What does ἐμφυσάω (emphysáō) mean in the Bible?
" The word is rare in the New Testament, so its meaning must be governed carefully by this passage. The focus is the risen Lord actively preparing and commissioning His disciples by the Spirit.
Greek · G1720
ἐμφυσάω
To blow at or on
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ἐμφυσάω G1720
Pronunciation emphysáō
What does ἐμφυσάω (emphysáō) mean in the Bible?
" The word is rare in the New Testament, so its meaning must be governed carefully by this passage. The focus is the risen Lord actively preparing and commissioning His disciples by the Spirit.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐμφυσάω (G1720) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1720?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include He breathed on [them] (1).
Where does ἐμφυσάω (emphysáō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 20:22. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
Are there verse guides for ἐμφυσάω (emphysáō)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
ἐμφυσάω means to breathe on or breathe into, and John uses it in John 20:22 when the risen Jesus breathes on His disciples and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit." The word is rare in the New Testament, so its meaning must be governed carefully by this passage. The focus is the risen Lord actively preparing and commissioning His disciples by the Spirit. It is not merely a dramatic gesture, and it is not a detachable technique for spiritual power.
The verb naturally recalls biblical breath and life language, especially creation-life patterns, but John 20 must remain the anchor. Jesus has risen, He sends the disciples as the Father sent Him, and His breathing action belongs to that mission scene. Pastorally, ἐμφυσάω opens the connection between resurrection, Spirit, and sent witness. It should not be used to collapse the full doctrine of Pentecost into one verse or to make the Spirit an impersonal force. The action comes from the living Christ, and the gift is personal, holy, and mission-shaping.
How the Bible Uses It
John 20:22 is the New Testament anchor for ἐμφυσάω: the risen Jesus breathes on the disciples and speaks of receiving the Holy Spirit.
- John 20:21-22 joins sending and Spirit: as the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sends His disciples, then breathes on them.
- The action belongs after the resurrection. The crucified and risen Lord is the one who breathes, sends, and gives.
- The language can recall life-giving breath patterns, but the immediate passage governs the claim: Spirit-given mission flows from the risen Christ.
- The verse should be connected to Pentecost carefully. John 20 is real and meaningful, but it should not be forced to answer every chronological question about Acts 2.
ἐμφυσάω occurs in John 20:22 in one of the Gospel's most concentrated resurrection scenes. Jesus stands among frightened disciples, speaks peace, shows His wounds, sends them, and breathes on them. The verb is therefore framed by resurrection victory, peace, and mission. It is not a free-standing image of spiritual experience.
The breathing action carries deep biblical resonance because breath and life belong together in Scripture. Yet John does not let the reader float away into symbol alone. Jesus speaks: "Receive the Holy Spirit." The action and word belong together. The living Lord gives what His mission requires, and the disciples' witness will not rest on human courage alone.
This makes ἐμφυσάω pastorally significant for churches that talk about mission without dependence on the Spirit. The disciples are sent by Christ, but they are not sent as self-powered witnesses. The same risen Lord who shows His wounds also breathes and gives. Preaching the word should therefore hold together peace, wounds, Spirit, and mission.
The movement of ἐμφυσάω is narrow but rich: breath, life, Spirit, and mission converge in the risen Jesus. The word points from the life-giving action of God toward the Spirit-empowered witness of Christ's disciples.
Passage contextCanonical parallelEditorial synthesis
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It He breathed on [them] 1× John 20:22
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 20:22
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
John 1
Source forms
ἐνεφύσησεν 1x enephysēsen John 20:22
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x John 20:22
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Call believers to Spirit-dependent witness, not self-powered mission.
- Avoid treating the Holy Spirit as an impersonal breath. John speaks of the Holy Spirit given by the risen Christ.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that ἐμφυσάω proves there is no distinct Pentecost event in Acts 2.
- Do not claim that Jesus' breathing was merely symbolic and without real theological weight.
- Do not claim that every use of breath imagery in Scripture has the same function as John 20:22.
Pastoral applicationPassage context
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Divine empowerment through breath; Jesus imparting Holy Spirit by literal breathing action upon disciples.
Source Gloss
to blow at or on
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
enefushsen
I breathe into, breathe upon
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 1 Aligned forms 1 Tenses Aorist Voices Active
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 1 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 1
Voice
active 1
Mood
indicative 1
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Word Origins
ἐμφυσάω is built from these roots:
For the Preacher and Teacher
What this word opens up
This word opens John 20 as a resurrection mission scene where the risen Christ breathes, gives, and sends by the Spirit.
What it corrects
It corrects mission language that depends on strategy without Spirit-given life, and it corrects Spirit language detached from the risen and sending Christ.
Framing suggestions
Start with John 20:21-22. Explain the breath action only after the peace, wounds, sending, and Spirit speech are in view.
Illustrations
- A sailboat may have a clear destination and a raised sail, but without wind it cannot move. The disciples receive mission from Christ and dependence on the Spirit.
- A signed commission without the power to carry it out would crush the messenger. Jesus sends and supplies.
- Breath is quiet but life-giving. John 20 shows the risen Christ giving what frightened disciples cannot generate.
Watch points
- Do not make ἐμφυσάω a repeatable ministry technique. John records the risen Christ's action in a specific mission setting.
- Do not separate the Spirit from Christ's resurrection and sending.
- Do not use the word to settle every timing question between John 20 and Acts 2. State the passage's claim before broader synthesis.
Passage contextPastoral application
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain