Questions And Answers

Q.-(1) In what sense did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit when the Lord breathed on (or into) them in John 20.22?

Q.-(2) What significance is there in the absence of the definite article before the words "Holy Spirit," in the original, in this passage and many others in the New Testament?

(1) Note, it does not say that the Lord breathed on or into the disciples the Holy Spirit. The words of Acts 1.5, 8, coupled with John 7.89, make the matter quite clear that the Holy Spirit was not given until the Lord was glorified, and it was yet some days after the Lord appeared to His own before the Spirit was given. This was on the day of Pentecost, when the witness-bearing to the Lord was timed to commence.

(2) The general rule in Greek is said to be that when the definite article is used, the thing or person is viewed objectively, but when there is no definite article the thing or person is spoken of characteristically. Such as when we say "the man," we mean a particular man that is in mind or in view, and when we say "man" it is the character of the being we have in mind. Thus in the two scriptures in Acts 1.5, 8 we have these differences indicated. In verse 5 we have baptism "in Holy Spirit," which is in contrast to baptism "in water"; it emphasizes the character of the Spirit in whom we are baptized. But in verse S it says, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you." Here the Holy Spirit is viewed objectively as the Person who would come upon the disciples. In verses 5 and 8 it is the same Holy Spirit, one of the Persons of the Godhead.

unknown | Jun 1956
Questions And Answers