What does the Bible mean by "you are gods" / "ye are gods" in Psalm 82:6 and John 10:34?

But He meets them on their own ground by an à fortiori argument, which left His personal glory untouched. "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If He called them gods to whom the Word of God came202 (and the Scripture cannot be broken), say ye of Him Whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest", because I said, I am Son of God?" (verses 34-36).203 Thus does He reason most conclusively from the less to the greater; for every Jew knew that their inspired books, as for instance, Ps. 82, calls judges elohim, (gods), as commissioned by God and responsible to judge in His name. If such a title could be used of a mere magistrate in Scripture (and its authority is indissoluble), how unreasonable to tax with blasphemy Him Whom the Father set apart, and sent into the world, because He said He was God's Son! He is not affirming or demonstrating what He is in this, but simply convicting them of their perverseness on the ground of their law. They had not the least excuse whilst they claimed adherence to their law of Divine authority. If God called the judges by His name as being His representatives, how much more was it due to Him Who had a place so unique? It is well to note that the Lord predicates sanctification of Himself in John 17:19 as set apart now in heaven, the model Man in glory, and here by the Father for His mission into the world, quite distinct from the application of the word to us who were sinners, and even dead in sins. Sanctification, in the case of the Holy One, resolves itself into its pure and abstract sense of setting apart.

In chapter 10 of John's Gospel the Lord says, "I and My Father are one," and once more the Jews "took up stones to stone Him." They knew very well what the Lord was claming. "Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? 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" (John 10:32-33). The Lord's statement was a clear affirmation of His deity. Not only was He one with the Father in purpose, but one with Him in essence and being. In this the Son and the Father were inseparable: they were one. This was the issue when the Lord Jesus appeared in their council. Adjured by the High Priest to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, His plain response was, "I am" (Mark 14:62. cf. Matt. 26:64; Luke 22:70). As the consequence of His statement He was again accused of blasphemy and condemned to death (Matt. 26:65-66; Mark 14:63-64). Likewise, when He was before Pilate the Jews said, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God" (John 19:7).

In the section we are considering in John 10 the Lord Jesus goes on to speak of Himself as the Sent One of the Father. "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If He called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 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?" (John 10:34-36). The Lord Jesus quoted Psalm 82 verse 6: "I have said, Ye are gods." The word for "gods" in this verse is Elohim, and in the Psalm, as elsewhere, it is used of those who were set to judge in Israel (Psa. 82:6; Ex. 21:6; 22:8, 9, 28). They were God's representatives, responsible to judge for the Lord, in His fear, and to bring the revelation which God had given in His Word to bear on the various cases brought before them (2 Chron. 19:6-7. cf. Isa. 41:23). It is not difficult to see why the Lord Jesus referred to this Scripture in the context of John 10.

John 10:34-36. Had their interpretation been wrong, the Lord would surely have at once corrected such a terrible mistake and repudiated the claim to Deity. He does neither; on the contrary the Lord confirms His claim by an appeal to their own Scriptures, thus condemning them out of their own mouth for refusing His claim to Deity. Quoting from Psalm 82:6, the Lord asks, "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" If, then, men, who were set apart to be judges in Israel, as God's representatives, and to whom the word of God came, are called gods, can it be blasphemy for the Son, Whom the Father has set apart and sent into the world, to claim to be a divine Person?

He stands, therefore, in the midst of what is His own assembly, and which is now to be the seat of power upon earth, the assembly of El, the Mighty One, in truth. He is there for judgment among the "gods," a term which the Lord defines for us from this very psalm (ver. 6) as "those to whom the word of God came" (John 10:35), — that is, who were commissioned to represent Him — the judges of Israel. They were thus identified with Him whom they represented, and were responsible in the most solemn way to represent Him in His character also, both in His righteousness and in His love to men.

The judges of Israel are in Scripture sometimes invested with the name of God, as a closer and more emphatic indication of the source of their authority as the guides and directors of His people (Vide Ex. 22:8-9, 28. Orig.). The word of God came unto them (John 10:35). They sat to administer justice in the name, and according to the declared mind, of Jehovah. The award which they pronounced was not their own but His.

God had called these judges "gods," for they had been set to represent Him. In their outward position they were greatly blessed as "children of the Most High," but they would "die like men," reduced to the level of sinful men, and falling as princes who dishonor their own position as well as dishonoring God.

In His reply Jesus referred to His own words, "I am the Son of God," in such a way as to identify them with their accusation of making Himself God. He did not defend His claim by one of His own emphatic assertions but by an argument based on their Scripture. Those acknowledged as "gods" in Psalm 82:6, were authorities "to whom the word of God came." He who had been set apart and sent into the world by the Father was the Word Himself — "the Word … made flesh." How vast the difference! It was not blasphemy but sober truth when He said, "I am the Son of God." Moreover His works bore witness to His claim, as being unmistakably the works of God. They plainly set forth the fact that the Father was in Him, livingly declared and revealed; and He was in the Father, as to essential life and nature. Once let that be known and believed, and there is no difficulty in receiving Him as the Son of God; for both statements set forth the same foundation fact, though in different words.

He certainly does not back down from this position. Quoting Psalm 82:6, He speaks of Jewish leaders to whom the word of God came as being “gods.” This was because they had been entrusted by God with authority to represent Him, and only pure truth could represent Him properly. But if they were called “gods,” then the Lord Jesus, set apart in pure truth from all others, sent directly by the Father to do His will, certainly could be depended upon to rightly represent God, and tell the truth. When He said, “I am the Son of God,” He was representing the Father in so saying: He was speaking truth from the Father. For He was infinitely higher than all human authorities who had ever come before Him. The Jews knew of His public sanctification and anointing of the Spirit at His baptism, and of the Father's declaration at that time, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). God had trusted Him with representing Him in a way high above all others: then certainly He told them the truth of God.

166 Let us further dwell on the conversation which followed from our Lord with the Jews. What comfort to have Scripture to refer to, to love as the word of God, of Christ, receiving it as true, searching us, and revealing all that is in God, the Lord and Saviour, the supply for the necessities as the remedy for the sins thereby brought to light! Our Lord was here applying Himself to them. I seek here merely to know what this reveals; this is the true way of reading the word. He had left the special revelation of Himself as concerning the sheep, and was now reasoning with them, not as concerning them. That had failed, and He had showed the sheep as taking their place in the care of God, but as condemning them out of their own mouth, as it were: "Is it not written in your law" (not the law of God) "in your law: I have said, Ye are gods? If therefore He called them gods with whom the word of God was." This may be spoken of all power that is of the word of God, by which all things consist, which was indeed in Christ, but more particularly of those (the Jews) who knew or having the oracles were peculiarly cognizant of its being from God; yet, I say, true everywhere, for God is true; that is, rulers who held power of the word. - "And the Scripture cannot be broken." For He does not explain, but state. "Do ye say of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am Son of God?"

167 Note. This quotation of the elohim shows, I think, that it applies to Jews properly, for the judges there are expressly in the law called elohim, and hence the rebuke of our Lord is most powerful. "What the law saith, it saith to," etc., though it ought to be true of all. It also shows the import of that word elohim in the law, and how foolish the dispute between judges and God, for it is the calling judges "gods" because they stood as sent in God's place and acted 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. Compare Psalm 101.

"The Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). As we have had frequent occasion to remark, the connection of passages is of great interest, and oftentimes furnishes the key to the special application or meaning. It is so here. Our Lord is quoting what some might be tempted to call an obscure passage from the Psalms (Ps. 82:6). It is to the effect that judges in Israel, because they stood for God's authority and were the executors of His Word, were called "gods" — "I said ye are gods." They were His representatives. Now, our Lord says this Scripture cannot be broken — cannot be set aside. 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. So He goes on to apply it to His own position; how much more was it true of Him whom the Father had sanctified and sent into the world.