John 20:22

John 20:22 is the twenty-second verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. It records Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples during his first appearance after the resurrection.

Content

The original Koine Greek, according to the Textus Receptus, reads:
In the King James Version of the Bible this verse is translated as:
The modern World English Bible translates the passage as:
For a collection of other versions see .

Analysis

The account of Jesus' first appearance in the Gospel of John shows similarity to the account in the Gospel of Luke, in that it happened in Jerusalem in the evening of his resurrection from the dead.
"He breathed on them" is from one Greek word ἐνεφύσησεν, , recalling Genesis 2:7:
The command, "receive the Holy Spirit", serves to equip the disciples for their missionary work, which is dependent on the mission of the Son, as stated in verse 21. Readings differ as to whether the words refer to "the present actual reception of the Holy Spirit, or a promise of its future reception. Heinrich Meyer identified several theologians representative of both points of view. Andreas Köstenberger suggests that this represents a symbolic promise anticipating the gift of the Spirit fifty days later at Pentecost. John Calvin notes that here the disciples were sprinkled with the grace of the Spirit, but not yet saturated with the full enduement of power until Acts 2. and similarly theologian Henry Alford warns that The giving of the Spirit at this time was linked with the forgiving on sins.