God (Elohim) stands in the congregation of the el; he judges among the gods (elohim, human beings whom God is making in his image).   He asks the elohim, “How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.  Think about it!  Take it to heart!  You were created to defend the poor and fatherless.  I have called you to do justice to the afflicted and needy.  Your ministry on earth is to deliver the poor and needy and to deliver them from the hand of the wicked!”

Then God declares his judgment upon the children of men, his elohim,

“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, You are gods (elohim); and all of you are children of the most High (Elyon). But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

But, God ends his rebuke with the stirring climax we see played out in the book of Revelation:

“Arise, O gods (elohim).  Judge the earth!  You shall inherit all nations!

 (Psalm 82)

It’s time to leave the false doctrine of most of Christianity which denies the fact that God declares that we are “gods.”  “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (Psalms 82:6 KJV)  God purposed in creation to beget children in his own image.  He could not create them “perfect” with no ability to choose evil because then he would have merely made a machine, an automaton that did as it was programmed.  Thus he created man in such a way that he could (and did) disobey direct commands from him.  He also prepared a tree in the midst of the garden by which man would learn good and evil.   And he prepared another tree there by which man would eventually have eternal life.

God purposed that man would first learn to discern good and evil, and learn to willingly choose the good before he could ever have eternal life.  He did it this way because he planned that man become “like” him.  God knows good and evil, but by nature he does only good.  And so shall our nature one day be IF….

This is a big “if!”  This “if” explains why God wrote and delivered the Bible through and to mankind.  God created man a responsible being.  We reap what we sow.  God’s sovereignty does not trump my responsibility.  He will sovereignly move heaven and earth to make me a responsible individual who knows right and wrong and chooses to do right.

Can I perfectly do right now?  No, but I can repent when I don’t, and ask for God’s help to do better.  This is called “practicing righteousness,” and is the mark of Elohim.

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that does righteousness is born of him. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 2:28-3:3 KJ2000)