ἐμφυσάω
emphysaō
Verb · From ἐν (G1722) and phusao (to puff) [cf φύω (G5453)]
From G1722 and φυσάω physáō (to puff) (compare G5453); to blow at or on:—breathe on.
Outline
- to blow or breathe upon
- The Greek word here used is employed nowhere else in the New Testament, but is the very one used by the Septuagint translators of Gen 2:7: 'And 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.' There, man's original creation was completed by this act of God; who, then, can fail to see that here in John 20, on the day of the Saviour's resurrection, the new creation had begun, begun by the Head of the new creation, the last Adam acting as 'a quickening spirit' (1Cr 15:45)!" (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, p. 1100).