doubtless were to see the Lord, we may easily believe that they were frightened, and overcome by a mixture of feelings ; and the more so when they remembered how they had behaved when they had last seen their Lord, Jesus read the condition of- their hearts, and mercifully makes assurance doubly sure by repeating the gracious words, " Peace be unto you." As Joseph said to Pharaoh, " the thing was doubled," in order to make it sure and prevent the possibility of mistake.
Augustine says, *' The iteration is confirmation. It is the * peace upon peace ' promised by the prophet." (Isa. Ivii. 19.)
It is curious that two entirely diflferent Greek words are used to express the English " sent " and " send " in this verse. Parkhurst says that the word used where our Lord says " My Father hath sent Me," is a more solemn word than the one used when our Lord says, " I send you." Yet I do not think this is proved ; and certainly Liddell and Scott flatly contradict the idea. At any rate the second or less solemn word is repeated- ly used in St. Luke in the most solemn sense. (John v. 2'6, 24, 30.) It is just one of those things which we ought to notice, but cannot explain. There is doubtless some reason why two words are used, but what it is has not yet been discovered.
22. — [^And when He had said...lreathed, etc.} In this verse our Lord proceeds to confer a special gift on the disciples, and, as it were, to ordain them for the great work which He intended them to do. And we have in it a remarkable emblematical ac- tion, and a no less remarkable saying.
The action of our Lord, " He breathed on them," is one thai stands completely alone in the New Testament, and the Greek word is nowhere else used. On no occasion but this do we find the Lord " breathing " on any one. Of course it was a symbol- ical action, and the only question is, What did it symbolize? and Why was it used ? My own belief is that the true expla- nation is to be found in the account of man's creation in Gene- eis. There we read, •' The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." (Gen. ii. 7.) Just as there was no life in man until God breathed into him the breath of life, so I believe our Lord taught the disciples, by this action of breathing on them, that the beginning of all ministerial qualification is to have the Holy Spirit breathed into as ; and that, until the Holy Ghost is planted in our hearts, we are not rightly commissioned for the work of the ministry.
1 do not however feel sure that this view completely exhausts the meaning of our Lord when He breathed on the disciples. I cannot forget that they had all forsaken their Master the night that He was taken prisoner, fallen away from their pro- fession, and forfeited their title to confidence as Apostles. May we not therefore reasonably believe that this breathing pointed to a revival of life in the hearts of the Apostles, and to a resto-
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