John 20:22

John 20:22
← 20:21 20:23 →
"Resurrection of Christ": Jesus appears to his disciples. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg.
Book	Gospel of John
Christian Bible part	New Testament

John 20:22 is the twenty-second

The original Koine Greek, according to the Textus Receptus, reads:^[1]

καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐνεφύσησεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς Λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον·

In the King James Version of the Bible it is translated as:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

The modern World English Bible translates the passage as:

When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit!"

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub John 20:22

Analysis

The account of Jesus' first appearance in the Gospel of John (20:19-23; 21:13) shows similarity to the account in the Gospel of Luke (24:36–49), that it happened in Jerusalem in the evening of his resurrection from the dead.^[2]

"He breathed on them" is from one Greek word ἐνεφύσησεν, enephysēsen^[1] recalling Genesis 2:7.^[3]

"Received the Holy Spirit" is to equip the disciples for their missionary work (which is dependent on the mission of the Son as stated in verse 21).^[4] This represents a symbolic promise for the gift of the Spirit fifty days later at Pentecost (Acts 2).^[5] John Calvin (2. 205) notes that here the disciples were sprinkled with the grace of the Spirit, but not yet saturated with the full enduement of power until Acts 2.^[6] The giving of the Spirit at this time was linked with the forgiving on sins (verse 23).^[7]

References