ACC ~ John 20 v22
THE GRADUAL MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT
GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: [Christ’s disciples] were able to receive [the Spirit] on three occasions: before he was glorified by the passion, after he was glorified by the resurrection and after his ascension. … Now the first of these manifests him—the healing of the sick and casting out of evil spirits and so does that breathing on them after the resurrection, which was clearly a divine inspiration. And so too the present distribution of the fiery tongues. But the first manifested him indistinctly, the second more expressly, this present one more perfectly, since he is no longer present only in energy but … substantially, associating with us and dwelling in us. ON PENTECOST, ORATION 41.11. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 7:383.
TWOFOLD GIVING OF THE SPIRIT
AUGUSTINE: But the reason why, after his resurrection, he both gave the Holy Spirit, first on earth, and afterward sent him from heaven, [1] is in my judgment this: that “love is shed abroad in our hearts,” [2] by that gift itself, whereby we love God and our neighbors, according to those two commandments, “on which hang all the law and the prophets.” [3] And Jesus Christ signified this by giving them the Holy Spirit once on earth because of the love of our neighbor and a second time from heaven because of the love of God. And if some other reason may perhaps be given for this double gift of the Holy Spirit, at any rate we ought not to doubt that the same Holy Spirit was given when Jesus breathed on them, of whom he says, “Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” [4] where this Trinity is especially commended to us. It is therefore he who was also given from heaven on the day of Pentecost, that is, ten days after the Lord ascended into heaven. ON THE TRINITY 15.26.46. [5]
[1] Acts 2:4.
[2] Rom 5:5.
[3] Mt 22:37-40.
[4] Mt 28:19.
[5] NPNF 1 3:224**; see also Novatian On the Trinity 29.
RECEIVING THE SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED FROM BEING CLOTHED IN IT
CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: This was the second time he breathed on human beings—his first breath [1] having been stifled through willful sins. [2] … But though he bestowed his grace then, he was to lavish it yet more bountifully. And he says to them, I am ready to give it even now, but the vessel cannot yet hold it. For awhile therefore receive as much grace as you can bear. And look forward for yet more. “But stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.” [3] Receive it in part now. Then, you shall wear it in its fullness. For the one who receives often possesses only a part of the gift. But the one who is clothed is completely enfolded by his robe. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 17.12. [4]
[1] See Gen 2:7.
[2] Of Adam and Eve.
[3] Lk 24:49.
[4] NPNF 2 7:127*.
THE LIFE-GIVING POWER OF THE SPIRIT
THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: With these words he teaches them the identity of the giver and the distributor of all these goods. His “breathing” convinces them to have no doubt about this because the body was created in the beginning as immobile and inanimate but then received life, which it did not have in itself when the soul entered into it through “breathing,” as the blessed Moses said. [1] After Jesus breathed for the first time, he mentioned the Spirit in order to show that, as then nothing prevented the body from living even though it did not by nature possess [life], which the soul by entering gave it, so now they had to believe that the body of human beings was made imperishable through resurrection, because the Spirit who gives it this strength is powerful. Therefore he said to them, You must truly believe in what has been said to you and must have no doubts about the resurrection. You must not reject the honor of the apostolate because you are scared of being sent as messengers of a new doctrine into the world. You will indeed receive the effect of the Spirit, which, at the right time, will confer on you resurrection and immortality.
Through the Spirit, you will receive in this life an amazing, supernatural strength to perform unheard-of miracles by a mere word. You will be able to face easily any afflictions that may befall you because of those who oppose your preaching. And even though there were many other things to be accomplished in them through the Spirit, without mentioning them, he mentioned the most important argument of all. Here, he says, is what will clearly demonstrate to you the strength of the Spirit. Indeed, as soon as you receive it, you will be able to absolve the sins of whomever you want, as well as to pronounce a sentence of condemnation against anyone. If you, who are human, after receiving the gift of the Spirit, will be able to do all those things that are of God—indeed, only he has the power to judge—I leave to you to consider what the effectiveness of the Spirit is. Once you have received it, you must no longer doubt. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 7.20.22. [2]
[1] Gen 2:7.
[2] CSCO 4 3:354-55.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE BREATH OF GOD
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The Son, sharing the same nature as God the Father, has the Spirit in the same manner that the Father would be understood to have the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit is not something added or which comes from without, for it would be naïve—even insane—to hold such an opinion. But God the Father has the Spirit, just as each one of us has our own breath within us that pours forth from the innermost parts of the body. This is why Christ physically breathed on his disciples, showing that as the breath proceeds physically from the human mouth, so too does Christ, in a manner befitting God, pour forth the [Spirit] from the divine essence. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.1. [1]
[1] LF 48:303**.
THE SPIRIT IS THE SON’S TO GIVE
ATHANASIUS: [He gave the Spirit] to the disciples, demonstrating his Godhead and his majesty and intimating that he was not inferior but equal to the Spirit. And so, he gave the Spirit, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and “I send him,” and “he shall glorify me,” and “Whatever he hears is what he shall speak.” [1] … Through whom then and from whom is it that the Spirit should be given but through the Son, to whom also the Spirit belongs? And when were we enabled to receive it, except when the Word became man? DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 1.12.50. [2]
[1] Jn 16:14.
[2] NPNF 2 4:336**.
PREPARED TO RECEIVE THE SPIRIT
CHRYSOSTOM: How is it that he says elsewhere, “If I do not go away, he [1] will not come,” [2] and yet he gives them the Spirit here? Some say that by breathing he did not give them the Spirit but prepared them to receive the Spirit by breathing on them. For if Daniel’s senses were so overpowered by the sight of the angel, [3] how would they have been overwhelmed in receiving that unutterable gift, if he had not first prepared them for it! … It would not be wrong, however, to say that they received then the gift of a certain spiritual power, not to raise the dead and do miracles but to remit sins. For the gifts of the Spirit are of different kinds. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 86.3. [4]
[1] The Comforter.
[2] Jn 16:7.
[3] Dan 10:18-19.
[4] NPNF 1 14:325**; PG 59:471.
THE BEGINNING PROCEEDS FROM UNITY
CYPRIAN: To all the apostles, after his resurrection, he gives an equal power and says, “As the Father has sent me, even so send I you: Receive the Holy Spirit. Whoever’s sins you remit, they shall be remitted to him. And whoever’s sins you retain, they shall be retained.” And yet, that he might promote unity, he arranged by his authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one … so that the beginning proceeds from unity. And this one church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Song of Songs designated in the person of our Lord, saying, “My dove, my spotless one, is but one. She is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bore her.” [1] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 4. [2]
[1] Song 6:9.
[2] ANF 5:422*.
Jn