S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Let's start with a look at Psalm 82, the psalm that Jesus quotes in John 10:34. The Hebrew word translated "gods" in Psalm 82:6 is Elohim. It usually refers to the one true God, but it does have ot...

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July 01 2013 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeremiah Kaaya Supporter Pastor at Springs of Power Church, Teacher by professional

In Psalms 82:6, it is said we are gods. Jesus repeats this in John 10:34 when He had an argument with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Why were they arguing with Jesus? Because they never knew or understood scripture (Matthew 23:2). Most of the things in which we are arguing, it is because we lack Knowledge and understanding of scripture. As if one is trying to swallow a piece of meat wholesomely. It will surely choke. We should always allow the Holy Spirit to guide us as we read scripture. Scripture is not an end in itself, its primary work is to guide us, and to guide us rightly, if we use it rightly.

For scripture to say we are gods and later alone to be repeated by Jesus Himself, was to mean that there is a part of God in everyone of us. The Spirit of truth. It makes us to live. Without the part of God in us, we are surely counted dead. The part of the Spirit of God in us gives us some ability to do somethings, but not to the scale of the Lord God almighty who is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. God gave the humans power to manage even the fiercest of the creation such as the wild and tame it to suit what is comfortable for man to live. As big as it is, a whale, or an elephant, it has to be obedient to man whether willingly or unwillingly. As fierce as it is, a lion can't reach the glory that God placed upon man.

Man's ability to create and reach even beyond the planet Earth, tells the god in Him. For a human to be able to create a car, a plane e.t.c, he/she is only doing so on God's own behalf. By having a god in us means we have the ability to do what the rest of creation can't do, and tells the fact that what we do has its roots in having our origin in God. God is the Creator of all. What we have been able to do is all because there is a part of Him (God) in us, the source of all creation. 

In Exodus 7:10-13, when Moses' rod turned into a snake, the witches of the pharaoh also turned their rods into small snakes. The small snakes were swallowed up by that of Moses. It means man can create, but he only does so on God's own behalf, without whom, we can't manage even the slightest of ourselves. Unfortunately, the devil attempts to convince man that the little we can do should make us independent of God and that it is possible to act by ourselves. The devil wants man to be rebellious as he (the devil) is and end up equally being condemned.

In Exodus 7:1, God told Moses; "...see today, I have made thee a god over pharaoh..." By telling Moses like that, God was empowering Moses to do what pharaoh could not do. By what Moses did, he was a god. We are gods because of what God has empowered us to do. The source of all we do is God.


Above all, we are gods because we are created in God's own image (Genesis 1:26). That means we look like God. Not in this our flesh, it only means there is a part of a Spirit of God in us. It only has its source in God. Our breath is directly from Him (Genesis 2:7). We are from God's own inside and we can't therefore live without Him. We have no material of our own to live.

Psalms 8 tells how glorious man is before God. If a rooster sleeps with its own mother, it has no case to answer. On the hand though, if man did, he would have a case to answer, because he is in God's own image. Such is the very reason it took God all it did so as we are set free from the claws of the devil. God's plan had been that we rule and manage the earth, but on His own behalf. Every creation on earth is supposed to submit to the authority of man no matter what the size it is. My small boy of 2 years scares a cow away despite his little size. We are supposed to represent God on earth. Everything is supposed to be obedient to us as we are obedient to God.

May 09 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Gerritt Schuitema Supporter Persecutor & Mocker transformed to Faithful Believer

Please review Dr Michael Heiser’s work on this topic. Dr. Heiser is the Academic Editor for Logos Bible Software and has spent much time on this text.

In short, elohim is a simple word that denotes nothing of attributes. It is simply a term used to define the locality of where one lives or dwells. In the Bible, elohim is rightly used of the angelic host, the spirits of the dead (ex. Samuel in 1 Sam 28:13), the one true God, and others as they all live or abide in the spiritual realm, thus, they are elohim.

Translation is a hard science as there is not always a great word in the new language to transfer all of the nuanced meaning a word may carry. This is the case for elohim. When we think of God today, we think of attributes such as sovereign creator, sustainer, life giver, but in ancient Israel these ideas were attached to someone’s name. Elohim was simply used of one who resided in the spiritual realm. Elohim is therefore not synonymous with what someone today thinks of when they say God. But in that spiritual realm, there was One alone, One unique being, One God, who created all, ruled over all, as He also created all and ruled over all in our earthly realm, YHWH (Deut 6:4).

In Psalm 82, the text is speaking of the angelic host, a council where the One True God YHWH holds judgment. There is much evidence for this in the text and throughout the Old Testament. Fist, the individuals in Psalm 82 cannot be men as they are told ‘like men they will die’. This is no reference to ruling men, for they are told they will ‘fall like one of the princes’. Pointless if they are men or they are princes or men with authority. 

Further, Psalm 82 is linked to Psalm 89, and in verse 6 you will see it is talking about heavenly beings. The context bears this out as it says ‘who in the skies’ and then asks about ‘holy ones’. So here we are saying there is no comparison between God and the holy ones in the skies. These are not men, for men do not live in the skies. In verse 7, He is greatly to be feared in the ‘council of the holy ones’, as in verse 6, and as in Psalm 82.

This is a direct link from here in Ps 82 back to Deut 32:8, which is a direct reference to Genesis 11 and the Babel event.

After the Gen 11 event, God disinherits all of humanity due to their wickedness and assigns them under lesser beings in His council (Deut 32:8). He then begins to create for himself a new nation (Israel), through Noah, Abraham etc. And takes them as his own inheritance. These angels judge and rule the nations unjustly (Ps 82:2), thus the condemnation from God, ‘I have said, ‘ye are gods, sons of the Most High all of you. Nevertheless, like men you shall die’. 

Christ, comes to earth to conquer sin and death, build His church and reclaim all of creation. The gentile world, and the rest of the world then, are the disinherited nations from Gen 11 and Deut 32. God comes to reclaim all, for all belongs to Him, therefore the gospel is individual and also cosmic in scope. 

God bless you all

March 13 2018 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Bryan Naidoo Supporter founder and senior pastor of The Upper-Room Church

To answer this we need to go to the book of beginnings. It was God's intent for man to live a life of dependence. Even though he was given the power of choice. His choice was a life a obedience.

Satan put the thought into Eve, if you eat, you too will be like god. That is a true statement. It was lthe eating the fruit made Eve a god. By eating the fruit she claimed independence.

God himself said “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— (Genesis 3:22 NKJV)

When the scriptures says man had become one of us, this does not mean that is is like the creator but rather one who now has independence to do whatsoever he chooses.

When a person has no one to answer to, he is a god of his life. Jesus has sent so that we may surrounded our god ship and let Jesus be The Lord of our life. This means that we would once again live a life of dependence.

When God said that Moses would be a God to Pharaoh, the God in this instance was merely God's power with which Moses was clothed with.

Regarding the argument Jesus had with the Pharisees and teachers in Johns gospel (John:20:34). He merely told them that they too were gods who live a life of independence, but he was one with all the power of God who live a life of dependence.

September 02 2014 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

diwani Lubrin Supporter

For me, this scripture really depicts that we are "gods", because when we have accepted Jesus in our hearts, His Spirit which is the Holy Ghost came into our hearts which penetrates or circumcised our hearts. Before Jesus came, our hearts was covered with sinful nature which we have inherited from Adam and eve (Spiritually speaking) even our Spiritual eyes was covered but when Jesus came down and rescued us,through his Spirit,our hearts was circumcised (this is what it means when the curtain was torn at the temple during Jesus crucifixion) because of that we can boldly enter into His kingdom. Because in this world we are like him (1 John 4:17). Not big G was used because of course Jesus is still the God of all gods. So be confident and boldly ask anything in Him,because He came to this world not to condemn people but He came so that we can be righteous through HIM continually. (John 3:16-17) THIS IS CALLED THE GOSPEL OF GRACE.

August 13 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report