Again, thanks for so much wonderful help in understanding the Scriptures. I still don’t have a grasp on this yet. When did the church actually start? Was it when Jesus breathed on the disciples in John 20:22? Or was it at the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2? Weren’t the disciples born again in John 20:22, therefore starting the church, or is that a wrong assumption? We know that Pentecost is a celebration of the first fruits, and that those saved on the Day of Pentecost were the first fruits of the harvest, so does John 20:22 not qualify as the first fruits of the church?
Pentecost has always been seen as the birth of the Church because of the events of Acts 2. True, the disciples did receive the Holy Spirit on the evening of the Resurrection (John 20:22) but later were told to wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them in power (Acts 1:4-5). He came on Pentecost, and the Church was born.