Bible Questions and Answers

What does Psalm 82:6 mean?

Psalms 82:6 I said, You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.

This is referred to and explained by Jesus when the Jews wrongfully accused him of making himself a god because he said he was the Son of God.

John 10:31-36 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." 34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, "You are gods"’? 35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated ‘god(s)’ are generic terms used for one in authority — a magistrate for example. They are not restricted to the God whose creation we are.

The idea is that those who understand the word of God are elevated to a position of responsibility. By knowledge we become responsible for judgment.

The idea is used by Paul when writing to the Ephesians:

• Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
• Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

I hope you find this helpful.

God bless,

Glenn