John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Here Jesus is referring to Psalm 82:6
Psalm 82:1-8
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty;
he judgeth among the gods.
How long will ye judge unjustly,
and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
Defend the poor and fatherless:
do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy:
rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand;
they walk on in darkness:
all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
I have said, Ye are gods;
and all of you are children of the most High.
But ye shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth:
for thou shalt inherit all nations.
God established governments for the purpose of keeping thing peaceable. (Rom 13:4)
Here when God refers to “gods” He uses the term to refer to judges, magistrates, kings, chieftains, and rulers on the earth who, by their position as judge and/or ruler, hold a position to decide life and death, and dispense justice and are thereby in a representative position of God.
Judges have the opportunity to exercise godly judgement, however when they begin see themselves as the ultimate authority they are making themselves gods. The symptom of this is that they “judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked, Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked”.
In the Psalm, they are rebuked by God and instructed to “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked”
When they do not heed the Lord’s rebuke, they walk in darkness without understanding and “all the foundations of the earth are out of course” for they call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).
God reminds them even though they have a high position as a representative of God, they are still mortal and die like all men are appointed to die and then be judged (Heb 9:27), even as the princes (angels) that fell will be judged (John 16:11).
Even when the governments of this world are corrupted, it is God who is the ultimate authority and judge above all. It is He who will dispense the final judgements on the earth and inherits rulership over all the nations.