Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
The Jews have picked up stones, charging Jesus with blasphemy for making Himself God. His reply reaches back to a single line in their own Scriptures. Why does that line settle the matter?
"Your Law" — Wider Than Moses
The words Jesus quotes come from Psalm 82, yet He calls them part of "your Law." He uses the term more widely than the five books of Moses.
The New Testament sometimes uses the term "law" for other parts of the Old Testament besides the five books of Moses. The Lord said, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?" when the quotation was from the Psalms.
Who the "Gods" Were
The word behind "gods" is Elohim. In the Psalm it describes men holding an office.
The Lord Jesus quoted Psalm 82 verse 6: "I said, You are gods." The word for "gods" in this verse is Elohim. In the Psalm, as elsewhere, it describes the men who were set to judge in Israel (Psa. 82:6; Ex. 21:6; 22:8, 9, 28). They were God's representatives. Their task was to judge for the Lord, in His fear, and to apply the revelation God had given in His Word to the cases brought before them.
The title belonged to the office they held.
It is calling judges "gods" because they stood as sent in God's place and acted for God in their office. We know that all power is of God, and ought to be exercised in His righteousness. This eighty-second Psalm judges them.
Reasoning from the Lesser to the Greater
He meets them on their own ground, without asserting what He is.
He reasons from the lesser to the greater, and the argument is decisive. Every Jew knew that their inspired books call judges elohim (gods) — Psalm 82, for instance. God commissioned those men and held them responsible to judge in His name. Scripture could use such a title of a mere magistrate, and its authority cannot be undone. The Father set His own Son apart and sent Him into the world. How unreasonable, then, to charge Him with blasphemy because He said He was God's Son! He is not affirming or proving here what He is. He only shows them, out of their own law, how perverse they are. They had not the least excuse while they claimed to hold to their law as divine. If God called the judges by His name because they were His representatives, how much more did that name belong to Him Whose place was unique?
No Retraction of the Claim
Jesus never tells His accusers they have misread Him.
If they had read Him wrongly, the Lord would have corrected such a terrible mistake at once and rejected the claim to Deity. He does neither. Instead He confirms His claim by appealing to their own Scriptures. He condemns them out of their own mouth for refusing His claim to Deity.
The Weight of a Single Word
Notice how narrow the ground of the argument is.
In John 10:34-36, the argument depends on a single word — gods. The Lord Himself appeals to that word as settling the point — an appeal to a single word in the Old Testament as authoritative and final.
And the line He quotes is not a famous one.
Our Lord is quoting what some might be tempted to call an obscure passage from the Psalms. It is simply an obvious explanation, men might say, of no great importance, and yet our Lord declares it cannot be ignored. It is a part of a perfect whole.
The Effect on the Crowd
The aim of the answer was not persuasion.
You see He does not reason with the Jews to convince them, but to silence them.
And silenced they were, at least for the moment.
To this appeal to their Scriptures what could they say? "You, being a man, make Yourself God," was their accusation. That Psalm silenced them. They dropped the stones that they had just taken up.
Summary
- Their book. Jesus answers the stone-throwers from "your Law" — a phrase that here covers the Psalms, not only the books of Moses.
- Their word. "Gods" translates Elohim. Israel used it for judges who stood in God's place and answered to Him.
- Their logic. If Scripture calls mere judges by that title, the charge of blasphemy against the Father's sent One falls apart.
- Their Scripture. Jesus treats one word from an easily overlooked psalm as final — nothing in Scripture can be set aside.
- Their silence. He answered to stop their mouths, and the stones fell from their hands.