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Examined Doctrine

PASSAGE · BSB

Psalm 82

4 positions in the corpus lean on this chapter. Cited verses are marked.

1A Psalm of Asaph. God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:

2“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

3Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

4Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.

5They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6I have said, ‘You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.’

7But like mortals you will die, and like rulers you will fall.”

8Arise, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are Your inheritance.

Who leans on it

Athanasius on original sin & the human willPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The fall is ontological decay rather than primarily forensic guilt or inability. Man was made from nothing and so mortal by nature; the image and the indwelling Word held corruption off, and the transgression forfeited t…Calvin on divine plurality & the unseen realmPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°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…M. Heiser on divine plurality & the unseen realmPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The Hebrew Bible assumes a real, hierarchical divine council of created spiritual beings under Yahweh, who were allotted the nations at Babel. His central lexical claim is that elohim is not a term of nature or attribute…M. Heiser on the person of christDISPUTED READINGNO FIT°Affirms the deity of Christ explicitly and repeatedly, and reads the Old Testament 'second Yahweh' — visible, often in human form — as the one who becomes incarnate. Argues that the human-judges reading of Psalm 82 destr…