John 20:22

he breathed on them The very same Greek verb (here only in N.T.) is used by the LXX. in Genesis 2:7 (Wis 15:11) of breathing life into Adam. This Gospel of the new Creation looks back at its close, as at its beginning (John 1:1), to the first Creation.

We are probably to regard the breath here not merely as the emblem of the Spirit (John 3:8), but as the meansby which the Spirit was imparted to them. -Receive ye," combined with the action of breathing, implies this. This is all the more clear in the Greek, because pneumameans both -breath" and -spirit," a point which cannot be preserved in English; but at least -Spirit" is better than -Ghost" We have here, therefore, an anticipation and earnest of Pentecost; just as Christ's bodily return from the grave and temporary manifestation to them was an anticipation of His spiritual return and abiding Presence with them -even unto the end of the world."

Receive ye Or, take ye, implying that the recipient may welcome or reject the gift: he is not a mere passive receptacle. It is the very word used for - Take" (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:17) in the account of the institution of the Eucharist; which somewhat confirms the view that here, as there, there is an outward sign and vehicle of an inward spiritual grace. The expression still more plainly implies that some gift was offered and bestowed then and there: it is an unnatural wresting of plain language to make -Take ye" a mere promise. There was therefore a Paschal as distinct from a Pentecostal gift of the Holy Spirit, the one preparatory to the other. It should be noticed that -Holy Ghost" is without the definite article in the Greek, and this seems to imply that the gift is not made in all its fulness. See on John 14:26, where both substantive and adjective have the article.