John 10:34-37

Dr. Couch, what is going on in John 10:34-37? ANSWER: The passage reads in part: "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?" If [the writer of the Psalms] called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, who the Father sanctified and sent into the world, You are blaspheming, because I said, 'I am the Son of God?'" Christ had just said that He and the Father "are one" (v. 30). He then asks, why are you [wanting to] stone Me? Jesus is quoting Psalm 82 that is a psalm of Asaph, who is addressing the priests in the OT who acted as judges (vv. 1-2). Psalm 82:6 it speaks of the priests as being like "elohim," as gods, or as the Rabbis translate it, as "God-like." The Rabbis write "as men invested with a Divine prerogative." Verse 6 also says that they were "sons of the Most High." Christ then went from the smallest to the largest. He went from a diminutive idea to a larger idea. If some men could be called God-like then He (Christ) could be called the Son of God, and even God! The priests of the OT could be called gods as representing God, how much more could Christ, who was indeed the God/Man, and also was the Son of God? The Lord verified that the OT priests were "elohim" by "the Word of God which came unto them" (John 10:35). The Father sent and sanctified Jesus whom He had placed in the world (v. 36). To deny this the Jews were blaspheming because Jesus had said "I am the Son of God" (v. 36b). And besides Christ was doing exactly the very "works of My Father" therefore, they should be believing in Him (v. 37). While it is hard for us to fully understand, this section of verses are some of the strongest in terms of Christ's deity. The Jews got it. They again tried to seize Him because He was claiming to be God (v. 39). Thanks for asking. --Dr. Mal Couch (12/10)