Psalm 82 · a question people ask
Who are "the gods" in this psalm: human rulers, or heavenly beings?
The psalm doesn't name them. It says, "God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods" (82:1), and, "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.”" (82:6-7). Jesus quoted 82:6 and said of them, "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken)" (John 10:35). Christians read who they are in two main ways. Both agree that God is the judge over them (82:1, 82:8), that the charge against them is judging unjustly and leaving the weak without help (82:2-4), and that the psalm's words stand, as Jesus said: "the Scripture can’t be broken" (John 10:35).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Human rulers and judges
Those who read it this way point to the charge itself, which is the work of judges: "How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?" (Psalm 82:2), and "Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless" (Psalm 82:3). The law gave that work to people: "You shall do no injustice in judgment" (Leviticus 19:15), and the judges Jehoshaphat set in the cities of Judah were told, "Consider what you do, for you don’t judge for man, but for the LORD" (2 Chronicles 19:6). They read "you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers" (Psalm 82:7) as a sentence on rulers who, for all their rank, will die like anyone else. And they read Jesus' words, "to whom the word of God came" (John 10:35), as naming people who had received God's word.
Psalm 82:2-3 · Psalm 82:7 · Leviticus 19:15 · 2 Chronicles 19:5-6 · John 10:35
Heavenly beings
Those who read it this way point to where God stands: "in the great assembly" (Psalm 82:1). Another psalm speaks of "the assembly of the holy ones" (Psalm 89:5) and asks, "Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like the LORD" (Psalm 89:6). Micaiah saw "the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left" (1 Kings 22:19), and the book of Job tells of a day "when God’s sons came to present themselves before the LORD" (Job 1:6). They read "all of you are sons of the Most High" (Psalm 82:6) with those verses, and "Nevertheless you shall die like men" (Psalm 82:7) as a sentence on beings who were not men. And they read Jesus' words, "to whom the word of God came" (John 10:35), as the word spoken to them in the psalm itself (Psalm 82:2-7).
Psalm 82:1 · Psalm 82:6-7 · Psalm 89:5-6 · 1 Kings 22:19 · Job 1:6 · John 10:35
The verses
“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),”