Friday, October 16, 2020

John Nolland on Luke 3:22 and the Holy Spirit Descending Upon Jesus "in bodily form like a dove" (σωματικῷ εἴδει ὡς περιστερὰν)

 

 

The ambiguous ως περιστεραν, “like a dove” of Mark’s account (comes down like a dove, looks like a dove, or even is a dove? Is resolved clearly by Luke in terms of visual form. His use of ειδει, “form,” may have been influenced by Mark’s ειδεν, “he saw.” Luke introduces ειδος, “form,” again in Luke 9:29 where the visible form of Jesus’ face is in question. Where the Markan text could be taken as speaking of the Spirit “incarnated” as a dove, Luke stands over against this possibility: both σωματικω, “bodily,” and ειδει, “form,” are indicators of the language of appearances; and coming after ειδει, ως can only be understood as language of approximation, not of identification.

 

The dovelike visual form of the Holy Spirit is puzzling. The origin of this symbolism is yet to be satisfactorily explained. Important for Luke may be the contrast between the harshness of the fiery purging role anticipated by the Spirit by John (Luke 3:16) and the gentleness of the dove, which suits between the tempter of Jesus’ actual ministry of restoration. Luke clearly understands this coming of the Spirit as an anointing to be equated with that of Isa 61:1 (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38). The change from Mark’s εις αυτον, “[in] to him,” to επαυτον anticipates Luke 4:18. The role of the Spirit here and the link to Isa 61:1 strengthen the case for connecting the words of the voice from heaven with Isa 42:1. There is nothing to suggest that a paradigm baptism with the Spirit is intended. This is an activity of and not to the coming one. (John Nolland, Luke 1-9:20 [Word Biblical Commentary 35A; Dallas: Word Books, 1989], 161)