John 10:22-42
I’ve never understood this verse: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (v. 34) So I went back and read Psalm 82; its verse 6 contains the line that Jesus is quoting. After an opening verse, God is the One speaking in this entire Psalm. He is looking down and castigating the leaders and judges of Israel, beginning with His first words: How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? (v. 2) He continues that charge in the next two verses. Then He describes the “mental/ethical condition” of these judges: They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness… (v. 5) It is at this point that God speaks the words that Jesus quotes: I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” (vv. 6-7) He is speaking to these judges and calling them gods, a not uncommon claim by political and religious rulers in these Old Testament times, even though they are clearly human beings. So Jesus applies these words from the Psalm to Himself, but He claims that His calling (as a Son, v. 36) is at a much higher level than were the judges in old Israel. It’s still a bit confusing to me how Jesus makes the leap from the human gods to Himself being the Son of God, but at least I understand the quote a bit better.
See also: August 12 / John 10:22-42
I have a couple of thoughts about this. As we all know now, Jesus is fully human and fully divine. The Jewish leaders are accusing Him of blasphemy because, as a human, He is claiming to be God. Jesus says that He and the Father are One – meaning that they share a divine nature. But the Jewish leaders do not believe His testimony as to His divine nature. The leaders see the signs and miracles Jesus is performing, but these are not enough to convince them either. (Note that the ultimate evidence is the resurrection but that has not yet occurred at this time).
Jesus generously offers the leaders another way of looking at it. He quotes Psalm 82 where the Father is reminding the Jewish leaders that, because they are His human agents on earth, they are “gods” (but apparently not doing a very good job of it in the Psalm). So Jesus, as God’s agent in performing all of His miracles and doing His will perfectly, is at the very least a “god” with a human nature by the definition of Psalm 82. But the leaders cannot even give Jesus that much.
Jesus has given them every opportunity and the Jewish leaders have shown that their hearts are so hardened that nothing can penetrate – not faith, not revelation and not reason.