Defending the Faith

It has been claimed that the “sons of the Most High” in Psalm 82:6 actually refers to the angels. There are indeed scriptures that refer to the angels as “sons of God.” (Genesis 6:2,4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7) We know that angels are called elohim elsewhere. (Psalm 8:5; compare Hebrews 2:7; and possibly Psalm 50:1 and 96:4) We know that there were angels that sinned in the days of Noah, and who did rule unjustly then. (Most of the angels, however, remained loyal to Yahweh.) Likewise the fallen angels, with Satan, do rule this world unjustly even today. Yet, we would be left wondering as to how and when the “Logos of God” came to them.

Psalm 82:1: “God [Hebrew, elohim, Strong's #430] stands in the congregation of the mighty [Hebrew, el, Strong's #410]; he judges among the Gods [Hebrew, elohim, Strong's #430].” Here the first word, in the primary sense probably refers to Yahweh (Jehovah), as judging in the congregation of others who are called el and elohim. We can see the ones being judged here  could have a typical application to the judges of Israel, but the judges of Israel are never called the sons of God, sons of the Most High. By extension, although the first “God” [Elohim] evidently refers to Yahweh who judges, Yahweh does so through, or by means of, Jesus, as the one appointed by Yahweh over his fellows (Psalm 45:6,7), to whom judgment has been given by Yahweh, and through whom Yahweh executes judgment. (John 5:22,27,30; Acts 10:42; 17:31; Romans 2:16)

As Moses was made as ELOHIM to Aaron (Exodus 4:16), so Jesus — the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) — is made ELOHIM to his fellows. (Hebrews 1:8,9)  It is to Jesus that the church must answer for judgment concerning their works in the present body. And judgment leads to a separation of rewards, for not all of the body of Christ receive the exact same reward, but each will be rewarded according to the measure of fruitage they develop. (Luke 19:12-19; Matthew 13:23; Galatians 5:22,23; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15) Some receive the highest reward of joint-heirship, but most of the body of Christ do not attain this highest reward. Thus in the body, “each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” (1 Corinthians 3:8; Acts 10:42; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Peter 4:5,17; 2 Thessalonians 1:5) Thus the conclusion that the other “elohim” — gods –  refer to these other mighty ones — who are the spirit-begotten sons of God, of whom Jesus is the head or chief, as anointed by Yahweh.

As the New Testament sons of God receive the holy spirit, they are anointed to be judges, and do become part of the assembly (church) of God. — 1 Corinthians 6:2,3; 1 John 2:27.

Let us read further what is being said concerning the sons of the Most High:

Psalm 82:2: “How long will you judge unjustly (Romans 2:1; 14:10), and show partiality to the wicked?” (verse 2). If this is being spoken to the angels, it would only be to the disobedient angels. We certainly don’t know of anything in the scriptures that implies that the loyal angels of God in heaven are judging unjustly.

As applied to those who become the sons of the Most High through Jesus, we can see a more appropriate application, since in this world their judgments are often still not what they should be. James certainly refers to the brothers in Christ (James 1:1) who do this very thing.(James 2:4) Paul likewise indicates this trait being found amongst the saints. — 1 Corinthians 3:3,4; 4:6.

Nevertheless, in Psalm 82:1, the judge, Jesus, addresses the “sons of God”. One might argue that not all the NT “sons of God” fall into this category, with the claim that many, upon being begotten of the Holy Spirit, did judge wisely and justly. We cannot, however, say this for sure, since even the 12 apostles seemed at times to make improper judgments along this line. Regardless, we believe that is safe to say most of the NT sons of the Most High, however, do not, especially in their earlier days as “sons of God”, make proper judgments.

One has insisted that this does refer to “all” the judges spoken of in Psalm 82:1, and that not all of the NT sons of God fall into this category. We do believe that all of these judges, sons of the Most High, are included, and that all who become such sons do, at times, judge with partiality. Nevertheless, even assuming that there are exclusions, let us look at the parallel example we gave from James 2:4: “Haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” If the same logic would be applied to James 2:4, we would conclude that absolutely all of those whom he is addressing (James 1:1) were showing partiality and were judges with evil thoughts. Whether one views his letter as addressing the fleshly twelve tribes, the believing Jews or the entire Israel of faith (see James 5:19, where these are addressed as “brothers” who wander away from the truth.), the context indicates that not absolutely all of these were showing partiality at the time that James wrote; some had probably developed so that they were not judges with evil thoughts. Indeed, James indicates that this is the case, for if it were true that absolutely all were thus sinning, how could James exhort some of the brothers being addressed to convert those who wander from the truth? (James 5:19,20) Thus, the conclusion is that likewise the Judge of Psalm 82:1 prophetically turns attention to those of the sons of God who were doing these things, not that he is saying absolutely all of  “sons of God” were thus so guilty at any given time.

However, the point is, that it is highly unlikely that these who are being asked this question is in reference to the angels; the statement appears more related to the affairs on the earth amongst men, not to angels in the spiritual realm.

Psalm 82:3: “Do what is right toward the poor (see Galatians 2:10; James 2:1-13) and the fatherless (James 1:27); maintain what is right for the afflicted (Galatians 6:2; Romans 15:1; James 1:27); and the destitute.” — James 2:15,16; 1 John 3:17,18.

Again, we highly doubt that this is being addressed to the angels in heaven; it relates directly to the NT sons of the Most High, as can be seen by the related scriptural references given. Indeed, we would have a very hard time trying to relate this to the loyal angels in heaven.

Psalm 82:4: “Rescue the weak (Romans 14:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:14) and the needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.” (Romans 15:30,31; Galatians 6:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:1,2)

As we stated earlier, if the Psalm 82:2 is referring to the angels, it could apply only to the angels that had sinned, and not the righteous angels. However, why would the angels that sinned be told to “rescue the weak?”, and to save the needy from the hand of the wicked, when they are the wicked?

The thought appears to be to rescue the needy and weak of those whom God is choosing as his sons from world. Another view is that this reference is to the stronger ones of the “sons of God” to rescue those who are weaker sons of God, who get themselves entangled with the flesh and the world. — Galatians 6:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; James 5:19,20.

Psalm 82:5: “They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.”

This is not speaking of the sons of God, but appears to be speaking the wicked just spoken of in Psalm 82:4.

These wicked do not understand (1 Corinthians 1:8; John 1:10; 8:43); they walk about in darkness (Isaiah 50:10; 60:2; Ephesians 4:18; Revelation 12:9) as all the foundations of the earth are unstable. (Isaiah 13:13; 24:18; Hebrews 12:26; Revelation 21:1) Thus this reference appears to be made to the world — those who are not “sons of God”.

The Judge who judges the sons of God states that all the foundations of the earth are shaken. This is not speaking of the planet earth; very rarely does the word “earth” in the Bible mean the planet itself. The Hebrew word used means “to totter, shake, slip”. The King James Version renders this as: “all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” His words mean that all the basic principles of the present social structure are distorted out of proper relationship to each other, are in confusion. Conditions have slipped from their proper course. Society for centuries has been endeavoring to serve its interests as wisely as possible, yet selfishness inherent in the entire human family since the fall affects, influences, warps and twists their judgment on every subject. As a consequence, while the world has endeavored to have matters right and just and true, while it has endeavored as a whole to regulate its affairs on lines of justice, sympathy, truth and equity, nevertheless individual selfishness and class preference have distorted the whole arrangement, until we have the conditions which prevail today.

“I have said you are Gods [elohim]; and all of you are children of the Most High [el eon, the highest God], yet you will all die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”

Again, the great Judge begins to speak to the ELOHIM of verse 1. As I have demonstrated, however, it is only by taking the text out of context that one could conclude that the “sons of the Most High” here refers to the angels.

The ones being spoken to, though sons of the Most High, die and appear to men nothing more than the others. Thus in a general sense, this scripture applies to all the body of Christ, regardless of reward, for the spirit-begettal to sonship goes unnoticed by the world in general. (John 3:8; 1 John 3:1) However, if the Judge is here only addressing those of who were not faithful, as he appears to be doing in some of the verses, then it could be that this is a reference to their failure to attain worthiness of the resurrection of Jesus, and that therefore their death leaves them on the plane of the human life, having failed to obtain that of the resurrection with a spiritual body.

Psalm 82:8: “Arise, God, judge the earth, For you inherit all of the nations.”

Who is stating this to whom? Who is speaking to another who is addressed as “God”? The Psalmists often changed who is speaking and who is being spoken to without any indication; this is also often done in many of the prophets, as well as in the book of Revelation.

It seems here that it is possible that the Psalmist is quoting Yahweh as stating this to another who is referred to as ELOHIM.  We do not generally think of God Almighty as inheriting the nations, as the whole earth already belongs to him. (Deuteronomy 10:14; 19:5; Psalm 24:1; 50:12) On the other hand, Jesus does inherit dominion over all nations. (Daniel 7:14; Psalms 2:6-8; 110:1,2; Matthew 11:27; 28:18; Luke 10:22; John 3:35; 5:22-27; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:20-22; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Peter 3:22) Certainly, as in verse one, ELOHIM could apply to the Mighty Power that Yahweh has given to Jesus, and thus Yahweh could be addressing Jesus with the entreaty to “Arise”, to stand up, to take possession of his inheritance.

However, the saints also inherit this dominion with Jesus. (Daniel 7:22,27; Luke 22:29,30) Thus, if this is applied to the saints as well, it would be as a singular body, as the judges of Israel are so addressed in Exodus 21:6; 22:8,9,28 (See Acts 23:5), the reference could be to both Jesus and his body, to arise and inherit the promises of the kingdom.

If the “elohim” referred to in Psalm 82 were false gods or the angels, as some have claimed, then Jesus’ appeal to this scripture in John 10:34 would have been meaningless. It will be remembered that the Jews were angry with our Lord Jesus, not because he called himself Yahweh (which he never did) or intimated any usurpation of the Father’s place (which place he never claimed), honors or prerogatives, but simply because he called himself the Son of God and referred to Yahweh God as his Father. When the Jewish leaders were about to stone him, Jesus stated to them: “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” (John 10:31,32; see also John 10:25) Jesus stated the truth here, and showed exactly why they wished to stone him, that is, because he did the works of the only true God. Their false accusation was: “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:33) We need to note that included in this false accusation was that he was a “man”, that is, a common, ordinary, sinful man, claiming to be God. (Even from the standpoint of trinitarians, this is a false accusation, because, according to our trinitarian neighbors, it was not as a man that Jesus is God, but rather in his alleged “God-Nature” that existed side-by-side with his “human-nature”.) The answer they gave was that in calling himself the Son of God he was affecting to be superior to them and to others of mankind, and affecting a relationship with the God Almighty, which they termed blasphemy, because they said it was either claiming to be Yahweh, or a god perhaps equal to Yahweh.

But knowing that the Scriptures fully sanctioned such a title as the Son of God, Jesus referred them to the passage in Psalm 82:6, and speaks of himself as “a son of God”, not meaning that he was an angel, but that he was human son of God, as spoken of in Luke 1:32: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. [Yahweh] God will give to him the throne of his father, David,” (World English, see Isaiah 9:7) Was the angel here saying that Jesus would be an angel? Absolutely not! Our Lord’s logical suggestion in John 10:34 is that if God himself through the prophet Asaph gave the title of “gods” thus to human beings, to the followers of Christ, to the Church of this Gospel age, why should it be considered blasphemous that the special Son of God, whom the Father had specially set apart and sent into the world as his representative should be called the Son of God. His persecutors were unable to answer him, nor can any logical objection be found to our Redeemer’s words. He was indeed pre-eminently the representative of Yahweh and pre-eminently he was his Son.