Jesus was stoned

Study of John 10:31-39

The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

— John 10:31-39

Because of what Jesus said on verse 30, that He and the Father are one, the Jews attempted to stone Him to death under the charge of blasphemy which is  truly a death sentence under the Mosaic Law.

Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

— Leviticus 24:16

This is the third time in John's gospel that the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus because of His claim of being God in equality with God the Father as He is God the Son.

For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

— John 5:18

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

— John 8:58-59

The irony here is that in verse 33 "The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” 

And yet Jesus is not man trying to become God. Jesus is God who became man as John said in the first chapter of his gospel.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

— John 1:1

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

— John 1:14

And the apostle Paul later on teaches

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

— Philippians 2:5-7

The Jews, in their zeal for God, was willing to kill for God, and yet blinded by their pride and self-righteous corrupted religion did not recognize their God and was attempting to murder the very God they claim to serve. As Jesus will warn His disciples later on

They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.

— John 16:2-3

And Paul affirms much later

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

— Romans 10:2-3

Jesus then defends Himself by refuting their charge of blasphemy. Quoting from Psalm 82:6 "Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?"

The context of Psalm 82 is that God is rebuking human judges, the governmental or political leaders, whom He called gods because of their partiality to the wicked and injustice. They are called the title of gods in the sense that they are supposed to be God's hands of justice on earth. By extension of God's authority, they are tasked with the responsibility to administer God's law and uphold justice and righteousness on earth, in that sense 'only' they are called gods. They are supposed to be God's representative and should reflect the righteous, merciful, holy, compassionate, loving character of God but they turned it upside down when they sided with the wicked in oppressing the weak instead of helping the needy and punishing the wicked.

So Jesus was saying to the Jews who are stoning Him, if in your law, talking about the Old Testament, human judges are called gods, how much more Himself who is the Messiah,  sanctified, set apart, dedicated by God the Father and sent to the world to accomplish His Messianic mission. 

Jesus is alluding to the context of the Feast of Dedication, the Jews rededicated the temple to God because it was previously desecrated when the temple was used for the false gods of the Greeks. Dedication means setting apart something special for God and God alone. And Jesus Himself is dedicated for God the Father. Although God is omnipresent, He chooses to set apart places and things to manifest His presence in a special way. And the Temple is His special chosen place that He gave to the Jews for worship. And yet something greater than the temple is here, Jesus, who also pertains to Himself as another temple.

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

— John 2:19

But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

— John 2:21

Why is Jesus a temple? 

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

— Colossians 2:9

In the present age that the Jewish temple is currently in ruins, and Jesus is in heaven at the Father's right hand, the temple of God are Christians.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

— 1 Corinthians 3:16

In the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus is here ruling the earth, there will be another temple in the capital city of the Messiah's kingdom, Jerusalem. (Ezekiel 40-48). But that will be a study for another time.

Back to our text, Jesus is not saying the human judges are His equals but He is arguing from the lesser to the greater. If human judges were called gods in the sense that their authority to govern were derived from God's ultimate authority, how much more the Son of God who is God of very God, of one substance with the Father. And so Jesus was not really guilty of blasphemy.

In fact He is not guilty of any sin. All His works and words are good and true motivated by holy love. Even His anger and rebukes are righteous and just. This is proof positive of mankind's wickedness. We love darkness than light, lies than truth, sin than holiness. The holiest man who ever walked the earth was the most hated because men are wicked. We like to have a god that is like us, we don't want a God who is holy and righteous. If we had the chance, we would get rid of this holy God. The Jews' hatred of Jesus is unreasonable as well as their unbelief.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

— John 15:22-25

But before we think of ourselves better than these Jews, this mirrors the condition of all of us, mankind. That is why we need to be born again.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

— John 3:3

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

— John 3:5-7

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

— Romans 8:6-8

If you examine your heart and find unbelief and hostility towards God, His truth, His commands, His righteousness. Cry to Him to give you a new birth 

so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

— John 20:31b

and if you are a true believer, consider these words from J.C. Ryle

How true are the words of Scripture--"They hated Him without a cause." (John 15:25.) How just the remark of an old divine--"Unconverted men would kill God Himself if they could only get at Him." The true Christian has surely no right to wonder if he meets with the same kind of treatment as our blessed Lord. In fact, the more like he is to his Master, and the more holy and spiritual his life, the more probable is it that he will have to endure hatred and persecution. Let him not suppose that any degree of consistency will deliver him from this cross. 

It is not his faults, but his graces, which call forth the enmity of men. The world hates to see anything of God's image. The children of the world are vexed and pierced in conscience when they see others better than themselves. Why did Cain hate his brother Abel, and slay him? "Because," says John, "his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." (1 John 3:12.) Why did the Jews hate Christ? Because He exposed their sins and false doctrines; and they knew in their own hearts that he was right and they were wrong. "The world," said our Lord, "hates Me, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." (John 7:7.) 

Let Christians make up their minds to drink the same cup, and let them drink it patiently and without surprise. There is One in heaven who said, "If the world hate you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you." (John 15:18.) Let them remember this and take courage. The time is short. We are traveling on towards a day when all shall be set right, and every man shall receive according to his works. "There is an end--and our expectation shall not be cut off." (Prov. 23:18.)