“I said, you are gods”—What is Jesus Saying in John 10?

I have made the argument in the past that Psalm 82 is better interpreted as a reference to angelic beings than a reference to human judges. However, many interpreters view Jesus’ quote of Psalm 82 in John 10 as further evidence that Psalm 82 is a reference to human judges. Is John 10 evidence that Psalm 82 should be understood as referring to human rulers?

Within the context of John 10, the Jews are about to stone Jesus for making himself out to be God (John 10:33). In answer to the Jews picking up stones, in John 10:34-36, Jesus says the following:

Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

By referring to the Law while quoting Psalm 82, Jesus is not failing Awana. Although we often think of the Law as the Pentateuch (Gen–Deut), in the NT the reference to the Law sometimes acted as a stand-in for the whole OT (cf. John 12:34; 15:25; 1 Cor 14:21).

Why is Jesus referring to Psalm 82 here?

The most common viewpoint in commentaries is that Jesus is appealing to Psalm 82 as evidence that other human beings can be called gods, so why are the Jews upset that He can be called the Son of God? Mike Heiser points out two significant problems with this view:

First, how is it a coherent defense of John’s well-known high Christology by essentially having Jesus use Psalm 82:6 to say, in effect, that he can call himself the son of God when every other Jew can, too? …

Second, how does the mortal view coherently explain the reaction of the Jewish audience in John’s story? They call for his arrest (10:39), on the heels of picking up stones to stone him in 10:30. If Jesus is citing a text that all of them could just as well cite on their own behalf for being sons of God, why would Jesus’ use of it elicit such a response?

These are good points by Heiser and worth considering. John often goes to great pains to show how Christ clearly demonstrated His deity. Understanding this response to downplay divinity would seem inconsistent with John’s perspective. Would John describe Jesus as taking an intentional step to have people second guess His claims to divinity? If there is a more satisfying interpretation (that would coincide with a straightforward reading of Psalm 82), that would seem to be preferable.

An Alternative Understanding of Jesus Quoting Psalm 82

In my opinion, the gods of Psalm 82 most naturally refer to angelic beings. But can we import that context of Psalm 82 into Jesus’ argument in John 10? I think we can. Rather than seemingly backtracking on the claim of John 10:30, “I and the Father are one,” it seems much more likely that Jesus would attempt to prove His divine status through Scripture.

As such, it seems to me that Jesus is using Psalm 82 as proof that Scripture recognizes other divine beings (“gods” to borrow Psalm 82 language). By maintaining His claim of equality with the Father in John 10:38, Jesus would be claiming to be a co-regent authority over the divine beings of Psalm 82, since God claims to have absolute authority over these gods in Psalm 82. In other words, this would essentially be doubling down rather than sowing confusion about what Jesus was saying.

One major objection to this viewpoint is the phrase, “If he called them gods to whom the word of God came…” (John 10:35a). This is typically viewed as evidence that the “gods” are human rulers who have received the Law, or a reference to Israel at Mount Sinai. However, I agree with Heiser that it is possible to read this phrase as a reference to God’s speech to the divine beings of Psalm 82:6-7.

In summary, I think the gods of Psalm 82 are most naturally interpreted as referring to divine beings. Jesus’ quote of Psalm 82 in John 10 makes sense, utilizing this context as well. In fact, I would argue that understanding this connection makes more sense than the alternative, keeping in line with John’s robust Christology. Thus, Jesus is quoting Psalm 82 to show the existence of other divine beings, and to support His claim that He is superior to them all, coequal with the Father. And this is why the Jews continued to want to kill Him.

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