The Finger of God – Writing the Word (Part 2)

The Finger of God – Writing the Word (Part 2).

God leaves His fingerprints everywhere, because that finger of His is always working. God has a finger? Yes, it is now time to bring the Holy Spirit into the conversation. Scripture and Christian thinking ever since the early church supports the idea that the finger of God is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. God’s finger represents the power of the Holy Spirit, and in fact is the working member of the Godhead that demonstrates God’s power and accomplishes His will.

It’s easy to think about the Holy Spirit as like the wind or a breath, since spirit, wind and breath are the same word in Hebrew, “ruach.” God’s Spirit is often thought of as Divine Energy or Life Force as well, since He serves in that capacity in the world. But it stretches the imagination a bit to think of the Holy Spirit as the finger of God’s right hand. A finger is tactile, an actual physical object that we can imagine. The wind, breath and energy, though, are formless, without shape. We can hold onto a finger, but of course we can’t grasp the wind or a breath. To feel the wind in our hair or a breath on our face is a completely different experience than being tangibly touched by a finger. But as we will see, we can be inspired by, or literally inspirited by, the finger of God as well as a divine wind or life force. Don’t we all have a desire to be “touched” by the Spirit?

(1). On the Holy Spirit, the Finger of God, as the Author of Scripture.

… “The human authors of the Bible often expressed what God had breathed into them through their own personalities in their own words.” (Bible translator Dr. David Stern);

… God divinely influenced the writers of Scripture in such a way as to produce the Word of God;

… The Holy Spirit guided the biblical writes to include only what God intended;

… Just as Jesus is the Word made flesh through the mystery of the Incarnation, Scripture is the Word in writing though the mystery of inspiration. Jesus Christ is the incomprehensible union of God and man, and the Holy Scripture is likewise;

… “Inspiration is the process by which various human languages written in sometimes faulty grammar are used by the Holy Spirit to speak God’s Word personally to us. It is a mystery that defies complete understanding. People of faith believe that inspiration truly happens.” (Eugene Peterson).

… “We use the term “finger of God” to draw attention to the Spirit’s power at work, since the Spirit too, like the Father and the Son, is Author of the Word of God.” (St. Ambrose, 350 D).

… “No one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:11).

(2.)  Descriptions of Inspiration:

… “The Word of Yahweh burns in my heart like a fire; it’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in. I can’t do it!” (Jeremiah 20:9);

… “The Lord spoke to me with a strong hand, and He instructed me.” (Isaiah 8:11).

… “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel, and the hand of the Lord came upon me.” (Ezekiel 1:3);

… “No word of God was ever made by an act of human will, but of men carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21); other words for inspiration besides “carried along” are moved, brought forth, driven by, incited by;

… “I heard the voice of the Lord” (Daniel 4:31); and numerous other times in Scripture;

… “Thus says the Lord…” (used over 2,500 times in Bible);

… “All Scripture is God-breathed, breathed out of God’s mouth, exhaled into the writer. (2 Timothy 3:16);

… “We do not use words that come from human wisdom, but words given to us by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:13);

… For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my Word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”  (Isaiah 55:10-11).

(3.)  How the Holy Spirit Inspired the Writers of Scripture.

… He comes alongside the writer without overwhelming the writer;

… He guides the writer’s thinking without making the writer mindless;

… He fills the writer without changing the writer’s personality;

… He speaks to the writer without dictating word for word as if the writer were a robot;

… He divinely influences the writer without taking away the writer’s God-given freedom;

… He directs the writer without dominating the writer;

… He points the way for the writer without giving the writer blinders.

(4.)  The Authority and Inspiration of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). 

… Confirmed by Jesus a number of times (Matthew 26:56; Matthew 5:17-18; Mark 12:36-37; also numerous times Jesus quoted from the Hebrew Bible during His ministry; the authority of the Hebrew Bible was always assumed in the Gospels and Epistles);

… Confirmed by early Christians (Acts 1:16; Acts 28:25).

(5.)  Trust the Process.

… that the biblical authors were divinely inspired and authoritatively produced the Word of God;

… that the group of early Church leaders in 397 AD were divinely inspired as they selected and discerned the books to include in the New Testament; the books that were considered were affirmed as inspired for over 300 years of use in church for discipleship and evangelism;

… that this same Council of Carthage also were inspired to discern those books that were not divinely inspired and thus don’t deserve an authoritative place in the NT.