I’ve heard John 10:34-39 and Psalm 82:6 being used to support the idea that men can become “Gods” in Mormonism since I learned about the existence of Mormonism. Refuting this is much easier than one might think.
Let’s look at the context of John 10: 30-39:
30 “I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 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.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 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’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 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.” 39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.”[1]
The Jews wanted to kill Jesus because of His words. Look at verses 32-33: “…but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ ‘We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’”[2]Jesus, on the other hand, kept pointing to His works. “For which of these do you stone me?” Finally, He meets them where they are at and beats them at their own game. “You, a mere man, claim to be God…”
The Logic of Jesus in verses 35-36:
1. Men, to whom the Word of God came, were called “gods” (meaning judges; more below).
2. Jesus, was sent by God (as the Living Word of God).
3. How much more realistic is it then, to call Jesus (the one sent by God to men), “God?!”
Men, who received the Word of God, were unable to do anything except make judgments. Jesus, on the other hand (the sent, living Word of God) is able to perform miracles. Yet men are called “gods.” Jesus is claiming that He is God, and is also showing it by the miracles he performs. He says in verse 37, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.”
Jesus is referring to Psalm 82 in this conversation with the Jews in John 10. It is important to note here that the word in Hebrew for the word “God” can also be translated as the word “judge.”[3] That said, if Psalm 82 were a play, it would look like this:
Psalm 82
[Narrator:] 1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
[God:] 2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
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,
and fall like any prince.”
[“gods”:] 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!”[4]
It is clear from this passage that “gods” are not the same kind of being as the one referred to in the first verse. For one thing, the gods that God is in the midst of, will “die like men.” Why will they die like men? Because they ARE men. Remember that this Hebrew word translated “God” can also mean “judge.” Mankind are definitely judges. In Genesis 1:26, “God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”[5] God made us “rulers.” Doesn’t being a ruler require making judgments?
With this out of the way, we can now get to the problem of using these verses for scriptural support of men becoming “Gods” in Mormonism.
When Mormons use the word “God” in the sense that this is what “man may become,” they are using the word with the definition of an all-powerful being, not as a judge.
This commits the fallacy of equivocation… calling two different things by the same name. It would be like saying, “warm ice cream is better than cold ice cream. After all, nothing is better than cold ice cream, and warm ice cream is better than nothing.” Do you see how I am using the word, “nothing” in two totally different ways? The fallacy is in ownership verses using a figure of speech. Nothing is better than… is a figure of speech, but having nothing deals with not owning anything.
How about this, “Loud music is a real headache. Two aspirin will make a headache go away. Therefore, two aspirin will make loud music go away.” I think the issue is clear… headache = nuisance, then, headache = pain in one’s head.
The same is the issue with the way Mormons are using the John 10 passage and the Psalm 82:6 verse. “Jesus acknowledged that God (all-powerful being) called men “gods” (judges), therefore, I can become a God (all-powerful being).”
The thing is, when a Mormon points you to John 10 or psalm 82:6 to argue that men become gods, Just take them to the source in Psalm 82:6, and have them read the next verse (7): “Nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”
For more, see my book on Mormonism: 
https://www.amazon.com/Mormonism-Refuting-Fundamental-Apologetics-Latter-Day/dp/1662885377/
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
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