Are Christians gods With a Small Letter g?

John 10:22-42 and also Psalm 82:6-8

Are Christians gods with a small letter “g”?

John 10:22-42

Then came the Festival of Dedication[b] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[c]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’[d]? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

Psalm 82:6-8

“I said, ‘You are “gods”;

you are all sons of the Most High.’

7 But you will die like mere mortals;

you will fall like every other ruler.”

8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,

for all the nations are your inheritance.

OK, many things here. Many Prosperity gospel, word of faith preachers, have used the versus above to try to say that we, as believers, are gods, with a small letter g. Therefore, this has given birth to the “name it and claim it” theology where they believe we can speak things into existence just like God spoke everything into existence like in the book of Genesis in creation. However, is this theology biblical or are they taking John 10 and Psalm 82 out of context? My goal today is to show they are taking those versus out of context and here is why:

1. First of all, if you look at John 10, and look at what I highlighted in bold, it’s clear Jesus was taking about Himself and the texts here are referring to Himself. In this section, people wanted to stone Jesus because He was saying HE is God. Notice I said, Jesus is saying He is God. So, that is the context in this text. So, it was proving HIS divinity not our divinity; huge difference.

2. Then Jesus quotes Psalm 82 where it says the rulers were gods. So, the point Jesus was making was, He was basically saying, Paraphrasing, “why are you so surprised that I call MYSELF God when you see rulers being called god in Psalm 82”? However, again, the point to all this was to prove Jesus’ divinity, not our divinity!

3. Many preachers in the word of faith circles have tried to use this text to prove the divinity that we are. Not that we have divinity in us, because we do because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. So, we have divinity in us, but many have said we are more than just divinity in us but we are divine as well. Kenneth Copeland once said, “I’m not saying you have a God in you, I’m saying you are one”. You see that Kenneth Copeland is saying we are a god with a small letter g. His friend Pastor Bill Winston once taught a series called, “Understanding Your Divinity”. Notice they are not talking about divinity in us, (the Holy Spirit) no! They are saying we are a god ourselves. Therefore, we can do all the things in scripture that God can do. Hence, speak things into existence, name it and claim it, having power over this or that, regardless of what God’s will is on a matter, is all part of their thinking and theology.

4. Needless to say, you can see the hurts this may or have already caused. However, Kenneth Copeland got exposed during COVID-19 when he tried to rebuke COVID-19 when it first hit and COVID-19 went on for a long time and many more died because of it; so he didn’t curse or defeat anything with his talk. (If you haven’t seen the video of this already on YouTube please do, it’s disgusting to think a person thinks they have the power of God to do this, but it will prove my point). It was all false teaching from the beginning. That is why it never worked. Saints, this is false teaching to say we have powers that only God Himself possesses, but that is exactly what some of these word of faith preachers have been teaching for years. Again, these texts were proving Jesus’ divinity, not our divinity, big difference!

5. Lastly, if you look at Psalm 82, yes it says they were gods, but in context, they were rulers who were not ruling correctly, (go back and read the 5 versus above it as well). That is why is says they will be judged and they will “die like mere mortals”, at least that was the prayer given there. Why? Because even though the word gods was used, they were not gods, for one, but secondly, they were rulers who were unjust and the psalmist was praying to the real God that He was going to judge them for their lack of judgment, or bad ruling, or unjust behavior on their part. So, Psalm 82 ends with judgment on these rulers, not to explain their divinity. Saints, please get that. So, we have divine in us, yes, (the Holy Spirit) but to say we are divine ourselves, saints we are getting blasphemous and we can see the devastating results that come from that.

Closing Prayer:

Lord we are Your children and I thank You that You live in us! However, I’m quick to give You the glory and not to take credit for You and what You are doing! One thing I learned: Lord, You are God and I am not! Thank You Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen!