Hands or Wrists?
A Greek Textual Analysis of the Location of the Nail Marks in John 20:25–27
Abstract
When the risen Jesus invites Thomas to examine the marks of crucifixion, the Gospel of John states that these marks were “in” His hands. This statement has traditionally been visualized as referring to the palms. However, the Greek text itself does not anatomically specify that location. This white paper conducts a focused grammatical, lexical, and syntactical analysis of the relevant New Testament passages—using the Textus Receptus as the primary textual base—to determine what locations the Greek language itself permits. The study intentionally brackets tradition, artwork, commentary, archaeology, and external artifacts, asking a single question: what does Biblical Greek actually say, and what does it not say, about the location of the nail marks?
1. Introduction
Let’s nail this down.
When the Gospel of John describes the risen Jesus showing Thomas the marks of the nails in His hands, the text raises a precise and important question: how tightly does the Greek language define the location of those wounds? Rather than relying on tradition, artistic convention, or later commentary, this study examines the original Greek wording, grammar, and syntax of the relevant passages. By analyzing how the term χείρ (“hand”) functions within the New Testament and comparing it with other biblical uses of the same word, this paper seeks to determine—using Scripture alone—what locations the text allows for the nail marks on Jesus’ body. The goal is not speculation, but linguistic clarity grounded in the Greek text itself.
Most readers instinctively picture the nail marks of the crucifixion in the palms of Jesus’ hands. That assumption is common and understandable. However, the New Testament does not speak in anatomical precision, and therefore the question must be reframed: not where tradition places the nails, but where the Greek text itself allows them to be.
2. Methodological Framework
This study follows a deliberately narrow linguistic methodology.
First, it identifies the Greek passages in which Jesus invites Thomas to inspect the wounds in His “hands.”
Second, it presents the Greek text and examines key clauses through an English interlinear, focusing on terms related to “hands” and “nails.”
Third, it parses the grammar of χείρ (“hand”), including case, number, syntactical role, and its relationship to the phrase “mark of the nails.”
Fourth, it compares χείρ usage elsewhere in the New Testament where physical context demonstrates inclusion of the wrist or arm-adjacent region, relying solely on grammar and narrative logic.
Finally, it draws a conclusion grounded exclusively in Greek usage and syntactical consistency, without appeal to tradition, commentary, archaeology, or external artifacts.
3. Greek Texts: The Thomas “Hands” Passages
The question is anchored in two closely related statements in John 20: Thomas’ stated requirement for belief and Jesus’ invitation to examine the wounds.
John 20:25 reads: “Ἐὰν μὴ ἴδω ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων …”
John 20:27 reads: “Φέρε τὸν δάκτυλόν σου ὧδε καὶ ἴδε τὰς χεῖράς μου …”
A parallel resurrection appearance appears in Luke 24:39: “ἴδετε τὰς χεῖράς μου καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου …”
4. English Interlinear and Lexical Observations
The most precise locational statement appears in John 20:25. The clause “ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων” may be rendered, “in/on his hands the mark of the nails.”
The preposition ἐν governs the dative plural χερσίν, producing an explicitly locative construction. The text specifies where the mark is located, but not which anatomical sub-part of the hand is involved.
The noun τύπος (“mark, imprint”) is modified by the genitive phrase τῶν ἥλων (“of the nails”). Importantly, the nails are grammatically connected to the mark, not directly to the hands.
Thus, the Greek does not say “nails of the hands,” but “the mark of the nails located in/on the hands.” This syntactical relationship is critical to the question of anatomical precision.
John 20:27, by contrast, is demonstrative rather than locative. The accusative plural χεῖράς functions as the direct object of ἴδε (“see”), identifying the visible wound-bearing region without narrowing the location further.
5. Grammatical and Syntactical Constraints
The grammar of John 20:25–27 establishes several boundaries.
First, the locative force of ἐν with the dative indicates placement within a region, not a point. Greek has more precise anatomical terms available but does not use them here.
Second, the syntax attaches “nails” to “mark,” not to “hands,” preventing an argument that the nails themselves are grammatically anchored to a specific sub-part of the hand.
Third, the text supplies no anatomical modifier—no term for palm, back of hand, wrist, or joint. The Greek remains intentionally non-specific beyond the χείρ region.
6. Comparative New Testament Usage of χείρ
Because John does not define χείρ anatomically, its lexical range must be established internally from Scripture.
A decisive internal control appears in Acts 12:7, where Peter’s chains are said to fall “ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν” (“from the hands”). Chains do not rest in the palms; they restrain at the wrist or forearm region. Yet Scripture uses χείρ to describe that location.
This usage demonstrates that χείρ can function as a broader limb-region term that naturally includes the wrist-adjacent area.
Additional New Testament usages support this functional breadth. Phrases such as “stretch out your hand,” “lay hands on,” and idiomatic expressions like “the hand of the Lord” consistently treat χείρ as a regional or functional term rather than a narrowly anatomical one.
When this established lexical range is brought back to John 20:25, the phrase “τύπος τῶν ἥλων ἐν ταῖς χερσίν” is grammatically compatible with nail marks located at the wrist or hand–wrist junction while still being accurately described as “in the hands.”
7. Final Conclusion (Greek Text Only)
Based on Greek grammar, syntax, and internal New Testament usage alone, the wording of John 20:25–27 does not require a palm-only interpretation. The locative construction places the mark of the nails within the χείρ region, while the syntactical attachment of “nails” to “mark” leaves the anatomical sub-location unspecified. When χείρ is interpreted in light of its broader New Testament usage—particularly in contexts such as Acts 12:7, where wrist-level restraints are described as being “from the hands”—it becomes clear that the Greek text allows for the wrist or hand–wrist junction to be included within the meaning of “hands.” Therefore, the most precise conclusion permitted by Biblical Greek is that the nail marks were located in the hands understood as a region broad enough to include the wrist-adjacent area, rather than being restricted exclusively to the center of the palms.
Greek Text Usage Disclaimer
For this study, the Textus Receptus is adopted as the primary Greek text for contextual and comparative analysis. As the 16th-century printed Greek New Testament underlying Reformation-era translations such as the King James Version, the Textus Receptus provides a stable and historically influential linguistic baseline. The passages examined (John 20:25–27) are textually stable within this tradition, with no variants affecting the terms related to “hand,” “nail,” or wound location. Modern critical editions may be consulted secondarily for confirmation, but all primary analysis and conclusions herein are grounded in the Greek forms and constructions preserved in the Textus Receptus.