What Does Luke 11:20 Mean?
But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the governance of God has come upon you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.THE KEY
God’s governance arrives as the force that drives out what has held you.
THE MEANING
God’s governance is present where a force that holds you is being driven out. The release itself is evidence that God’s reign has reached you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Freedom must wait until I overcome what holds me by my own power.
THE ROOT
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
basil-
Kingly rule; royal authority exercised as reign.
“governance of God” in this verse is basileia. “Kingdom” can sound like a place, but βασιλεία names royal rule itself. Here that rule is recognized in an expulsion: God’s governance is present as the occupying force is driven out.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: King; one who holds royal authority.
βασιλεύς
This branch places the kingdom in the authority of the ruler, not merely in a territory.
basileuō: To reign or rule as king.
βασιλεύω
The related verb makes the kingdom an active exercise of rule, which is visible here in what is cast out.
ἐκβάλλω
ekballō
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
Throw or hurl.
“Cast out” can make the result sound settled, but ἐκβάλλω depicts an active throwing beyond the boundary. Beside “governance,” it shows the verse’s movement: God’s reign arrives in the act of removing what holds a person.
ALSO GROWS
ballō: To throw or cast.
βάλλω
The root keeps the forceful action audible in the phrase “cast out.”
ekbolē: Casting out; jettisoning.
ἐκβολή
This related noun can describe cargo being thrown overboard, showing removal as an active expulsion.
THE PATTERN
God’s governance becomes visible as a power that brings people out from under what binds them.
Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God; and Pharaoh's heart was gripped, and he did not hear and respond to them, as the LORD had said.He brings them out of darkness and the valley of deepest darkness, and tears their bonds apart.Who has brought us out of the authority of darkness and has moved us into the governance of the Son of his love.THE THREAD
Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God; and Pharaoh's heart was gripped, and he did not hear and respond to them, as the LORD had said.Exodus names אֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים (etsba Elohim, “finger of God”); Luke repeats the same image in Greek, ἐν δακτύλῳ θεοῦ (en daktylō theou, “by the finger of God”). In Exodus the magicians recognize God’s power at the limit of their own; here that image names the power expelling the demons, so the kingdom’s arrival is seen in the release itself.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us