{"id":89842,"date":"2024-09-05T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/?p=89842"},"modified":"2024-09-12T09:42:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T14:42:41","slug":"did-jesus-say-we-are-all-divine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/did-jesus-say-we-are-all-divine\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Jesus say we are all divine?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We live in a culture where more people than ever label themselves as \u201cspiritual-but-not-religious.\u201d Many in this group speak fondly of Jesus and even use some of His teachings to support their beliefs. Unfortunately, their teachings often get twisted to mean something Jesus never meant. One example is their claim that Jesus taught people are divine. But did Jesus really teach that?<\/span><\/p>

Luke 17 and the Kingdom of God<\/b><\/p>

Some may argue \u201cyes\u201d using Luke 17:20\u201321:<\/span><\/p>

When [Jesus] was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, \u201cThe kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, \u2018See here!\u2019 or \u2018There!\u2019 For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst\u201d <\/span><\/i>(CSB).<\/span><\/p>

The KJV translation, which seems to stick in many people\u2019s memories, puts it differently. Jesus says, <\/span>\u201cThe kingdom of God is within you.\u201d<\/span><\/i> This has led many creative thinkers to express how Jesus was trying to help them realize their own divinity. For this to work, \u201cKingdom of God\u201d needs to mean something related to \u201cdivine nature,\u201d and \u201cwithin you\u201d needs to mean \u201cyour identity.\u201d Even if that wasn\u2019t a stretch, it would be a difficult interpretation to believe in light of everything else Jesus taught.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Related: Is Jesus the Only Way?<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>

A closer look at Luke 17<\/b><\/p>

Jesus consistently spoke about entering the kingdom, not the kingdom entering people. This is why most modern Bible translations say the kingdom is \u201cin your midst\u201d instead of \u201cwithin you.\u201d It\u2019s still a perfectly valid translation of the text itself, but it makes way better sense in context. Jesus is king, expressing God\u2019s rule over the land. He is standing <\/span>right there<\/span><\/i> among the Pharisees. So God\u2019s kingdom is among them. It\u2019s not something they see (like a giant castle or an army of angels) but something they must recognize through a proper understanding of Jesus.<\/span><\/p>

John 10 and \u201cyou are gods\u201d<\/b><\/p>

Another commonly used passage comes from John 10. The Jewish leaders are about to stone Jesus because <\/span>\u201cyou\u2014being a man\u2014make yourself God\u201d<\/span><\/i> (v. 33 CSB). Jesus responds in verses 34\u201336:<\/span><\/p>

Jesus answered them, \u201cIsn\u2019t it written in your law, I said, you are gods? If he called those to whom the word of God came \u2018gods\u2019\u2014and the Scripture cannot be broken\u2014do you say, \u2018You are blaspheming\u2019 to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

It seems that Jesus\u2019s response is to basically say, \u201cRelax, guys. I know I called myself God, but Scripture says we\u2019re all gods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

The correct view of John 10 and \u201cyou are gods\u201d<\/b><\/p>

Jesus is quoting Psalm 82:6. The passage is difficult to understand, though it\u2019s generally understood that the Hebrew word for \u201cgod\u201d\u2014Elohim\u2014is a flexible word that may be used for creatures other than the one true Yahweh God. The opponents of Jesus are ready to stone him because Jesus used the word \u201cgod,\u201d of himself, so Jesus responds by pointing out that they haven\u2019t really thought things through.<\/span><\/p>

The Bible and divinity<\/b><\/p>

Scripture is crystal clear that Jesus\u2019s divinity goes far beyond what is true of humanity (Phil. 2:5-11; Col 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3). God in the Old Testament also makes a clear-cut distinction between himself and humanity (Ps. 9:20, 50:21; Isa. 31:3, 43:10; Exe. 28:1\u201310). In Acts 12:23, Herod absorbs God\u2019s glory for himself by letting others worship him as God. So an angel struck him down, and \u201che was eaten by worms and died\u201d (For Herod\u2019s sake, hopefully not in that order).<\/span><\/p>

The Takeaway<\/b><\/p>

There are many teachings in the Bible that elevate the status of a Christian to remarkable heights. We are heirs of Christ (Rom 8:17), we have Christ \u201cin us\u201d (Col. 1:27), and we are even told to imitate God (Eph. 5:1). However, as amazing as these statements are, <\/span>the dividing line in Scripture between God and his creation is clear – and Jesus is not on the same side of that line as us. Only Jesus\u2014who alone is both human and divine\u2014can be a suitable bridge between us and God.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore Than a Carpenter<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRevised and Updated for Today's Culture.\nLearn more!<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We live in a culture where more people than ever label themselves as \u201cspiritual-but-not-religious.\u201d Many in this group speak fondly of Jesus and even use some of His teachings to support their beliefs. Unfortunately, their teachings often get twisted to mean something Jesus never meant. One example is their claim that Jesus taught people are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50255,"featured_media":89845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Many today claim that Jesus taught we are all gods and have equal standing with god. But did Jesus really teach that?","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[1221,1219,1220],"translator":[],"blog-author":[77],"class_list":["post-89842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","tag-divine","tag-divinity","tag-godhood","blog-author-matthew-tingblad"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2024\/09\/CrownHiddenOnShelf_DivineBlog-e1725468338865.jpg","meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89842"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89855,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89842\/revisions\/89855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89842"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=89842"},{"taxonomy":"blog-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-author?post=89842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}