Sons of God In Christ Jesus

When the Jews attacked Jesus for calling himself the Son of God and thus making himself God, Jesus quoted Psalm 82, Asaph's prayer for justice in the courts and councils of the land.

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? - Jhn 10:34 ESV 

I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you" - Psa 82:6 ESV

Psalm 82, in turn, is a reference to Exodus 22 where judges are called gods (elohiym in Hebr.).

For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before God (elohiym) The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. - Exd 22:9 ESV

Many versions of this Exodus verse translate elohiym as "the judges" (KJV, NIV, NASB, etc.). Elohiym is a plural Hebrew word translated as God (singular) in Exodus 1:17-18, 2:23-24, 3:1, etc. So the translators are not really translating word for word. They are rather commenting. However, the ESV does translate the verse, "The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor."

The point? God operates through the judges. They have the authority and power of God, even authority to condemn to death. God has given such authority to men so that order and justice may prevail even in this sinful world. The secular legal system of government has often been called the kingdom of God's left hand (cf. Rom. 13:1-8). This is why we honor those appointed to rule over us.

However judges and princes quite often act unjustly and show partiality. Yet they won't get away with
such evil judgments. They are men and shall die and fall like any other prince. One day they will all have to give an accounting to the true Judge of all men. Already now God holds them accountable. Do your job, God demands.

God (elohiym) has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods (elohiym) he holds judgment: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? (Selah) Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." - Psa 82:1-4 ESV

By the way, Mormons or Latter Day Saints use this Psalm to build their teaching about faithful men and their wives becoming gods who will one day rule over one or the other planets in the universe. All this is nonsense, of course. It is not what the Scripture teaches by any stretch of the imagination.

But back to Jesus and to why he quoted Psalm 82 and Exodus 22. Here's Jesus' complete defense.

"Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." - Jhn 10:34-38 ESV

The Hebrew word elohiym is indeed plural and may correctly be translated both as God and as judges. What Jesus wants them to understand, however, is that God is also plural! Hidden right out in the open is the teaching of the Trinity, the Three-in-One God. Jesus is God's Son, separated, consecrated and declared holy by his Father (Matt. 3:17, 17:5). Everything he does points to it. Look at his works and believe. "Even though you do not believe me," he says, "believe the works. The works will help you to "know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

They rejected him regardless of what he said. "Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands." John doesn't say how Jesus escaped. He only writes that Jesus went back across the Jordan where John had been baptizing at first. Many of John's followers went after Jesus.

And many came to him. And they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." And many believed in him there. - Jhn 10:41-42 ESV

The Christmas season reminds us again of this wondrous mystery. God the Father sent His Son to be a man-child so that the judgment of eternal death might rest upon him rather than upon us. And now the whole creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal the sons of God. For in Christ Jesus all who believe are sons of God (Rom. 8:19; Gal. 3:26).