Jesus: Son of God (John 10:31-42)

The Jewish authorities wanted Jesus dead. From the beginning they realized that Jesus was different than other Rabbis. Nicodemus told Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). They knew Jesus was different, but they quickly realized that Jesus was going to be a problem because He didn’t conform to their rules.

They knew Jesus was going to be a problem when He healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5). Rather than rejoicing that a paralyzed man was healed, the Jewish authorities rebuked Jesus for healing on the Sabbath (John 5:16). They became furious when Jesus told them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17). John tells us their response in John 5:18, “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” Jesus, however, would not back down. When He came back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, He upset them again by healing a man born blind on the Sabbath (John 9). The confrontation continues as we pick up at John 10:30.

You Make Yourself God

When Jesus said “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30), the Jews “took up stones again to stone Him” (John 10:31). John said “again” because they tried to stone Him earlier when He said “before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58-59). When Jesus saw them once again grab stones, He said to them: “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” (John 10:32). They replied, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God” (John 10:33). It is worth noticing that they couldn’t argue with Jesus about His works, even if they didn’t believe. JC Ryle commented: “We should observe, in these verses, the extreme wickedness of human nature. The unbelieving Jews at Jerusalem were neither moved by our Lord’s miracles nor by His preaching. They determined not to receive Him as their Messiah.” They saw His works but refused to believe His claim to be the Son of God no matter what signs He gave. 

You Are Called Gods

Jesus responded to their charge, but not in the way you might think. One would think that He would have replied: “It is impossible for Me to be guilty of blasphemy because I am God.” Instead, He asked them “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’ ” (John 10:34; Psalm 82:6)? Wait! What did He say? When threatened with stoning for blasphemy (claiming equality with God), Jesus responded by saying that the Bible records for us that the Lord has referred to human rulers of the people as gods.

Why did Jesus respond in this way? Jesus quoted this psalm for two reasons: 1) to rebuke the Pharisees and 2) confirm His identity. First, Jesus quoted this psalm to subtly rebuke the Pharisees because Psalm 82 is about unjust rulers who show partiality to the wicked. The unjust rulers are called gods, not because they are gods, but because they are like gods to other people who fall under their authority. Charles Spurgeon said, “They are gods to other men, but He is God to them. He lends them His name, and this is their authority for acting as judges, but they must take care that they do not misuse the power entrusted to them, for the Judge of judges is in session among them.” Jesus is saying that the Pharisees are like these unjust rulers who “are gods..but shall die like men” (Ps 82:6-7). In other words, they have been given authority but if they misuse it they will be severely punished by God.

I am the Son of God

Jesus also quoted Psalm 82 in order to confirm His identity. Jesus goes on to say, “If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 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’ ” (John 10:35-36). Arguing from the “lesser to the greater”, Jesus says that if human rulers can be called gods (without you crying blasphemy), how much more ought the Son of God be called God? The NKJV Believer’s Study Bible said, “Jesus concludes by saying that the Son has been uniquely set apart or sanctified for His ministry by the Father.” Jesus is the Son of God who is to be worshiped as God. He is the Word made flesh who has dwelled among us (John 1:14).

Believe the Works

Jesus concluded His response by making it very simple for the Jewish religious leaders. He said, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:38). Remember, they couldn’t argue about His works. They were not moved by His works towards faith, but they could not deny His works were good and approved by God. Jesus calls them to examine His works so that they would see Him as the Christ. Jesus said in John 5:36, “But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish–the every works that I do–bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.” 

The Jewish religious leaders saw Jesus as a problem and wanted Him dead. They are a tragic example of Jesus’ words in John 3:19-20: “And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” The unbelieving Jews hated Jesus and His light because they loved themselves and their evil deeds. They wanted Jesus dead because He exposed them.

But, as Jesus said in John 3:21, “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they are done in God.” John tells us that Jesus went away beyond the Jordan where John had been baptizing (John 10:40) and “many came to Him and…believed in Him there” (John 10:41-42). There were people who saw Jesus’ works/signs and believed in Him.

What about you? Are you like the religious leaders who see but don’t believe? Are you making excuses for your unbelief? Do you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Do you have life in His name? Are you surrendering to Him as Lord? See and believe!