20:6 seeth. When Peter “seeth” the clothes, the sense of the Greek is “looked quizzically.”

20:7 wrapped together. This word is used elsewhere only in Matthew 27:59 and Luke 23:53, all in connection only with the “in-wrapping” of Jesus body in the graveclothes. The scene was of the graveclothes (and the napkin by itself) still wrapped together just as they had been, but collapsed inward. The resurrected body of Jesus had simply passed through the wrappings—as He later did through the doors (John 20:19,26)—leaving them still intact on the shelf where the body had been placed.

20:8 he saw, and believed. When John “saw”—unlike the word used referring to Peter—the Greek indicates “looked with understanding.” He quickly understood that no other explanation than resurrection could account for the empty, yet intact, graveclothes. Therefore, he believed! This evidence of the empty tomb, which first convinced the beloved disciple, has later convinced multitudes of others, for it can never be explained in any other way. If Jesus had only swooned, or if the Romans or Jews had taken the body, it would soon have become known, and the spread of Christianity halted forthwith. But the body was gone, and would soon ascend to heaven, to remain forever inaccessible to Jesus’ enemies who would have liked desperately to prove that Jesus was dead.