In the Lukan parallel to this verse (11.20), the wording is the same except for his use of “God’s finger” in place of Matthew’s “God’s Spirit.” However, the two phrases mean the same thing; in the words of one scholar, “they refer to the mighty power of God which inspires Jesus in his exorcisms.” One commentator classifies this verse as one of the most amazing in the Gospel, since it attests to Jesus as “the Kingdom of God in person.”
As a quick reading of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation will immediately reveal, Good News Bible has done much restructuring in this verse. For example, Good News Bible opens the verse with a strong negative “No,” to make explicit from the outset that the words of Jesus which follow are a denial of the claims made by the Pharisees in verse 27. Moreover, since But if it is … introduces a statement in Greek which is assumed by the speaker to be true, Good News Bible represents the entire first clause of the Greek text by “No, it is not Beelzebul, but God’s Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons.”
Since this sentence is making an assertion, then another way to begin it is “But in fact it is God’s Spirit who gives me the power to drive out demons.” But this phrase is followed by one of result or conclusion, and so another way to restructure it is “Since in fact it is God’s Spirit … then (it is clear) the Kingdom….”
It is by the Spirit of God that I is reformulated in Good News Translation so that the Spirit of God becomes the subject and I takes on the role of an indirect object: “God’s Spirit, who gives me the power.” This is legitimate, since by the Spirit of God means “by the help of the Spirit of God” (Barclay, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “by the aid of God’s Spirit” (An American Translation). However, in many languages it will be difficult to employ two agents for the same action, as in this instance: “I do this. But God’s Spirit gives me the power to do it.” Therefore one may translate “God’s Spirit is doing this. But he is doing it through me.”
Then translates a Greek particle which appears in Good News Translation as “which proves that.” The force of the particle is to draw a conclusion on the basis of something previously stated. Jerusalem Bible translates “then know that,” New English Bible has “then be sure,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “so you ought to be able to see that.” Following this interpretation of then, and depending on how the whole sentence is being structured, it may be expressed as “then it is clear” or “then we can see that.” Translators can also begin a new sentence with “Thus we can see that….”
For a discussion of kingdom of God, see 3.2.
The verb translated has come is used seven times in the New Testament (see Luke 11.20; Rom 9.31; 2 Cor 10.14; Phil 3.16; 1 Thes 2.16; 4.15). Depending upon the context, the meaning may be either “precede, arrive before” (see 1 Thes 2.16) or “attain, achieve.” For the present passage a number of translations have “overtaken” (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible); Good News Translation and New English Bible have “has already come.” Barclay translates “has reached you here and now.” Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition takes seriously the meaning of kingdom of God and so translates “that God has established his rule among you.” Many translators have done something similar to Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “that God’s rule has been established here among you” or “that God has begun his rule here among you.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .