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)