You Are Gods (Part 1)

“The maintenance of equity and justice is a prerequisite for the continued existence of the world…. But this message is not limited only to courts. In his own personal life, every Jew is a judge, for his opinions and decisions about people can affect their lives in a thousand different ways.” (from Artscroll Siddur commentary, p. 170)

Psalm 82

God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

“How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

they walk about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I said, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die,

and fall like any prince.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth;

for you shall inherit all the nations!

Psalm 82 is recited during the morning prayer service every Tuesday among observant Jews. It is a weekly reminder that justice and compassion for the weak is on God’s heart. To those responsible to demonstrate God’s heart to the weak, failure is unforgivable. Our Master Jesus used this Psalm as a springboard for some very important teaching to those whose actions toward the needy are harsh or indifferent.

“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment” (Psalm 82:1, ESV). Compare this to the NASB, “God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the  rulers.”  “I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;” (Psalm 82:6).

While the same Hebrew word, elohim (plural), is used in all three places, the English versions translate it in three different ways--as “God” (singular), “gods” (plural), and, in the NASB, “rulers” (plural). Are these “gods” or “rulers” divine beings? If not, why is the same elohim used for them as for God, himself? Also, what is this divine council (ESV) or congregation (NASB)? Is it the host of sons of God (angels) who come before God in Job 1? Maybe it is the great assembly of elders (Sanhedrin) that carried on the work of Moses? Or someone else altogether?

The best answers must come from the authorities who received and studied the Psalms for centuries before Jesus arrived and then passed them to the community of believers. According to the Jewish thought as recorded in the Artscroll Siddur commentary on page 171, the hearts of sincere men are indwelt by God himself so that they can be assured of judging or ruling God’s people with righteousness. They are charged with seeking out all injustice and repairing the damage done. Some of those rulers, however, do not realize the full potential of their charge and are distracted by their own selfishness and prejudice. Those rulers are removed from their positions of authority and God himself steps in to repair the world.

In summary, the “gods” or “rulers” from Psalm 82 are human leaders of God’s people who are gifted with God’s Presence for the purpose of representing and doing God’s work among a people who are oppressed and suffering from the effects of living in a broken world. The term elohim is appropriate for them because they work in God’s name and are, effectively, God in the flesh. At least, until they stop doing God’s work. If self-absorption overtakes them or they become distracted, they become “like men” instead of being like God.

John 10 records an incident where the Jewish religious leaders questioned Jesus. “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24). Jesus replied that the good works [God-works] he does testify as to who he is. “I and the Father are one” (v. 30). When the Jews picked up stones to stone him, Jesus asked, “For which of [the good works of God] are you going to stone me?” They answered, “It is not for a good work...but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (vv.32, 33).

Jesus quoted the words of Psalm 82 to them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” The effect of this quote is twofold. First, according to the psalm, it is entirely appropriate to apply the term “god” (elohim) to humans who are demonstrating God’s indwelling work among the oppressed. In fact, Jesus is God in the flesh. He does not need to stand up and say, “I am God.” The works he does demonstrate that the Presence of God is among them in human flesh.

The second effect of his quote probably angered them the most and precipitated their desire to arrest him. These leaders of God’s people knew that Psalm 82 was a condemnation of rulers who failed in their responsibility to minister to the oppressed. By bringing up the psalm, Jesus indicted them for their selfish disregard for the hungry, the naked, the fatherless, and for their deference to the wicked Roman authorities who kept them in power.

These worthless shepherds (rulers) of lost sheep (Israel) knew the implications of Jesus’ message. Psalm 82 lays it out: God will take away His Presence, the gods will become mere men, and God, himself, will inherit and give justice to the sheep. God in the flesh will show up and minister to the lost.

What we will learn next is that God will pour out his Spirit again. A different group will enjoy His Presence and become ministers of His grace. The time has come for the oppressed of all nations to be comforted.


--Bryan

Stir the Chocolate in Your Milk

 “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33)

Have you ever considered what it means to “seek God”?  A good example of “seeking God” comes from the story of David’s struggle to move the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.  The first attempt did not go well, with the Ark on a cart steadied by men who may not have even been Levites.  David evaluated the failure of the first attempt in this way, “Because you (the Levites) did not carry it at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance,” (1Chon 15:11).  By David’s own definition, seeking the LORD God involves following His ordinance, as Zephaniah spoke, “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who have carried out His ordinances” (Zeph 2:3), along with the Psalmist, “With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments,” (Psa 119:10).

“Seeking God” is just one of many phrases in scripture that attempt to frame the believer's proper response to God such as “abide in Him” (1John 4:13), “cling to the Lord your God” (Josh 23:8), and of course “You shall love the Lord your God,” (Matt 22:37).  Although each word may offer a differing and unique picture in a believer’s mind, they are all linked in scripture by a common call to obedience, specifically, obedience to the commandments.  For example, “You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice serve Him, and cling to Him,” (Deut 13:4).

In the gospel of John we read, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you,” (John 15:7).  The promise of answered prayer is attractive, but contingent on the believer’s “abiding” action, so it’s important to understand what it means to “abide”.  A popular definition of “abiding” that I have heard is “to dwell comfortably”, but I don't know what that means.  Here is the scriptural answer, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:10), and “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him,” (John 14:23).  Clearly, “abiding”, like seeking and clinging, requires obedience.  In the same way, loving God is demonstrated by obedience, “You shall love the LORD your God, and always keep His charge, His statures, His ordinances, and His commandments,” (Deut 11:1).

Obedience is foundational to the believer’s seeking, clinging, abiding, and loving the LORD God.  For this reason, obedience impacts the power of the Spirit in a believer’s life, at least if the words of Jesus can be trusted.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another  Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17)

My NASB does a tremendous disservice by inserting a “Heading” between the 15^th and 16^th verses interrupting the flow of Jesus’ statement.  When read in the uninterrupted context of the passage, Jesus is saying, “If you…keep My commandments…I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper…the Spirit of truth.”  John reinforces this idea in his epistle, “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.  We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given,” (1John 3:24).  Again we see that “abiding” comes to “the one who keeps His commandments,” whose “abiding” is testified to by “the Spirit whom He has given.”  Although the Spirit is generally seen as given at baptism based on the example of Jesus and the words of the apostles (Acts 2:38), the fullness that can be received or even maintained appears limited in proportion to our obedience, or lack thereof.

A member of my Saturday Bible study group recently equated the giving of the Spirit in a believer’s life to the depositing of chocolate syrup in the bottom of a glass of milk, and the empowering of the Spirit to the stirring of the chocolate.  If the person drinking the milk never stirs the milk, then the milk receives little benefit from the chocolate syrup, even though they are in contact with one another.  

In a similar way, too many believer’s claim the power of the Spirit, but do not seek to engage the Spirit because then do not appreciate the necessity of obedience for empowering the Spirit.  If the Spirit is not stirred in a believer’s life through acts of obedience and loving kindness, then the Spirit will remain dormant at the bottom of the glass.  I like the image and will probably look at my milk differently in the future.  Now let’s get stirring!!!

Baptism For Every Man and Woman

“Whereas not everyone in the Jewish community is circumcised, everyone in the Christian community is baptized.  Thus, baptism into Christ provides for a unity that cannot be realized in a circumcised community.” [1]

In the first century, a gentile could convert to Judaism and become a proselyte following a process that required circumcision and strict obedience to the commandments.  Circumcision was the defining act that separated “God-fearers” who were sympathetic to the Jewish people from those who were physically joined to become “sons of Abraham’s family,” (Acts 13:26).  While the act of circumcision was available to men, no such similar act was available to women.  This leads to the question, what defining act could a gentile woman perform to convert to Judaism? 

Although a woman could repent, swear allegiance to God, and, take on the yoke of the commandments, her actions might not distinguish her from a gentile woman who remained as a God-fearer.  A married woman may have been further restricted by the worship of her husband.  Whereas a man converting to Judaism could bring his entire family into the faith with him, a woman did not have a similar authority, but remained connected to the faith of her husband.

“It has frequently been noted that before the end of the first century CE it is obscure what conversion meant for a woman, and how a woman convert differed from a female firm sympathizer (or God-fearer).  In most cases, perhaps, inclusion in the community was simply through marriage to a Jewish husband, or – more ambiguously-adoption as a salve; but for other women, particularly those who remained married to their pagan husbands, with all the consequences that might entail for possible observation of the commandments, there was, as far as we can tell, no clear ceremony and perhaps no clear agreed idea of conversation.” 

“The silence of ancient texts regarding a transformational ritual for female proselytes has bewildered even the best historians and led to at least one to conclude that, except through marriage, it was simply not possible for a woman to convert to Judaism in the same sense that a man could.”

“The conundrum, then, is what to make of the apparently large number of gentile women interested in Judaism around the turn of the millennium: women so often identified by historians as proselytes.  If circumcision was the ‘decisive step’ in conversion for men, what was the transformational rite for these women?” [2]

Historians have pondered what defining step a gentile women undertook to convert to Judaism.  One of the speculations is baptism, “the emergence of immersion as a conversion ritual is no doubt to be connected with the emergence of the possibility that women too could convert to Judaism, not merely through marriage to Jewish spouse but in their own right.” [3]

Whereas only a man could be circumcised when joining the Jewish people, both male and female believers are joined to Jesus Christ through the common experience of baptism.  Lydia is an example in scripture of a gentile woman living in the city of Thyatira who accepted the Lord as her savior, apparently apart from the actions of her husband who may have been deceased at that time.  Upon accepting Christ, “she and her household had been baptized,” (Acts 16:15).  Through baptism, any individual could take a defining step to show their commitment to Jesus.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit,” (1Cor 12:13). 

“Paul understood Baptism into Christ as just that sort of conversionary rite.  Through it gentiles, both men and women, became circumcised and joined the covenant of Israel, thereby preparing themselves to stand in judgment before Christ at his imminent return.” [4]

For Paul, gentile access to the promises of God involved moving from an existing “unclean” condition, to a regenerated “clean” condition, as written, “‘Come out for their midst and be separate,’ says the LORD, ‘And do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you,’” (1Cor 6:17).  Baptism is an instrumental step in the process, “You were washed…you were sanctified… you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God,” (1Cor 6:11).

In addition, “The language of the temple provides ‘the chief terms by which Paul conceptualizes the incorporation of his pagans-in-Christ into Israel’s redemption.’ This is most explicit when Paul asserts that the gentiles are temples themselves (1Cor 6:19, 3:16-17).” [1]  Since access to the temple was only possible through baptism, it follows that a believer’s life, called “that temple” (1Cor 3:17), would be subject to the same purification required for an article used in the temple.

 (1) Separate from the pagan world, “For what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;”

(2) Become clean, “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.” and

(3) Move into a right relationship with God, “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” (2Cor 6:16-18)

Some may argue that baptism replaced circumcision for all people in Paul’s thinking.  Scripture does not support this position.  The Jewish believer in Christ remained under the yoke of the greater commandments, which obligated the believer to circumcision, as with the example of Timothy, (Acts 16:3).  However, for both the Jew and the Gentile, both male and female, baptism became a common gateway that united both Jew and Gentile, male and female into a common faith.  

So again I have to ask, why does the church too often diminish the importance of baptism?

--  Scott

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[1] Paul the Jew (Rereading the Apostle as a Figure of 2^nd Temple Judaism), (Joshua Garroway), page 221

[2] Ibid, page 224

[3] Ibid, page 225

[4] Ibid, page 229

[5] Paul Within Judaism, “The Question of Identity”, Caroline Johnson Hodge, page 165