A Study of John 10:31-42

“The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.”

John 10:31–42 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

As the Jews picked up stones to kill Jesus for claiming to be one with God the Father, Jesus asked them for which of the many good works from the Father that He performed were they going to stone Him? In response to this the Jews said it was not for any good works that they were going to stone Him, but rather, because Jesus, being a man, declared Himself to be God. Then Jesus asked if they recalled where God in the Law says, “I said you are gods?”, and also if those to whom the word of God came were called  “gods” and Scripture cannot be broken, then how can they call the one consecrated by God and sent into the world a blasphemer for saying, “I am the Son of God.”?

Next, Jesus told them if He was doing the works of His Father, then believe, but even if they do not believe Him, then believe the works so that they may know and understand that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. After hearing this, they tried to arrest Jesus again, but, somehow, even though He was in the temple itself, He escaped. Then, Jesus went away across the Jordan river again to the place where John the Baptist had preached and stayed there. Many people came to Him there and they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in Jesus there.

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

In the verses previous to these we found Jesus walking in the Jerusalem temple where a group of Jews, hostile to Jesus and His cause, ambushed Him with questions seeking to force Him to explicitly call Himself the “Christ’ (Christ is Greek for Messiah). This is because the term Christ/Messiah had military/political connotations in first century Palestine and if Jesus was not careful about how He identified Himself, He could have been wrongly arrested for fomenting rebellion against Rome. But Jesus, the Messiah, did not come to overthrow Rome in His first coming; He came to pay for the sin of mankind with His own death and be for us the way back to a restored relationship with God and eternal life. For these reasons Jesus was careful about how He identified Himself. While He did disclose His identity more clearly in certain private conversations (to the Samaritan woman and to His disciples), He did not explicitly stand up in a public place and declare, “I am the Messiah; God incarnate!”, but He did clearly communicate His Messiahship and Divine identity with His teaching, manner of life, miraculous healings, prophecy fulfillment and eventual death and resurrection.

Because of this many were believing in Him, but the majority of the religious authorities in Jerusalem rejected Him because they did not truly serve God. They only wanted to prop up their man made power structures and they saw Jesus as a threat to this. So, as a group of Jews, hostile   to the cause of Christ, accosted Him in the temple and asked Him to plainly state whether or not He is the Christ, Jesus spoke metaphorically to them, refusing to play into their hands. Instead Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd who lays His own life down for His sheep and gives them eternal life. The Shepherd/sheep metaphor is a common one in the Old Testament to positively describe Yahweh’s (God’s) relationship with His people, but also to negatively describe wicked rulers who act as bad, faithless shepherds. This being the case, Jesus called out the rulers in Israel as bad shepherds and even thieves, robbers and wolves who brutalized the sheep (the people) for their own selfish gain.

Jesus continued on to explain His sheep hear His voice and listen to Him, the point being, the reason the questioners do not believe in Him is because they are not His sheep. Then Jesus explained He gives His sheep eternal life and no one can take them away from Him, because His Father who gave them to Him is greater than all. Finally, to conclude this statement, in verse 30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” For multiple reasons, laid out in the previous study, this is a clear claim to be God from Jesus. To say He and the Father are “one”, describes Jesus to be one in essence with God the Father, because Jesus is God the Son. While this statement might not immediately communicate this to us in our present day context, we need to understand what it meant in first century Palestine to grasp the significance of this statement. The people of Jesus’ day clearly understood Him to be making a claim to deity, and for this reason, we pick up the narrative here in verse 31 where the Jews have now picked up stones to kill Jesus.

In verses 31-33 we read, “The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”” These Jewish leaders clearly understood what Jesus meant by using the phrase, “I and the Father are one.” The fact they accused Jesus of blasphemy proves they knew He claimed to be God, and the fact that Jesus did not correct them proves He intentionally claimed to be God even though the Old Testament Law commanded the Jews to pelt a person with stones until dead if they committed the sin of blasphemy. While this was supposed to take place after proper judicial proceedings, a mob could also have easily gotten out of control and lynched Jesus.

In past instances similar to this, Jesus slipped away when the mob picked up stones to throw at Him (John 8:59), but here, Jesus bravely stood His ground and asked for which of the good and miraculous works of the Father that He had performed were they going to kill Him. By asking this Jesus did two things. He claimed that all He had done was done by God Himself, and He called them to consider all they knew of His life and think about whether there is not something lacking in their own religion if it led them to attack Him for healing the sick and giving sight to the blind. For which of these beautiful deeds did they want to kill Him? But sadly, these particular Jews could not see past their prideful rejection of Jesus to consider His life and works.

In their willful rejection of Him they could always find a way to explain away the works He did and focus on His words which in their mind were blasphemous. In their opinion, Jesus was a mere human who had claimed to be God. But of course, for John’s readers, the irony is once again quite thick. Jesus is not a human claiming to have become God or to be a rival god. Jesus is Yahweh (God) incarnate. He is the unique and eternally existent Son of God; the Word who humbly condescended to take on flesh and add humanity to His deity. Jesus never claimed to be a man who became God, but rather, to be God who became man.

In response to their accusation of blasphemy, in verses 34-36, Jesus said, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”. By the word “Law” Jesus is referring to the Old Testament, and He specifically quotes from Psalm 82 here. Psalm 82 is a very interesting passage of Scripture where Yahweh (God) is pictured standing in the “divine assembly” or “divine counsel”, which is under His authority. In this Psalm, Yahweh upbraids the counsel members for ruling wickedly by oppressing the people and judging unjustly. In verses 6-7 (LEB) of the Psalm, Yahweh goes on to say, “I have said, “You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you. However, you will die like men, and you will fall like one of the princes.” It is clear that God is speaking to a ruling counsel of some kind in this Psalm, but what is less clear, and therefore also a topic of debate, is what is meant by use of the word “gods”.

“Gods” appears as “elohim” in the original Hebrew of the Psalm, and there are a few ways Biblical scholars interpret the use of this term. Firstly, “Elohim” can be either singular or plural. For this reason it can be used to singularly refer to Yahweh, the one true God, but it can also refer to real, created, spiritual beings; we might call them “angels” or “demons”, and it can also be used to refer to the false idols of the nations. Deuteronomy 32, also known as the “Song of Moses,” provides a good example of these different uses in the same passage. In it, Moses uses the word “Elohim” to refer to Yahweh, but also to refer to demons; real, created and fallen spiritual beings (verses 16-18). The issue this presents is that many commentators say the use of elohim in Psalm 82 is metaphorical and that it only describes corrupt human rulers, but Deuteronomy 32 complicates this interpretation because Moses is clearly speaking of humans worshipping “demons” who are also described as “gods” (elohim).

So, does Psalm 82 speak of created spiritual beings, or of humans? Many of the best known Biblical commentators believe this speaks of humans, but other, very well respected Christian scholars (such as the late Dr. Michael Heiser) believe this passage speaks of fallen spiritual beings facing judgement from Yahweh the one true and uncreated God. But whether it speaks of corrupt humans or fallen spiritual beings, one thing is perfectly clear, Yahweh God, is the one and only all powerful judge who has existed from eternity past and all beings, human, spiritual or otherwise, are subject to His authority and will answer to Him for how they use the power and influence granted to them.

Now, whether we decide human or spiritual beings are spoken of in Psalm 82, the point Jesus is making is that in Psalm 82 Yahweh the one true God uses the term “god” (elohim) to address other created beings who are not Yahweh God themselves. If there is a Biblical example of God using the words “god” or “sons of the Most High” to address others, then how can the Jewish religious leaders squaring off with Jesus be upset when Jesus says of Himself, “I am the Son of God.”? If created human or spiritual beings can be referred to this way, then how much more so can Jesus, the unique, uncreated and eternally existent God in human form, be called “the Son of God”? This argument does not prove Jesus is the Son of God though; that is not why Jesus brought it up. In the face of an angry group threatening mob violence Jesus did not have time for a calm theological debate, rather, He had to use a short and sharp Biblical argument to quickly point out at least one reason why they should not be angry just because He calls Himself the “Son of God.” As we can read in the following verses, bringing up this point allowed Jesus enough time to present evidence of His Divine identity at least once more to this group before having to slip away.

And the point Jesus went on to make in verses 37-38 is as follows, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” This is a restatement of the argument Jesus made in verse 25 of this same chapter. Having gotten their attention and gained a little more time before the malice of the mob forced Him to leave, Jesus pointed to the miraculous works He performed as evidence. He did not ask them to believe based only on the words He spoke. The idea is if Jesus performs the same kind of miraculous works God the Father does, then shouldn’t this cause them to stop and consider the implications? Perhaps they have gotten it wrong. If they are unable to believe the words of Jesus, then they should at least believe in the works He was doing. Or we might also say, the works Jesus did gave them ample reasons to reevaluate His words and the Divine identity He claimed.

The reason Jesus gives for why they should consider these things is so that they “may know and understand” that the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. Jesus expands on this point a little bit in John 14:10-11 and again in 17:21, but the concept Jesus describes is often called a “mutual co-inherence” by theologians, meaning, the Father and the Son, while being distinct Persons, are also “in” each other. While the Father and Son are also one in essence, in a lesser sense, this “mutual co-inherence” is extended also to believers in Jesus who are described as being “in Christ” and Christ also is “in” them.

Next, verse 39 tells us they tried to arrest Jesus for blasphemy again, but He escaped. Imagine that, not for the first time Jesus was surrounded in the Jerusalem temple by a hostile group of inquisitors who had gathered stones to kill Him, but they were unable to arrest or harm Him as He slipped away. This is because the time appointed by God the Father for Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion had not yet come. Even on the night of Jesus’ arrest we read that He spoke to the armed group and they all fell down on the ground before they stood back up and Jesus allowed them to arrest Him (John 18:6). Jesus came to accomplish a mission according to the timeline laid out by the Father, and in His almighty power He could not be harmed until the appointed time. At this point His hour had not yet come.

After this, Jesus left Jerusalem and travelled across the Jordan River to the place where John the Baptist had been baptizing people and remained there. This most recent arrest/lynching attempt was one of many (John 5:18; 7:30; 8:37, 59; 10:31), and the time for Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion was drawing near, but it had not yet arrived. The symbolism of where Jesus chose to go at this point is rich. This place at the Jordan River is where John the Baptist began preparing the way for Him. Now, Jesus returns to this place near the end of His earthly ministry, and not long after this, He will return to Jerusalem and be arrested and crucified. But first, in the final few verses of this chapter, John the Baptist’s ministry is reflected on.

In the final two verses of this chapter we read, “And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.” In contrast to the religious authorities in Jerusalem who wanted to kill Jesus, the people in the nearby rural areas, who had witnessed John the Baptist’s ministry, flocked to Jesus. By this time John the Baptist had already been executed by Herod, but still, his ministry which testified of the Son of God, Jesus, was still bearing fruit as the people remembered what John had said about Jesus and witnessed it to be true.

Interestingly, they pointed out the fact that John the Baptist performed no miracles, but everything He said about Jesus was true. Notably, John was praised for the truthfulness of his words about Jesus. We, like John, do not need to perform miracles to impact people’s lives. We just need to tell them the truth about Jesus and allow the Spirit to work in their hearts. Continuing on though, while some things John said about Jesus had not yet come to pass, such as taking away the sin of the world (1:29, 34), or baptizing people with the Holy Spirit (1:33, 7:39), still many other things had, and it became clear to these people that Jesus is the Son of God. John the Baptist spoke rightly when he said he was not even worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal. As the people testified to the truth of John the Baptist’s witness, they also declared their faith in Jesus as we read, “many believed.”

This example of the people coming to Jesus after He was rejected and ran out of the temple illustrates the Good Shepherd metaphor explained by Jesus earlier in John chapter 10. In this metaphor Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. And He also describes His sheep as those who hear His voice, know Him and follow Him. We have just seen that the people He encountered in the temple, and who therefore should have known Him best and listened to Him, rejected Him and tried to kill Him. But now, outside of Jerusalem, by the Jordan River, other people have come to Jesus, listened to Him and believed in Him. His sheep hear His voice, know Him and follow Him, just as He said.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to identify and consider the claims Jesus made. Jesus clearly claimed to be God multiple times, but He did not do so in the way someone from our present day context would. He did it in the way a first century Palestinian Jewish person would. And we have further evidence this is true because at multiple points across the gospel accounts people react angrily to Jesus’ divine claims and move towards killing Him because they understood He claimed to be God, but they did not believe Him and their law commanded blasphemers to be executed. So, whether a person believes Jesus is God or not, it is crystal clear that Jesus claimed to be God.

We must reckon with this fact. Can a good, moral teacher also claim to be God if they are not God and still be good and moral? No, because if they are not God then they are not truthful and therefore not moral. And if they are not God but think they are, then they are not sane, and insane people do not make for great teachers. Jesus was a good, moral teacher, a miracle worker, He fulfilled hundreds of Old testament prophecies, raised people from the dead, and rose from the dead Himself. Jesus is God.

Self Reflection:

1. Jesus is clearly a good, wise and moral teacher/prophet, but He also claimed to be God. Can a teacher/prophet who claims to be God still be good, moral and wise if they are not God?
2. Jesus also performed many miracles, including raising the dead and rising from the dead Himself. Are these miraculous works of Jesus in line with what we see of God’s character and actions from the Old Testament? Jesus’ claim is to be the God of the Old Testament incarnate. Does He appear to have done “the works of the Father”?
3. Do I listen to and obey the voice of  Jesus, my God and Good Shepherd? I believe He is God, so do I submit to Him as Lord and make a daily habit of going to His Word (the Bible) to study and listen to what my good moral Teacher, Savior and God has to say?