Did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them?

Question

Jesus had spent quite a bit of time speaking to his disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15, & 16. So, if the Holy Spirit was indeed imparted to the disciples when Jesus breathed on them in John 21, with Thomas not present, why did they not mention anything to Thomas about it happening when he was with them a week later? Their response was, "We have seen the Lord!" which is noteworthy, but having received so much instruction about the Holy Spirit just a few days before, is it not striking they would fail to mention it when they encountered Thomas a week later?

Answer 1

Yes, because:

"And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" John 20:22

First, notice Yeshua breathed on his "disiples". This means Matthias also received the spirit set-apart this day (Acts 1:21 confirms this). Thomas didn't need to be there to receive the spirit. He saw Yeshua later, and there is no reason why Yeshua couldn't have breathed on him as well. However, we know that Thomas did receive it, because:

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:1-4

This passage says that all twelve Apostles were "filled" with the spirit set-apart. Nothing in Acts says that the Apostles "received" it on this day. Being "filled" with the spirit is common in Acts:

"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel" Acts 4:8

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:31

"And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." Acts 13:52

So I say the disciples did receive the spirit when Yeshua breathed on them, and Thomas received it as well. As a bonus, I believe Matthias received it and all the disciples received it. It gave them the authority to forgive sins, and it gave them the power to speak other languages in Acts 2.

Answer 2

In the event documented by John, Jesus does not give them the entirety of the gift of the Spirit - which they will receive at Pentecost - but only that which they will require for the purpose of remitting the sins of others [John 20:23].

I do not think that the fact that Jesus bestowed only a partial gift of the Holy Spirit on this occasion implies that He was somehow unable to bestow the full gift. Just because one does not perform some action at some particular time does not logically prove that one was somehow incapable of performing other action.

John Chrysostom, writing in the 4th century, observed that Christ's early bestowal of the gift of remission of sins was an example of what Paul would later refer to as diversities of gifts [1 Corinthians 12:4]:

As a king sending forth governors, gives power to cast into prison and to deliver from it, so in sending these forth, Christ invests them with the same power. But how says He, If I go not away, He will not come [John 16:7], and yet gives them the Spirit? Some say that He gave not the Spirit, but rendered them fit to receive It, by breathing on them. For if Daniel when he saw an Angel was afraid, what would not they have suffered when they received that unspeakable Gift, unless He had first made them learners? Wherefore He said not, You have received the Holy Ghost, but, Receive the Holy Ghost. Yet one will not be wrong in asserting that they then also received some spiritual power and grace; not so as to raise the dead, or to work miracles, but so as to remit sins. For the gifts of the Spirit are of different kinds; wherefore He added, Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, showing what kind of power He was giving. But in the other case, after forty days, they received the power of working miracles. Wherefore He says, You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa [Acts 1:8]. And witnesses they became by means of miracles, for unspeakable is the grace of the Spirit and multiform the gift. But this comes to pass, that you may learn that the gift and the power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is One. For things which appear to be peculiar to the Father, these are seen also to belong to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. How then, says some one, does none come to the Son, except the Father draw him? [John 6:44] Why, this very thing is shown to belong to the Son also. I, He says, am the Way: no man comes unto the Father but by Me [John 14:6]. And observe that it belongs to the Spirit also; for No man can call Jesus Christ Lord, but by the Holy Ghost [1 Corinthians 12:3]. Again, we see that the Apostles were given to the Church at one time by the Father, at another by the Son, at another by the Holy Ghost, and that the diversities of gifts belong to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Homily LXXXVI on the Gospel According to St. John

Answer 3

The difficulty here is that Jesus seems to be giving the Holy Spirit in John 20:22, long before the Pentecost event of Acts 2:1-4. Craig S. Keener (Acts: An Exegetical Commentary : Volume 1) says some scholars think that Luke and John view the same event but with different theological emphases. This leads Keener to ask whether Luke had invented his version of Pentecost or whether John altered the setting so as to include the Pentecost before his Gospel finishes.

An alternative position is that John and Acts simply come from two different traditions and each was written without knowledge of the other. J. Carl L. Laney (John- Moody Gospel Commentary) says those who take John 20:22 as a promise of the Spirit's coming fail to appreciate the full significance of the symbolic gesture associated with Jesus' words. He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." He did not say, "You will receive the Holy Spirit."

In Laney's view (and that of Plumer), this plainly implies that something was bestowed there and then, very likely a provisional provision for the disciples during the fifty days until Pentecost. We are not told why a provisional provision of the Holy Spirit would be necessary, and it could be a difficulty for Trinitarianism if Jesus was unable to bestow a full provision of the Holy Spirit. On the face of it, in giving the disciples the Holy Spirit, Jesus is giving the ten apostles (Thomas being absent) the power to forgive sins:

John 20:23: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Elaine Pagels, in Beyond Belief, says that, for reasons associated with the early second-century church rivalry, John's author created Doubting Thomas: John 11:16 (Thomas did not believe Jesus would raise Lazarus); John 14:3-6 (Thomas showed doubts); John 20:25 (Thomas would not believe that Jesus had risen) - and likewise portrayed Thomas as missing out on receiving the Holy Spirit. The author of Acts had no such motive and therefore tells us that Thomas was present at the subsequent Pentecostal event.