John 20:22

These disciples needed supernatural spiritual power to carry out such a task, but what did Jesus really do next? There are several views.

One view is that Jesus gave these disciples a temporary infusion of His Spirit. [Note: Blum, p. 343; cf. Calvin, 2:205; Morris, pp. 747-48.] The act of breathing on them recalls the Creation in which God breathed His life into Adam (Genesis 2:7). Thus Jesus may have been suggesting that He was doing a new creative work by filling these men with His Spirit. Later Jesus explained that the Spirit would come upon these disciples again (Acts 1:8). This present act of Jesus then may have represented a preliminary and temporary enabling that helped the disciples understand what they could expect more fully and permanently later. That baptizing came on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5; Acts 2:4; Acts 11:15).

Some problems with this view are as follows. Two bestowals of the Spirit seem unusual in view of Jesus’ earlier promises to send the Spirit (chs. 14-16) and the importance in Acts of the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost (Acts 1:5; Acts 2:4; Acts 11:15). Also there is no indication that this temporary infusion with the Spirit had any effect on the disciples. Furthermore there is no evidence that when Thomas returned to the scene Jesus gave him the Spirit as one would expect if the Spirit’s presence was essential for the disciples then (John 20:26-29).

Many readers of the Greek text have noted that "Holy Spirit" (Gr. pneuma hagion) does not have a definite article preceding it. This has led some of them to conclude that the Holy Spirit is not in view, but the breath (Gr. pneuma) of God is. They take this breath of God to be symbolic of God’s gift of spiritual power in an impersonal sense. [Note: G. Johnston, The Spirit-Paraclete in the Gospel of John, p. 11.] However, John earlier referred to the personal Holy Spirit without the article (John 7:39). That seems to be his meaning here as well. The absence of an article before a noun often has the effect of stressing the quality of the noun. In this case that would be the holiness of the Spirit.

Some modern scholars view this verse as John’s account of Pentecost. [Note: E.g., Barrett, The Gospel . . ., p. 570; and Beasley-Murray, pp. 380-82.] However this view does not take the chronological sequence of events that these books present seriously. Clearly the occasion that John described here and the events of the day of Pentecost were different.

Still others believe that Jesus was giving these disciples a symbolic and graphic reminder of the Spirit who would come upon them later. It was a demonstration of what Jesus would do when He returned to the Father and which He did do on Pentecost. He was not imparting the Spirit to them in any sense here. [Note: E.g., Harris, p. 201; Tenney, "John," p. 193; Carson, The Gospel . . ., pp. 651-55; idem, Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility: Biblical Perspectives in Tension, pp. 140-44.] This interpretation accounts for Thomas not receiving the Spirit before Pentecost. It also explains why this event had no changing effect on the disciples. Evidently there was only one coming of the Spirit on these disciples, and that happened on Pentecost. This view seems to me to be more defensible, and I prefer it.