By Timothy W. Burnett
According to John 20:21-22, Jesus prepared his disciples for the day they would be sent out as witnesses and servants. There are many records of how he prepared his disciples for the ministry. But in John 20:22 he gave them instructions on how to get the spiritual authority in the first place. Anybody who reads verse 22 from the King James Bible can easily conclude that Jesus breathed holy spirit on his disciples. As they read on, they are shocked to discover that in Acts 2:4 the same disciples were filled with holy spirit. Please keep in mind that God's word never contradicts itself. Any apparent contradiction is due to error in interpretation or in translation. In the present case, the contradiction is related to the use of the word "on". The earlier known Greek texts used the word "en", which carried the same sense as the current English word "in". With this, we can see that Jesus breathed in and said, "Receive the Holy Ghost." Why did he do this?
A study of the word "receive" will help to understand why Jesus breathed in. The word "receive" was translated from the earlier known Greek word "lambano", which basically meant to lay-hold of, seize unto or receive something. Based on its usage throughout the New Testament, it carried with it a sense of permanent ownership. The word "lambano" is also found in Acts 1:8, "but you shall receive [lambano] power." Go to Acts 2:33, "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received [lambano] of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear." Jesus Christ laid-hold of the promise of holy spirit from his Father. That which he received from his Father could be seen and heard by everybody on the day of Pentecost. When we track back to Acts 2:6-11, we see that they saw and heard in their own languages the first apostles speak the wonderful works of God. They saw and heard them speak in tongues.
Now we can see clearly that according to Acts 2:33, when the first twelve apostles began to speak in tongues, they received or laid-hold of the promise of holy spirit. With this in mind, we can more perfectly understand the scripture in John 20:22. Jesus showed them what was to happen in the future. As recorded in Acts 2:1-4 that time came. Once holy spirit was poured out according to Acts 2:2, the disciples would have been filled with holy spirit after their next in-take of air. Next, they would have received or laid-hold of holy spirit when they began to speak with other languages as "the Spirit" gave the words.
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