“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 10:36
We are living in a world where many people deny that Jesus is God or that He claimed to be God. For example, Muslims say Jesus never claimed to be God. Why do they say this? A former Muslim, Nabeel Qureshi, explains why in his book, “No God but One: Allah or Jesus?” Qureshi writes, “The Quran informs Muslims that Jesus never claimed to be divine. Rather, people began to believe this after Jesus left the earth (5.116–117). So we believed that later Christians were responsible for corrupting the true Christianity. Learned men at our mosque told me that Roman paganism influenced Christian thought, as Roman gods often had sons who were demigods. Other Muslims argued that the Council of Nicaea was responsible for Jesus’ apotheosis, while yet others accused Paul of this blasphemy. Regardless of the exact model, most of us believed that the Bible did not even depict Jesus as God, and certainly Jesus never claimed to be God himself” (pg. 213).
How do we respond to skeptics who deny Jesus is God or claimed to be God? We learn how Jesus responded to skeptics when He was on earth. In John 10:1-30, Jesus has shown that He is God by referring to Himself as “the [Messianic] shepherd” who “enters by the door” or sheepfold of Israel in the way God predicted in the Old Testament (John 10:2). Jesus had claimed to be “the Good Shepherd”(John 10:11, 14) who had the “power to lay down” His life and “the power to take it [up] again” in resurrection (John 10:18). This is what separates Jesus Christ from all other religious leaders and founders. All other religious leaders and founders in history are still dead in the grave. But Jesus Christ is the only One who had the authority to take up His life in resurrection proving that He is God (Romans 1:4). Christ also referred to God as “My Father” (John 10:18c). Jesus said He had the power to give eternal life to those who believe in Him (John 10:28a) and the power to guarantee security forever (John 10:28b). That is something that only God can do! Finally, Christ claimed, “I and My Father are one.” (John 10:30). “One” is neuter in Greek (hen), not masculine (heis), indicating that Jesus and His Father are not one Person, but are one in essence. Both Jesus and His Father are God!
The Jews understood that Jesus was claiming to be God, so they took up stones to throw at Jesus (John 10:31). Why? Because the Old Testament Law said to sentence blasphemers to death by stoning (Leviticus 24:13-16). Jesus courageously responded to this hostile crowd by confronting them with a question. Today we will learn that the second way to respond to skeptics who deny Jesus is God is to COMMUNICATE BIBLICAL TRUTHS WITH RELEVANCE (John 10:34-36). Jesus refers to the Old Testament to argue from the lesser to the greater.
Jesus says to His Jewish audience, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods’ ”? (John 10:34). Jesus asks these religious skeptics, “Is it not written in your law…?” He refers to the Law in the Old Testament as that which has authority over them. Christ is being relevant to the religious culture of His audience. He is sensitive to their needs and beliefs so He refers to Psalm 82:6 where God refers to unjust and unfaithful judges or leaders as “gods” in contrast to their faithful and just Leader, Yahweh. These judges abused their positions and yet God calls them “gods” because they are His representatives. God-appointed leaders were called “gods.” For example, Moses was as God to Aaron (Exodus 4:16) and as God to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1) because he brought God’s message to them.
Jesus continues, “35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 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). If the term “gods” can be used of unfaithful human judges (the lesser) who received God’s Word, then surely “Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world” is not “blaspheming” when He says, “I am the Son of God” (the greater). The phrase “Son of God” points to Jesus as God. “Son of” means He partakes of the same essence or nature as His Father. Jesus’ point is this: If God said of imperfect judges in the Psalms, “You are gods,” then Jesus, the One and only perfect Man, is reasonably called the Son of God or God Himself!
For example, when I say, “this is the son of …,” I am saying this person has the same human essence or nature as his father. Likewise, as the Son of God, Jesus has the same divine nature as God the Father. He is everything God the Father is in essence.
Jesus’ point was that it was inconsistent for the Jews to claim the Old Testament as their authority (10:34), and then to disregard something that it said because they did not agree with it. It was inconsistent for them, specifically, to stone Jesus for claiming to be God and the “Son of God,” when the Old Testament spoke of humans as “gods.” If it is not blasphemous to call imperfect human judges “gods,” what is the objection to Jesus referring to Himself as the Son of God? The Jews had to accept this line of argument because the Old Testament “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Clearly Jesus affirms that the “Scripture” is without error. They could not evade the force of this argument by saying Psalm 82:6 contains an error which should read “God” instead of “gods” to invalidate Jesus’ claim to be a Man and at the same time God. Christ claimed to be more than a recipient of God’s Word or a representative of God. Jesus claimed to be God in the fullest sense.
What difference does it make that Jesus is God and not just a mere man considering John 10:28? No one can snatch them out of His hand. If Christ were a mere man, He could not keep that promise since other stronger men could overpower Him and take the believer out of His hand.
But Jesus is not a mere man or prophet. He is God the Son Who was “sanctified” or set apart by His Father and “sent” (John 10:36) to earth from heaven to voluntarily lay down His life for the sins of the world. Although many of the people He created have arrogantly rejected Jesus as their God and Savior (Titus 2:13), Christ still loves them and seeks to save them.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for sanctifying and sending Your eternal Son to earth despite our arrogant refusal to acknowledge Him as both Lord and God. If Jesus were a mere man, He could never give us eternal life nor guarantee our security forever. But He is much more than a man. He is the eternal God Who voluntarily laid down His life for our sins and rose from the dead so whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I want to know Your Son more and make Him more widely known so more people may have life in His name. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.