God and gods (From Tigger's RDB Files)
The majority of Bible scholars (most of them trinitarian, of course) recognize that men and angels who have been entrusted with representing God are sometimes called "god" [elohim - Hebrew, and theos - Greek] and "son of God" in the scriptures! In fact, these two terms are often used together or interchangeably in parallel usages.
The New Bible Dictionary, second ed., Tyndale House, 1982, is highly regarded by trinitarian scholars. "This work is destined to become a standard that will be turned to often by students and ministers alike." - Christianity Today. "... the most up-to-date work of its kind now available. I am finding it a handbook of immense value in my own Bible study and teaching." - F. F. Bruce, Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, University of Manchester.
The New Bible Dictionary, pp. 1133, 1134 tells us:
SONS (CHILDREN) OF GOD.
I. In the Old Testament a. Individuals of the class 'god' [angels]
'Son' (Heb. ben, Aram. bar) is commonly used in Semitic languages to denote membership of a class, as 'son of Israel' for 'Israelite', 'son of might' for 'valorous'. 'Son of God' in Heb. means 'god' or 'god- like' rather than 'son of (the) God (Yahweh)'. In Jb. 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 29:1; 89:6, the 'sons of God' form Yahweh's heavenly train or subordinates, though LXX Job calls them angeloi [angels] of God .... Similarly the 'son of the gods' in Dn. 3:25 is called the 'angel of the Jews' God' in 3:28....
b. Men who by divine appointment exercise God's prerogative for judgment In Ex. 21:6; 22:8-9, 28, 'God' (Heb. elohim) may stand for 'judges' ..., his deputies, exercising power of life and death (cf. 2 Ch 19:6), as may be the case in Ps. 82:6. - p. 1133.
Lk 6:35, 'you will be sons of the Most High', means little more than 'you will be like God'. 'Son of...' is an idiom for 'having the characteristics of' or 'doing the work of' .... Ps. 82:6 discussed by Jesus in Jn. 10:34-36, may be an OT example of this sense, judges being men who exercise God's power of life and death. - p. 1134.
Trinitarians have also praised the Trinitarian-written NIV Study Bible, Zondervan, 1985. It also clearly recognizes the above truth:
"In the language of the OT ... rulers and judges, as deputies of the heavenly King, could be given the honorific title 'god' ... or be called 'son of God'." - footnote for Ps. 82:1.
And, in the footnote for Ps. 45:6, this trinitarian study Bible tells us: "In this psalm, which praises the [Israelite] king ..., it is not unthinkable that he was called 'god' as a title of honor (cf. Isa. 9:6)."
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Zondervan, 1986, tells us:
"The reason why judges are called 'gods' in Ps. 82 is that they have the office of administering God's judgment as 'sons of the Most High'. In context of the Ps[alm] the men in question have failed to do this.... On the other hand, Jesus fulfilled the role of a true judge as a 'god' and 'son of the Most High'." - Vol. 3, p. 187.
The highly respected (and highly trinitarian) W. E. Vine tells us:
"The word [theos, 'god' or 'God'] is used of Divinely appointed judges in Israel, as representing God in His authority, John 10:34" - p. 491, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
Young's Analytical Concordance of the Bible, Eerdmans, 1978 Reprint, "Hints and Helps to Bible Interpretation":
"65. GOD - is used of any one (professedly) MIGHTY, whether truly so or not, and is applied not only to the true God, but to false gods, magistrates, judges, angels, prophets, etc., e.g. - Exod. 7:1; 15:11; 21:6; 22:8, 9;...Ps. 8:5; 45:6; 82:1, 6; 97:7, 9...John 1:1; 10:33, 34, 35; 20:28...."
Both Exodus 4:16 and 7:1 (listed above by Young) show God calling Moses "a god" (elohim). [This also shows the error of some that the plural elohim must mean a "plural oneness" for this word which is often used for God.]
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Abingdon, 1974 printing,
"430. [elohim]. el-o-heem'; plural of 433; gods in the ordinary sense; but spec. used (in the plur. thus, esp. with the art.) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: - angels, ... x (very) great, judges, x mighty." - p. 12, "Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary."
The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, 1979, Hendrickson, p. 43:
Elohim: "a. rulers, judges, either as divine representatives at sacred places or as reflecting divine majesty and power.... b. divine ones, superhuman beings including God and angels.... c. angels Ps. 97:7 ..."
Angels are clearly called gods (elohim) at Ps. 8:5,6. We know this because this passage is quoted at Heb. 2:6, 7, and there the word "angels" is used (in place of elohim in the OT) in NT Greek. The very trinitarian New American Bible, St. Joseph ed., 1970, says in a footnote for Ps. 8:6 -
"The angels: in Hebrew, elohim, which is the ordinary word for 'God' or 'the gods'; hence the ancient versions generally understood the term as referring to heavenly spirits [angels]."
Some of these trinitarian sources which admit that the Bible actually describes men who represent God (judges, Israelite kings, etc.) and God's angels as gods include:
1. Young's Analytical Concordance of the Bible, "Hints and Helps...," Eerdmans, 1978 reprint;
2. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, #430, Hebrew & Chaldee Dict., Abingdon, 1974;
3. New Bible Dictionary, p. 1133, Tyndale House Publ., 1984;
4. Today's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 208, Bethany House Publ., 1982;
5. Hastings' A Dictionary of the Bible, p. 217, Vol. 2;
6. The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, p. 43, Hendrickson publ.,1979;
7. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, #2316 (4.), Thayer, Baker Book House, 1984 printing;
8. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, p. 132, Vol. 1; & p. 1265, Vol. 2, Eerdmans, 1984;
9. The NIV Study Bible, footnotes for Ps. 45:6; Ps. 82:1, 6; & Jn 10:34; Zondervan, 1985;
10. New American Bible, St. Joseph ed., footnote for Ps. 45:7, 1970 ed.;
11. A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures, Vol. 5, pp. 188-189;
12. William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, Vol. 1, pp. 317, 324, Nelson Publ., 1980 printing;
13. Murray J. Harris, Jesus As God, p. 202, Baker Book House, 1992;
14. William Barclay, The Gospel of John, V. 2, Daily Study Bible Series, pp. 77, 78, Westminster Press,1975;
15. The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible (John 10:34 & Ps. 82:6);
16. The Fourfold Gospel (Note for John 10:35);
17. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Jamieson, Fausset, Brown (John 10:34-36);
18. Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible (Ps. 82:6-8 and John 10:35);
19. John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible (Ps. 82:1).
20. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, p. 187, Zondervan, 1986.
21. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament ('Litttle Kittel'), p. 328, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985.
22. The Expositor's Greek Testament, pp. 794-795, Vol. 1, Eerdmans Publishing Co.
23. The Amplified Bible, Ps. 82:1, 6 and John 10:34, 35, Zondervan Publ., 1965.
24. Barnes' Notes on the New Testament, John 10:34, 35.
25. B. W. Johnson's People's New Testament, John 10:34-36.
26. Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 24, vol. III, Zondervan, 1957 reprint.
27. Theological Dictionary, Rahner and Vorgrimler, p. 20, Herder and Herder, 1965.
23. The Amplified Bible, Ps. 82:1, 6 and John 10:34, 35, Zondervan Publ., 1965.
24. Barnes' Notes on the New Testament, John 10:34, 35.
25. B. W. Johnson's People's New Testament, John 10:34-36.
26. Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 24, vol. III, Zondervan, 1957 reprint.
27. Theological Dictionary, Rahner and Vorgrimler, p. 20, Herder and Herder, 1965.
And, of course the highly respected and highly popular Jewish writer, Philo, had the same understanding for "God"/"a god" about the same time the NT was written.
And the earliest Christians like the highly respected NT scholar Origen and others - - including Tertullian; Justin Martyr; Hippolytus; Clement of Alexandria; Theophilus; the writer of "The Epistle to Diognetus"; and even super-trinitarians Athanasius and St. Augustine - - also had this understanding for "a god." And, as we saw above, many highly respected NT scholars of this century agree. (For example, Ernst Haenchen tells us in his commentary on the Gospel of John:
"It was quite possible in Jewish and Christian monotheism to speak of divine beings that existed alongside and under God but were not identical with him. Phil 2:6-10 proves that. In that passage Paul depicts just such a divine being, who later became man in Jesus Christ". - John 1, translated by R. W. Funk, 1984, pp. 109, 110, Fortress Press.)
A trinitarian (Catholic) professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago, John J. Collins, writes about such usage in Jewish writings around the time of Christ:
"In this literature, the supremacy of the Most High God is never questioned, but there is considerable room for lesser beings who may be called 'gods,' theoi or elim. Moreover, both the authors of the apocalyptic literature [which includes the scriptural writings of the books of Daniel and Revelation] and Philo single out one pre-eminent divine or angelic being under God - a super-angel - called by various names in the apocalyptic texts and identified as the Logos ['the Word'] by Philo." - p. 93, Aspects of Monotheism - How God is One, Biblical Archaeological Society, 1997.
All of this shows the scriptural understanding (as well as the same understanding by Christian writers of the first centuries) of "god" as applied to angels and certain men who were trying to follow God or who were representatives or ambassadors for God. Just because it sounds strange to our modern ears is no reason to ignore the facts. And there is no valid reason to take advantage of that fact by claiming that only two understandings of the words theos and elohim are possible: "God" and "false gods."
The words elohim and theos are simply titles or descriptions (like "lord") signifying more than usual power, might, authority, etc. It may be applied on many levels. But when it is applied on the highest ("Most High") level it is understood in an exclusive sense: there is no other individual that is even remotely equal to this one. This does not mean that the same title, description is not used for lesser ones. To distinguish, when there could be confusion, the Most High God will usually be described as "the god" (ha elohim, Heb. or ho theos, Gk.) which, when translated into modern English will be distinguished by an initial capital letter ("God") since in our idiom we seldom use the definite article with "God."
It is similar to the use of "President" in the U.S. There are many presidents (banks, corporations, PTAs, etc.), but there is only one leader of the entire country who has that same title. To distinguish among the titles, we call the national leader "The President" or "President Lincoln." There is only one President, but thousands of presidents. There is no other President. Also there is only one God, but many gods. There is no other God. (Compare 1 Cor. 8:5-6) We, in English, make the distinction with capital letters at the beginning of the word. In the language used in the Scriptures (which did not use initial capital letters or punctuation) the distinction was normally made with the definite article ("the")!
So, in short, there is no reason to dismiss the fact that Jesus (and others) may be called "a god" in scripture. (John 1:1c; John 10:33-35; etc.)
