While you can manually enter the commands to edit files in Terminal editors, in OS X you can set up a service to open files in a desired terminal editor from the Finder's contextual menu. Topher ...

When composing or editing documents, one common task may be to locate the document in the Finder so you can copy it to an e-mail, back it up, rename it, give it a label, or otherwise change it around.

I use the MacOS Finder daily to manage my files and folders. It's an invaluable tool -- and one of the better file managers I use, but that doesn't mean Finder is configured ideally out of the box.