Beth-El Baptist Church

08/02/2009

Greg Tomlinson


What does Jesus mean when he affirms Psalm 82 calling men gods?


The Bible teaches that there is but one God and that no human being is God. Yet when Jesus is confronted by Pharisees looking to stone him, he refers to the truthfulness of scripture in which human beings are called gods. Surely he means something other than humanity being truly divine as God is divine.


  1. What is the context of these quotes?

Psalm 82:1-8 John 10:27-38


Those who are being referred to in the Psalm are judging unrighteously and were corrupting justice. They were intended to function as “children of the most High” and yet they were not being obedient. Jesus refers to this same text when the Jews tried to stone him for equating himself with being identical with God. Jesus refers to these Psalm 82 individuals as the ones “whom the word of God came”. Jesus' purpose here is to clearly identify the truthfulness of his deity since he said and did what the Father (God) said and did. It was his works that proved his identity while those identified in Psalm 82 demonstrated their lack of godly workings.


  1. Who in Israel were judging unrighteously but should have known better?

Ezekiel 34:1-10 Leviticus 19:1-18

1 Samuel 8:1-5 Amos 5:4-13

Isaiah 59:1-9 Jeremiah 22:11-19

Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 17:14-20 Leviticus 10:8-11

Deuteronomy 31:16-19; 33:8-10 2 Chronicles 15:3-4


There were several people who were expected to judge righteously but did not. Among those are the shepherds, those who are called to teach Israel. The teachers of Israel included the Priest, the Prophet, and the Levites in general. The understanding of who the teachers are who corrupted justice extended beyond the official offices to include all of Israel. Every house is to have a teacher of the law and thus of justice and judgment since the father in each house is expected to teach his children.


  1. In what way would a man be considered a “god” before other men?

Exodus 7:1-2 Acts 7:35-39

Matthew 7:28-29 Zechariah 12:8

1 Corinthians 6:1-11 Genesis 1:26-27 cmp Romans 8:28-33

Acts 20:27-28 1 Thessalonians 2:13


Those who are functioning within the authority of God and communicating the truth of God are functioning as a “god”. Note that Moses was functioning as god before Pharaoh because he brought the very words of God before Pharaoh and proved them to be God's words since they were actually carried out according to his decree. Thus those who bring forth the very words of God as though they truly are the word of God are in a sense functioning as “god”.


  1. How then can Jesus refer to men as “god”?

Romans 3:1-2 Hebrews 1:1-4


It was to men that the commands of God were delivered and as such they delivered the very words of God with God's authority. Jesus came with much greater authority though since he came not only with the very words of God but being the very Son of God, his knowledge and authority are truly first hand.