"On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' -John 20:19-22, ESV
Unfortunately, most Christians are oblivious to the fact that the New Testament was written from the perspective of a GREEK translation of the Old Testament commonly known as the Septuagint. Nevertheless, even most casual students of the New Testament are aware of the fact that those documents were originally penned in Greek. Now, with this background, we are prepared to look at a particular Greek word which was employed in two critical passages in the Greek version of both Testaments, Genesis 2:7 in the Old and John 20:22 in the New.
In the Blue Letter Bible entry for emphysao, we read: "The Greek word here used is employed nowhere else in the New Testament, but is the very one used by the Septuagint translators of Gen 2:7: 'And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.' There, man's original creation was completed by this act of God; who, then, can fail to see that here in John 20, on the day of the Saviour's resurrection, the new creation had begun, begun by the Head of the new creation, the last Adam acting as 'a quickening spirit' (1Cr 15:45)!" (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, p. 1100)."
Emphysao literally means "to blow at or on - breathe on." (Same source) Hence, we can see that just as God blew into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul at that moment; Jesus also blew upon his apostles and imparted to them the spark of eternal life through the Holy Spirit! Notice, that the Gospel of John says that Jesus commanded them to "receive the Holy Spirit" after he had blown/breathed on them. Contrary to what many Christians believe, THIS was the occasion when Jesus first gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples - this was the beginning of the new creation in Jesus Christ.
In both cases, God breathed on humans to impart life to them - on one occasion, physical/mortal life - and on another spiritual/eternal life! And this knowledge makes what happened on that first Day of Pentecost following Christ's ascension to heaven even more meaningful. You remember, "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit..." - Acts 2:1-4, ESV God blew/breathed on them, and they were made alive!
What significance does all of this have for us? Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome: "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." (Romans 8:11, ESV) Breathe on us, O God!
For those who may be inclined to view this as contradicting the first two chapters of the book of Acts, may I suggest a short read?
ReplyDeleteCheck out: https://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/when-did-the-disciples-receive-the-holy-spirit/
This is an important point in anthropology as sub-category of theology. In the First Century Jews and Greeks had a particular model for defining the existential configuration of a human being. A human being consisted, in Greek, of sarx, psuche and pneuma. Sarx refers to the flesh; psuche refers to the animating principle that renders the flesh functional and operable; pneuma is the spirit that provides intellect and personality. (This tripartite nature is not an analogy of the Trinity; to assert such is the error of Partialism.) Sarx and psuche (body and soul) are perishable. Pneuma is durable. Most would use the word imperishable instead of my durable. But I do not regard that anything is really imperishable of itself. It is only imperishable if that is the will of God. God sustains everything in existence. I think the term durable reminds us of this.
ReplyDeleteThe imparting of the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit adds to this configuration. Suddenly we have a human being as body, soul, spirit and the mind of God – truly a new creation. Some say that Homo Sapiens then becomes Homo Divinus – we are made partakers of the nature of God. What is impressive about this, as the post states, is that it takes an exceptional act of God to create a Christian by transcending the baseline of sarx, psuche and pneuma and imparting the presence of the Spirit. What is sometimes confusing in the New Testament is understanding when Paul is using the term spirit, meaning a human component, or Spirit, referring to the Holy Spirit. This usually takes careful thought and digging through the context.
It is further instructive that Jesus uses analogy in the ceremony of imparting the Holy Spirit. He breathes on the disciples. At another place the spirit is compared to the wind. The scripture is poetically using something physical to depict something that has force but is invisible. This is quite obviously an analogy because both wind and breathe are generated by the movement of physical gases – atoms and molecules in motion, impelled by temperature gradient or the force of the lungs. The natural phenomena described are material rather than spiritual. And ceremony often uses such symbolism. That is a point of consideration for the extreme Bible literalists. We might also use this analogy to argue against the idea of an anthropomorphic God. Why would scripture use wind as an analogy for spirit and not the human body if God, who is spirit, has a body? But that is a topic for another time.
Yes, there is a lot of fertile ground here for further exploration. As you know, comparing Spirit to breath and wind is an old and common theme in Scripture. Moreover, the analogy to this invisible force whose impact is clearly observable seems very appropriate on many levels. I have written previously about the pneuma. If you would like to write a more extensive piece, I would encourage you to do so (and I will post it here). Yes, this is an invitation to do a guest post.
DeleteYou are welcome to discourse here on any theological topic that you believe could be helpful to others.
ReplyDeleteThanks much. I enjoy your blog because it has strong Christian momentum and focuses on theology. It also gives me the chance to comment in the form of mini-essays. And commenting, if it is more than a sound bite, encourages precision in writing. I'll see if I can work up a useful topic.
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