Dr. Michael Heiser’s Youtube on this subject are just too good to pass up. Here’s the Cliff Notes version of one session. Let’s begin with Psalm 82:1-7, using the English Standard version:
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
The first word of the Psalm, God, is Elohim in Hebrew; this is the standard word for God. But Elohim is also used for “midst of the gods” in verse 1, and “you are gods” in verse 6. Interestingly, they are also called “sons of the Most High” in verse 6 as well. The thing that disturbs us is, in the second and third use of Elohim, the surrounding Hebrew words definitely say it is plural. So now it looks like a pantheon, Greek and Roman mythology stuff, doesn’t it? So let’s allow for the possibility that the Apostle writers, being from a different culture than ours, knew what that verse implies, yet they weren’t deterred from their doctrine of One God who rules over all. So let’s continue to explore and keep an open mind.
In this Psalm, who is God talking to? Who are these ‘gods?’ They seem to be in a ‘divine council’ with our God—and they are His sons! (Before you get carried away, the word “sons” here simply means “direct creation by God.” Adam was a son of God. Angels were too.) To reconcile the use of Elohim in all this, some have suggested, ‘It’s the Trinity.’ But God is not talking to the other members of the Trinity, because He is chastising them for corruption; nor are any of the Trinity sentenced to death! So God is rebuking them and predicts His judgment upon them, yet they are also called ‘sons of the Most High.’ Hmmm. Could these be angels? It's true, after all, that some angels are corrupt--those led by Satan, who was once an angel.
Modern commentaries suggest that God is talking to people, either Jewish elders or members of the Sanhedrin. But that can't be; He calls them 'gods.' We're not Mormons. Jesus, as God, never says or implies that men are actually ‘gods,’ that we’re the same as Jesus (as some apostate religions teach today). So, the verses are not men either.
Look at Psalm 89:5-6, to learn more:
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
The “assembly of the holy ones” or “heavenly beings,” or the “council of the holy ones,” or our “divine council” in Psalm 82 earlier—they are all “sons of God,” or “sons of the Most High.” And they’re also “gods;” and “gods” are all translations of Elohim plural in Hebrew, which we might think only applies to our good God. And they are counseling along with God Most High, singular, in the heavenlies, “in the skies.” So, we're back to thinking, are these angels? But there is evil among them; so some of them, at least, must have fallen (see Isaiah 14 for proof); but why are they still in heaven? And why in His presence--and how do they get a position in council with Him?
Now for those who argue against this plurality of Elohim, you might argue by saying, “What about the Bible verse like Deuteronomy 4:35 where God says, “there is none besides me.”’ Well, in context, that is saying “There is no one who compares to Me.” (So, our God is bragging; I don’t have any problem with God bragging.) And for those who ask, why does God need a council? He’s omniscient. In our response to that one, we might ask, why did God create Man? He didn’t need us either; He’s not deficient. The best guess is: He must like our company; maybe He liked the angels’ company--even after they became corrupt. He has love for us--and we're corrupted in sin.
I Kings 22:19-25 adds to this subject, but first a little background: The Jews kingdom is divided—Israel in the north, under Ahab, and Judah in the south, under Jehoshaphat. Ahab is trying to persuade Jehoshaphat to join him in conquering Ramoth-gilead. Ahab asks of his own prophets about the battle, but these are an ungodly Baal-worshiping bunch that, of course, predict his victory (whatever he wants to hear--just like many of our pastors today). But Jehoshaphat persuades Ahab to bring forth a godly prophet, Micaiah. So let’s pick it up at verse 19:
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’… 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And He said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore behold, (Micaiah said), the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; (but) the Lord has declared disaster for you.”
God is again partnering with this same council in the heavens, this time called “the host of heaven.” But people, be sure to understand that this group is not to be confused with the ones that serenaded the shepherds in Bethlehem. In this case, they are deciding how Ahab is going to die, to be judged for his life of evil. And, we see again that not all of the angels, or "gods," are good; “a spirit” is among them, a wicked one. (They are all spirits, being in the heavenlies.) Anyway, this spirit is ready to deceive Ahab (now let’s not get too sympathetic for Ahab—after all, he has drawn the people to worship Baal, a demon-god, and God made sure he had a last chance to hear Micaiah, a godly prophet, who does a good job of warning him. To no avail.)
Dr. Heiser concludes, after all this, that God has a heavenly council of spirits, made up of His first creation, which were called ‘angels.’ But since some of them are evil here, these verses must be after some angels fell. Yet they are allowed to participate with Him, and they are strangely (and correctly translated) “gods” (direct creation by God) and “sons of God,” using Elohim. But clearly, we can determine by things that are said, who the real God (also Elohim) is; He is Higher than they are, and judges them as well. So clearly everyone in council knows that there is not an equality in the council. There are several verses that confirm that Yahweh, our God, is “God of all gods” (Psa 86:8, 95:3).
So evil gods—some of which, at least, used to be angels before they fell—also existed in the Old Testament. And they are all called Elohim, like our good God. We, as Westerners, like to associate unique, and good, attributes with the term Elohim—like omniscience and omnipresence, terms of a God who loves us--and ignore any other possibilities. We also want to make Elohim singular. We’re “used” to having only one God; and we get creeped out when the word is plural. And we wonder why God would allow His enemies to be present in heaven, even participate, in divine counsel. But, as we can see with Scripture (if we use an open mind), these thoughts are invalid. The Biblical writers were evidently unfazed by these gods, this expansion of the definition of the Hebrew Elohim—we have to believe they simply knew their Scriptures better than we do. Don’t forget, God is the ultimate writer of all Scripture, so we cannot doubt its truthfulness.
Elohim, as it turns out, is used for likely three different things that are not our God of the Bible: (1) The mysterious “council” in heaven, as we have already seen; (2) gods of the nations, called Elohim in I Kings 11:33--they are named Asherah, Ashtaroth, Chemosh, and Milcom—each of which really was a powerful demon worshipped and ruled in a nation surrounding Israel. While we're on that, it seems to me, given the terrorism, that the fallen angels still have a role as powerful demons over nations; (3) A relative word, “shedim,” in Deut. 32:17, has the same meaning; and (4) disembodied human dead, I Samuel 28:13.
Let's explain the last two: “shedim,” in Deut. 32:17. This Hebrew word is translated “demon” in the ESV, as I've indicated in bold below—but note that it is synonymous to "gods," Elohim.
They (Ed. note: Israel) sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
This proves that evil angels are actually demons. So the use of a different Hebrew word (shedim, which literally means ‘territorial entity’), compared to “the gods of the nations (Elohim), in ” #2 above, indicates that these demons in #3 above are ruling on a different level. This suggests a hierarchy of demons.
The #4 example for Heiser’s sermon is in I Samuel 28:13, which is the story of Saul needing a medium (or witch) to prophesy the winner of his upcoming battle with the Philistines. When he approached her, she says, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” (speaking of a physical appearance of the dead. But she doesn't really believe it will happen). He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” (Samuel had died). She was totally surprised when Samuel actually appeared and spoke. (It could be an artifice of a body, too). She was afraid. Saul said, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” She said, “I saw a spirit…” The Hebrew word for spirit is Elohim. Thus, Elohim is also used to describe disembodied human dead, as well. By the way, all the stories about ghosts and haunted houses are still not real. (Not all, but maybe some of them are).
Thus we conclude that Elohim is not simply used only for our God, with all His good attributes. There are lots of Elohim because there are lots of spirit beings. All are called Elohim. But no other Elohim is like Yahweh—simply by reading the text, you can deduce that. He is the Creator, He is sovereign over all. There is a judgment day coming for the other Elohim.
Let’s give another Scripture. In Daniel 4:13-24 we read of a vision of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel interprets it. Our relevant part of it is below. He tells the king that his vision was predicting God’s decree of temporary insanity upon him (for pride), such that he would be wandering in fields eating grass for food. These verses start with Nebuchadnezzar’s words. Daniel speaks starting at verse 24:
“I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He cried aloud and said…”And let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.
16 Let his heart be changed from that of a man,
Let him be given the heart of a beast, And let seven (years) pass over him.
17 ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers,
And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men…
24 this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king...
The Bible is, as always, consistent. This decree came down from the ‘holy ones,’ here also given a new synonym, the ‘watchers.’ Yet the real decision was made by the Most High (our God). But this is still participation … again allowed by God. He evidently likes to do that. We surmise that when He created spirits, He wanted children who were part of the family. He feels that way toward us Christians, only stronger. He gives us the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) to have us participate in giving Him more children.
This has given me another possibility for explaining another strange Bible verse that had left me puzzled. I'm talking about God creating Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:26-27:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea... and over the livestock over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
How does your Study Bible explain the plural? Mine says it's like a single king sovereignly using the plural to explain himself. It says, "God was taking counsel with Himself." That sounds a little queasy. It could be that God was speaking with the other members of the Trinity. But could it be, He was speaking to His heavenly council? If you take that view, note that when He creates us in His "image," it's our God doing it, nobody else--we're created in His image. The same wording is also in Genesis 11:7 at the tower of Babel, by the way.
And we can't avoid Job 1:6 and 2:1, which start out with "the sons of God." Following our definition, one of them, Satan, formerly an angel, is a "son of God." Satan was there to accuse Job, but note that God still invites all of these beings into His presence, and gave him permission to speak his accusation:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them....
So, Satan had access to the heavenlies. This further proves our point about the Elohim council. Thank God, someday He will no longer listen to his accusations, banish him from His presence, and throw him down to hell.
Now another question about "sons of God." You may have asked this: How is Jesus the ‘only begotten’ Son of God (John 3:16, KJV) if other sons of God exist, as we have seen? Some also say Jesus can’t be eternal if He is ‘begotten,’ a different question altogether. The answer to both questions is this: The phrase ‘only begotten,’ is based on a past study of ancient manuscripts. The Greek word was 'monogenes.' It was originally guessed (there are about 50 Greek words in Scripture that we still don't know the real meaning) that it was made up of two words, monos, or 'only,' and 'gennao,' or 'beget, bear.' But according to more accurate koine Greek (found by recent archaeological digs), it should be 'monos,' or 'only,' and 'genos,' which means 'class or kind.' Thus, the 'only begotten' translation was wrong--it should be ‘one of a kind,' or 'unique.’ Jesus was unique--the Immanuel, God with us. The interesting verse that’s a sideline proof is Hebrews 11:17:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son (ed. note: that's KJV. ESV uses "only son")
But 'only begotten' or 'only' can’t be an accurate translation, since Isaac was preceded in birth by Ishmael. But it is correct if we substitute the correct words, “his unique son.” And Isaac was unique; born from a freewoman, Sarah, born when his parents were 100 and 90 years old, an impossibility, a child of promise, instead of a child of a slave woman (Hagar). In the same way, Jesus is ‘unique’ in John 3:16: Yes, because Jesus is God! Philippians 2:6 (NIV):
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage…
Dr. Heiser finishes this session by clearing up another difficult phrase, in John 10:33-36, when the Jews were ready to stone Jesus because He claimed to be God:
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? (Ed. Note: He is quoting Psalm 82:6, at the beginning of this paper) 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
Jesus, to defend His claim of deity, is saying, “Look, doesn’t Scripture have God speaking to other gods? So, they are asserting there are other gods, and sons of god, who are real. So, since our own Scripture says that category exists; therefore when I say that I’m more than a man, it’s possible. So you can’t just assume I’m blaspheming if I make such a claim. If you want to condemn me, you can’t have as your ‘proof’ that I’m a mere man, and committing blasphemy. Your real proof of what I am can only be by my works. Do I do works of God?
Let nobody say that Jesus did not claim to be God. He did!
I hope you enjoyed this paper and Dr. Heiser. I’ve got more from this knowledgeable man later.
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
The first word of the Psalm, God, is Elohim in Hebrew; this is the standard word for God. But Elohim is also used for “midst of the gods” in verse 1, and “you are gods” in verse 6. Interestingly, they are also called “sons of the Most High” in verse 6 as well. The thing that disturbs us is, in the second and third use of Elohim, the surrounding Hebrew words definitely say it is plural. So now it looks like a pantheon, Greek and Roman mythology stuff, doesn’t it? So let’s allow for the possibility that the Apostle writers, being from a different culture than ours, knew what that verse implies, yet they weren’t deterred from their doctrine of One God who rules over all. So let’s continue to explore and keep an open mind.
In this Psalm, who is God talking to? Who are these ‘gods?’ They seem to be in a ‘divine council’ with our God—and they are His sons! (Before you get carried away, the word “sons” here simply means “direct creation by God.” Adam was a son of God. Angels were too.) To reconcile the use of Elohim in all this, some have suggested, ‘It’s the Trinity.’ But God is not talking to the other members of the Trinity, because He is chastising them for corruption; nor are any of the Trinity sentenced to death! So God is rebuking them and predicts His judgment upon them, yet they are also called ‘sons of the Most High.’ Hmmm. Could these be angels? It's true, after all, that some angels are corrupt--those led by Satan, who was once an angel.
Modern commentaries suggest that God is talking to people, either Jewish elders or members of the Sanhedrin. But that can't be; He calls them 'gods.' We're not Mormons. Jesus, as God, never says or implies that men are actually ‘gods,’ that we’re the same as Jesus (as some apostate religions teach today). So, the verses are not men either.
Look at Psalm 89:5-6, to learn more:
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
The “assembly of the holy ones” or “heavenly beings,” or the “council of the holy ones,” or our “divine council” in Psalm 82 earlier—they are all “sons of God,” or “sons of the Most High.” And they’re also “gods;” and “gods” are all translations of Elohim plural in Hebrew, which we might think only applies to our good God. And they are counseling along with God Most High, singular, in the heavenlies, “in the skies.” So, we're back to thinking, are these angels? But there is evil among them; so some of them, at least, must have fallen (see Isaiah 14 for proof); but why are they still in heaven? And why in His presence--and how do they get a position in council with Him?
Now for those who argue against this plurality of Elohim, you might argue by saying, “What about the Bible verse like Deuteronomy 4:35 where God says, “there is none besides me.”’ Well, in context, that is saying “There is no one who compares to Me.” (So, our God is bragging; I don’t have any problem with God bragging.) And for those who ask, why does God need a council? He’s omniscient. In our response to that one, we might ask, why did God create Man? He didn’t need us either; He’s not deficient. The best guess is: He must like our company; maybe He liked the angels’ company--even after they became corrupt. He has love for us--and we're corrupted in sin.
I Kings 22:19-25 adds to this subject, but first a little background: The Jews kingdom is divided—Israel in the north, under Ahab, and Judah in the south, under Jehoshaphat. Ahab is trying to persuade Jehoshaphat to join him in conquering Ramoth-gilead. Ahab asks of his own prophets about the battle, but these are an ungodly Baal-worshiping bunch that, of course, predict his victory (whatever he wants to hear--just like many of our pastors today). But Jehoshaphat persuades Ahab to bring forth a godly prophet, Micaiah. So let’s pick it up at verse 19:
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’… 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And He said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore behold, (Micaiah said), the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; (but) the Lord has declared disaster for you.”
God is again partnering with this same council in the heavens, this time called “the host of heaven.” But people, be sure to understand that this group is not to be confused with the ones that serenaded the shepherds in Bethlehem. In this case, they are deciding how Ahab is going to die, to be judged for his life of evil. And, we see again that not all of the angels, or "gods," are good; “a spirit” is among them, a wicked one. (They are all spirits, being in the heavenlies.) Anyway, this spirit is ready to deceive Ahab (now let’s not get too sympathetic for Ahab—after all, he has drawn the people to worship Baal, a demon-god, and God made sure he had a last chance to hear Micaiah, a godly prophet, who does a good job of warning him. To no avail.)
Dr. Heiser concludes, after all this, that God has a heavenly council of spirits, made up of His first creation, which were called ‘angels.’ But since some of them are evil here, these verses must be after some angels fell. Yet they are allowed to participate with Him, and they are strangely (and correctly translated) “gods” (direct creation by God) and “sons of God,” using Elohim. But clearly, we can determine by things that are said, who the real God (also Elohim) is; He is Higher than they are, and judges them as well. So clearly everyone in council knows that there is not an equality in the council. There are several verses that confirm that Yahweh, our God, is “God of all gods” (Psa 86:8, 95:3).
So evil gods—some of which, at least, used to be angels before they fell—also existed in the Old Testament. And they are all called Elohim, like our good God. We, as Westerners, like to associate unique, and good, attributes with the term Elohim—like omniscience and omnipresence, terms of a God who loves us--and ignore any other possibilities. We also want to make Elohim singular. We’re “used” to having only one God; and we get creeped out when the word is plural. And we wonder why God would allow His enemies to be present in heaven, even participate, in divine counsel. But, as we can see with Scripture (if we use an open mind), these thoughts are invalid. The Biblical writers were evidently unfazed by these gods, this expansion of the definition of the Hebrew Elohim—we have to believe they simply knew their Scriptures better than we do. Don’t forget, God is the ultimate writer of all Scripture, so we cannot doubt its truthfulness.
Elohim, as it turns out, is used for likely three different things that are not our God of the Bible: (1) The mysterious “council” in heaven, as we have already seen; (2) gods of the nations, called Elohim in I Kings 11:33--they are named Asherah, Ashtaroth, Chemosh, and Milcom—each of which really was a powerful demon worshipped and ruled in a nation surrounding Israel. While we're on that, it seems to me, given the terrorism, that the fallen angels still have a role as powerful demons over nations; (3) A relative word, “shedim,” in Deut. 32:17, has the same meaning; and (4) disembodied human dead, I Samuel 28:13.
Let's explain the last two: “shedim,” in Deut. 32:17. This Hebrew word is translated “demon” in the ESV, as I've indicated in bold below—but note that it is synonymous to "gods," Elohim.
They (Ed. note: Israel) sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
This proves that evil angels are actually demons. So the use of a different Hebrew word (shedim, which literally means ‘territorial entity’), compared to “the gods of the nations (Elohim), in ” #2 above, indicates that these demons in #3 above are ruling on a different level. This suggests a hierarchy of demons.
The #4 example for Heiser’s sermon is in I Samuel 28:13, which is the story of Saul needing a medium (or witch) to prophesy the winner of his upcoming battle with the Philistines. When he approached her, she says, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” (speaking of a physical appearance of the dead. But she doesn't really believe it will happen). He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” (Samuel had died). She was totally surprised when Samuel actually appeared and spoke. (It could be an artifice of a body, too). She was afraid. Saul said, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” She said, “I saw a spirit…” The Hebrew word for spirit is Elohim. Thus, Elohim is also used to describe disembodied human dead, as well. By the way, all the stories about ghosts and haunted houses are still not real. (Not all, but maybe some of them are).
Thus we conclude that Elohim is not simply used only for our God, with all His good attributes. There are lots of Elohim because there are lots of spirit beings. All are called Elohim. But no other Elohim is like Yahweh—simply by reading the text, you can deduce that. He is the Creator, He is sovereign over all. There is a judgment day coming for the other Elohim.
Let’s give another Scripture. In Daniel 4:13-24 we read of a vision of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel interprets it. Our relevant part of it is below. He tells the king that his vision was predicting God’s decree of temporary insanity upon him (for pride), such that he would be wandering in fields eating grass for food. These verses start with Nebuchadnezzar’s words. Daniel speaks starting at verse 24:
“I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. 14 He cried aloud and said…”And let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.
16 Let his heart be changed from that of a man,
Let him be given the heart of a beast, And let seven (years) pass over him.
17 ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers,
And the sentence by the word of the holy ones,
In order that the living may know
That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men…
24 this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king...
The Bible is, as always, consistent. This decree came down from the ‘holy ones,’ here also given a new synonym, the ‘watchers.’ Yet the real decision was made by the Most High (our God). But this is still participation … again allowed by God. He evidently likes to do that. We surmise that when He created spirits, He wanted children who were part of the family. He feels that way toward us Christians, only stronger. He gives us the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) to have us participate in giving Him more children.
This has given me another possibility for explaining another strange Bible verse that had left me puzzled. I'm talking about God creating Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:26-27:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea... and over the livestock over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
How does your Study Bible explain the plural? Mine says it's like a single king sovereignly using the plural to explain himself. It says, "God was taking counsel with Himself." That sounds a little queasy. It could be that God was speaking with the other members of the Trinity. But could it be, He was speaking to His heavenly council? If you take that view, note that when He creates us in His "image," it's our God doing it, nobody else--we're created in His image. The same wording is also in Genesis 11:7 at the tower of Babel, by the way.
And we can't avoid Job 1:6 and 2:1, which start out with "the sons of God." Following our definition, one of them, Satan, formerly an angel, is a "son of God." Satan was there to accuse Job, but note that God still invites all of these beings into His presence, and gave him permission to speak his accusation:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them....
So, Satan had access to the heavenlies. This further proves our point about the Elohim council. Thank God, someday He will no longer listen to his accusations, banish him from His presence, and throw him down to hell.
Now another question about "sons of God." You may have asked this: How is Jesus the ‘only begotten’ Son of God (John 3:16, KJV) if other sons of God exist, as we have seen? Some also say Jesus can’t be eternal if He is ‘begotten,’ a different question altogether. The answer to both questions is this: The phrase ‘only begotten,’ is based on a past study of ancient manuscripts. The Greek word was 'monogenes.' It was originally guessed (there are about 50 Greek words in Scripture that we still don't know the real meaning) that it was made up of two words, monos, or 'only,' and 'gennao,' or 'beget, bear.' But according to more accurate koine Greek (found by recent archaeological digs), it should be 'monos,' or 'only,' and 'genos,' which means 'class or kind.' Thus, the 'only begotten' translation was wrong--it should be ‘one of a kind,' or 'unique.’ Jesus was unique--the Immanuel, God with us. The interesting verse that’s a sideline proof is Hebrews 11:17:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son (ed. note: that's KJV. ESV uses "only son")
But 'only begotten' or 'only' can’t be an accurate translation, since Isaac was preceded in birth by Ishmael. But it is correct if we substitute the correct words, “his unique son.” And Isaac was unique; born from a freewoman, Sarah, born when his parents were 100 and 90 years old, an impossibility, a child of promise, instead of a child of a slave woman (Hagar). In the same way, Jesus is ‘unique’ in John 3:16: Yes, because Jesus is God! Philippians 2:6 (NIV):
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage…
Dr. Heiser finishes this session by clearing up another difficult phrase, in John 10:33-36, when the Jews were ready to stone Jesus because He claimed to be God:
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? (Ed. Note: He is quoting Psalm 82:6, at the beginning of this paper) 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
Jesus, to defend His claim of deity, is saying, “Look, doesn’t Scripture have God speaking to other gods? So, they are asserting there are other gods, and sons of god, who are real. So, since our own Scripture says that category exists; therefore when I say that I’m more than a man, it’s possible. So you can’t just assume I’m blaspheming if I make such a claim. If you want to condemn me, you can’t have as your ‘proof’ that I’m a mere man, and committing blasphemy. Your real proof of what I am can only be by my works. Do I do works of God?
Let nobody say that Jesus did not claim to be God. He did!
I hope you enjoyed this paper and Dr. Heiser. I’ve got more from this knowledgeable man later.
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