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Transcript 394D — "Ye are gods" [Ps 82:6 & Jn 10:34]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening, Mr. Camping. I'd like to ask you about two pieces of scripture. Psalm 82:6, and also, I think Jesus is referring to this Psalm in John 10:34. Would you give me an interpretation of what you feel those verses mean?
HC: Yes. Jesus in John 10:34 is talking to the Pharisees, and they are very incensed against Christ.
CALLER: They're ready to stone Him.
HC: They're ready to stone Him because He is indicating that He is God. And therefore in verse 33 the Jews answered Him, "For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy, because that Thou being a man maketh Thyself God." Then Jesus answered from the scriptures. And He's really putting them down. He's really indicating that they are hypocritical, that they are not reading their scriptures, that they're saying far more than what the Bible says. He's not defending in this context the fact that He is God. He is simply saying that in a real sense every human being is God, in a certain sense. And we know what that sense is. The sense is that we are created in the image of God. We are created like God. We have eternity within our souls. We can think God's thoughts after Him. We worship God. We are related to God in a very intimate fashion, through creation.
And so He's reminding them of this, "Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? If He called them gods [that is, if God Himself calls human beings gods] unto whom the Word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God?"
In other words, He's putting them down on their own level. He's not at this point emphasizing that He is Eternal God. He is simply indicating that to call Himself a Son of God is not contrary to the scriptures. Now Psalm 82 is the verse that He referred to, where it says, "I have said, ye are gods. Then all of you are children of the Most High."
Now you see, when we become saved, what are we called in Romans 8? We're called sons of God, aren't we?
CALLER: Right. So then in Psalm 82 the Psalmist is, or God is speaking through the Psalmist, actually, in that verse. Is that correct?
HC: Yes. God is speaking through the Psalmist, and is speaking to mankind: "Ye are gods and all of you are children of the Most High. But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes." The reason you shall die like men is that you're under the judgment of God, and you're going to hell. But by creation, by virtue of creation, you are created in the image of God and you are in that sense related to God and are like God.
CALLER: Okay.
HC: And we want to really understand that God is not saying that we stand like God stands. We are not God, singular. God is God. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is infinite in all of his attributes, and marvelous, and holy and all of this. And we never can hold a candle to that.
But nevertheless, in a real sense the Bible speaks of us as being gods. And that is particularly dramatized after we're saved, when the Bible says that we are sons of God.
CALLER: I see. Now somewhere else (I don't remember where) Paul says that one day we will be rulers with God. Do you think this has any connection in that area?
HC: I think it really does. In I Corinthians 6 it says that we will judge men. In Revelation 2 it says that those who conquer will rule the nations with a rod of iron; very similar language to that which is spoken of by Christ. And in Ephesians 2:6 it is stated that we've been raised with Christ, and we are seated with Him in heavenly places. The Bible really becomes almost impossible to believe, as we see the intimate relationship God allows to be spoken of in the relationship that exists between mankind who are saved and God Himself.
CALLER: Okay. That answers a lot for me. Thank you very much.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.