God, gods
01 Feb '14 14:303 editsIt appears to me that much confusion surrounds the term God or gods in the Biblical text.
Because we are monotheistic we usually think in terms of a single God, the most High, Almighty God, but the fact of the matter is that the Bible uses the term 'gods', for a variety of personages, not only the most High.
For example when charged by opposers with ‘making himself a god,’ Jesus’ reply was: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said: “You are gods”’? If he called ‘gods’ those against whom the word of God came, and yet the Scripture cannot be nullified, do you say to me whom the Father sanctified and dispatched into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, I am God’s Son?” (Joh 10:31-37)
Jesus here quotes from Psalm 82, in which human judges, whom God condemned for not executing justice, were called “gods.” (Ps 82:1, 2, 6, 7) Thus, Jesus showed the unreasonableness of charging him with blasphemy for stating that he was, not God, but God’s Son.
Other instances include 2 Corinthians 4:4 where Satan is described as 'the god of this system of things', who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.
Indeed we even find the term applied to Jesus as in John 1:18 where it is written, 'No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god (Greek monogens theos) who is in the bosom [position] with the Father is the one that has explained him.
http://biblehub.com/text/john/1-18.htm
Thus it is clear that the Bible speaks of gods, whether as humans, satanic angels or the son of God himself. The question therefore arises in what sense are these entities to be considered as 'gods'?
Because we are monotheistic we usually think in terms of a single God, the most High, Almighty God, but the fact of the matter is that the Bible uses the term 'gods', for a variety of personages, not only the most High.
For example when charged by opposers with ‘making himself a god,’ Jesus’ reply was: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said: “You are gods”’? If he called ‘gods’ those against whom the word of God came, and yet the Scripture cannot be nullified, do you say to me whom the Father sanctified and dispatched into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, I am God’s Son?” (Joh 10:31-37)
Jesus here quotes from Psalm 82, in which human judges, whom God condemned for not executing justice, were called “gods.” (Ps 82:1, 2, 6, 7) Thus, Jesus showed the unreasonableness of charging him with blasphemy for stating that he was, not God, but God’s Son.
Other instances include 2 Corinthians 4:4 where Satan is described as 'the god of this system of things', who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.
Indeed we even find the term applied to Jesus as in John 1:18 where it is written, 'No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god (Greek monogens theos) who is in the bosom [position] with the Father is the one that has explained him.
http://biblehub.com/text/john/1-18.htm
Thus it is clear that the Bible speaks of gods, whether as humans, satanic angels or the son of God himself. The question therefore arises in what sense are these entities to be considered as 'gods'?
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