John 20:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And now He no longer entreats the Father, but by His own authority grants power to the disciples. As a king, when sending governors, gives them authority both to imprison and to release from prison, so Christ, sending the disciples, clothes them with the same authority.

How, then, did He earlier say, "If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you" (John 16:7), while now He gives the Spirit?

Some say that Christ did not impart the Spirit to the disciples, but through His breathing made them capable of receiving Him. For if Daniel, at the sight of an angel, was filled with "terror" (Dan 8:17), what would the disciples not have experienced if they had received this ineffable grace without first being prepared for it?

He breathes and gives them the Holy Spirit. Now He does not impart to them the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit, for He will give this to them at Pentecost. Rather, He makes them capable of receiving the Spirit. For the words, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” mean the same as, “Be ready to receive the Spirit.”

Having shown them shining with the great dignity of the apostleship, and having shown them, as I have just said, to be builders and sacred ministers of the divine mysteries, He at once sanctifies them. He does this by granting them the Holy Spirit through visible breathing. Thus we too may firmly believe that the Holy Spirit is not alien to the Son, but consubstantial with Him, and proceeds from the Father through Him. He showed that the gift of the Spirit must necessarily follow those appointed through Him to the divine apostleship. For what reason? Because they would not only fail to accomplish the will of God, but would not overcome the snares of sin, unless they had first been clothed with power from on high (Lk 24:49). They had to be changed into something other than what they were before. Therefore it was said to one of the ancients, "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will be turned into another man" (1 Kgs 10:6). Those who hope in God will renew their strength, as the prophet Isaiah promised us (Is 40:31). The all-wise Paul, after saying that he labored more than some, plainly in apostolic struggles, immediately added, "Yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me" (1 Cor 15:10). Besides this, we shall point out that they could not understand the mystery concerning Christ at all, nor be exact initiators into the mysteries. They could do so only by enlightenment from the Spirit, coming to the revelation of mysteries beyond mind and speech. Through this they were able to rise to the teaching that was fitting. Of this he says, "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' according to Paul, except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3). Since they had to say that Jesus is Lord, that is, to preach Him as God and Lord, they necessarily now receive the grace of the Spirit joined to the apostolic dignity. Christ gives the Spirit, not as a minister of another's glory, but rather by communicating Him from Himself. For He descends upon us from the Father in no other way than through the Son. Therefore the ancient written law, containing shadows and images of the truth (Heb 10:1), commanded a disclosure of sacred things that was, so to speak, more bodily and visible in coarser realities. Thus blessed Moses, again by God's command, established washing with water both for Aaron himself and for the Levites (Lev 8:6). Then, after slaughtering the ram of consecration, he anointed "the tip of the right ear," as it is written. He also put blood "on the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot" (Lev 8:22-23). He depicted, as in image and reflection, the mystery of Christ. For here there are water and blood, through which sanctification takes place. How then can there be any doubt that the beauty of the truth was still being portrayed in obscure figures? But our Lord Jesus Christ, changing the figures of the law into the truth itself, Himself consecrates the sacred ministers at the divine altars. For He Himself is the ram of consecration. He consecrates them by true sanctification, showing them to be communicants of His own nature through the gift of the Spirit. In a certain manner, He transforms human nature into superhuman power and glory. Let this reasoning of ours also be admitted as certainly not lacking truth. Yet perhaps someone will come forward and think it necessary to ask where and when the disciples of our Savior actually received grace through the Spirit. Was it when the Savior, immediately after the Resurrection, appeared to them in the house, breathed on them, and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit"? Or was it when, in the days of Holy Pentecost, they were also gathered in one place, and "suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rush of a mighty wind"? Then "there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and it rested separately on each of them, and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:2-4). We must, he will say, admit either that a twofold grace was given them, or that we do not know the time when they truly became partakers of the Holy Spirit. Both the word of our Savior and what is written about the holy disciples in Acts must prove true. But this matter especially causes perplexity because of what Christ Himself once said: "It is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you" (Jn 16:7). The questioner may say: Truth cannot err, that is, Christ cannot err. Therefore, when He said plainly that the Comforter would not come to them until He ascended to the Father, and that only then would He surely send Him when He was above with the Father, how can He be shown giving the Spirit before accomplishing His departure from here? Though this matter is very obscure, and reasoning about it is difficult and may greatly disturb, it receives its proper resolution. We must believe that Christ is not one simple man like us, but God from God. He uses His words in accordance with the proper order of the matter. He promised to send us the Advocate from heaven when He would be with God and the Father. This He did after departing to the Father, giving the richest outpouring of the Spirit to those who wish to receive Him. Each one receives Him, plainly, through faith in Him and holy baptism. Then what was spoken through the prophet was fulfilled: "I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28). But the Son had to be the giver and supplier of the Spirit together with the Father. Those who believe in Him had to know that He is the power of the Father (1 Cor 1:24), which created all things and brought man from nonbeing into being. For God the Father, in the beginning, took dust from the earth, as it is written (Gen 2:7), and formed a living creature, I mean man. He ensouled him in a manner known to Himself and illumined him by the communication of His Spirit. For "He breathed into his face the breath of life," as it is written (Gen 2:7). But since man, through disobedience, fell under death and was deprived of his original honor, God the Father created him anew and brought him up to new life through the Son, as in the beginning. How did the Son bring him up? By the death of His flesh He put death to death (1 Cor 15:54) and brought the human race up to immortality. For Christ rises for our sake. Therefore, so that we may acknowledge that from the beginning He was the Creator of our nature and sealed us with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22), the Savior again gives the Spirit to the disciples through visible breathing. He does this as in the firstfruits of human nature being renewed. Moses writes of our first creation that "He breathed into his face the breath of life" (Gen 2:7). Therefore, as man was formed and came into being in the beginning, so he is also renewed. As he was then formed according to the image of the Creator, so now, by partaking of the Holy Spirit, he is transformed into the likeness of his Maker. Is it not beyond dispute that the Spirit impresses the image of the Savior on the souls of those who receive Him? Paul clearly writes to those who, through levity, fell into concern for the law: "My little children, for whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you" (Gal 4:19). He says that Christ is formed in them in no other way than through participation in the Holy Spirit and through a way of life according to the Gospel law. Therefore, in His disciples, as in the firstfruits of nature renewed unto immortality, glory, and a Godlike image, Christ again makes His Spirit dwell. It was also necessary to understand that He is the supplier and giver of the Spirit. For this reason He said, "All that the Father has is Mine" (Jn 16:15). The Father has from Himself and in Himself His Spirit. The Son also has Him in Himself, since He is consubstantial with Him and has appeared substantially from Him. By nature He has in Himself all the properties of His Begetter. Although He often promised to accomplish many things at the proper time, He nevertheless performed them even before the appointed time for our assurance. Thus we might truly believe that what He said would certainly come to pass. We shall show this from what follows. He promised to raise the dead and to bring back to life those lying in the earth and tomb. "For the hour is coming," He says, "when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come forth. Those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" (Jn 5:25, 29). In hastening to assure us that He would easily accomplish this too, He taught in these words: "I am the Resurrection and the Life" (Jn 11:25). But since the very extraordinary work of enlivening the dead was hard to believe, He thought it necessary to anticipate the time of the Resurrection. He showed a sign by raising Lazarus, the widow's son, and Jairus's daughter. What else besides this? He says that there will be a most glorious resurrection of the saints. For then, He says, the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Mt 13:43). To confirm the truth of His words, He beforehand gave the disciples a vision of this. "Taking Peter, James, and John, He went up the mountain and was transfigured before them. His face shone like lightning, and His garments became white as snow" (Lk 9:28; Mt 17:1-2). Therefore, although He promised to do this in its own time, He also did it privately and before the proper time. He did so as a pledge of what was to come over all and in the most universal manner, in order to call forth undoubting faith. In the same way, I think, after saying that He would send them the Paraclete when He went to the Father, and appointing that very time for grace to all and over all, He performed in the disciples a kind of firstfruits of the promise. He did so for many sound and necessary reasons, of which we spoke above. Therefore they truly received participation in the Holy Spirit then also, when He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." It is impossible for Christ to speak falsely, and He would not have said "Receive" without giving. But on the days of Holy Pentecost, God gave the clearest revelation and manifestation of the Holy Spirit already dwelling in them. The fiery tongues that appeared did not indicate the beginning of the gift of the Holy Spirit in them. They only led them to the beginning of speech in tongues. Therefore it is written that "they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). Do you hear that they began to speak, not to be sanctified? He sent down upon them the division of tongues, and the Spirit dwelling in them also accomplished this. Just as the Father proclaimed from heaven the testimony concerning His Son in the words, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mt 17:5; Mt 3:17 and parallels), so also He acted upon the holy Apostles. He did this to assure the hearers, producing a voice, or causing something like a sound accessible to our hearing. Thus He made the clearest manifestation of grace on the holy Apostles, sending it to them in the form of fiery tongues. He made the descent of the Holy Spirit resemble the sound of "a rushing mighty wind" (Acts 2:2). That this too was given to the Jews as a kind of sign, you will easily understand when you hear God, the Master of all, speaking through the prophet: "By men of strange tongues and by the lips of others I will speak to this people, and even then they will not believe" (1 Cor 14:21 from Is 28:11). Therefore, so that we might believe that the blessed disciples truly are partakers of the Holy Spirit, and are now crowned from above with grace from Christ, and are able to explain the truth, and possess praise worthy of emulation for their apostleship, attested by the gift from above, He sent down fire in the form of tongues. I consider what has now been said sufficient for an exact exposition of the meaning of the words being interpreted. But since we must in every way take care that no scandal arise among the brethren through the slanders of some, we shall add the following.

After His resurrection, when Jesus appeared to the disciples, He said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). Of this it had been said: the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Having said this, He breathed. By this He showed that He was the One who by His breath made the first man alive, created him from the dust, and by His breath gave life to his members. He breathed into the faces of the disciples so that they might rise from defilement and renounce defiled works.

See Gen 2:7.

By breathing on them, He showed that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit not only of the Father, but also His Spirit.

Concerning the Holy Spirit, we say that He is from the Father and call Him the Spirit of the Father. We do not say that the Spirit is also from the Son, but we call Him the Spirit of the Son, as the divine Apostle says: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom 8:9).

We confess that He has both been manifested to us and is given to us through the Son. For it is said: "He breathed and said to them," His disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).

It is like the ray and the radiance from the sun, for the sun is the source of both ray and radiance. Yet the radiance is communicated to us through the ray, and it illumines us and is received by us.

Concerning the Son, however, we say neither that He is the Son of the Spirit nor that He is from the Spirit; Gregory the Theologian, Oration 31.

But earlier Jesus Christ had said, “If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you” (Jn 16:7). How, then, does He now give the disciples the Holy Spirit? He breathed, imparting to them grace for receiving the Holy Spirit and making them capable of receiving Him. He says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” not now, but when He descends. Or here Jesus Christ called by the name Holy Spirit the spiritual gift of forgiving and not forgiving sins, which He then imparted to the disciples.

Those sitting in Galilee in the upper room “for fear of the Jews,” with “the doors shut” (Jn 20:19), are those who live safely in the land of revelations through fear of the spirits of malice. They are on the height of divine contemplations and have shut the senses like doors. They receive the Word of God, who comes in an unknowable manner. He appears to them without sensory operation, and by the proclamation of peace (verses 19, 21) He grants them dispassion. By His breathing (verse 22) He grants the distributions of the Holy Spirit. He gives power over evil spirits (Mk 16:17) and shows them the signs (Jn 20:20) of His mysteries.

"When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit." A question arises for us: what does it mean that our Lord once bestowed the Holy Spirit while He was on earth, and once while present in heaven?

For the Holy Spirit as bestowed is plainly described as appearing nowhere else than in Acts (Acts 2:1 and following). If He is not now received through breathing, then afterward, descending from heaven, He does not appear in diverse tongues.

Why, then, is He first given to the disciples on earth and afterward sent from heaven, if not because there are two commandments of love, namely love for God and love for neighbor?

The Latins explain the fact that after the Resurrection the Lord gives the Spirit to the disciples through breathing by saying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him.

But that it was by no means the very essence of the Spirit which was then given through breathing is clear from the fact that the Holy Spirit had not yet come. "For if I do not go away," Christ says, "the Comforter will not come to you" (John 16:7).

The divine Chrysostom also bears witness in his commentary on John, speaking thus: "Some say that Christ did not then give the Spirit to the disciples, but through breathing made them capable of receiving Him.

By the Holy Spirit He means the grace and power of the All-Holy Spirit, just as elsewhere He says, "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit" (John 6:63), that is, they have spiritual grace and power.

What grace did the Apostles receive? The authority to loose and bind sins. Our Savior first promised this grace to Peter, saying to him: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt 16:19).

Then He likewise promised it to all the disciples, saying: "Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt 18:18).

When He, our Lord Christ, deigned to accomplish the whole work of salvation, then after His resurrection He breathed on the Apostles. He renewed the breath of life lost by Adam and granted them this very grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God.

But this was not all. For He had said to them that it was better for them that He should go to the Father (John 16:7). If He did not go, the Spirit of God would not come into the world.

But if He, Christ, went to the Father, then He would send Him into the world. He, the Comforter, would guide them and all who followed their teaching into all truth, and would bring to their remembrance all that He had spoken to them while He was still in the world with them (John 16:13).

This was already the grace promised by Him, "grace upon grace" (John 1:16).

"He breathed" is the symbolic designation of the communication of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. This was an actual bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon them under the symbol of breathing, because immediately after this the Lord says: "Receive the Holy Spirit."

That is, receive actual gifts of the Holy Spirit, and not only a symbol of these gifts. The full outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, so far as it was needed, took place according to the Lord's promise after His ascension (John 16:7 and parallels), on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1 and following).

The Church of Christ has never had any authority other than that which Christ gave her. Christ could not give her any authority other than that which He received from God the Father.

“As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you” (Jn 20:21), Christ says to His disciples, explaining what authority they will have. In virtue of this, the Apostle Paul says that priests are Christ’s representatives and continuers of His ministry.

Therefore, it cannot be said that the Apostles or their successors had, or could have, any authority which Christ did not have as Head of the Church. While on earth, Christ never appropriated to Himself the authority of worldly sovereigns and never used such authority.