Immediately following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, after telling his disciples that as the Father had sent Him so was He sending them, the apostle John notes that Jesus “breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (Joh 20:22). This was not his version of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that happened on the day of Pentecost 50 days later, but a description of His closest disciples being born again of His Spirit following His death and resurrection, after the manner of man’s original creation when God brought man into being as a living soul by breathing into his nostrils the breath of life; see Gen 2:7, Joh 3:3-8, 7:37-39. Until Jesus had been glorified by God raising Him from the dead, they could not be born again as a new creation into His death and resurrection; cf. Rom 1:4. But now, just as the first man Adam’s creation was unique and he received his breath of life directly from God, so did these first of the new creation receive their breath of spiritual life directly from Jesus, after which the new birth into eternal life would come through them. In what way is this understanding similar, but different, from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican claims to ecclesiastical authority based on an apostolic succession that goes back to Jesus’ original disciples? Think: In the Church do all believers who have been born again possess equal authority? Cf. 2Pe 2:10. From where then do the different authorities in the church originate, and how is it passed on? Cf. Mat 28:18, Luk 10:19, Act 1:26, 6:3, 14:23, 2Co 10:8, 1Th 2:6, 4:2, Tit 1:5. And yet, while every believer today is born again of Christ’s Spirit that originated in the first believers upon whom Jesus had breathed into them His resurrection Spirit, even as every person alive today is born of the breath of life God first breathed into Adam, does a physical succession of authority necessarily imply or guarantee a succession of true spiritual authority? See 1Sa 8:5, 1Ti 5:22 and cf. Act 5:29, 8:9-13,18-24.
Jesus Himself was conceived from the Holy Spirit and so born as a man into our world already possessing the germ of eternal life through which the rest of mankind might be born again. After receiving the breath of mortal life through His natural birth as a man He went through a season of maturation that culminated at His baptism by John. At this time the Holy Spirit came upon Him in power to mark the beginning of His ministry, also foreshadowing how the Holy Spirit would come upon His disciples following their new birth and baptism in / with / by the Holy Spirit, which first happened on the day of Pentecost. Considering Jesus’ complete maturation for thirty years as the most perfect man before beginning His ministry in power, should we be surprised at how fruitful it was, even in its few short years? And considering how the Holy Spirit was first poured out in power upon Jesus’ closest followers who were devout followers of God who had already been maturing in a spiritual sense through the light of the Jewish Scriptures that permeated their culture, as well as three years of Jesus’ teaching, should we necessarily assume that such power is normative, even for those who have no background in the truth or time walking with God? Consider that those upon whom the Spirit came in power in Acts were devout Jews, or Gentiles who were known for walking closely with God; cf. Act 10:2, 13:16,26,43,46-48; 14:1, 17:4,17. Is it possible that the amount of power for fruitful ministry that is poured out upon people through God’s Spirit, as on the day of Pentecost, is a function of their spiritual maturity, just as physical power for physical work is a function of one’s physical maturity? Does everything in God’s creation mature at the same rate? Do people, like different trees of the field, all mature at the same rate? When they do come to maturity, do they all bear the same kind of fruit, or the same quality of fruit? What should this remind us about judging other followers of Christ based upon what the eyes of our flesh might perceive as a greater or lesser anointing of power from the Holy Spirit? See 1Co 14:1-5; cf. 1Co 12:4-25.
How was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost like the way the Spirit of God came upon men even in the Old Testament? See Num 11:25, 24:2, Jdg 3:10, 11:29, 1Sa 19:20,23, 2Ch 15:1, 20:14. See also Jdg 6:34, 1Ch 12:18, and 2Ch 24:20 where the word for the Spirit coming upon a person is actually clothed, with Luke using the same word in Luk 24:49 for how the disciples would be clothed with power from on high when the Spirit came on Pentecost. See also Jdg 14:6,19, 15:14, 1Sa 10:10, 11:6, 16:13 where the word used for the Spirit coming mightily upon a person is literally rushed upon, which calls to mind the way the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost in a “violent, rushing wind” (Act 2:2). The word also carries the connotation of breaking forth (see Amo 5:6), so that the corresponding word used by the translators of the LXX is the same used by Jesus in Joh 4:14 for how the water of the Spirit would be like a well springing up to eternal life; cf. again Joh 7:37-39. I.e., not only did the Spirit rush upon all the believers on the day of Pentecost to empower them for works of service, as He had upon select individuals throughout Israel’s history (cf. Num 11:25-29), that baptism in / with / by the Holy Spirit coincided with the bubbling up from within of that same Spirit whose air they had been breathing since their spiritual birth as they came to spiritual maturity to now bear fruit as a fountain of life to others that they too might be born again of the same Spirit; cf. Joh 3:6,8.