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 ἡ 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 ἡ 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,
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.
ReplyDeleteHi Sean,
ReplyDeleteThanks 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
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI'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
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.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be a commonly recognised phrase - this I find interesting.
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.
ReplyDeleteHello Don,
ReplyDeleteEarlier 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