John Calvin on Divine plurality & the unseen realm
Human judges or rulers addressed as gods by office, not by nature
But here, as also a little after, the name gods is to be understood of judges, on whom God has impressed special marks of his glory. To apply it to angels is a fancy too strained to admit of serious consideration.
THE POSITION
Calvin takes the elohim of Psalm 82 as magistrates, and he considers and rejects the alternative rather than never noticing it: applying the name to angels is 'a fancy too strained to admit of serious consideration.' The title is by office, not nature — God 'has invested judges with a sacred character and title' (on Psalm 82:6), and civil government is called the assembly of God because lawful rule reflects his glory with unusual clarity. The dignity is also temporary, and 'will pass away with the fashion of the world.' On Deuteronomy 32:17 the gods of the nations are real demonic deception but not a ranked pantheon: whatever names the world invents for its gods, 'they are so many masks, under which the devil hides himself.'
1 A Psalm of Asaph. God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:
NOBODY ELSE HOLDS THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Reformer of Geneva and the most systematic of the first-generation Reformers. This entry rests on the 1559 Institutes of the Christian Religion in Henry Beveridge's translation, checked section by section, with Calvin's own commentaries on 1 John, John, the Harmony of the Evangelists, the Psalms and the Harmony of the Law used where the Institutes are thin.
Cite this page
"John Calvin on Divine plurality & the unseen realm", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/calvin/divine-plurality (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/calvin/divine-plurality).