John 10:31-42 comments: the response to Jesus' declaration of His deity

31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?  33  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. 34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 36  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? 37  If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38  But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

    39 ¶  Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, 40  And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. 41  And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. 42  And many believed on him there.

Of course, Jesus’ declaration that He and God the Father are one is unacceptable to the Jews. He has declared Himself to be God. They try to kill Him. His response is to ask for which of the works He has done are they wanting Him to die. They reveal the problem down through history of political religion which is the belief that you are justified in killing others for their thoughts and words.

John 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Acts 7:54 ¶  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. 59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

From the Jew’s statement it is clear that they understood that Jesus was making a claim to Godhood, to deity. There is no question that they understood what He claimed. So, they demanded He speak plainly and He has spoken plainly enough at least for them to understand who He says He is.

Jesus counters with Psalm 82:6;

Psalm 82:6 ¶  I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

Now, look at the context of that verse in Psalms.

Psalm 82:1 ¶  « A Psalm of Asaph. » God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2  How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3  Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4  Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 5  They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

    6 ¶  I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. 7  But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8  Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

Importantly, the Jewish leadership understood themselves to be as gods, from the Scripture, as from God’s ordaining them to be magistrates or judges of the people and of the people’s obedience to the Law given to Moses. They were ordained, they believed, by God to rule over the people physically and spiritually in the place of God, as God’s agents on earth. How much more was Christ, sent from God the Father, ordained to be called the Son of God? Christ’s commission to offer salvation to the world and judge those who refused God’s grace of mercy, was proven to them, or should have been as they were a people founded on signs from God…

Deuteronomy 4:34  Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

John 4:48  Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

1Corinthians 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

They should have believed Him by His works alone. But, they did not. Hence, they again make a move to kill Him. Their plans were foiled and Jesus went to the Jordan where John the Baptist did his work. Many people who had known of John followed Jesus by virtue of John’s testimony.