You Are Gods
TRANSLATION
(31) Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him. (32) However, Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” (33) The Jews answered, “We are not stoning you for any good work but for blasphemy because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (34) Jesus responded, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I have said that you are “gods”?’ (35) If he called them ‘gods’ to whom the Word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), (36) why do you accuse the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ (37) If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. (38) But if I am doing them, although you do not believe me, believe the works so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (39) Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
(40) He then went away across the Jordan to the place where John had at first been baptizing and remained there. (41) And many came to him and said, “While John never performed a sign, everything that John said about this man is true.” (42) And in that place many believed in Jesus.
OBSERVATIONS
The charges made against Jesus by his Jewish opponents again reached a fever pitch as he was accused of blasphemy. Several repetitions should be noted. “Stone(s)” appeared four times in three verses (vss. 31, 32, & 33). The phrase, “good works,” was used twice (vss. 32 & 33) along with two more uses of “works” (vss. 37 & 38). “Blasphemy/blaspheming” appeared twice (vss. 33 & 36) along with several uses of “God/gods” (vss. 33, 34, 35, & 36) and its cognate, “Father” (four times in vss. 36, 37, & 38). Finally, “believe(d)” is found four times (in vss. 37, 38, & 42).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus skillfully defended himself against the charge of blasphemy. (31-39)
II. Jesus departed and continued to minister across the Jordan River. (40-42)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus’ skillfully defended himself against the charge of blasphemy leveled at him by the Jewish authorities and then continued to minister across the Jordan where John had once baptized.
APPLICATION
John in his Gospel repeatedly emphasized the importance of faith, that is, accepting and embracing what might have seemed unbelievable about the person and work of Jesus. In this passage, the Jews who were about to stone Jesus for blasphemy spelled out the reason for their hostility toward him: “Because you, being a man, make yourself God” (vs. 33). Here we encounter a key assumption under which Jesus’ opponents were operating, namely, that no one, not even the Messiah, could at the same time be both God and man, divine and human.
Jesus offered two responses to counter this assumption, one from the Old Testament and the other from his own life and ministry. In quoting Psalm 82:6, Jesus cited a rather obscure text which proclaims a profound truth. When God created human beings in his own image and likeness, he endowed each one with the potential for eternal greatness, namely, godliness. While that image was damaged and disfigured by sin, it was never erased. God sending his own Son to take on human flesh as the God/man in the incarnation to be our sin-bearer made a way for each of us to be restored to the glorious state he originally intended for humanity when he created us in his image and likeness.
In a second response to his critics, Jesus pointed to his own works, clear and repetitive demonstrations of the power of God (vss. 37 & 38). These served as compelling evidence that the Father was working in and through the Son. While his clever defense against the charge of blasphemy enabled him to continue his earthly ministry, it would only be a matter of time before he would be arrested, tried, and executed by those who refused to believe in him.