Wednesday, September 23, 2015

"Finger of God" = "Spirit of God"


While reading the Gospel of Luke in Greek, a certain phrase in a well known discourse of our Lord stood out. From Luke 11:20 we read:

But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. (ASV)

εἰ δὲ ἐν δακτύλῳ θεοῦ ἐγὼ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, ἄρα ἔφθασεν ἐφ' ὑμᾶς  βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ. 

This same discourse was recorded by Matthew:

But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. (Matthew 12:28 - ASV)

εἰ δὲ ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ ἐγὼ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, ἄρα ἔφθασεν ἐφ' ὑμᾶς  βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ. 

Now, the phrase which stood out for me in Luke 11:20 was "the finger of God" (δακτύλῳ θεοῦ). To my knowledge—within the pages of the New Testament—this particular phrase occurs only once, making it quite unique. And to make it even more unique, in the parallel passage of Matthew 12:28, "the finger of God" is substituted with the phrase, "the Spirit of God" (πνεύματι θεοῦ).

I am not going to dwell on which phrase which was actually spoken by Jesus in its original context (scholars are divided on this issue, though I think it is the Lukan passage), but rather I want to focus on the fact that God, through His Holy Spirit, wanted us to realize that "the finger of God" is "the Spirit of God".

The phrase, "the finger of God", brought to mind a very special event recorded in the following two verses from the Old Testament:

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18 - ASV)

And Jehovah delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which Jehovah spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. (Deuteronomy 9:10 - ASV)

We know from 2 Tim. 3:16 and 2 Pet. 1:21 that all Scripture is inspired by God through His Holy Spirit; and in the above two verses, we learn that the Holy Spirit (i.e. "the finger of God") literally wrote Scripture.

There is also the unique event recorded in Daniel chapter 5, when:

...the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace... (verse 5)

I sincerely wonder if it would be a 'stretch' to equate, "the fingers of a man's hand", with a manifestation/work of the Holy Spirit?

Anyway, just wanted to share some of my random musings...


Grace and peace,

David

6 comments:

Sean Killackey said...

I, of course differ from you in regards to whether the HS is a person or not, however, I feel that the instance in Daniel could be a manifestation of the spirit in corporeal from (I wonder whether the hand ended in a numb or not, or if God is right or left handed, were the hands fingernails cut? - JK) I, however, suspect that it was an angel simply because God so often used them. That being said there is no reason to say that it couldn't be the holy spirit.

David Waltz said...

Hi Sean,

Thanks much for taking the time to comment. After reading your post, I am now 'on the fence' as to whether "the fingers of a man's hand" in Dan. 5:5 was a manifestation of the HS, or an angel. It is now my opinion that the text could lend itself to either interpretation.

Grace and peace,

David

Sean Killackey said...

Hello,
I've been wanting to pick up my reading of De Trinitate - but anyway, Augustine argues that the "sending" of the HS is that it took corporeal form (as a dove, an as tongues of fire) which differed from the OT theophanies. So, I suppose that under his model, Dan 5:5 could not be the HS. (I haven't finished book III, or IV yet, so he may refine his model more, or mention this appearance.) However, I don't see how a Trinitarian has to stick to this model, and I as a non-Trinitarian see no reason to suppose such. I just thought I would mention it. Perhaps you know more about what Augustine says, though. I know he mentions that the pillar of fire/smoke represents 'the LORD or the Holy Spirit,' but what he means by that - I don't know since I haven't gotten that far.

Take care,
Sean

Duncan said...

So the magic-practicing priests said to Pharʹaoh: “It is the finger of God!”l But Pharʹaoh’s heart continued to be obstinate, and he did not listen to them, just as Jehovah had said.

Seems to be a commonly recognised phrase - this I find interesting.

Don Dorito said...

I think this would be a standard Catholic understanding, as shown in the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, where the Holy Spirit is called dextrae Dei digitus, i.e. the finger of God's right hand.

David Waltz said...

Hello Don,

Earlier today, you wrote:

==I think this would be a standard Catholic understanding, as shown in the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, where the Holy Spirit is called dextrae Dei digitus, i.e. the finger of God's right hand.==

Very interesting; thanks much for bringing this to my attention.


Grace and peace,

David