Ye are gods?!

I love this story too much.

First, consider Joh 10:22, “And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.” We’re in the middle of December four months away from the Lord’s crucifixion.

The Feast of Dedication is an 8-night celebration. This year, the feast will be from Dec. 14-22. The Feast of Dedication is also known as Hanukkah. This is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple after the Maccabean Revolt against Greek oppression, specifically the Seleucid Empire in 165 BC. According to tradition, when the Temple was reclaimed, there was only enough oil to keep the menorah lit for one day, but miraculously, it lasted eight days. Uh huh. For this reason, this celebration is also called the Festival of Lights in which they light candles on a menorah for eight nights.

This is not a festival the Lord commanded His people to observe in Jerusalem. Yet, the Lord is here in Jerusalem observing Hanukkah. Imagine that. The Lord Jesus Christ actually observed Hanukkah. That’s mind-blowing to me. I would have loved to have known what the Lord’s thoughts were about that festival and the whole Maccabean Revolt.

Joh 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

Where is Solomon’s porch?

Above is a diagram of Herod’s Temple*. According to Josephus, there was a remnant of the original temple of Solomon that had remained intact after the Babylonian destruction. This was on the eastern side. Thus, Solomon’s Porch is most likely the walkway inside the eastern wall of the temple. The morning sun, they say, would warm that side.

Joh 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Joh 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. Joh 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.

Notice that everyone who has eternal life also has eternal security. The Lord said starting in vs. 28, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish (perish in the sense of eternal separation from God), neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. The fact that the believers who are His sheep cannot perish or be plucked out of His hand or His Father’s hand clearly speaks to eternal security.

He says Father… gave them me. This is not a Calvinist verse. The Father isn’t manipulating everything. The Lord is simply giving the Father credit for all the success He’s had in His ministry, because the ministry is being carried out according to the Father’s design. So He credits the Father for every soul who gets saved.

Much has been written about vs. 29 and the Lord saying that the Father… is greater than all. How can the Father be greater than Christ or the Holy Spirit if they are all equal members of the Godhead? Didn’t the Lord just say I and my Father are one? Doesn’t oneness infer equality? The answer to this is, before the world was created, they agreed that the Father would be the executive branch of the Godhead. He’s running the show with all power and authority, although He has now given that power and authority to His Son, who is going to give that power right back to His Father and God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).

Joh 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Joh 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? Joh 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? Joh 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Joh 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? Joh 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. Joh 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Joh 10:39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, Joh 10:40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. Joh 10:41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. Joh 10:42 And many believed on him there.

This is totally hilarious and at the same time, absolute genius.

These guys are angry at the Lord for claiming to be the Son of God. They want to kill Him. And what does the Lord do? He quotes Scripture back to them calling THEM gods!

In Psalm 82:1, we read that God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. Huh. He said gods (with a little g). Judges in Israel were called gods (with a little g) because they were in those positions to be representatives of God.

Do you know what the Hebrew word is for gods (with a little g)? Elohim! Bullinger would make the point that Elohim can be applied to man on rare occasions. The Lord actually told Moses in Exod. 7:1, “See, I have made thee a god (Elohim) to Pharaoh.” The people of Israel were also commanded in Exo 22:28, “Thou shalt not revile the gods (Elohim), nor curse the ruler of thy people.” He was talking about the judges over them.

In Exo 21:6 the King James translators translated Elohim into judges to avoid confusion. That verse says, “Then his master shall bring him unto the judges (Elohim).”

Let’s return our thoughts back to Psalm 82. In that Psalm in vs. 6 we read I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. Psa 82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. These verses in Psalm 82 is simply referencing the fact that in the law, the Lord had on more than one occasion called Israel’s judges Elohim or gods (with a little g). The big Elohim called Israel’s judges little Elohims.

Psalm 82 is a prayer to God because the judges, the gods (with a little g) are hopelessly corrupt and he wants God (with a big G) to judge the gods (with a little g) and drain the swamp.

Notice also that in Joh 10:34 the Lord says, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? How can the book of Psalms be part of the law? The law was usually a reference to the Pentateuch, but the Lord is quoting Psalm 82. How is this possible?

While, yes, the Lord is quoting a verse in Psalm 82, at the same time, that verse in Psalm 82 is referencing the law in Exod. 22:28 in which the judges were called gods.

Then the Lord says in Joh 10:35 If he called them gods…

Now wait just a minute! Who is He? Who gave the law and called them gods if Christ isn’t the one who gave the law? God the Father. You go back to Exod. 20:1-2, you read And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God… Elohim, Jehovah, Elohim. I think the Father spoke all the laws, and the Lord confirms that here. He says HE called them gods in the law. Not the Lord. The Father.

Then He says, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken… In other words, the oracles of God were committed unto you and He called your judges gods (with a little g) and the Scriptures are inerrant and unbreakable. The Lord uses the inerrancy of the Hebrew Scriptures to bring home His point in the next verse.

Joh 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

That is total genius. In other words, “How can you argue that I’m committing blasphemy when I’ve been running around Israel doing all these legitimate miracles and stating the truth that I am the Son of God when God Himself also called you gods in the law?”

Brilliant.

* The image was purchased here for this article.