Commentary - John 10:31-39

Bird's-eye view

This passage in John's gospel presents a high-stakes theological confrontation. Having just declared His divine unity with the Father ("I and the Father are one"), Jesus is met with a cascade of stones. The Jews understand His claim perfectly; they see it as blasphemy of the highest order. What follows is not a frantic backpedaling on Jesus' part, but rather a brilliant, multi-layered defense of His deity, grounded in the Scriptures His opponents claimed to revere. He employs a rabbinic-style argument from the lesser to the greater, citing Psalm 82 to demonstrate that their own Law uses the term "gods" for human magistrates. If Scripture, which is unbreakable, can apply such a title to fallen men, how much more does it apply to the one whom the Father uniquely sanctified and sent into the world? Jesus then shifts His appeal from His words, which they reject, to His works, which are undeniable. These works are not His own, but the Father's works, done through Him. The works are tangible proof of the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son. This is not just a clever debate; it is a profound revelation of the Trinity and the unimpeachable authority of both Christ and the Scriptures.

The conflict ends in a familiar pattern: Jesus' divine wisdom confounds His enemies, their rage intensifies, they attempt to seize Him, and He sovereignly withdraws. The entire exchange serves to sharpen the central question of John's gospel: Who is Jesus? The Jews see a man making Himself God. Jesus reveals Himself as the Son of God who was with God and is God, and He proves it from their own Scriptures and by His own divine works.

Outline

Context In John

This confrontation occurs during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) in Jerusalem. It is the dead of winter, and the spiritual climate is just as cold. The passage is the culmination of a long discourse that began with Jesus identifying Himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:1-18). The Jews had pressed Him to tell them plainly if He was the Christ (John 10:24). Jesus responded that He had already told them, and that His works bore witness to Him, but they did not believe because they were not His sheep. He then made the monumental claim, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). This is the immediate trigger for the attempted stoning. This section is a critical juncture, forcing an inescapable decision about Jesus' identity. His claims are becoming more explicit, and the opposition more murderous, setting the stage for the final events leading to the cross.

Key Issues

The Unbreakable Word

In the heat of this life-or-death argument, Jesus makes a parenthetical statement that is one of the most potent proof-texts for the authority and inerrancy of Scripture in the entire Bible: "and the Scripture cannot be broken." The Greek word for "broken" is luo, which means to loosen, untie, or annul. Jesus is saying that the Scripture cannot be invalidated, contradicted, or set aside. Its authority is absolute and final. Notice the basis of His entire argument rests on this foundation. He is cornered by a hostile mob, ready to kill him, and His ultimate court of appeal is a phrase from the Psalms. If the Scripture can be broken, His argument dissolves into nothing. But because it cannot be broken, His argument is ironclad. This is our Lord's doctrine of Scripture. He treats it as entirely trustworthy, down to the very words. If a single word ("gods") from a somewhat obscure Psalm can bear the full weight of His defense for His own deity, then we must treat all of Scripture with the same reverence. The Word of God is not a wax nose to be twisted into whatever shape we like; it is an unbreakable foundation upon which we must build our lives, our theology, and our everything.

Verse by Verse Commentary

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.

The debate is over, and the rocks are out. The phrase "picked up stones again" reminds us this is not their first impulse. They had tried this before (John 8:59). Their response is not one of reasoned theological disagreement; it is visceral, murderous rage. They understood the import of His words in verse 30, "I and the Father are one." He was not claiming to be one in purpose, like two men who agree on a project. He was claiming to be one in essence, one in being with the Father. To them, this was open-and-shut blasphemy, and the penalty for blasphemy under the Mosaic Law was stoning (Lev. 24:16).

32 Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”

Jesus' response is filled with a divine calm and a piercing irony. He doesn't cower. He doesn't run. He confronts their murderous intent with a question that exposes the utter irrationality of their hatred. He had healed the sick, given sight to the blind, and taught with unparalleled wisdom. All these "good works" were not performed in His own power, but were "from the Father," demonstrating the Father's approval and presence. He forces them to articulate their charge. You are about to kill me; which of my acts of mercy and power is the capital crime? This question pins them down. They cannot condemn His works, because the works are self-evidently good.

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 God.”

They take the bait and state their charge plainly. They concede that His works are good. The issue is not His deeds but His identity. Their accusation is precise: "You, being a man, make Yourself God." They see a mere human arrogating to himself the status and prerogatives of the Almighty. In their minds, they are the righteous defenders of God's honor against a blasphemous usurper. It is crucial to see that they did not misunderstand Him. They understood Him perfectly. They simply did not believe Him. The battle lines are clearly drawn. Is Jesus a blaspheming man or is He, in fact, God in the flesh?

34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’?

Here Jesus begins His masterful defense, and He goes right to their own playbook: the Scriptures. When He says "your Law," He is using the term in its broader sense to refer to the entire Old Testament, not just the Pentateuch. He quotes from Psalm 82:6. This is a classic rabbinic style of argumentation, a qal wahomer argument, from the light to the heavy, or the lesser to the greater. He is about to reason from a statement in their own Scriptures that they must accept.

35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

Jesus now unpacks the logic. The "he" who called them gods is God Himself, speaking through the psalmist Asaph. The ones called "gods" (elohim in Hebrew) in Psalm 82 were the unjust judges of Israel. They were called this because they were God's appointed representatives, tasked with dispensing His justice on earth. The "word of God came" to them, meaning they were commissioned and authorized by God to act in His name. Then comes the foundational linchpin of the whole argument, stated almost as an aside: "and the Scripture cannot be broken." This is non-negotiable. If Scripture says it, it stands. It cannot be annulled or dismissed as an error. The authority is absolute.

36 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’?

This is the punchline. The argument is this: If Scripture, which is infallible, gives the title "gods" to sinful, mortal men simply because they were commissioned by God to be judges, how much more ludicrous is it to charge Me with blasphemy? Look at the contrast. They were men to whom the word of God merely "came." But Jesus is the one "whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world." This is language of unique identity and mission. He was set apart by the Father for this task from all eternity and then commissioned and sent. Theirs was a temporary, delegated authority. His is an inherent, unique, and eternal authority. If they could be called gods in a lesser sense, how can it be blasphemy for the uniquely Sent One to call Himself the "Son of God"? He is not just a man making Himself God; He is the Son of God making Himself known.

37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

Having made His case from Scripture, Jesus now turns to the evidence of His works. He invites them to apply a simple, empirical test. He puts His own credibility on the line. "The works of My Father" are the kind of works only God can do: healing the blind, raising the dead, forgiving sins. If His actions do not align with His divine claims, then they are right to dismiss Him. This is a staggering challenge. He is saying that His claims are falsifiable. Judge me by what I do. If my works are merely human works, then my words are merely human words. But if my works are divine...

38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and continue knowing that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

The conclusion is inescapable. If the works are undeniably divine, then even if they have a personal prejudice against Him ("though you do not believe Me"), they should at least believe the evidence of the works themselves. The works are not an end in themselves; they are signposts pointing to a deeper reality. And what is that reality? "That you may know and continue knowing that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father." This brings the argument full circle, back to His original claim of unity with the Father. The works are the visible proof of this invisible, mutual indwelling. The Father works through the Son, and the Son dwells in the Father. This is the heart of the Trinitarian mystery, presented here not as abstract doctrine, but as the living, breathing reality of who Jesus is.

39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

His argument was unanswerable, but their hearts were unchanged. Logic and evidence cannot conquer a hardened will. Since they could not refute Him with words or stones, they now try to arrest Him, likely to subject Him to a formal trial and execution. But His hour had not yet come. The phrase "He eluded their grasp" is wonderfully understated. This was not a lucky escape. This was a sovereign departure. The one who holds the universe together is not going to be seized by a mob until He willingly lays down His own life according to the Father's perfect timetable.

Application

This passage forces us to confront the bedrock of our faith. First, like Jesus, our ultimate appeal must be to the Word of God. In a world of shifting opinions and emotional arguments, we must stand on the firm conviction that "the Scripture cannot be broken." We must know it, trust it, and be able to reason from it. Our faith is not a blind leap; it is a reasoned trust in God's inerrant revelation.

Second, we must see the tight connection between Christ's words and His works. The Christian life is the same. Our profession of faith and our daily actions must align. We cannot claim to know God and live like the devil. As Jesus pointed to His works as evidence of His identity, so our good works, done in faith, are to be the evidence to a watching world that we belong to Him. Our lives should be a "good work" that forces people to ask why we are the way we are, giving us the opportunity to point them to the Father.

Finally, the central issue is the same today as it was then: the identity of Jesus Christ. Is He just a good man, a prophet, a moral teacher? Or is He the unique Son of God, the one whom the Father sanctified and sent, the one who is in the Father as the Father is in Him? There is no middle ground. The Jews rightly saw that if He was not God, He was a blasphemer. If He is God, then He is Lord, and He demands our total allegiance. We cannot pick up stones, but we can dismiss His claims with intellectual pride or neglect them through worldly indifference. The only proper response to the one who is God is to fall down and worship Him.