John 10:35 Meaning and Explanation
“If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Few sentences in the Gospels reward slow reading like this one. Jesus is holding stones off with an argument, and the argument turns on a single line from the Psalms and on a claim about Scripture itself. Understanding how he uses the Old Testament here teaches us a great deal about how he expected his hearers to read their own Bible.
Answering a charge of blasphemy, Jesus points to Psalm 82:6, where God addresses certain hearers as gods, and rests his argument on the reliability of Scripture, which cannot be broken.
The Context of John 10:35
The setting is the feast of the dedication in winter, with Jesus walking in Solomon's porch in the temple (verses 22-23). Asked to say plainly whether he is the Christ, he points to his works and says that he and the Father are one (verses 24-30). His hearers take up stones, charging blasphemy because a man is making himself God (verses 31-33). Jesus replies by quoting their law, 'I said, Ye are gods,' from Psalm 82:6 (verse 34). Verse 35 begins the conditional half of his argument, completed in verse 36, and verses 37-38 return the question to his works.
What Does John 10:35 Mean?
The sentence hangs unfinished on purpose; verse 35 sets up a condition that verse 36 answers. 'If he called them gods' takes the psalm's own address as fact. 'Unto whom the word of God came' identifies who received that title: people to whom God's word was directed. Jesus does not explain their identity further, and the psalm leaves it open as well. The clause 'and the scripture cannot be broken' is a parenthesis with enormous weight. Break here carries the sense of loosening or annulling, so Jesus is saying that a word once spoken in Scripture holds and cannot be set aside, even a phrase his opponents would rather leave alone.
The argument moves from lesser to greater, a common form of reasoning in that setting. If Scripture itself can apply such a title to those who received God's word, the charge of blasphemy collapses when the one whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world calls himself the Son of God (verse 36). The point rests on the authority of the text rather than on debate about the psalm's original audience. Psalm 82 addresses figures who judge unjustly and warns that they will die like men, so the title there comes with accountability attached. Jesus uses the whole force of the quotation while turning it toward his own commissioning.
The parenthesis about Scripture has shaped Christian reading ever since. Jesus treats a single phrase as binding, which matches his statement in the Sermon on the Mount that the smallest stroke of the law will stand until all is fulfilled. He models a way of handling Scripture that takes its wording seriously and reasons carefully from it, and he does so under pressure with stones in the hands around him. The verse also leaves standing a striking piece of biblical language about those who receive God's word. Scripture applies the term without embarrassment, and Jesus declines to soften it, letting the psalm speak as it was written.
John 10:35 in the Original Language
luo (λύω), 'broken' -- to loose, untie, or set aside. The same verb covers untying an animal and annulling a rule, so the phrase says that Scripture cannot be unfastened or dissolved once God has spoken it.
Bible Verses Related to John 10:35
“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”
- Psalm 82:6
“Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?”
- John 10:36
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
- Matthew 5:18
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
- 2 Timothy 3:16
Where John 10:35 Echoes in Scripture
Psalm 82:6 is the line Jesus quotes, and reading the psalm whole changes how verse 35 sounds. God stands in the congregation of the mighty, rebukes those who judge unfairly and show partiality to the wicked, charges them to defend the poor and fatherless, then addresses them with that startling title and immediately warns that they will die like men and fall like princes. Jesus lifts the phrase from a setting of divine judgment on unjust authority, which gives his reply an edge his hearers would have felt.
How to Apply John 10:35 Today
A settled confidence in Scripture changes how we argue and how we listen. When a passage cuts against a position we hold, this verse invites us to sit with the wording instead of explaining it away. It also commends the manner of the exchange: Jesus answers a violent accusation by reasoning from a shared text, calmly, in public. We can practice that in disagreements at church, at work, and at home, asking what the text actually says before defending what we assumed. Learning a psalm well enough to quote it under pressure turns out to be practical training rather than scholarly decoration.
Reflection & Prayer
Is there a passage we have been quietly loosening because it complicates something we prefer to believe? A prayer: Lord Jesus, you honored the words of Scripture when it would have been easier to dodge them. Give me that same respect for what is written, patience with people who read it differently, and courage to answer hostility with steady truth rather than heat.