Today we hear in many Christian circles that we are called to be gods. What used to be spoken only in silence and promoted by pseudo-Christian cults is now being openly declared in much of mainline Christianity. There is a movie called “The God Makers” which was distributed and shown in churches a few years ago which criticized the teaching of the Mormon church on this subject, and now this very same teaching is being promoted from various pulpits and many TV evangelists all across America.

Does the Bible teach that we are gods, or that we ever will be gods? Those who teach this refer to John 10:34, “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” as the scriptural base for such belief.

Let’s study this and see if Jesus was telling the Jews who were about to stone him that they are gods or not. If we read the verses that proceed this verse, (starting at vs. 24) the Jews asked Jesus to tell them plainly if He was the Christ or not. He answered by saying that He is the one who gives eternal life (vs.28) and that He and the Father are one. (vs.30) For saying this, the Jews took up stones to stone Him. Jesus asked for which good works were they going to stone him? (vs.32) They answered and said, not for the good works, but for blasphemy, being a man, making yourself as God. (Vs.33) Jesus replied, “in the scriptures, I said, you are gods. And if he called them gods, then how can you say I blasphemed?” In other words, why didn’t you stone others who are just mere men when the scriptures say that you are gods?

The Jews were correct in saying that mere man is not God, but since Jesus is God, then it was not blasphemy. Jesus was quoting Psalms 82:6 “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High”. Verse 7 continues, “But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes”.

The tone and the explanation of Psalms 82: 6 are best understood when we read 1 Samuel 8: 4-7. “Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto them, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”

In other words, they desired to be their own gods which is exactly what the first lie of Satan was that we find recorded in Genesis 3:5. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

The desire to be as God is the reason that Lucifer fell, and it should be no surprise that he should tempt man with the same temptation that seized his own heart, to partake of the same desire which he had within himself. (Isaiah 14:13-14) Satan told a half lie and half truth (as he is famous for doing), because we see in Genesis 3:22 that God said, “Behold, the man has become as one of us (“us” is the trinity), to know good and evil.” It is true that man has the knowledge of good and evil, just as does God, but the difference is that God has the knowledge of good and evil and hates evil and cannot be tempted by it. Man not only is tempted by evil, but also loves evil and is incapable of doing anything about it. The reason is because man is not God and can never be God. If man were a god, then it would only stand to reason that he would have the capacity to have life within himself and would never do anything evil. However, the reality is that man does great evil and will die as man.

Man was created in the image of God, and an image is just that, an image. An image is merely the reflection of the real thing, but not the real thing and can never be the real thing. When God appointed kings to rule over nations, those whom God appointed, were His representatives to rule as gods, but when man declared that they would not have God to reign over them, they die as men.

Man never was God and can never be God, and only by the grace and mercy of God can man even be declared righteous and given the privilege of being the representative of God on this earth and throughout eternity. This explanation is what Jesus told the Jews in John 10: 34, and it was not a compliment, in fact it was a rebuke, and to teach and believe this scripture as being proof we can be gods is not only heretical, but is blasphemous as well.