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Are we “little gods?"
by Carlos Gonzalez
This question of our nature being “little gods” within the christian faith has been very controversial. It is widely held by many televangelist, and word of faith preachers. First, those who advocate this view would quote Psalm 82:6 which says, “…You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High.” Jesus quoted this verse in John 10:34. We must examine the context of the surrounding verses to understand its true meaning. Psalm 82:1-8 says:
“1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2"How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, "You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince."
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!”
This Psalm written by Asaph will help us understand the true meaning of “gods.” The realization must come first that God is unique in the sense that he is the only God. These are the verses that Show that show that the position of being a “god” is only one:
Deuteronomy 6:4
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”
1 Corinthians 8:4
“…there is no God but one.”
Galatians 3:20
“Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.”
1 Timothy 2:5
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
James 2:19
“You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”
We can safely conclude that scripture does not contradict itself. We could end it here by saying that the scriptures explicitly teach that there is only one God. This will result in the fact that we cannot be “gods” since there is only one of those. So since there is no contradiction in the scriptures, let’s examine Psalm 83:1-8. Verse 1 says, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:” (emphasis mine) The intro to this Psalm lets us understand that the description of being “gods” does not apply to the entire human race, rather to the judges who were ruling. Verse 2 says, “How long will you judge unjustly…?” Again this is a reference to the judges at the current state who were ruling unjustly. These judges were showing favoritism to the wicked and not helping those in need. This Psalms proceeds in verses 3-5 about the wicked manner of ruling as judges. In verse 6 God says, “You are gods,sons of the Most High, all of you;” Who is the “all of you?” The all is in reference to the unjust rulers, not the entire human race. God was comparing the rulers to himself in the sense of the action of ruling and not their nature. Verse 7 is evidence that it is not speaking of the nature. It says, “nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” When God says of these rulers, “like men you shall die…” he is emphasizing that they are but mere humans and not anything divine. They are representatives of God because he put them in that position as rulers. They take action in ruling and punishing the law breakers as God does the same over the entire universe. The only difference is that these judges were ruling over a specific territory. Verse 8 concludes with comparing the preceding verses of their ruling and God’s ultimate ruling as judge, “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!” God judges the earth, the so called “gods” are judging their land.
Joyce Meyer is quoted by many on her statement on us being “little gods” in nature. Let me quote what she said in one of her sermons. “Why do people have such a fit about God calling his creation, his man, not his whole creation, but his man, little gods? If he’s God what’s he going to call them but the God kind. I mean if you as a human being have a baby, you call it a human kind. If a cattle has another cattle they call it cattle kind. So what’s God supposed to call us? Doesn’t the Bible say we are created in his image? Now you understand I’m not saying that you are God with a capital “G”. That is not the issue here so don’t go trying to stone or yell blasphemy at me.” Her argument is that when a certain kind reproduces, it creates the same kind of being. She is certainly right about that and she would do well in using that fact against the evolutionist. There is a discrepancy in using this analogy in the creation of man. First, God did not reproduce Adam or Eve. He made them, created them. Again I will state, HE DID NOT REPRODUCE ADAM OR EVE! He created them “according to his likeness” but did not create them “the exact nature of himself.” God is God alone and stands as unique in his nature. If a statue is made on behalf of a well respected man, it is made according to his likeness. It has similar facial features, height, width, and shape. It is not made of the same material, the statue is not a human, it does not have flesh, bones, or a soul, but the image of the statue is alike in comparison to the person it was made after.
So then how were we made in God’s image? The image of God is our soul/spirit, not the same kind of soul/spirit as God’s but a different kind. It has variations of many kinds, therefore it is not the same but similar. What are the similarities? We are like God in the sense that we have the ability to think, reason, and have the capacity for goodness. For further understanding on the image of God, read this essay in the articles section. (http://www.speakingindoctrines.com/theimageofgod.htm) Furthermore, if God made humans, that does not mean that they are the same nature as Him. I made a sandwich the other day; it did not make my food a human. I put together and made a bookshelf, it did not make that bookshelf human either. Whether is it a little “g” or capital “G” there is only one God. The Hebrew or Greek writing does not make a distinction with capital or lower case letters. In conclusion, the “gods” in Psalm 82 is not a reference to human kinds being; rather it is a comparison to God of their authority of ruling power over their people.
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