Psa 82:6 | Luther | STEP | V.6. I have said, Ye are gods And all of you children of the highest. There it stands! They are, and are called, gods. They are proud of it, and pride themselves confidently on their power. He confesses that they are gods and have power; and that is true. But it is shameful that they do not recognize from whom they have it, and use it as though they had it from themselves, and could do with it what they will, serving with it neither God nor man, and wanting to be free gods, without any god and over every god. Here He has a word to say in this wickedness, and says, “Ye know well that ye are gods and have power; that ye have learned and grasped very quickly. But when will ye learn from whom ye have it? What becomes of Me? What becomes of My commandments, which I have given you? It is not your command, but I, I, I have said that ye are gods. It is My command and My word that makes and ordains you gods, and keeps you gods, and it is not your word or wisdom or might. Ye are gods made by My word, as all creatures are made, and ye are not self-made gods or born gods, as I am. If I had not commanded it, no one of you would have been a god. Mine are all power, rulership, property, honor, lands and peoples, and all that belongs to them. I have given them to you; ye have not acquired them or won them. But what fine thanks do ye give Me for them? Ye reject Me and My Word, and hold Me for no God at all.” “What!” say they, “Do we not recognize that we have this from Thee, and hold Thee for our God! That be far from us! If Thou knowest it not otherwise, look only at our titles in which we publicly boast and confess it, — ‘We, N, by God’s grace King of N’; ‘We, N, by God’s grace Duke of N’; ‘We, N, by God’s grace, Prince of N’; etc. There Thou hearest that we confess our rulership to be received from God’s grace. What wilt Thou more than this?” It is true! The words are right and good! But do you know of a people of whom the prophet says, “This people honoreth Me with the mouth, but their heart is far from Me?” Christ, too, says, in , “They will not all come into the kingdom of heaven who say to me Lord, Lord; but he that doeth the will of my Father”; and Paul in , “The kingdom of God is not in words, but in deeds.” What good does it do that with your words you boast and confess that you are lords by God’s grace, when your heart and your whole life show that you would like to have no God, and be a free lord, with all might to act against God’s commandments, according to your own self-will? For he who does not heed and keep God’s Word, sets God Himself at naught, since he who would honor God and have God, must have Him in and through His Word, otherwise it is impossible to get Him, have Him, or know Him. Since, then, the gods neither heed nor have God’s Word and commandment, they have no God; and if they have no God, they must have become gods by themselves, and this verse must be a lie and a falsehood, when it says, “I have said, Ye are gods.” See, then, how many are the princes and lords who bear the title, “By God’s grace,” with a true heart and truthful lips! The majority bear it as a testimony against themselves, as a false and shameful lie about God, by which they blaspheme and dishonor His holy name, wearing it as a cloak for their tyranny and wickedness. Of this much could be said. One might wonder why He calls such wicked people, whom he rebukes so harshly, “children of God,” or “of the Highest,” since it is the holy and believing people who are called children of God in Scripture. Answer: It is just as great a wonder that He calls these wicked people by His own name, gods; indeed, calling them gods is even more than calling them children. But it is all in the word, “I have said.” As we have often said, the Word of God hallows and deifies everything to which it is applied. Therefore those estates that are appointed in God’s Word are all holy, divine estates, even though the persons in them are not holy. Thus father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, servant, maid, preacher, pastor, etc., all these are holy and divine positions in life, even though the persons in those positions may be knaves and rascals. So, because He here founds and orders the office of rulership, the rulers are rightly called “gods” and “children of God,” for the sake of the divine office and divine Word; and yet they are wicked knaves, as He here calls them.

Psalms 82:6

_V.6. I have said, Ye are gods And all of you children of the highest.

There it stands! They are, and are called, gods. They are proud of it, and pride themselves confidently on their power. He confesses that they are gods and have power; and that is true. But it is shameful that they do not recognize from whom they have it, and use it as though they had it from themselves, and could do with it what they will, serving with it neither God nor man, and wanting to be free gods, without any god and over every god. Here He has a word to say in this wickedness, and says, “Ye know well that ye are gods and have power; that ye have learned and grasped very quickly. But when will ye learn from whom ye have it? What becomes of Me? What becomes of My commandments, which I have given you? It is not your command, but I, I, I have said that ye are gods. It is My command and My word that makes and ordains you gods, and keeps you gods, and it is not your word or wisdom or might. Ye are gods made by My word, as all creatures are made, and ye are not self-made gods or born gods, as I am. If I had not commanded it, no one of you would have been a god. Mine are all power, rulership, property, honor, lands and peoples, and all that belongs to them. I have given them to you; ye have not acquired them or won them. But what fine thanks do ye give Me for them? Ye reject Me and My Word, and hold Me for no God at all.”

“What!” say they, “Do we not recognize that we have this from Thee, and hold Thee for our God! That be far from us! If Thou knowest it not otherwise, look only at our titles in which we publicly boast and confess it, — ‘We, N, by God’s grace King of N’; ‘We, N, by God’s grace Duke of N’; ‘We, N, by God’s grace, Prince of N’; etc. There Thou hearest that we confess our rulership to be received from God’s grace. What wilt Thou more than this?”

It is true! The words are right and good! But do you know of a people of whom the prophet says, “This people honoreth Me with the mouth, but their heart is far from Me?” Christ, too, says, in Matthew 7:21, “They will not all come into the kingdom of heaven who say to me Lord, Lord; but he that doeth the will of my Father”; and Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:20, “The kingdom of God is not in words, but in deeds.”

What good does it do that with your words you boast and confess that you are lords by God’s grace, when your heart and your whole life show that you would like to have no God, and be a free lord, with all might to act against God’s commandments, according to your own self-will? For he who does not heed and keep God’s Word, sets God Himself at naught, since he who would honor God and have God, must have Him in and through His Word, otherwise it is impossible to get Him, have Him, or know Him. Since, then, the gods neither heed nor have God’s Word and commandment, they have no God; and if they have no God, they must have become gods by themselves, and this verse must be a lie and a falsehood, when it says, “I have said, Ye are gods.” See, then, how many are the princes and lords who bear the title, “By God’s grace,” with a true heart and truthful lips! The majority bear it as a testimony against themselves, as a false and shameful lie about God, by which they blaspheme and dishonor His holy name, wearing it as a cloak for their tyranny and wickedness. Of this much could be said.

One might wonder why He calls such wicked people, whom he rebukes so harshly, “children of God,” or “of the Highest,” since it is the holy and believing people who are called children of God in Scripture. Answer: It is just as great a wonder that He calls these wicked people by His own name, gods; indeed, calling them gods is even more than calling them children. But it is all in the word, “I have said.” As we have often said, the Word of God hallows and deifies everything to which it is applied. Therefore those estates that are appointed in God’s Word are all holy, divine estates, even though the persons in them are not holy. Thus father, mother, son, daughter, master, mistress, servant, maid, preacher, pastor, etc., all these are holy and divine positions in life, even though the persons in those positions may be knaves and rascals. So, because He here founds and orders the office of rulership, the rulers are rightly called “gods” and “children of God,” for the sake of the divine office and divine Word; and yet they are wicked knaves, as He here calls them.