You are gods and sons of the Most High
“I and the Father are one.” Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”” (John 10:30-38 WEB)
The Jews charged Jesus with the sin of blasphemy when He declared “I and the Father are one”, putting Himself on the same level as God.
Their argument was that a man cannot be God.
This is untrue because Jesus who is God, became a man. He is fully God and fully man.
Instead of trying to explain it that way, Jesus quoted Scripture:
“God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods. “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah. “Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.” They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”” (Psalms 82:1-7 WEB)
In the psalm above, human judges are called “gods” and “sons of the Most High” because they have received authority from God to pass judgment upon His people.
However, God reminds them of their mortality by saying that they might have the office of a “god”, but they will still die like men, and fall just like any ruler in history, no matter how rich or powerful.
Jesus argued that if God called men “gods”, then why are the Jews accusing Him of blasphemy, if He is really a man who was authorized and appointed by God to judge mankind, on behalf of the Father.
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.” (John 5:21-23 WEB)
In Christ, the Old Testament Scripture finds perfect fulfillment. Not only is Jesus a God-man, He is also the rightful Son of the Most High.
Jesus paved the way for us who believe in Him, for us to be born again in His image, as gods and sons of the Most High.
“And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” (Galatians 4:6-7 WEB)
God designed that every creature produces offspring after its own kind. A lion’s seed produces a lion cub. A sheep’s seed produces a lamb. If receiving and believing God’s seed (His word) caused you to be born again, then you are born as a god. You are a son of God, and an heir of His kingdom.
To the natural mind, this sounds too good to be true, like blasphemy. That is why the Gospel must be spiritually discerned. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can understand and believe this good news.
“Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14 WEB)
The new creation in Christ is neither male nor female. Our born-again spirit is totally different from the children of Adam.
“For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29 WEB)
Being a son of God is not about gender (male or female). Before Jesus became a man, He was a spirit without a body, and already a Son.
Sonship is about position—being an heir who has authority and a stake in God’s kingdom. That is why even if you are a new creation in Christ living in a woman’s body, your spirit is still a son in Christ—it is about the position of the spirit, not the gender of the body.
Born-again believers will all receive new glorified bodies at the Rapture, and these will conform to our reborn spirits.
Can you declare this: “I, the spirit dwelling inside this mortal body, have been born again as a god and I am a son of the Most High. Just as Jesus had authority from God to proclaim the Gospel and work confirming signs and wonders, I too have received the same authority from Christ. As a royal priest to God, I shall use this God-given authority to help the weak, poor, fatherless, oppressed, and reach them with the good news of Jesus Christ!”
Understand the four gospels through the lens of grace, and discover what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross: https://bit.ly/understandeveryparable
how to use nevertheless 在 How to use nevertheless and nonetheless? [duplicate] 的推薦與評價
No, neither one is correct English. The first one doesn't mean anything, though the second one can be understood. ... <看更多>