11,141
edits
Are Christians considered amateur gods?: Difference between revisions
Are Christians considered amateur gods? (view source)
Revision as of 19:14, 25 July 2015
, 8 years ago→What the Bible says
| Line 35: | Line 35: | ||
These judges were “gods” in the sense that they stood in God’s place, judging even life and death matters. They were not called “gods” because they were divine beings. Indeed, the text Jesus cites (Ps. 82) goes on to say that they were “mere men” and would “die” (v. 7). It also affirms that they were “the sons of the Most High,” but not because they were of the essence of God himself. | These judges were “gods” in the sense that they stood in God’s place, judging even life and death matters. They were not called “gods” because they were divine beings. Indeed, the text Jesus cites (Ps. 82) goes on to say that they were “mere men” and would “die” (v. 7). It also affirms that they were “the sons of the Most High,” but not because they were of the essence of God himself. | ||
It is possible, as many scholars believe, that when the psalmist Asaph said to the unjust judges, “You are gods,” he was speaking in irony. He was saying, “I have called you ‘gods,’ but in fact you will die like the men that you really are.” If this is so, then when Jesus alluded to this psalm in John 10, he was saying that what the Israelite judges were called in irony and in judgment, he is in reality. Jesus was giving a defense for his own deity, not for the deification of man.<ref>Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: a Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997), 21–22.</ref> | It is possible, as many scholars believe, that when the psalmist Asaph said to the unjust judges, “You are gods,” he was speaking in irony. He was saying, “I have called you ‘gods,’ but in fact you will die like the men that you really are.” If this is so, then when Jesus alluded to this psalm in John 10, he was saying that what the Israelite judges were called in irony and in judgment, he is in reality. Jesus was giving a defense for his own deity, not an argument for the deification of man.<ref>Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes, When Cultists Ask: a Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997), 21–22.</ref> | ||
=Quotes of William Branham= | =Quotes of William Branham= | ||