Thursday, April 18, 2024

Andrew Perry on John 20, the Church, and New Creation

  

The Bride of Christ

 

We have been thinking of Adam, but the theme of the creation of the woman also is present in John 20. The incident of “breathing” on the disciples takes place after Christ has showed his “side” to them. Since it was from Adam’s side that Eve was taken, the Lord is showing to the disciples that they are also a woman taken from his side. They recognise this fact by calling him Lord, which is a term used between husbands and wives in the Bible (cf. Abraham and Sarah, 1 Peter 3:6). The Gospel writer has set the scene for this use of “my Lord” by Thomas, because he has also recorded the exchange between Mary and Jesus, in which she calls Jesus “my Lord” and “Master”.

 

The disciples are part of the bride of Christ, taken from his side. Indeed since the woman was taken from the man, and since she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, there is a close identity between the man and the woman. When the woman was formed from Adam’s rib, she would then have had the breath of life breathed into her so that she became a living soul. Thomas had expressed his doubt in terms of the side of Jesus, and so his faith also is expressed in terms of the side of Jesus. Jesus is his Lord, from which he needs (in a figure) to be taken. Thomas recognises the creation of both the male and the female when he calls Christ “my Lord” as well as “my God”.

 

The breathing upon the disciples takes place before the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. Since this breathing corresponds to the creation of man (and woman) in Genesis, the baptism of the Holy Spirit would refer to the next act in the Genesis 2 sequence—the giving of knowledge to Adam. The Master’s words to Mary revealed that he had not yet ascended to the Father, to receive gifts of knowledge for men, and it is this that Mary accepts (John 20:17; Ephesians 4:8). The purpose of this knowledge was for Adam to fulfil a priestly role in the garden of Eden in respect of Eve and their children. Jesus breathed on the disciples, and sent them into the world with an Adamic commission. This apostolic-priestly role (1 Peter 2:9) needed knowledge which was to be used in building a temple (Ephesians 2:20, 21).

 

Passing from death to life is one of the themes of John 20; and of Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, Isaiah says:

 

“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9) (Andrew Parry, "'My Lord and My God'," The Christadelphian 131, no. 1564 [October 1994], 375)