The Empty Tomb
When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22 · Berean Standard Bible
Jesus breathes on them and says, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' Just as God breathed life into Adam, Jesus breathes new life into His followers. A new creation begins.
This echoes the very beginning of the Bible, when God breathed life into the first human. Now Jesus breathes His Spirit into His followers, creating something entirely new.
Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit.
Jesus breathes on His friends, and the Spirit fills them. It's Genesis all over again—but this time, it's not just physical life. It's resurrection life. It's the beginning of everything new.
Jesus breathes on the disciples and says 'Receive the Holy Spirit,' an act that echoes God's creative breath in Genesis 2:7 and anticipates the full Pentecost outpouring.
The verb 'enephusesen' (breathed on) appears in the LXX of Genesis 2:7, where God breathed life into Adam. This Johannine Pentecost represents a new creation moment. Its relationship to Acts 2 is debated—some see it as a preliminary impartation, others as John's own Pentecost account.
Jesus breathes the Spirit upon the disciples.
In a deliberate echo of God breathing life into Adam, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. This is a new creation moment: the first Adam received life; the last Adam imparts eternal, Spirit-empowered life.
20After He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.
21Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”
22When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”
24Now Thomas called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Read all of John 20 — Mary weeping in a garden hears her name spoken by a voice she thought she'd lost forever. Then Jesus walks into a locked room: peace.
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