John 10:31-34 (WEL) Therefore, the Jews again picked up rocks to stone him. 32 Jesus started speaking to them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father, for which one of those works are you stoning me?” 33 The Jews answered, saying, “We are not going to stone you because of a good deed, but because of blasphemy, and because of that you, being human, make yourselves God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, “You are gods?”
V31 Therefore, the Jews again picked up rocks to stone him.
They really did want to kill their Messiah. Jesus has witnesses—Himself (John 4:25-26), John the Baptist, God the Father (Luke 3:32 and John 12:27-33), Mary the mother of Jesus, and even Joseph as well as Anna and Simeon. Jesus has the witness of miracles as body resurrection (John 11:38-44), healing (John 9:1-7 and Matthew 4:23-24), stilling storms (Mark 4:39), walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-27), miraculous feeding of multitudes (Matthew 14:13-21), casting out demons (Mark 1:39 and Luke 4:41), etc.
Principle: No matter how much reality you give, people most often still believe what they want to believe.
V32 Jesus started speaking to them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father, for which one of those works are you stoning me?”
This is a sincere question. Jesus wants to remind them of all the good that He had done, yet they still complained and rejected Him. Compare Deuteronomy 29:5 and Nehemiah 9:21. Yet, even with those miracles and God’s provision, they still refused to believe and trust God (Hebrews 4:2).
“Which of these works makes me worthy to be stoned?” The people really enjoyed being healed, but they didn’t like His healing on the Sabbath. They claimed, by their own laws, that Jesus broke Mosaic law, but that is a lie. Compare Matthew 12:9-14 and Mark 3:1-6.
Principle: Ask a pointed question to get people thinking.
V33 The Jews answered, saying, “We are not going to stone you because of a good deed, but because of blasphemy, and because of that you, being human, make yourselves God.”
Now, these fakes tell Jesus that they want to kill Him because Jesus states that He is God.
If these foolish people knew the Old Testament, they would know that Jesus does not claim to God the Father but God the Son, and that God the Father has a Son.
Comments:
Warren W. Wiersbe:
“The Jewish leaders understood clearly what He was saying! Some modern liberal theologians would water down our Lord’s statement, but the people who heard it knew exactly what He was saying: “I am God!” (Note John 10:33.) To speak this way, of course, was blasphemy; and according to Jewish belief, blasphemy had to be punished by being put to death (see Leviticus 24:16; Numbers 15:30; Deuteronomy 21:22).
“Our Lord used Psalm 82:6 to refute their accusation and halt their actions. The picture in Psalm 82:1-8 is that of a court, where God has assembled the judges of the earth, to warn them that they too will one day be judged. The Hebrew word elohim can be translated as “god” or as “judges,” as in Exodus 21:6 and Exodus 22:8-9. It is also one of the Old Testament names for God. The Jewish rulers certainly knew their own language, and they knew that Jesus was speaking the truth. If God called human judges “gods,” then why should they stone Him for applying the same title to Himself?”
Ryrie’s Basic Theology:
“A. Evidence for Oneness
Like the Old, the New Testament also insists that there is only one true God. Passages like 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; Ephesians 4:3-6; and James 2:19 are clear.
B. Evidence for Threeness
- The Father is recognized as God. No debate exists here, and a number of passages teach this (John 6:27; 1 Peter 1:2).
- Jesus Christ is recognized as God. He Himself claimed attributes that only God possesses, like omniscience (Matthew 9:4), omnipotence (Matthew 28:18), omnipresence (Matthew 28:20). He did things that only God can do (and the people of His day acknowledged this, though sometimes reluctantly), like forgiving sins (Mark 2:1-12) and raising the dead (John 12:9). Further, the New Testament assigns other works that only God can perform to Christ, like upholding all things (Colossians 1:17), creation (John 1:3), and future judging of all (John 5:27).
The last phrase of John 1:1 correlates true and full deity with the Word (Christ). The phrase is best translated “the Word was God.” Consistent exegesis forbids the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ translation “the Word was a god.” The word “God” does not have an article, and if it is to be understood as indefinite (“a god”), this would be the only time in John’s Gospel that this form was used, making it highly improbable on grammatical grounds that it is indefinite here. John could not have chosen a more precise way of expressing the truths that the Word was God and yet was distinct from the Father.
- The Holy Spirit is recognized as God. He is called God (Acts 5:3-4), He possesses attributes that only God has, like omniscience (1 Corinthians 2:10) and omnipresence (1 Corinthians 6:19), and He regenerates people (John 3:5-6; John 3:8), an exclusive work of God.”
Albert Barnes:
“The reference, however, is undoubtedly to magistrates, and the idea is that they were to be regarded as representatives of God; as acting in his name; and as those, therefore, to whom, in a subordinate sense, the name gods might be given. Compare Psalm 82:6. In Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8-9, Exodus 22:28, also, the same word in the plural is applied to magistrates, and is properly translated judges in our common version. Compare the notes at John 10:34-35. The idea is that they were the representatives of the divine sovereignty in the administration of justice. Compare Romans 13:1-2, Romans 13:6. They were, in a sense, gods to other people; but they were not to forget that God stood among them as their God; that if they were exalted to a high rank in respect to their fellowmen, they were, nevertheless, subject to One to whom the name of God belonged in the highest sense.”
V34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, “You are gods?”
This refers to Psalm 82. Some teach that the God of the Bible is only the greatest of gods (Dr Heisler), but Elohim is used in multiple ways:
Firstly—false gods:
More Elohim is used for idols, fake gods:
- 1 Kings 11:5 NKJV – For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
- 1 Kings 11:33 NKJV – ‘because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.
- 1 Kings 12:28 NKJV – Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (Jeroboam created some Elohim, according to Heiserites). Also, 1 Kings 14:9)
- 1 Kings 18:24 NKJV – “Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
There is one true Elohim. All the rest are masqueraders, fakes, phonies, and false.
Secondly—judges:
- Albert Barnes:
“The reference, however, is undoubtedly to magistrates, and the idea is that they were to be regarded as representatives of God; as acting in his name; and as those, therefore, to whom, in a subordinate sense, the name gods might be given. Compare Psalm 82:6. In Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8-9, Exodus 22:28, also, the same word in the plural is applied to magistrates, and is properly translated judges in our common version. Compare the notes at John 10:34-35. The idea is that they were the representatives of the divine sovereignty in the administration of justice. Compare Romans 13:1-2, Romans 13:6. They were, in a sense, gods to other people; but they were not to forget that God stood among them as their God; that if they were exalted to a high rank in respect to their fellowmen, they were, nevertheless, subject to One to whom the name of God belonged in the highest sense.”
- God, Himself, declares that He is the only god!
- Isaiah 46:9 (LHB) Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like me.
- Isaiah 44:6 (LHB) Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 (LHB) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
- John 17:3 (LHB) And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
- 1 Timothy 1:17 (LHB) Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
- Isaiah 45:5 (LHB) I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God besides me: I clothed you, though you have not known me:
- Deuteronomy 4:35 (LHB) Unto you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD he is God; there is none else besides him.
- Psalms 86:10 (LHB) For you are great, and do wondrous things: you are God alone.
- Isaiah 42:8 (LHB) I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to sculptured images.
- Exodus 23:13 (EHV) Be careful to do all the things that I have said to you. Do not mention the name of other gods. Do not let their names come out of your mouth.
- Jeremiah 10:11 (EHV) You are to say this to them: “These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
We learn:
- Jesus is God.
- These people don’t care about the plain, normal sense of Bible interpretation. They love and believe the interpretations of the Jewish leaders.
Questions:
- Do you believe Jesus is God?
- Do you interpret the Bible in its plain, normal sense?