, and art. ‘Mark’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iii. 245). See Stigmata.

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