John 10:1

It is not certain whether this discourse was at the feast of dedication in the winter (spoken of Joh 10:22), which may be taken as the date, not only of what follows, but of what goes before (that which countenances this is, that Christ, in his discourse there, carries on the metaphor of the sheep, Joh 10:26, Joh 10:27, whence it seems that that discourse and this were at the same time); or whether this was a continuation of his parley with the Pharisees, in the close of the foregoing chapter. The Pharisees supported themselves in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were the pastors of the church, and that Jesus, having no commission from them, was an intruder and an impostor, and therefore the people were bound in duty to stick to then, against him. In opposition to this, Christ here describes who were the false shepherds, and who the true, leaving them to infer what they were.

I. Here is the parable or similitude proposed (Joh 10:1-5); it is borrowed from the custom of that country, in the management of their sheep. Similitudes, used for the illustration of divine truths, should be taken from those things that are most familiar and common, that the things of God be not clouded by that which should clear them. The preface to this discourse is solemn: Verily, verily, I say unto you, - Amen, amen. This vehement asseveration intimates the certainty and weight of what he said; we find amen doubled in the church's praises and prayers, Psa 41:13; Psa 72:19; Psa 89:52. If we would have our amens accepted in heaven, let Christ's amens be prevailing on earth; his repeated amens.

1. In the parable we have, (1.) The evidence of a thief and robber, that comes to do mischief to the flock, and damage to the owner, Joh 10:1. He enters not by the door, as having no lawful cause of entry, but climbs up some other way, at a window, or some breach in the wall. How industrious are wicked people to do mischief! What plots will they lay, what pains will they take, what hazards will they run, in their wicked pursuits! This should shame us out of our slothfulness and cowardice in the service of God. (2.) The character that distinguishes the rightful owner, who has a property in the sheep, and a care for them: He enters in by the door, as one having authority (Joh 10:2), and he comes to do them some good office or other, to bind up that which is broken, and strengthen that which is sick, Eze 34:16. Sheep need man's care, and, in return for it, are serviceable to man (Co1 9:7); they clothe and feed those by whom they are coted and fed. (3.) The ready entrance that the shepherd finds: To him the porter openeth, Joh 10:3. Anciently they had their sheepfolds within the outer gates of their houses, for the greater safety of their flocks, so that none could come to them the right way, but such as the porter opened to or the master of the house gave the keys to. (4.) The care he takes and the provision he makes for his sheep. The sheep hear his voice, when he speaks familiarly to them, when they come into the fold, as men now do to their dogs and horses; and, which is more, he calls his own sheep by name, so exact is the notice he takes of them, the account he keeps of them; and he leads them our from the fold to the green pastures; and (Joh 10:4, Joh 10:5) when he turns them out to graze he does not drive them, but (such was the custom in those times) he goes before them, to prevent any mischief or danger that might meet them, and they, being used to it, follow him, and are safe. (5.) The strange attendance of the sheep upon the shepherd: They know his voice, so as to discern his mind by it, and to distinguish it from that of a stranger (for the ox knows his owner, Isa 1:3), and a stranger will they not follow, but, as suspecting some ill design, will flee from him, not knowing his voice, but that it is not the voice of their own shepherd. This is the parable; we have the key to it, Eze 34:31 : You my flock are men, and I am your God.

2. Let us observe from this parable, (1.) That good men are fitly compared to sheep. Men, as creatures depending on their Creator, are called the sheep of his pasture. Good men, as new creatures, have the good qualities of sheep, harmless and inoffensive as sheep; meek and quiet, without noise; patient as sheep under the hand both of the shearer and of the butcher; useful and profitable, tame and tractable, to the shepherd, and sociable one with another, and much used in sacrifices. (2.) The church of God in the world is a sheepfold, into which the children of God that were scattered abroad are gathered together (Joh 11:52), and in which they are united and incorporated; it is a good fold, Eze 34:14. See Mic 2:12. This fold is well fortified, for God himself is as a wall of fire about it, Zac 2:5. (3.) This sheepfold lies much exposed to thieves and robbers; crafty seducers that debauch and deceive, and cruel persecutors that destroy and devour; grievous wolves (Act 20:29); thieves that would steal Christ's sheep from him, to sacrifice them to devils, or steal their food from them, that they might perish for lack of it; wolves in sheep's clothing, Mat 7:15. (4.) The great Shepherd of the sheep takes wonderful care of the flock and of all that belong to it. God is the great Shepherd, Psa 23:1. He knows those that are his calls them by name, marks them for himself, leads them out to fat pastures, makes them both feed and rest there, speaks comfortably to them, guards them by his providence, guides them by his Spirit and word, and goes before them, to set them in the way of his steps. (5.) The under-shepherds, who are entrusted to feed the flock of God, ought to be careful and faithful in the discharge of that trust; magistrates must defend them, and protect and advance all their secular interests; ministers must serve them in their spiritual interests, must feed their souls with the word of God faithfully opened and applied, and with gospel ordinances duly administered, taking the oversight of them. They must enter by the door of a regular ordination, and to such the porter will open; the Spirit of Christ will set before them an open door, give them authority in the church, and assurance in their own bosoms. They must know the members of their flocks by name, and watch over them; must lead them into the pastures of public ordinances, preside among them, be their mouth to God and God's to them; and in their conversation must be examples to the believers. (6.) Those who are truly the sheep of Christ will be very observant of their Shepherd, and very cautious and shy of strangers. [1.] They follow their Shepherd, for they know his voice, having both a discerning ear, and an obedient heart. [2.] They flee from a stranger, and dread following him, because they know not his voice. It is dangerous following those in whom we discern not the voice of Christ, and who would draw us from faith in him to fancies concerning him. And those who have experienced the power and efficacy of divine truths upon their souls, and have the savour and relish of them, have a wonderful sagacity to discover Satan's wiles, and to discern between good and evil.

II. The Jew's ignorance of the drift and meaning of this discourse (Joh 10:6): Jesus spoke this parable to them, this figurative, but wise, elegant, and instructive discourse, but they understood not what the things were which he spoke unto them, were not aware whom he meant by the thieves and robbers and whom by the good Shepherd. It is the sin and shame of many who hear the word of Christ that they do not understand it, and they do not because they will not, and because they will mis-understand it. They have no acquaintance with, nor taste of, the things themselves, and therefore do not understand the parables and comparisons with which they are illustrated. The Pharisees had a great conceit of their own knowledge, and could not bear that it should be questioned, and yet they had not sense enough to understand the things that Jesus spoke of; they were above their capacity. Frequently the greatest pretenders to knowledge are most ignorant in the things of God.

III. Christ's explication of this parable, opening the particulars of it fully. Whatever difficulties there may be in the sayings of the Lord Jesus, we shall find him ready to explain himself, if we be but willing to understand him. We shall find one scripture expounding another, and the blessed Spirit interpreter to the blessed Jesus. Christ, in the parable, had distinguished the shepherd from the robber by this, that he enters in by the door. Now, in the explication of the parable, he makes himself to be both the door by which the shepherd enters and the shepherd that enters in by the door. Though it may be a solecism in rhetoric to make the same person to be both the door and the shepherd, it is no solecism in divinity to make Christ to have his authority from himself, as he has life in himself; and himself to enter by his own blood, as the door, into the holy place.

1. Christ is the door. This he saith to those who pretended to seek for righteousness, but, like the Sodomites, wearied themselves to find the door, where it was not to be found. He saith it to the Jews, who would be thought God's only sheep, and to the Pharisees, who would be thought their only shepherds: I am the door of the sheepfold; the door of the church.

(1.) In general, [1.] He is as a door shut, to keep out thieves and robbers, and such as are not fit to be admitted. The shutting of the door is the securing of the house; and what greater security has the church of God than the interposal of the Lord Jesus, and his wisdom, power, and goodness, betwixt it and all its enemies? [2.] He is as a door open for passage and communication. First, By Christ, as the door, we have our first admission into the flock of God, Joh 14:6. Secondly, We go in and out in a religious conversation, assisted by him, accepted in him; waling up and down in his name, Zac 10:12. Thirdly, By him God comes to his church, visits it, and communicates himself to it. Fourthly, By him, as the door, the sheep are at last admitted into the heavenly kingdom, Mat 25:34.

(2.) More particularly,

[1.] Christ is the door of the shepherds, so that none who come not in by him are to be accounted pastors, but (according to the rule laid down, Joh 10:1) thieves and robbers (though they pretended to be shepherds); but the sheep did not hear them. This refers to all those that had the character of shepherds in Israel, whether magistrates or ministers, that exercised their office without any regard to the Messiah, or any other expectations of him than what were suggested by their own carnal interest. Observe, First, The character given of them: they are thieves and robbers (Joh 10:8); all that went before him, not in time, many of them were faithful shepherds, but all that anticipated his commission, and went before he sent them (Jer 23:21), that assumed a precedency and superiority above him, as the antichrist is said to exalt himself, Th2 2:4. "The scribes, and Pharisees, and chief priests, all, even as many as have come before me, that have endeavoured to forestal my interest, and to prevent my gaining any room in the minds of people, by prepossessing them with prejudices against me, they are thieves and robbers, and steal those hearts which they have no title to, defrauding the right owner of his property." They condemned our Saviour as a thief and a robber, because he did not come in by them as the door, nor take out a license from them; but he shows that they ought to have received their commission from him, to have been admitted by him, and to have come after him, and because they did not, but stepped before him, they were thieves and robbers. They would not come in as his disciples, and therefore were condemned as usurpers, and their pretended commissions vacated and superseded. Note, Rivals with Christ are robbers of his church, however they pretend to be shepherds, nay, shepherds of shepherds. Secondly, The care taken to preserve the sheep from them: But the sheep did not hear them. Those that had a true savour of piety, that were spiritual and heavenly, and sincerely devoted to God and godliness, could by no means approve of the traditions of the elders, nor relish their formalities. Christ's disciples, without any particular instructions from their Master, made no conscience of eating with unwashen hands, or plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath day; for nothing is more opposite to true Christianity than Pharisaism is, nor any thing more disrelishing to a soul truly devout than their hypocritical devotions.

[2.] Christ is the door of the sheep (Joh 10:9): By me (di emou - through me as the door) if any man enter into the sheepfold, as one of the flock, he shall be saved; shall not only by safe from thieves and robbers, but he shall be happy, he shall go in and out. Here are, First, Plain directions how to come into the fold: we must come in by Jesus Christ as the door. By faith in him, as the great Mediator between God and man, we come into covenant and communion with God. There is no entering into God's church but by coming into Christ's church; nor are any looked upon as members of the kingdom of God among men but those that are willing to submit to the grace and government of the Redeemer. We must now enter by the door of faith (Act 14:27), since the door of innocency is shut against us, and that pass become unpassable, Gen 3:24. Secondly, Precious promises to those who observe this direction. 1. They shall be saved hereafter; this is the privilege of their home. These sheep shall be saved from being distrained and impounded by divine justice for trespass done, satisfaction being made for the damage by their great Shepherd, saved from being a prey to the roaring lion; they shall be for ever happy. 2. In the mean time they shall go in and out and find pasture; this is the privilege of their way. They shall have their conversation in the world by the grace of Christ, shall be in his fold as a man at his own house, where he has free ingress, egress, and regress. True believers are at home in Christ; when they go out, they are not shut out as strangers, but have liberty to come in again; when they come in, they are not shut in as trespassers, but have liberty to go out. They go out to the field in the morning, they come into the fold at night; and in both the Shepherd leads and keeps them, and they find pasture in both: grass in the field, fodder in the fold. In public, in private, they have the word of God to converse with, by which their spiritual life is supported and nourished, and out of which their gracious desires are satisfied; they are replenished with the goodness of God's house.

2. Christ is the shepherd, Joh 10:11, etc. He was prophesied of under the Old Testament as a shepherd, Isa 40:11; Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24; Zac 13:7. In the New Testament he is spoken of as the great Shepherd (Heb 13:20), the chief Shepherd (Pe1 5:4), the Shepherd and bishop of our souls, Pe1 2:25. God, our great owner, the sheep of whose pasture we are by creation, has constituted his Son Jesus to be our shepherd; and here again and again he owns the relation. He has all that care of his church, and every believer, that a good shepherd has of his flock; and expects all that attendance and observance from the church, and every believer, which the shepherds in those countries had from their flocks.

(1.) Christ is a shepherd, and not as the thief, not as those that came not in by the door. Observe,

[1.] The mischievous design of the thief (Joh 10:10): The thief cometh not with any good intent, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. First, Those whom they steal, whose hearts and affections they steal from Christ and his pastures, they kill and destroy spiritually; for the heresies they privily bring in are damnable. Deceivers of souls are murderers of souls. Those that steal away the scripture by keeping it in an unknown tongue, that steal away the sacraments by maiming them and altering the property of them, that steal away Christ's ordinances to put their own inventions in the room of them, they kill and destroy; ignorance and idolatry are destructive things. Secondly, Those whom they cannot steal, whom they can neither lead, drive, nor carry away, from the flock of Christ, they aim by persecutions and massacres to kill and destroy corporally. He that will not suffer himself to be robbed is in danger of being slain.

[2.] The gracious design of the shepherd; he is come,

First, To give life to the sheep. In opposition to the design of the thief, which is to kill and destroy (which was the design of the scribes and Pharisees) Christ saith, I am come among men, 1. That they might have life. He came to put life into the flock, the church in general, which had seemed rather like a valley full of dry bones than like a pasture covered over with flocks. Christ came to vindicate divine truths, to purify divine ordinances, to redress grievances, and to revive dying zeal, to seek those of his flock that were lost, to bind up that which was broken (Eze 34:16), and this to his church is as life from the dead. He came to give life to particular believers. Life is inclusive of all good, and stands in opposition to the death threatened (Gen 2:17); that we might have life, as a criminal has when he is pardoned, as a sick man when he is cured, a dead man when he is raised; that we might be justified, sanctified, and at last glorified. 2. That they might have it more abundantly, kai perisson echōsin. As we read it, it is comparative, that they might have a life more abundant than that which was lost and forfeited by sin, more abundant than that which was promised by the law of Moses, length of days in Canaan, more abundant than could have been expected or than we are able to ask or think. But it may be construed without a note of comparison, that they might have abundance, or might have it abundantly. Christ came to give life and perisson ti - something more, something better, life with advantage; that in Christ we might not only live, but live comfortably, live plentifully, live and rejoice. Life in abundance is eternal life, life without death or fear of death, life and much more.

Secondly, To give his life for the sheep, and this that he might give life to them (Joh 10:11): The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 1. It is the property of every good shepherd to hazard and expose his life for the sheep. Jacob did so, when he would go through such a fatigue to attend them, Gen 31:40. So did David, when he slew the lion and the bear. Such a shepherd of souls was St. Paul, who would gladly spend, and be spent, for their service, and counted not his life dear to him, in comparison with their salvation. But, 2. It was the prerogative of the great Shepherd to give his life to purchase his flock (Act 20:28), to satisfy for their trespass, and to shed his blood to wash and cleanse them.

(2.) Christ is a good shepherd, and not as a hireling. There were many that were not thieves, aiming to kill and destroy the sheep, but passed for shepherds, yet were very careless in the discharge of their duty, and through their neglect the flock was greatly damaged; foolish shepherds, idle shepherds, Zac 11:15, Zac 11:17. In opposition to these,

[1.] Christ here calls himself the good shepherd (Joh 10:11), and again (Joh 10:14) ho poimēn ho kalos - that shepherd, that good Shepherd, whom God had promised. Note, Jesus Christ is the best of shepherds, the best in the world to take the over-sight of souls, none so skilful, so faithful, so tender, as he, no such feeder and leader, no such protector and healer of souls as he.

[2.] He proves himself so, in opposition to all hirelings, Joh 10:12-14. Where observe,

First, The carelessness of the unfaithful shepherd described (Joh 10:12, Joh 10:13); he that is a hireling, that is employed as a servant and is paid for his pains, whose own the sheep are not, who has neither profit nor loss by them, sees the wolf coming, or some other danger threatening, and leaves the sheep to the wolf, for in truth he careth not for them. Here is plain reference to that of the idol-shepherd, Zac 11:17. Evil shepherds, magistrates and ministers, are here described both by their bad principles and their bad practices.

a. Their bad principles, the root of their bad practices. What makes those that have the charge of souls in trying times to betray their trust, and in quiet times not to mind it? What makes them false, and trifling, and self-seeking? It is because they are hirelings, and care not for the sheep. That is, (a.) The wealth of the world is the chief of their good; it is because they are hirelings. They undertook the shepherds' office, as a trade to live and grow rich by, not as an opportunity of serving Christ and doing good. It is the love of money, and of their own bellies, that carries them on in it. Not that those are hirelings who, while they serve at the altar, live, and live comfortably, upon the altar. The labourer is worthy of his meat; and a scandalous maintenance will soon make a scandalous ministry. But those are hirelings that love the wages more than the work, and set their hearts upon that, as the hireling is said to do, Deu 24:15. See Sa1 2:29; Isa 56:11; Mic 3:5, Mic 3:11. (b.) The work of their place is the least of their care. They value not the sheep, are unconcerned in the souls of others; their business is to be their brothers' lords, not their brothers' keepers or helpers; they seek their own things, and do not, like Timothy, naturally care for the state of souls. What can be expected but that they will flee when the wolf comes. He careth not for the sheep, for he is one whose own the sheep are not. In one respect we may say of the best of the under-shepherds that the sheep are not their own, they have not dominion over them not property in them (feed my sheep and my lambs, saith Christ); but in respect of dearness and affection they should be their own. Paul looked upon those as his own whom he called his dearly beloved and longed for. Those who do not cordially espouse the church's interests, and make them their own, will not long be faithful to them.

b. Their bad practices, the effect of these bad principles, Joh 10:12. See here, (a.) How basely the hireling deserts his post; when he sees the wolf coming, though then there is most need of him, he leaves the sheep and flees. Note, Those who mind their safety more than their duty are an easy prey to Satan's temptations. (b.) How fatal the consequences are! the hireling fancies the sheep may look to themselves, but it does not prove so: the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep, and woeful havoc is made of the flock, which will all be charged upon the treacherous shepherd. The blood of perishing souls is required at the hand of the careless watchmen.

Secondly, See here the grace and tenderness of the good Shepherd set over against the former, as it was in the prophecy (Eze 34:21, Eze 34:22, etc.): I am the good Shepherd. It is matter of comfort to the church, and all her friends, that, however she may be damaged and endangered by the treachery and mismanagement of her under-officers, the Lord Jesus is, and will be, as he ever has been, the good Shepherd. Here are two great instances of the shepherd's goodness.

a. His acquainting himself with his flock, with all that belong or in any wise appertain to his flock, which are of two sorts, both known to him: -

(a.) He is acquainted with all that are now of his flock (Joh 10:14, Joh 10:15), as the good Shepherd (Joh 10:3, Joh 10:4): I know my sheep and am known of mine. Note, There is a mutual acquaintance between Christ and true believers; they know one another very well, and knowledge notes affection.

[a.] Christ knows his sheep. He knows with a distinguishing eye who are his sheep, and who are not; he knows the sheep under their many infirmities, and the goats under their most plausible disguises. He knows with a favourable eye those that in truth are his own sheep; he takes cognizance of their state, concerns himself for them, has a tender and affectionate regard to them, and is continually mindful of them in the intercession he ever lives to make within the veil; he visits them graciously by his Spirit, and has communion with them; he knows them, that is, he approves and accepts of them, as Psa 1:6; Psa 37:18; Exo 33:17.

[b.] He is known of them. He observes them with an eye of favour, and they observe him with an eye of faith. Christ's knowing his sheep is put before their knowing him, for he knew and loved us first (Jo1 4:19), and it is not so much our knowing him as our being known of him that is our happiness, Gal 4:9. Yet it is the character of Christ's sheep that they know him; know him from all pretenders and intruders; they know his mind, know his voice, know by experience the power of his death. Christ speaks here as if he gloried in being known by his sheep, and thought their respect an honour to him. Upon this occasion Christ mentions (Joh 10:15) the mutual acquaintance between his Father and himself: As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. Now this may be considered, either, First, As the ground of that intimate acquaintance and relation which subsist between Christ and believers. The covenant of grace, which is the bond of this relation, is founded in the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, which, we may be sure, stands firm; for the Father and the Son understood one another perfectly well in that matter, and there could be no mistake, which might leave the matter at any uncertainty, or bring it into any hazard. The Lord Jesus knows whom he hath chosen, and is sure of them (Joh 13:18), and they also know whom they have trusted, and are sure of him (Ti2 1:12), and the ground of both is the perfect knowledge which the Father and the Son had of one another's mind, when the counsel of peace was between them both. Or, Secondly, As an apt similitude, illustrating the intimacy that is between Christ and believers. It may be connected with the foregoing words, thus: I know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; compare Joh 17:21. 1. As the Father knew the Son, and loved him, and owned him in his sufferings, when he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, so Christ knows his sheep, and has a watchful tender eye upon them, will be with them when they are left alone, as his Father was with him. 2. As the Son knew the Father, loved and obeyed him, and always did those things that pleased him, confiding in him as his God even when he seemed to forsake him, so believers know Christ with an obediential fiducial regard.

(b.) He is acquainted with those that are hereafter to be of this flock (Joh 10:16): Other sheep I have, have a right to and an interest in, which are not of this fold, of the Jewish church; them also I must bring. Observe,

[a.] The eye that Christ had to the poor Gentiles. He had sometimes intimated his special concern for the lost sheep of the house of Israel; to them indeed his personal ministry was confined; but, saith he, I have other sheep. Those who in process of time should believe in Christ, and be brought into obedience to him from among the Gentiles, are here called sheep, and he is said to have them, though as yet they were uncalled, and many of them unborn, because they were chosen of God, and given to Christ in the counsels of divine love from eternity. Christ has a right, by virtue of the Father's donation and his own purchase, to many a soul of which he has not yet the possession; thus he had much people in Corinth, when as yet it lay in wickedness, Act 18:10. "Those other sheep I have," saith Christ, "I have them on my heart, have them in my eye, am as sure to have them as if I had them already." Now Christ speaks of those other sheep, First, To take off the contempt that was put upon him, as having few followers, as having but a little flock, and therefore, if a good shepherd, yet a poor shepherd: "But," saith he, "I have more sheep than you see." Secondly, To take down the pride and vain-glory of the Jews, who thought the Messiah must gather all his sheep from among them. "No," saith Christ, "I have others whom I will set with the lambs of my flock, though you disdain to set them with the dogs of your flock."

[b.] The purposes and resolves of his grace concerning them: "Them also I must bring, bring home to God, bring into the church, and, in order to this, bring off from their vain conversation, bring them back from their wanderings, as that lost sheep," Luk 15:5. But why must he bring them? What was the necessity? First, The necessity of their case required it: "I must bring, or they must be left to wander endlessly, for, like sheep, they will never come back of themselves, and no other can or will bring them." Secondly, The necessity of his own engagements required it; he must bring them, or he would not be faithful to his trust, and true to his undertaking. "They are my own, bought and paid for, and therefore I must not neglect them nor leave them to perish." He must in honour bring those with whom he was entrusted.

[c.] The happy effect and consequence of this, in two things: - First, "They shall hear my voice. Not only my voice shall be heard among them (whereas they have not heard, and therefore could not believe, now the sound of the gospel shall go to the ends of the earth), but it shall be heard by them; I will speak, and give to them to hear." Faith comes by hearing, and our diligent observance of the voice of Christ is both a means and an evidence of our being brought to Christ, and to God by him. Secondly, There shall be one fold and one shepherd. As there is one shepherd, so there shall be one fold. Both Jews and Gentiles, upon their turning to the faith of Christ, shall be incorporated in one church, be joint and equal sharers in the privileges of it, without distinction. Being united to Christ, they shall unite in him; two sticks shall become one in the hand of the Lord. Note, One shepherd makes one fold; one Christ makes one church. As the church is one in its constitution, subject to one head, animated by one Spirit, and guided by one rule, so the members of it ought to be one in love and affection, Eph 4:3-6.

b. Christ's offering up himself for his sheep is another proof of his being a good shepherd, and in this he yet more commended his love, Joh 10:15, Joh 10:17, Joh 10:18.

(a.) He declares his purpose of dying for his flock (Joh 10:15): I lay down my life for the sheep. He not only ventured his life for them (in such a case, the hope of saving it might balance the fear of losing it), but he actually deposited it, and submitted to a necessity of dying for our redemption; tithēmi - I put it as a pawn or pledge; as purchase-money paid down. Sheep appointed for the slaughter, ready to be sacrificed, were ransomed with the blood of the shepherd. He laid down his life, huper tōn probatōn, not only for the good of the sheep, but in their stead. Thousands of sheep had been offered in sacrifice for their shepherds, as sin-offerings, but here, by a surprising reverse, the shepherd is sacrificed for the sheep. When David, the shepherd of Israel, was himself guilty, and the destroying angel drew his sword against the flock for his sake, with good reason did he plead, These sheep, what evil have they done? Let thy hand be against me, Sa2 24:17. But the Son of David was sinless and spotless; and his sheep, what evil have they not done? Yet he saith, Let thine hand be against me. Christ here seems to refer to that prophecy, Zac 13:7, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd; and, though the smiting of the shepherd be for the present the scattering of the flock, it is in order to the gathering of them in.

(b.) He takes off the offence of the cross, which to many is a stone of stumbling, by four considerations: -

[a.] That his laying down his life for the sheep was the condition, the performance of which entitled him to the honours and powers of his exalted state (Joh 10:17): "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life. Upon these terms I am, as Mediator, to expect my Father's acceptance and approbation, and the glory designed me - that I become a sacrifice for the chosen remnant." Not but that, as the Son of God, he was beloved of his Father from eternity, but as God - man, as Immanuel, he was therefore beloved of the Father because he undertook to die for the sheep; therefore God's soul delighted in him as his elec

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh_10:1-13

He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold

Shepherdhood

The simple lesson which our Lord intended to teach in this familiar passage has often been strangely mistaken.

The minds of men have been so fixed upon certain ecclesiastical conclusions which have been commonly derived from it, that the simpler but far profounder teaching which the Master had in mind to give has been overlooked. He was not defending the formal authority of His own or of any office. He was not discussing the regularity or lawfulness of His own or of any ministry. He was not pointing out the mode of entrance into shepherdhood, but He was telling how the function for all true shepherdhood must be discharged. He was laying down the rule of good conduct and right service in all true leadership--a rule which He Himself exemplified and fulfilled, and which all must obey who hope in any degree to be worthy leaders of men. He was propounding a lesson which it behoves all men to ponder well who hope to influence their fellow men for good rank, office, order, culture, property--be the authority, the privilege, the right of these what they may, the eternal law of God, as exemplified in the life of His Son, and taught in His Holy Word, and illustrated in human history, is this: that none of these, no matter how commissioned or sent, can exercise any real shepherdhood over men except as they are in sympathy with them. This is true in Church and State; of the employers of labour; of the heads of households; of civil rulers and political leaders; of bishops, priests, and deacons--the power to lead men lies in sympathizing with them, and walking in the same way with them. The man of influence is the man of sympathy; the man of power is the man of service. He that loves is he that leads. He that serves is he that rules. Think for a moment, and you will see why it must be so. Man is free, The soul is free in the truest, deepest sense of the word. God royally made it so, and even He cannot control it by any merely external force or power. It is free to think, to will, and choose, to love, and no mere force or authority from without can control it in these operations in which its sovereign selfhood is realized. You may chain the limbs of a man--you may coerce his actions or even his words; but how can you get into communion with the soul, and rule its will and affections? There is only one way. If you would influence men intimately, profoundly, really, no matter what your authority or station, you must enter into sympathy with them. You must walk in the same path and enter in by the same door, or you can never be the shepherd of the sheep. This is what St. Paul meant when he sang the praise of love (1Co_13:1-13). Among men love is power. And a greater than St. Paul taught the same lesson and confirmed it by His own Divine experience. The Good Shepherd proved and illustrated His own good shepherdhood by sympathy and love. It was by no flash of splendour or miracle of external power that He proved His Divine leadership over the hearts of men; but by coming to walk with them, to toil and hunger, and suffer with them. He entered into mortal life by the same lowly door of human birth; He passed through it by the same path of toil and daily care; He made His exit from it through the same portal of suffering and death. In life and death He walked with the sheep. Therefore He could say, I am the Good Shepherd, not merely because I am commissioned and sent of My Father, not merely because I wield the power of omnipotence, but I am the Good Shepherd, He said, because I know My sheep and am known of Mine. (Bp. S. S. Harris.)

Jesus the Good Shepherd

Note

I. THE INDIVIDUAL CARE AND GUIDANCE OF OUR LORD for every soul that trusts Him. In modem stock raising in Western lands there is nothing of that personal knowledge and attachment which bound together an Oriental shepherd and his flock.

1. It is an infirmity of Christian people to suppose that they are lost in the crowd, that God deals with them in the gross as a general might deal with his army, with rare notice of individuals least of all of privates. Yet in nothing do we wrong Him more. The hairs of our head are all numbered.

2. Christ showed nothing clearer than His attention to every personal want within His reach. We have reason as Paul had to appropriate His atoning work as though it were our monopoly (Gal_2:20; Heb_2:9). Indeed He promises a friendship so intimate that it becomes a system of cipher messages between them and their Lord (Rev_2:17).

3. We talk about how to convert the masses, when we had better think of single souls.

II. THE SINGULAR COMMUNITY OF SYMPATHY BETWEEN CHRIST AND CHRISTIANS (Joh_10:4; Joh_10:14, R.V.). It is compared for closeness and depth to that which subsists between the Father and the Son.

1. In Christs case we might charge His knowledge on His omniscience, but we cannot so account for ours. Take Christ upon His more human side and you have the explanation. Who has not felt the mystic thrill of sympathy and repulsion when we discover the congenial or uncongenial to ourselves in another character. So Christ felt the unlikeness to Himself of hatred, falseness; but He was drawn with unerring affinity towards the faintest uprisings of human penitence and trust.

2. My sheep know Me; not merely something about me. Not by the mere investigation of the shepherds clothing or crook, to see if both are genuine, as men puzzle themselves over churches, creeds, ordinances. But as one friend recognizes another by a glance if he can be seen; by his voice if out of sight. The test of truth is the character within us. We know God by resembling Him. These Jews could not be satisfied with our Lords credentials, but certain Samaritans felt the Divine life (chap. 4:42).

III. GODS EXCLUSIVE WAY OF MERCY. Thebes had a hundred gates, but salvation only one (Joh_10:9). An engine off the track is not more a failure than a man off the track of Gods conditions. All entrance to spiritual hope and safety is through Christ. He will endure no rival. Mingle anything with Him as our hope and the mixture fails.

IV. THE ADVANTAGES TO WHICH CHRIST OPENS THE DOOR (Joh_10:9).

1. Safety. It reminds us of some fugitive running for his life to the city of refuge.

2. Liberty. A Christian is no jailbird, so closely guarded that he finds himself a prisoner. No slave on a plantation, but a child in the family. He knows the truth, and that makes him free to go where and do what he pleases if he only pleases right.

3. Plenty.

V. THE GRAND PURPOSE OF CHRISTS ADVENT (Joh_10:10). Nothing is so precious as life. It was forfeited by sin; but Christ restored it at the expense of His own (Joh_10:11). And it is to be had now. The young are eager to see and enjoy life. And they are right if they will not look for it in the wrong way. In Christ is the way to gain it, not in the low average of worldly attainment, but more abundantly in all that makes life worth living.

VI. THE METHOD OF CHRISTS RULE. Leadeth--goeth before. An Eastern shepherd does not drive his flock; and Christ goes before, never behind, saying not Go, but Come. (C. S. Pomeroy, D. D.)

The Shepherd and the flock

I. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE SIMILE.

1. To Israelites. From the beginning they had been shepherds; hence all along God had been calling Himself their Shepherd.

2. To Christians. The gathered force of all that psalmists sang and prophets spoke has come down to the little flock.

II. THE ANALOGIES SUGGESTED BY THE SIMILE.

1. The shepherd is the rightful owner of the fold, and treats his fleck in an honest way. He enters by the door, is recognized as the master, and has no semblance of the thief, etc.

2. The shepherd is the true pastor of the sheep. He admits responsibility for the care he has assumed. A hireling would flee, a robber steal and kill, but the good shepherd has thoughtful and affectionate care for the whole flock.

3. Between the pastor and the flock there is the relation of individual acquaintance.

III. THE APPLICATION OF THE SIMILE.

1. Christ as a Saviour sustains an individual relationship to every soul He saves, Each needs the atonement and the work of the Spirit precisely as each needs the entire sunshine and atmosphere in order to see and breathe.

2. Christ as a leader is acquainted with every Christian personally. He knows if he is absent from the communion table, and looks at him when he imagines himself out of sight as to love or duty.

3. Christ as a model expects each believer to be wholly conformed to His likeness. It is not to be supposed that one Christian is to exhibit gentleness and another force, etc.

4. Christ as a master is specially direct in laying His commands on every individual He chooses. He knows the one He wants and calls him by name--Samuel, Zacchaeus, Mary, Simon, Saul.

5. Christ as a comforter deals with each believer as His personal friend Isa_43:1-2).

6. Christ as a judge will close His last account with each individually and alone (Mat_25:1-46). (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

The fold of the sheep

A place of

I. SEPARATION.

II. SUPERVISION.

III. SAFETY. (S. S. Times.)

The fold and the door

Not to enter by the door is a characteristic of Oriental thieves, from the Nile to the Ganges. When a tent is to be attacked, the common method is to approach it under cover of the darkness, cut a hole large enough to crawl through, and then silently to enter and as silently to retire with the booty. Bolder robbers will occasionally dig through the walls of a house in the same way. The experience of a British officer in India affords a curious illustration of the skill of Oriental thieves. During the officers absence in the evening, a man crept quietly up to the tent without attracting the attention of the sentry on guard, cut an opening in the rear of the tent, and began to collect his booty. While he was engaged in this process, the officer returned. The Hindoo instantly fixed himself, silent as a statue, close to the tent wall, with arm drawn up and hand slightly extended. The officer came in, and proceeded in the half-darkness to prepare for rest. Noticing the extended hand of the thief, and mistaking it for a pin of some sort, he hung his helmet and his coat upon it. The thief stood silently holding the helmet and the coat until the officer was asleep, when he retired as he came, taking the helmet and the coat with the rest of his booty. Next morning the hole in the tent and the missing pin told the whole story. (S. S. Times.)

Climbeth up some other way

1. Even thieves and robbers seek a place within the fold.

2. The basest motives may impel to a place in the fold.

3. Any way but Gods way suits base men.

4. Some climb up rather than walk in; they prefer works to faith. (S. S. Times.)

Wrong ways to heaven

Let the Pagans, the Jews, the heretics say, We lead a good life. If they enter not by the door, what availeth it? A good life only profiteth if it lead to life eternal. Indeed, those cannot be said to lead a good life, who are either blindly ignorant of, or wilfully despise the end of good living. No one can hope for eternal life who knows not Christ, who is the Life, and by that door enters the fold. (Augustine.)

Entrance without qualification

George Moore tells the following striking incident: After I had been about two years in London, I had a great and anxious desire to see the House of Commons. I got a half-holiday for the purpose. I didnt think of getting an order from an M.P. Indeed I hadnt the slightest doubt of getting into the House. I first tried to get into the Strangers Gallery, but failed. I then hung about the entrance to see whether I could find some opportunity. I saw three or four members hurrying in, and I hurried in with them. The door keepers did not notice me. I walked into the middle of the House. When I got in I almost fainted with fear lest I should be discovered. I first got into a seat with the name of Canning upon it. I then proceeded to a seat behind, and sat there all the evening. I heard Mr. Canning bring forward his motion to reduce the duty on corn. He made a brilliant speech and was followed by many others. I sat out the whole debate. Had I been discovered I might have been taken up for breach of privilege. (H. O. Mackey.)

Climbing up some other way into heaven

I heard of a man some time ago who was going to get into heaven in his own way. He did not believe in the Bible or the love of God, but was going to get in on account of his good deeds. He was very liberal, gave a great deal of money, and he thought the more he gave the better it would be for him in the other world. I dont, as a general thing, believe in dreams, but sometimes they teach good lessons. Well, this man dreamed one night that he was building a ladder to heaven, and he dreamed that every good deed he did put him one round higher on this ladder, and when he did an extra good deed it put him up a good many rounds; and in his dream he kept going, going up, until at last he got out of sight, and he went on and on doing his good deeds, and the ladder went up higher and higher, until at last he thought he saw it run up to the very throne of God. Then in his dream he thought he died, and that a mighty voice came rolling down from above: He that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber, and down came his ladder, and he woke from his sleep, and thought: If I go to heaven, I must go some other way. My friends, it is by the way of the blood of Christ that we are to go to heaven. If a man has got to work his way there, who will ever get there? (D. L. Moody.)

Thieves and robbers.--These words do not constitute a tautology or mere rhetorical amplification (Oba_1:5). The one and the other appropriate what is not theirs, but the thief by fraud and in secret Mat_24:43; Joh_12:6; cf. Exo_22:2; Jer_2:26), the robber by violence and openly (2Co_11:26; cf. Hos_9:1; Jer_7:11). The one steals, the other plunders, ashis name in the Greek (as our own from raub, booty), sufficiently declares. The latter should be substituted for the former in Mat_21:13; Mat_26:55; Luk_10:30; Luk_23:39-43. (Archbp. Trench.)

Sheep to be fed, not sheared

Dr. Johnson declined a rectory in youth with I cannot in conscience shear the sheep which I am unable to feed.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 10:1. Verily, &c. — The Pharisees supported themselves in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were pastors of the church; and that Jesus, having no commission from them, was an intruder and an impostor, and that, therefore, the people were bound in duty to adhere to them against him. In opposition to this, Christ here describes who were the false shepherds and who were the true, leaving them to infer what they were. He introduces his discourse with, Verily, verily, I say unto you — To show, not only the certain truth, but the deep importance of what he uttered. He speaks by way of parable or similitude, taken from the customary way of managing sheep in that country. It is supposed that he was now in the outer court of the temple, near the sheep which were there exposed to sale for sacrifice, the sight of which reminded him of the language of the ancient prophets, “who often compared the teachers of their own time to shepherds, and the people to sheep. Accordingly, in describing the characters of the scribes and Pharisees, he made use of the same metaphor, showing that there are two kinds of evil shepherds, pastors, or teachers; one, who, instead of entering in by the door to lead the flock out and feed it, enter in some other way, with an intention to kill and destroy; another, who, though they may have entered in by the door, feed their flocks with the dispositions of hirelings; for when they see the wolf coming, or any danger approaching, they desert their flocks, because they love themselves only. The Pharisees plainly showed themselves to be of the former character, by excommunicating the man that had been blind, because he would not act contrary to the dictates of his reason and conscience to please them. But though they cast him out of their church, Christ received him into his, which is the true church, the spiritual enclosure, where the sheep go in and out and find pasture.” He that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, &c. — “I assure you, that whosoever, in any age of the church, assumed the office of a teacher, without commission from me, and without a sincere regard to the edification and salvation of men’s souls, was a thief and a robber; and in the present age, he is no better who assumes that office without my commission, and particularly without believing on me, and without intending my honour and the good of the church.” — Macknight. Add to this, those do not enter in by Christ, and indeed can have no authority from him, nor ability to become pastors of his flock, who do not first take care to secure, by faith working by love, an interest in, and union with him, or, to be found in him, not having their own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; to be in him new creatures: Php 3:9; 2Co 5:17. But climbeth up some other way — Enters the sheep-fold as a pastor of Christ’s flock, without the necessary prerequisites and qualifications, without first obtaining a saving acquaintance with Christ, and genuine love to him; without being called to, and qualified for the work by him, and of consequence, without authority from him; who, influenced by unworthy motives, by a view to wealth, or honour, or ease, or a maintenance, or some secular employment or advantage, gets himself appointed a minister of Christ’s church, through the interest of rich and powerful friends and connections, or the aid of natural abilities, and mere human learning; or some endowment or accomplishment which is not connected with, and does not imply true piety, and a manifest call from the Lord Jesus; the same is a thief and a robber — In God’s account; entering the fold “to fleece and butcher, not to feed the flock; robbing Christ of his honour, and starving the souls of his people, in order to enrich himself, and aggrandize his family.” — Scott.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Good Shepherd. The Feast of the Dedication

1-18. Allegories of the Fold and of the Good Shepherd. This chapter continues Christ's discourse to His Pharisaic disciples begun at Joh_9:39. His words take the form of an allegory which is intended partly to rebuke the Pharisees, partly to comfort the blind man, and partly to instruct the Church as to the duties of Christian pastors. The blind man, unjustly expelled from the fold of Judaism by false shepherds (the Pharisees), finds refuge in the flock of the True Shepherd, i.e. in the Christian Church, the mild discipline of which is contrasted with the cruel severity of the synagogue. The allegory is based entirely on OT. figures: see Psalms 23 Ezekiel 34 Jer_23:1-4; Zec_11:4-17.

1. The thieves and robbers mentioned here are primarily the Pharisees who have unjustly excommunicated the blind man, and secondarily and prophetically false pastors in the Christian Church. Christ is the rightful owner of the flock, and those who would exercise the office of shepherd must 'enter by the door,' i.e. receive their authority from Him, and exercise it in His spirit. This the Pharisees have not done. 2. To understand the imagery, it must be remembered that Eastern folds are large open enclosures into which several flocks are driven at the approach of night. There is only one door, which a single shepherd guards, while the others go home to rest. In the morning the shepherds return, are recognised by the doorkeeper, call their flocks round them, and lead them forth to pasture.

3. By name] A beautiful picture of pastoral converse. The true pastor knows every member of his congregation individually.

4. Goeth before them] The false pastor, loving popularity, follows his flock. The true pastor leads them. He leads them, (1) by his teaching. He gives his people not what they want, but what they ought to want; (2) by his good example, his holy life being an ensample to the flock (1Pe_5:3).

7. I am the door of the sheep] i.e. 'I alone can endue pastors and teachers with spiritual authority over the flock of God.' In Joh_10:9 Christ calls Himself 'the door' in a wider sense.

8. 'All who have taught Israel from the cessation of prophecy to My own coming have been false and unauthorised teachers.' Our Lord is alluding, of course, not to the OT. prophets, but to the scribes who had dominated the religious life of Israel for 400 years, but whose teaching had nevertheless been rejected by many spiritually-minded men, e.g. by the author of the book of Jonah, who earnestly protested against it, and by many of the later Psalmists, whose writings breathe a spirit the very opposite of that of the scribes and Pharisees.

9. I am the door] 'Through faith in Me both shepherds and sheep enter into the Kingdom of God, and find all their spiritual needs supplied.' Pasture] i.e. the means of grace.

11. The good shepherd] The Gk. signifies the Perfect or Ideal Shepherd. This beautiful figure is often found in the OT. applied to Jehovah (Psalms 23, 80 Isa_40:11); only in Ezekiel does it become a title of the Messiah (Eze_34:23; Eze_37:24). Giveth (RV 'layeth down') his life for the sheep] Another distinct prophecy of His death. Eastern shepherds are always armed, and are sometimes killed in defending their flocks against the wolves, leopards, and panthers, which infest the wilderness (Gen_31:39; 1Sa_17:34). The expression 'layeth down his life' is peculiar to St. John (see Joh_13:37).

12. Seeth the wolf coming.. and fleeth] The wolf (Satan) may come in various ways, as an open persecution, as a popular heresy, as a tendency to lax morality. The hireling shepherd is the cowardly compromiser who gives way to, instead of resisting, the evil tendencies of his age.

14, 15. RV 'I know mine own, and mine own know me, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father.'

16. The Gentiles also are God's children. The gospel is for them also, and Jew and Gentile shall form one Church under one shepherd (Christ).

One fold] RV 'one flock.'

17. As usual in this Gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ are united in one idea.

18. Christ's death is the result, neither of a compulsory decree of the Father, nor of the power of the Evil One, but of a voluntary impulse springing from Christ's love for lost mankind.

22-39. Jesus at the Feast of the Dedication. As there is no statement that Jesus went up to Jerusalem, it is fair to infer that Jesus spent the two months between the Feast of Tabernacles and that of the Dedication in or near Jerusalem. Less probable is the view that these months were spent in Galilee, Samaria, and Peræa, and that the mission of the Seventy, and many other incidents recorded in Luk_9:51 to Luk_19:27, belong to this period.

22. The Feast of the Dedication (lit. 'the Renewal') was instituted by Judas Maccabæus, 164 b.c., to commemorate the purification of the Temple, which had been profaned by the idolatrous king Antiochus Epiphanes. It was held on the 25th of Kislev (about the middle of December), and on account of the brilliant illuminations was also called 'the Lights.'

23. Porch] i.e. portico, or, cloister. This portico was on the E. side of the Temple buildings, and, according to Josephus, was a portion of Solomon's Temple, which had been left standing by Nebuchadnezzar.

25. I told you] viz. in those discourses in which I claimed to be the Son of God (Joh_5:17-47; Joh_7:14-39; Joh_8:12-59), and the Good Shepherd (Joh_10:1-18). These were Messianic titles.

26. As I said unto you] see Joh_10:1.

28. No power of the world or of Satan can pluck believers out of Christ's hand; only their own unfaithfulness to grace received can do this.

29. The Father is superior to all hostile powers, and therefore believers can never be lost through the power of the enemy. There is another reading, 'That which the Father hath given unto me is greater than all' (so RM). This means that believers, through grace, are superior to all their enemies, and can never be lost except through their own fault.

30. I and my Father (RV 'the Father') are one] lit. 'one thing,' i.e. one essence or substance. The Greek indicates that the Father and the Son are two Persons but one God.

31. Again] see Joh_8:59.

34-36. If the fallible and sinful judges of Israel were rightly called 'gods,' much more may I, who am one with the Father and free from sin, claim the title of 'the Son of God.'

34. Your law] i.e. the OT., which you acknowledge. 'The Law' not infrequently stands for the whole OT.: see Joh_12:34; Joh_15:25; 1Co_14:21. The quotation here is from Psa_82:6. Gods] Judges, as God's representatives, are several times called 'gods' in the OT. (Exo_21:6; Exo_22:7-8, Exo_22:28 cp. also 1Sa_28:13).

35. The word of God 'came' to the judges when He appointed them to their office.

36. Sanctified] consecrated to the office of Messiah and Redeemer of the world.

38. The Father is in me] A commentary upon Joh_10:30. Human personality differs from divine personality. Human persons exclude one another. The Divine Persons mutually contain, pervade, and include one another. They are absolutely one in knowledge, sympathy, will, and act.

40-42. The Peræan ministry. These vv. cover a period of about three months, which is generally spoken of as the Peræan ministry (see Mat_19:1; Mar_10:1, and cp. Luk_9:51). Its chief incidents were the mission of the Seventy (Luk_10:1), the question of divorce (Mat_19:3), the blessing of little children (Mar_10:13), the question of the rich young ruler (Mar_10:17), and Christ's message to Herod Antipas (Luk_13:31). The whole section, Luk_9:51 to Luk_18:34, appears to belong to this period, but many of the incidents are not chronologically arranged.

40. The place was Bethany beyond Jordan, Joh_1:28.

41. The remark that John did no miracle shows that there was little inclination at this period to invest popular teachers with miraculous powers.

42. Although John was dead, his influence was still strong in this district, and the people were ready to believe that He to whom John had borne witness was the true Messiah.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 84.—FOURTH DISCOURSE AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES VISIT, Joh_10:1-21.

The break here into chapters is no true break in our Lord’s discourse, which is perfectly continuous. See introductory note to chapter 9. These lords spiritual of the last chapter, as guides, he has pronounced blind; as shepherds he now pronounces them counterfeit. Rejecting him as the true access into the pastoral fold, they are but thieves and robbers. The blind-born, (Joh_9:35, see note,) predisposed to obey his least word, even before he knows his full nature, is type of the true sheep.

After Abel, the second born of man, the shepherd life was prevalent and memorable in the early ages of mankind. Flocks early ranged the great plains of Asia. The patriarchs of Canaan were shepherds. Pastoral life is the source of some of the most beautiful of Grecian poetry. The Old Testament abounds not only with narratives of shepherd life, but with allegorical and poetical allusions to its simple details.

After a day spent in the pastures, tended by the shepherd, crook in hand, the flock was guided at evening to the door of a fold, or walled enclosure under the open air, and shut in for safety during the night. A watchman or porter spent the night at the gate for their protection. Lions, panthers, wolves, thieves, robbers, not only by day, but even by scaling the low walls by night, were ravenous for the destruction of the feeble victims. Defenceless by nature, foolish and imbecile in character, the sheep, of all animals, is the most utterly dependent on human protection. Hence it is provided with those instincts of docility, of learning the voice, and implicitly following the lead of its human guide. In the morning the shepherd returns, is admitted by the watchman through the door, calls the bell-wether, and leads forth the sheep to pasture.

1. Verily—The Pharisees who had ambushed him (Joh_9:39) were doubtless ready to depart at 41; but Jesus now fixes their attention by opening this new allegorical discourse with this emphatic introduction. In the first paragraph, 1-5, he depicts, in contrast with the interloper, the true shepherd, and the spiritual instinct by which his sheep know his voice and follow his lead. When, 6, they fail to recognize the application, he explicitly identifies the various cases, 7-13. Thence, gradually emerging from the figure, he describes his self-sacrifice by the Father’s will for the salvation of men, 14-18. This is then a most beautiful development and expansion of the first pastoral image.

The door—Faith in, and divine commission from, Christ.

The sheepfold—The earthly Church of the justified, both before and after Christ’s coming.

Some other way—By wicked motives or methods, or by false doctrines. In the case of these leaders it was by a false Mosaicism in doctrine, and by holding a false authority in the Jewish State and Church.

A thief—Who would seduce away the sheep by secret stealth.

Robber—Who would drag them off by violence.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES

Joh_10:1-21 contain a discourse on false and true leaders and teachers in reference to Christ, under the allegoric parable of the fold and the good shepherd. The enmity of the Pharisees displayed toward Jesus after the miracle of healing the man born blind led to the assertion of Joh_9:39. “Are we blind also?” wonderingly asked some of the Pharisees. “You boast that you are not,” is the reply. “You have the light of the divine word, etc., but are wilfully blind to it, as your words and actions show, and therefore blind leaders of the blind.” This naturally led to the parabolic allegory of this chapter. The Jewish leaders, blinded by their traditional expectations, had false conceptions of God’s fold, and of the way of entrance into it. Thus they were incompetent to lead men into the fold. Only those who were able to get past the thickets of traditionalism could find the true way and entrance (Luk_1:39-56; Luk_2:20-38, etc.). In His teaching the Redeemer gradually cleared away the obstructions, and closed up false paths; and here He definitely points to Himself as the door and the good shepherd of the sheep. The figures of the allegory shift and change. Whilst Joh_10:1-6 is a complete parable of the fold, in Joh_10:7-9 emphasis is laid on the figure of the door of the fold, and in the following verses the principal idea is that of the good shepherd. One similitude could not fully express and illustrate the many-sidedness of Christ’s relations to His people.

Joh_10:1. The sheepfold (τὴν αὐλὴν τῶν προβάτων).—It was customary in Palestine to bring the flocks, which had wandered over the hills by day, into fold at eventide. Bedawin robbers and beasts of pray were dangerous then as now. The fold means here the Church of God—in the case of Christ’s hearers the ancient Jewish Church. There is but one entrance to the fold—the door. Implicitly this is Christ Himself. Although not fully revealed before His advent, He was implied in all the Mosaic observances and requirements through which priest and prophet had to enter.

Joh_10:3. The doorkeeper (θυρωρός).—Various opinions have been held as to the meaning of this figure. Some think it merely an adjunct (De Wette, etc.) intended to fill out the picture. Westcott thinks it signifies the Spirit working through His appointed ministers in each case. This idea seems quite reconcilable with that of Lange, Alford, etc., viz. that the Holy Spirit Himself is meant. For how does the Spirit work in the Church and among men if not by the use of means and human instruments? (1Co_12:1-11; 1Co_16:9, etc.). His own sheep.—The reference is evidently to true pastors, and to the various flocks in the one fold.

Joh_10:6. This parable they understood not, etc.—No wonder, if even a Nicodemus did not at first understand the divine teaching of Jesus. But the Pharisees were not “seekers after truth” like Nicodemus; therefore to them the Saviour’s words in Mat_13:10-17 will apply.

Joh_10:8. All that ever came before Me (πρὸ ἐμοῦ).—Christ distinctly claims to be the only way to the fold. He cannot here refer to the Old Testament prophets and teachers; for they “testified of Him.” The πρὸ seems, therefore, intended to be taken in the sense of “instead of,” or “in place of Me” (Lange, etc.), which seems to be essentially the same meaning as that of Westcott and Godet, who lay the emphasis on came, and add “who came making themselves ‘doors’ of approach to God,” claiming to have the key of knowledge, etc. These false teachers did not, like law and prophecy, point, to Him; they sought to construct a door of theocratic temporal grandeur, and scorned the lowly entrance of the incarnate Christ, “despised and rejected of men.”

Joh_10:9. By Me, etc.—Meyer, who restricts this clause to shepherds alone, may in part be right. For in the East shepherds have often actually to find pasture for their flock in the dry season. Go in and out, etc.—I.e. by means of the door pursue their duties, etc.

Joh_10:10. The Saviour comes to His flock bearing blessing with Him, “even life for evermore” (Psalms 133.), on the mountains of the spiritual Zion. This is an application of the truth in Joh_1:4.

Joh_10:11-18. Christ as the good shepherd.—ὁ καλός, i.e. in a super-eminent sense. The head and chief of all other true shepherds (1Pe_5:1-4), whose claim to be so designated is shown not only by His general care of the flock, but by His willingness even to lay down His life for them (1Jn_3:16).

Joh_10:12. The hireling.—A figure which brings out the inner spirit of some of those false shepherds. One who becomes a pastor of the flock merely for daily bread (1Sa_2:36)—a mere mercenary. The wolf is that power ever seeking to destroy men’s souls—the powers opposed to Christ in whatever form—Mat_10:16 (Reynolds)—more especially that “wicked foe” who inspires and uses them all as his instruments.

Joh_10:16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, etc.—Is He not looking forward to the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 60., which points to the consummation foretold by St. Paul (Rom_11:25-26)? Them also I must bring.—Even though they are My sheep they have not the privileges granted to Israel; but they also shall enjoy the greater blessedness of My kingdom (Joh_1:17; Act_10:35; Act_10:44-48). He is the door of the sheep. Jews and Gentiles in Him are one (Eph_2:11-17; Col_3:11). “There may be many folds. Different nations, ages, times, and seasons may cause variations in these, but there is but one flock under the watchful guardianship of one shepherd” (Reynolds). One flock.—Not αὐλή, but ποίμνη—not one rigid fold or Church system, but all of whatever name who hold to the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph_4:5).

Joh_10:17. For this cause doth the Father love Me, etc.—The Father’s love is the concomitant of this eternal purpose, and it is manifested toward the incarnate Son whilst subjecting Himself to voluntary humiliation for the salvation of men. The Me and I are to be referred to Christ incarnate. “Ἳνα indicates the purpose of His laying down His life. Had He laid it down merely, then His shepherd activity would have ceased. But He takes it again that He may still, as the chief shepherd, care for His flock.

Joh_10:18. He asserts full power over His life. His laying it down is a voluntary surrender out of love to men. Had He willed it otherwise, who could have withstood His will (Mat_26:53)? But as the incarnate Son, in accordance with the eternal direction (ἐντολή), command, of the Father, He exercised this power or right (ἐξουσία), not only to lay His life down, but, etc. “The Father’s command was, Thou shalt die or not die, Thou shalt rise again or not rise again, according to the free promptings of Thy love” (Godet).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_10:1-21

Joh_10:1-9. Christ the door of the sheep.—“Apart from Me ye can do nothing” (Joh_15:5), said our Lord to the disciples on the eve of His crucifixion. In this beautiful parabolic allegory the same great truth appears. Christ is to the Christian “wisdom,” etc. (1Co_1:30). That is the reason why there is a mingling of different images in this allegory. It must be kept in view that it would be impossible to express under one figure all that Christ is to His people. The relationships He sustains to them are so various that it is impossible to present them in one view. Thus, as the work and character of the Redeemer are presented here, the scene must shift, the similitudes change. Christ is not only the shepherd of His people, the guardian of His sheep—not simply the teacher and leader of His disciples. Had a further revelation of divine truth alone been needed, it might have been given otherwise than in the Incarnation. But the needs that conscience discovered to men, and which revelation only made clearer, could not be satisfied by any further revelation like that made to Israel, which was but a shadow of good things to come (Heb_10:1-10). Christ performs functions for His people that could alone be done on the high level of His divine nature. It is only as the incarnate Son that He can say, “I am the door,” the means of access to the Father and to life eternal. It is only through Him that blessings can flow forth to His spiritual flock. He is the door of access to those spiritual blessings that culminate in the “pleasures for evermore” of the heavenly fold (Psa_16:11). The giver of spiritual life, the channel through which grace and truth come to believers, their teacher, guide, friend, Jesus Christ is to them altogether essential.

I. Consider some of the contending claims, in relation to that of Christ, which are prominent in the world.—

1. There are systems which profess to explain man’s position in the universe, and to meet his needs. Can they do so? Can they, e.g., satisfy that longing for immortality which is innate in man’s soul? meet that inborn desire for happiness which can only be attained when men find “rest,” when their powers work in harmony with conscience, etc.? Can they meet those religious instincts which seek to find appropriate expression in harmony with man’s spiritual nature? Nor will it do to explain away those desires, etc., for they have been, and are, characteristic of the nature of man. Those who undertake to furnish men with a system of thought that will bring complete satisfaction to them undertake a herculean task.

2. There were those who attempted to do this when our Lord was on earth. To them, in part, He refers in Joh_10:8 : “All who ever came before Me,”—the Sadducees with their semimaterialistic scepticism at the one extreme, and the Pharisees at the other making void the law by their traditions (Mar_7:13). Who could live spiritually in the icy atmosphere of Sadducean unbelief, or tolerate the burdensome traditions of the Pharisees?

3. These men have their modern representatives. Have they succeeded any better? Materialism may be considered as a perfected system in these days. Its prophets make assumption of a kind of universal insight into things. They speak as if they can explain the universe, as an engineer can explain the genesis and working of the machine he has made. Matter has been deified by their declaring it to be eternal. From it they have, if they are to be believed, evolved the universe. Life and thought are thus but finer phases of matter. As a result there can be no human freedom; necessity governs all, and moral order vanishes. What is the outcome of such a system? Hear it: “Materialism springs from a conviction based on experience, that every effort is a failure and our position a comfortless one.” Is this a system that can satisfy man as he is? or is Huxley’s position any better? “The theory of evolution encourages no millennial expectations”; yet we are told “to be strong in will, and with stout hearts to strive toward our hopes,” the hope being, “It may be that the gulf will wash us down; it may be we shall touch the happy isles.” Can such a “gospel” ever satisfy men? Is it wonderful in view of such teaching that there is an increasing spread of materialistic social views, an insane communism and generally relaxed morality—that men, become restless and unhappy, should seek vainly in social overturnings and excitements that happiness which can be found only within?

4. Another similar system need only be referred to, the pantheistic. Material things, or what are called such, are only ripples on the surface of an infinite substance, which indeed is universal nature, are but modes of the substance. Man is therefore, as a part of this, immortal; as a transient phase of it he passes away, his individual existence vanishes. Like the waves of the sea, men rise and disappear. To men crying for the bread of life, these systems give—a stone! (Mat_7:9-11).

5. Such doors to spiritual satisfaction are knocked at by the few. There are other doors, however, to which the many throng. There is one in high favour in especial—the substitution of the results for the way of redemption, putting works in the place of faith. It is astonishing to find how hard this error is to kill. On what do the hopes of eternal life rest in the case of many? I have lived respectably, not fallen into gross sin, have defrauded no one, have lived as far as possible in accordance with God’s law; therefore I trust that, as God is merciful, He will pardon what has been amiss. How frequently are such pleas met with! But there is no open door here into life. It was closed long ago, and guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword (Gen_3:24). Across men’s path in this direction is a barrier as huge as Sinai and as stern as its lightning-scathed summit (Rom_3:20).

6. Another fancied door, toward which many press, is that of a supposed intermediate authority between the soul and God. But Christ’s words are explicit: “By Me if any man enter in,” etc. (Joh_10:9). To apostles and ministers of the word, to pastors as well as their flocks, there was, and is, but one door into life—Jesus Christ.

II. We turn from all proposed substitutes to Christ Himself, the only way of salvation.—

1. “I am the door” is only an allegoric statement of the truth, “There is none other name,” etc. (Act_4:12). We need not dwell on this; it is so fully and frequently urged in Scripture. And it is truth that all who truly enter through Him find peace and joy.

2. But what is meant by entering in through the door? Joh_10:3 shows that there is one appointed to guard it, viz. the porter or janitor. This is the Holy Spirit, who quickens faith in believers, and thus ushers them into the fold. Here several of the elements of faith are implied.

(1) The element of knowledge. The porter’s opening of the door signifies the enlightenment of Christians in divine things (Joh_3:8; Joh_3:12). They thus recognise Christ as the entrance to life. Without this enlightenment the best are blind and may enter some pathway of error. Heavenly aid must be given ere repentant and believing the soul enters in. A mere intellectual knowledge is not enough. True faith will bring along with it assurance, arising from experimental knowledge. What is needed is, “the spirit of wisdom and revelation for the acknowledgment of Christ,” etc. (Eph_1:17-18).

(2) This being taught of the Spirit leads, again, to these further elements of faith, submission and trust. Submission implies the forsaking of our own ways and man’s wisdom, and learning of Him (Joh_10:3), listening reverently for His commands. And when men truly understand Christ’s blessed character this is not difficult.

3. Trust in Christ also is evoked. The sheep of His spiritual fold hear His voice, and do not fear to follow Him. No wonder! The conceptions of His power, love, goodness, etc., which come through the enlightenment of the Spirit are sufficient to awaken this feeling. Think of all He is and of all He did whilst on earth; and that, although so far above, yet He is near to men as a tender brother drawing to Himself all except the evil by the power of His love. Men trust those who love them, because confident that love will never willingly cause a single pang. And who has ever given such proofs of love to men as Christ has? This must lead to trust. Christ alone is the door of the eternal fold; those who would enter must do so through knowing and believing in Him. Then knowledge leads to love, and love to willing submission and implicit trust.

III. Those who enter the spiritual fold through Christ “go in and out and find pasture.”—

1. All other systems outside the gospel fail in this. The framers of them did not fully understand man’s nature, and their systems could not meet his desires, longings, etc. They lead to a longing cry for “more light,” or to despair. How many leaning on these broken reeds have fallen! Nor are those who seek to establish a righteousness of their own in any better case. Conscience will torment, peace will be afar.

2. In Christ the needs of man’s nature are all met. The gospel quickens intellectual life; but its adequacy for human need is seen, especially in the moral and spiritual spheres and in the social life of men. It supplies an authoritative rule for guidance in the moral life, and at the same time a motive of obedience (Joh_13:34).

3. In the spiritual life it realises the cravings of the human spirit after communion with the source of its being, and meets these cravings. In Christ God is revealed as coming near to men in fatherly love, receiving them into His spiritual family, and thus granting what men are in the deepest sense longing for, the renewal of that communion broken by sin.

4. The gospel meets the social wants of men. It breaks down the barriers sin has raised, and, if permitted to prevail, would banish discord from the earth and bring men “to dwell together in unity” (Psalms 133.) And to all this add peace, joy, strength, grace, comfort in sorrow, songs in the night, the heavenly manna, the springs of living water, and hope for the future to animate the heart.

5. The door stands open now (Rev_3:7). To-morrow to some even this gate may be closed for ever! What issues depend on this step! Without—error, darkness, misery, death; within—the light of eternity, spiritual pasturage, everlasting joy. Can any still halt between two opinions?

“Yet there is room! still open stands the gate,

The gate of love; it is not yet too late.…

Oh, enter, enter now!”

Joh_10:1. The care of servants.—Masters are, so to speak, pastors of their families, and especially of their servants, for the sanctification of whom they should labour. Three interests are involved in this:—

I. The interest of the servants.—A master is constituted by God the governor of his servants. Every governor, even a secular governor, should seek to lead men to their chief concern—salvation. This law is common to kings and to all powers ordained of God. If a man regards his servants only from his own personal point of view, and for the rest permits them to do as they choose, he is acting criminally. A master should use his power as God uses His. He uses it for our salvation (Eph_6:5-9). For the sanctification of his servants a master should attend to three things—instruction, example, and a kindly correction.

II. The interest of God.—All power comes from God, and should be employed only for Him—to serve and glorify Him. But how many masters employ the power given them for their own ends simply! This was an error for which Augustine eloquently reproached the Roman magistrates. They permitted the poets publicly to mock the gods, and prohibited them under severe penalties from attacking the reputation of a Roman citizen—an error which St. Bernard also denounced severely. Zeal for God is the character of true Christians. Take as examples the early saints. Whence came that zeal which prompted them to guide by Christian rule and order those under them? The spirit of religion—faith. Hear what St. Paul says (1Ti_5:8). It will not do to say that in a house it is difficult to compel minds that are wilful, and with a bias toward freedom from restraint. When you speak of God to your servants, and speak to them with a kindness sustained by your authority, they will hear you.

III. The interest of the masters.—In the obligation laid on them by God to care for their servants two advantages will be found—the first spiritual, the second temporal. The spiritual advantage. This obligation will prove a counterpoise to repress that pride often inspired by authority; for according to St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and St. Bernard, the masters will thus become the servants of their servants. The temporal advantage. Masters in regulating the morals of their servants establish a true subordination, peace, concord, the safety of their homes; and is not all this a cause of happiness? But where does one see such homes? and why are they so few? It is because there are so few masters who endeavour to maintain among their servants the worship of God and the spirit of piety. The example of the virtuous woman (Proverbs 31).—Abridged from Bourdaloue.

Joh_10:1-3. Jesus the door for flock and pastor.—The Jews at Jerusalem “understood not” what things they were which He spoke unto them in His allegory of the fold (Joh_10:1-6). It was not the form of the allegory; that they understood perfectly from the usage of the Old Testament prophets. It was the truth couched in the allegory that they did not wish to understand (see Explanatory Notes, Joh_10:24). They did not desire a spiritual shepherd, nor any other door or way into the fold than the places where they clambered over to destroy the flock. What they wanted was a conquering prince to drive away the enemies clustering round the fold of Judaism. And such intimations that His mission was spiritual, not temporal, and His implied condemnation of them as not true shepherds, filled their hearts with rage. But we know and see what they saw not. And as we read these words we comprehend that Jesus means that by Him alone flocks and true pastors can enter into His fold.

I. The door of the fold for the sheep.—

1. It was customary in the East for shepherds to bring their flocks at night into a stone enclosure, the entrance to which was under the care of a guardian or door-keeper, who kept watch, fully armed, to repel beasts of prey, and to keep out thieves. In the morning each flock was delivered to its shepherd. He called the leader of the flock, and they all followed to the pastures. The fold is the Church and kingdom of God (vide Explanatory Notes, Joh_10:1).

2. A door of entrance to the Church, and kingdom of God is necessary, and there is but one—Jesus Christ. Even the ceremonial law of the ancient economy implied this (Hebrews 9; Hebrews 10, etc.). It is only when men enter through Him that the promise of salvation (Joh_10:9) is assured. Those who try to enter in some other way really seek to rob God of the honour of redemption. They seek to break down the wall of the fold in whole or in part, to make the Church, in other words, on a level with the world, with no restrictions of which the world would disapprove. Others fail to see the need of door or porter, or any need of salvation by entering into the fold by Christ. The mercy of God they think opens many doors, or indeed dispenses with doors altogether. They forget that the experience of the ages confirms the word of the prophet as to the futility of all merely human effort to draw near to God (Mic_6:6-7).

3. Human effort, wisdom, philosophy, have all vainly endeavoured to find a door of access to the knowledge, love, and favour of God. Christ alone is fitted in His nature and by His work to be the way of entrance for men into God’s fold, for He alone can take away the cause and result of the alienation between God and man. He is the heavenly Mediator, and it is through faith in Him as the divine Son and in His atonement that we enter. This gate is too strait for many; it is wide enough for Christ’s flock.

4. The keeper of the door is the Holy Spirit working through all the means and instruments of grace (see Explanatory Notes, Joh_10:3). It is He who guides believers into all truth, opens the heart of a Lydia (Act_16:14, etc.).

5. The fold into which the door leads is not a dungeon.—The flock “go in and out and find pasture.” The fold of God is the home of spiritual freedom: in it we enter into “the glorious liberty of God’s children.” It is the sphere of spiritual activity where the members go in and out freely “about their Father’s business.”

II. Christ is also the door of entrance for faithful shepherds.—

1. Through Christ and for His service all such enter the fold. The highest title of a minister of Christ is that of pastor—shepherd—in this office serving under the chief Shepherd. It is a great honour, an unspeakable privilege, to be entrusted by the chief Shepherd with a section of His flock. Every true pastor must enter the fold by the same door as the sheep. To Him also the porter must open, and will do so if the pastor comes with loving heart, desiring to feed Christ’s flock. And there is an orderly manner of entrance (1Ti_4:14; 1Ti_5:22, etc.). Not, then, every one who assumes of himself this sacred office is to be accounted worthy to exercise it, but he who comes by Christ’s appointed way. “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets”; but no true prophet will disregard the Lord’s method and order in the exercise of His gifts.

2. Yet no outward ordination to the office of pastor can avail without the inner spiritual calling. It is here that there is the danger of false shepherds (Ezekiel 34), who have merely the outward sign and not the inward Spirit, coming to deceive and waste God’s flock. Only those who are spiritually fitted for this lofty office can enter through the door. Those who aspire to exercise this function merely for ambition, gain, bread, or some other selfish end never truly enter the fold. They may entice some of the flock to follow them; but they are no protection to such deceived ones, who are left to the attacks of their spiritual foes and scattered hither and thither.

3. The true pastor leads the flock of God. He is through the Spirit’s guidance in Christ their leader and director. He leads them to the pasture and living water of God’s word in preaching the gospel. He guides them to earnestness in prayer and fervour in the life of devotion. He points them to spheres of Christian activity and service. And in all this preaching and precept his own example must ever be conspicuous. He must go in the right way if he wishes them to tread in it.

4. And his diligence and activity in pasturing and leading the flock will be conditioned and regulated by his personal knowledge of them, by his diligence in pastoral work. As the good Shepherd knows every sheep and lamb of the many flocks in His fold, so the good under-pastor will seek to know the individuals under his charge. “He calleth his own sheep by name.” He knows their special circumstances and needs, so that he can adapt his teaching and ministry to these needs. Onerous but most honourable is this calling. Oh for grace that we may exercise it diligently, so that “when the chief Shepherd shall appear we may receive a crown of glory”! (II. after Kögel).

Joh_10:10-15. Christ the good Shepherd.—Scripture exhausts the imagery which may be used to describe the tenderness, love, and care of God for men. He is a Father, and men His children; a king, and men His subjects, ruled by Him for their eternal good; a benefactor, “opening His liberal hand” and pouring out His bounty. But no figure perhaps is at once so tender and true as that in which the relation between Jehovah and His people is likened to that between a shepherd and his flock. This relationship implies on the one hand ability to help, and the exercise of a watchful, even tender care, and on the other a sense of dependence and affection which are characteristic of the relationship between God and His people. He cares for them, tends them, supplies their wants; and they look to and follow Him in entire dependence and submission.

I. The good Shepherd gives His flock every spiritual blessing.—

1. This is implied in the words, “I am come that they might have life,” etc. This is the fulfilment of the old promise to the spiritual Israel (Psa_133:3). It is this that men need, life, spiritual life; and it is this Christ came to bestow. He alone can give it (Joh_1:4)—spiritual life and the means of sustaining life. Every true member of Christ’s flock remembers a time when he was restless and unsatisfied. Why? Because the soul was separated from the true fountain and source of its life, because the spirit was longing for communion with the source of its true life. And having received life, they receive it more abundantly. Those who have come to the fold from the dreary desert of dissatisfaction and unrest, of danger and death, where no spiritual manna fell, they know of the gladness that filled the soul when He who is the bread and who gives the water of life followed them across the waste, and led them to the living springs of life, etc.

2. And with this life He gives all that pertains to it, all that is necessary to quicken and sustain it. “All things are yours.” “The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord [His flock] shall not want any good” (Psa_34:10). He will care that His people are sustained in their material life as they need, so that their spiritual life may radiate forth in living influence on a perishing world. And this spiritual life will also have its due nourishment (Joh_10:9), so that they may grow “to the measure of the stature of the perfect man in Christ.”

II. The good Shepherd cares for each individual of the flock.—

1. “I know Mine own,” He says. It is not merely a general care. In this, too, He is “One with the Father.” The divine providence follows the righteous, nay, all men, individually, overlooking none; despising none.

2. So the good Shepherd cares for the individuals of His flock. Each member of it feels this special care, which does not overlook the one among the many, and can say, “The Lord is my shepherd.” “I know, … and am known of Mine.” He knows His sheep even when they wander far from the fold it may be, and in love and pity He follows them in their alienation across the lonely wilderness, and brings them back to the fold with rejoicing (Luk_15:1-7).

3. His care descends to the young and feeble of His flock; and in the aspect of His office He is emphatically the good Shepherd. The lambs of the flock He receives with benign favour and blesses them (Mar_10:13-16). His care and sympathy are extended toward those who are spiritually immature and feeble; they elicit His tender regard. He never breaks the bruised reed, etc.

4. The struggling and doubting believer is not unregarded by Him, but looking to Him shall receive from Him grace for grace. He had indeed shown among this unbelieving people all those marks of the character of the Shepherd-King, the Messiah, which they must have recognised had they understood the prophetic writings. “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs in His arms,” etc.

5. “And am known of Mine.” Is it wonderful that they do, in view of all the grace and goodness they owe to Him, their spiritual life, and all that sustains it, and all the blessedness and peace it brings? Who could be ignorant of his best friend and benefactor? And more especially His flock know Him because—

III. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.—

1. It was necessary that He should do so, to meet the claims of the divine law, to overcome the wolf that came to steal, kill, and destroy—that by dying He should conquer death for His people, etc.

2. Are we of His flock? do we know Him? Then we must make Him known!

Joh_10:12-16. The good Shepherd and His flock.—In everything that is bright, clear, diaphanous, the sun mirrors itself and imprints its image, in the dewdrop, river, and brook, glass and crystal, and in the human eye. It recoils from what is by nature dark and black, lighting the surface, but without impressing its image. So the Lord Jesus, the sun of grace, mirrors Himself in hearts pure and transparent to the heavenly light; the hearts closed and dark are for a time outwardly illumined, but His image does not remain in them. So, too, He mirrors Himself in the conditions and occupations of human life, laying hold in His parables of those especially which have the most affinity with His redemptive work. He speaks of the fisher, sower, etc., etc. But we might almost say that He loves most of all to liken Himself to a shepherd. He was foreshown in the old covenant by pious types of this office. Abraham, etc., who received the clearest prophecies concerning Him, shepherded their flocks. “According to the flesh” He is descended from those shepherds. In the psalms and prophets the Lord is so frequently likened to a good shepherd that we cannot now go over the long succession of those blessed prophetic words, etc. As therefore He it was to whom the prophets especially referred, He willingly assumes the type. He spoke of the lost sheep, and the flock-master—Himself. Here He speaks of the good Shepherd, i.e. Himself. He speaks of His flock. The flock is His Church, etc. “O Lord Jesus, Thou good Shepherd, gather us together to-day around Thee on the green meadows of Thy holy word. Give our souls healthful nourishment. Open heart and ears that we may hear Thy voice. Banish all allurements of the world, so that we may at this time truly be near Thee, and may more and more be filled with the desire to be with Thee for ever. Amen.”

I. The good Shepherd cares for and dies for His sheep.—“I am the good Shepherd,” said Jesus. There is but one, etc., and that is He. He also said, “I am the light,” etc., not a light. Beside Him no other light is of any account. “I am the way,” etc. Beside Him there is no other way, truth, life. No man cometh to the Father but by Him. If any one has a right to a title and name of honour, He has to that of the good Shepherd. In the gospel He does not discourse of the times of repose for the flock,—how at spring of day He leads them forth; at midday guides them to rest by fresh streams; how at eventide He leads them gently homeward from the fold to the sound of song or flute-note. He has chosen times of need in order to represent Himself as the good Shepherd, and prove Himself to be so. He speaks of the times when the wolf breaks into the fold. Whom does He mean? The prince of this world. He breaks into the fold of God that he may sow unbelief therein, that he may persecute the members of the fold, etc. If we take this image in a historical sense, there is now no more any wolf, the flock can feed unharmed. But if we consider the position of the community of the faithful, who hold fast by the revealed word, by Christ, God’s only begotten Son, and His ordinances, then many wolves menace them. With speech, writing, seducements of every sort, mockery, and force they attack the flock. Now the wolf adopts sheep’s clothing; anon he appears in true wolfish guise. He would disperse and scatter the sheep, etc. But to God be praise and thanks in eternity that we have such a good Shepherd. Behold, He is no hireling. The flock is His, purchased by Him, gathered together and drawn from the hedgerows and wastes of the world. He has fully purchased and acquired them, not with gold or silver, but by His own precious blood. He is no hireling for reward. None can give Him aught, for all that we possess is a gift of His grace. What He did receive from men is not the reward of any hireling—scourging, a crown of thorns, nails for His cross. He did not seek ours, but us. In order that His flock might have pasture, He Himself was fed on the place of skulls. But His pasturage was vinegar mingled with gall, and anguish, as He cried, “My God,” etc. When the wolf came in Gethsemane, the Shepherd protected His flock: “If ye seek Me, let these (disciples) go,” etc. (Joh_18:8). That they and we might live He died. But He still is our good Shepherd in eternity. From the right hand of His father He shepherds His flock. His pastoral staff reaches every quarter of the earth. He leads to green pastures, etc., stands by us in conflict, fights ever for His flock, and will carry the conflict to victory. Jacob was faithful in his pastoral office (Gen_31:40). But more faithful is He who died on the cross, who knows each sheep, their needs, what their souls require. Bold was David son of Jesse as shepherd and king (1Sa_17:34). But bolder still was our good Shepherd. He knew that only in dying could He conquer. He gave His life for the sheep. And this faithfulness, this death-defiance, is fitly crowned, so that He rules and shall rule over all His foes. Are we of His flock? Prove yourselves; for of His flock He says—

II. The flock hear His voice and follow Him.—The flock is Christendom. His people are likened to sheep, because they are to be meek and lowly of heart, and fight not with carnal weapons. What does the Lord require of His sheep? “I am known of Mine.” What does He mean by this knowledge? You know that He was born in Bethlehem, brought up in Nazareth, that He went seeking souls for three years through the Holy Land, that He was crucified on Golgotha. Do you say, That is enough, He is known by me? This is not the knowledge He means. You have seen a painting of Him, as it were, as He lies in the manger-crib whilst the star of the wise men shines down upon Him, as He stands crowned with thorns, etc. But that is not knowledge of Him. His enemies saw more than this—they saw Himself. True knowledge of Him is that which you have within—that He is in you lovingly, that you are dead to the world, alive to Him. He is known when you have experienced in you the power of His life and death, when His gospel has penetrated your soul—when in you there is a Golgotha of the old man to be found, and a Bethlehem of the new—when you know Him as not a but your Redeemer, and feel that in you His atoning work is completed, when through faith and prayer you enter daily into intercourse with Him. To those who thus know Him may be applied the saying, “My sheep hear My voice.” Have you heard? There may be hearing and hearing. On the crosses near His hung two thieves. Both heard (the one like a rock from which rebounded a dead mocking echo, the other as one whose ears God had opened) words which reached the heart like arrows, whose barbs remained fixed. Do you hear thus? You must if you know Him. Ask yourself, How many passages, sermons, from God’s words thus remain fixed in your heart? Have you so heard the saving truths of the gospel that they become part of your life, nature, etc.? Then in you will be found the third mark of Christ’s flock, “And I know them.” There is a distinction in His knowing as in our hearing. He knows a Judas; but only in this sense those to whom He wears another aspect. Faith and love are the soul’s eyes. When the Lord stands before us and sees Himself reflected in those eyes, He says, I know you. If He sees nothing of Himself in you, you are spiritually dead. But this is not an indifferent position; it is a wrong one. He sees a mockery of Himself in it, knows you not, and says, “I have never known you,” etc. (Mat_7:23). Is He known to you? do you hear His voice? does He know you? Then you must follow Him—with joy, for the Christ within you has no more loving friend and leader than the Christ without. Have you followed your Lord? How often have mammon, life’s pleasures, agreeable and easy tranquillity, been your leaders! How pleasing it was when their leadership and Christ’s coincided! And when it was not so, had you not much regret? Ah! then you must not truly know Him. Pray, therefore, the Holy Spirit that He would make Him known to you, so that you may follow in joy or sorrow, etc.

III. He leads His flock home at eventide.—When the sun sinks to rest and the shadows lengthen, when the evening bells are sounding, and the winds of evening sigh, then the shepherd leads His flock homeward, that the terrors of night may not overtake them. So is it with our good Shepherd. At the close of His discourse on the good Shepherd, He drops parable, and says plainly, “I give unto them eternal life,” etc. (Joh_10:28). Why does He drop the allegory now? Because He comes now to your holiest hopes and dearest portion. He does not wish to leave the slightest doubt, or give room for any misinterpretation. Therefore He says, “I give unto them eternal life,” etc. He speaks of the time when we shall no more see in a glass darkly, etc. From the love at the close of this allegory you may recognise the love with which He will bring you to rest at the eventide of life. There are foes and soul murderers even on the home-going road. But He is with His flock, giving wondrous power and quickening faith. “They shall never perish,” etc. But when they have passed through this, then the wilderness is all past. When you consider all these things, when you so know Him, then you will ever pray, Lord, take me wholly into Thy fold. I am content to go as Thou dost lead, if Thou be my good Shepherd.—Abridged from, Dr. F. Ahlfeld, “Predigt.”

Joh_10:12-16. The good Shepherd and His characteristics.—The sheep, their confidence and safety, their obedience and love, are the chief points of the passage. The mediator of the old covenant said, Thou shalt. The Mediator of the new covenant declares, I love thee; and He awaits the effects of the working of His love in our hearts. This love comes home to us especially, and works prevailingly in our hearts when He calls and proves Himself to be the good Shepherd. May this thought of Christ as our good Shepherd determine us to love Him more unrestrainedly, and increase love to Him in our hearts. Christ is the good Shepherd of His people. This He makes known:—

I. In His love toward His people.—

1. He knows His own, their wants and needs. He knows what solacement they require, and what satisfaction their hearts desire.

2. As is the intercourse of love between the Father and the Son, so is it between Christ and His flock. He consecrates His life for their salvation. He leads them to pasture on green meadows, and beside the fresh watersprings.

II. In His conflict for His people.—

1. He does not act as the hireling who flees when the foe comes near. He stands by His people in their conflict with the prince of darkness and his temptations, in opposition to the incitements and threatenings of the unbelieving world, and the temptations that arise from their own carnal nature.

2. He lays down His life for His people in order to redeem them from sin, death, and Satan, to satisfy divine justice, and assure them of the grace of God.

III. In the joy which He has in His people.—

1. He rejoices when His people find life and full satisfaction in their loyalty to Him.

2. He rejoices when all His people, without distinction of race, station, or age, unite together in one communion, hearing His voice, and being comforted by His promise of eternal life.—J. L. Sommer.

Christ the good Shepherd.—

I. He loves His sheep.—“I am a good Shepherd; a good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” His love is wonderful; for who is the shepherd? who are His sheep? His love is self-sacrificing and self-denying. He could have spoken of His love under various other types, but here He uses this one. He gives His life for the sheep. The Shepherd here is at the same time the Lamb of God who is led to the slaughter. His love is comforting; for it is to the sheep light, pasture, treasure, all things.

II. He protects His sheep.—The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep; the hireling flees before the wolf, and the good Shepherd defends the sheep. He must protect them, for the sheep are silly, timorous, helpless creatures. Without the help of the good Shepherd, they would fall a prey to the wolf, the world, sin, and Satan. He will protect them. He is no hireling; the sheep are His own, and have been bought with a price. He can protect them. He has drawn out the teeth of the wolf. The risen Lord is with us alway, even to the end of the world. All power is given to Him in heaven and in earth.

III. He knows His sheep.—“I know My own, and am known of Mine, as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father.” We consider, with regard to this: A solace. The Holy One knows me! Is this a comfort? Yes! There was a time when this thought filled one with fear; now it is otherwise. The good Shepherd has given His life for the sheep, and for thee. He knows all thy sins, and how much thou needest His grace. He knows all thy temptations, thy necessities, thy inmost troubles. He can comfort thee, as one is comforted by his mother. He knows thee, although thy best friend may misunderstand thee. He knows thee, and acknowledges thee. An experience. “I know My own, and am known of Mine,”—the process in which we become known to ourselves. A mystery. As My Father knows Me, and I know the Father; so I know My own, and am known of Mine. We stand here before a mystery which we cannot understand, but whose blessedness we experience in our hearts.

IV. He gathers His sheep.—“I have other sheep which are not of this fold; … they shall, be one flock,” etc. In these words there is revealed to us: The majesty of the good Shepherd. In the circle of His disciples the Lord stands in kingly majesty. He looks abroad on the development of His kingdom. He sees beyond all ages to eternity, and utters the great missionary proclamation, “Other sheep I have,” etc. The power of His love. He must bring in those other sheep; the power of His love impels Him to do this. The nature of His Church. He gathers together His flock, but not into one fold. The one mother has many daughters, among whom one, it is true, is dearest to the Lord. We are not to pull down our own fold. The future of His kingdom. There shall be one flock, one Shepherd. This, at present, we have only in part. But amid all differences there is still unity. Still, this unity will find its complete realisation in the future.—Appuhn in J. L. Sommer’s “Evang. Per.”

Joh_10:14. What impression should this truth, “Jesus is our good Shepherd,” make upon us?

I. It calls for our eternal gratitude in view of the highest and greatest act of His love.

II. It should awaken within us heartfelt confidence in His unchanging faithfulness.

III. It should prompt us to earnest self-examination in reference to our relation to Him.

IV. It should warrant us in having a glorious hope in the extension and consummation of His kingdom.—Dr. v. Biarowsky, Idem.

Joh_10:16. Christ’s prophetic promise of the ingathering of the Gentiles.—As we read these words of Jesus the mind instinctively reverts to the old prophetic promises of the glory of the Church, and the ingathering of all peoples into the one flock, especially such prophecies as that of Isa_60:6-16; Mic_4:1, etc. In such grand prophecies the final unity of the flock of Christ is gloriously foretold. Not only do we behold the Gentile nations far and near bringing their gifts to Zion, their ships like light clouds on the far horizon, or like doves winging their flight homeward, coming even from the far islands of the sea; but we also see the nations themselves becoming subject to Zion. The governments of the nations in their activity and rule are bound to the Church and kingdom of Christ, and find their chief glory in the service of the Holy One. The result of all being that Zion—the Church—shall grow in beauty and strength as the nations are brought into unity of service, until it shall be conspicuously evident that Jehovah is the Lord and Redeemer of His Church and people. It need only be pointed out how close the connection is between those prophetic promises and this utterance of our Lord to the Jews in Jerusalem. The Saviour’s words are not merely an affirmation of these old promises, for they are His own word also and must stand, but mark a definite stage in their fulfilment. We may look:—

I. At the manner and extent in which the unification of the Saviour’s flock had been accomplished before His advent.—

1. Of course it is evident our Lord included His ancient people as part of His flock. The “other sheep” are the Gentile nations, and these are to be brought into union with “the sheep of this fold,” i.e. the Jewish Church, which for long ages had been the church and flock of God on earth. And we are to remember that the Saviour still calls them His sheep, though they have for a time strayed into the desert of unbelief. He still yearns over them in love, and is going forth through missions and mission work to seek them and bring them back into the unity of His flock. In the future of Christ’s Church also Israel will play an important part, is being kept separate for that part.

2. The restoration (fulness) of Israel will be “the riches of the Gentiles” (Rom_11:12). But as a nation at that time they had not carried out the divine purposes. In Babylon they had been cured for ever of the old wayward lapsing into idolatry, and leaving in Babylon large numbers of their compatriots unequivocal and uncompromising believers in the unity and spirituality of God, the remnant returned to set up a pure worship in Jerusalem. But they became more exclusive than ever; they did not seem to realise the truth that the possession of the holy oracles and privileges of the chosen people were designed to make them ministers and teachers of truth to all nations, as the Psalmist sang, “God be merciful, … that Thy way,” etc. (Psalms 67).

3. But what they would not do of their own free will they were in a measure compelled to do by the divine hand. Under the divided Greek empire numbers of them were forcibly transported to Alexandria, Antioch, and other parts of the Greek dominion among peoples under Greek influence. Alexandria was the greatest mercantile centre of the age—then, as now, a cosmopolitan city in the widest sense—a seat of ancient learning, a centre from which opinions and ideas spread to all parts of the known world.

4. There was thus more than mere hazard in the fact, rather divine guidance, that from this important centre the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was given to the world in the Greek language, then the speech of philosophy, etc., spoken more or less everywhere throughout the known world. Thus, in spite of themselves, the Jewish people were making known God’s light and truth; and at the time when our Lord came—the fulness of time—not only were there hundreds of thousands of Jews in many of the most populous centres (1 Peter 1, etc.), but their religion was commending itself to the Gentiles; numerous proselytes from among these had become attached to the Jewish faith. So that in many ways the soil had been prepared for the fulfilment of those promises which prophets had foretold in many an inspired utterance, and which even shine out in special enactments of the Mosaic economy.

5. But, as a race, the Jews failed to carry out the divine order. Not only did they make the gate of entrance into Judaism itself too strait and difficult by their traditions, “lading men,” etc. (Luk_11:46), shutting up and hiding by their human inventions the way into God’s fold, but they stood aloof, and repelled by spiritual pride Samaritan and Gentile alike. As a nation at that time they had failed to carry out their divine mission.

II. The divine necessity for the fulfilment, etc., is expressed in Christ’s words, “Other sheep: … them also I must bring,” etc.—

1. In this chapter we have recorded the actual final rejection of our Saviour’s claim by the Jerusalem Jews. Earnestly had our Lord sought to free them from the bondage of their traditions, so that they might receive Him and become His instruments in bringing the Gentiles into the flock of God. And from many indications we gather that they would have been willing to do so on their own conditions and in their own way. If Jesus had permitted them to crown Him as king, had rallied an army around Him, and like another Judas Maccabæus, only greater, He had smitten as with a hammer the Roman invaders from the land, and made conquering Israel the centre of the nation’s homage in a temporal and material sense, then they would have hailed Him with their hosannas and followed Him to the death. They misread their prophets, however, turned spiritual promises into material, in place of interpreting the temporal adjuncts in a spiritual sense. They disregarded even the Baptist’s proclamation of the spiritual kingdom—would have nothing to do with calls to repentance, humility, righteousness. They would not see it was these they needed—that these only are the true strength of nations—that true conquest is not by the sword, but by the Spirit. Therefore the Jewish pastoral office was to be superseded for a time: the Jewish fold had been made too narrow to receive the whole flock of God. The Jewish shepherds of those later days had become false and hireling for the most part: their office was to be taken from them (Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 34, etc.).

2. But Jesus must needs bring these other sheep into His fold. This Jewish exclusiveness was not the measure of God’s love and pity. Outside of that fold were many whom Christ claimed as His own—already His, for He speaks in the eternal now of His divine nature. They were still wanderers—“aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,” etc. (Eph_2:11-12). But Christ must bring them in. The necessity of redemption for the race at large flows from the depths of and follows eternal love, the love of God, “who will have all men to be saved,” etc. And if we ask, Who are those whom He is to bring? etc., the answer is, Those who are still outside, although His flock, attested to be so by His word here, and by His declaration, “I lay down My life,” etc. (Joh_10:15). But, it is said, is it not the elect only that are of His flock? The reply is, Those who hear His voice are the elect.

3. But all are His sheep by creation and providence (Psa_100:3), though some wander away and perish, may turn from Him and reject Him, as did the Jews. He is the governor, the shepherd, among the nations; and from among them He will bring His flock, the title to and possession of which He has gained by His redeeming and self-sacrificing love. He was sent to “the lost sheep,” etc. (Mat_15:24); and though they as a body for the time rejected Him, He could look beyond them to wider and more distant fields, in which He should “see of the travail of His soul,” etc.

4. He viewed the restriction of His activity to Israel as withdrawn by His death. As He said, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you,” etc. (Mat_21:43). And as the exalted Christ He is the shepherd of all peoples: in this office He issues to His followers the command, “Go, make disciples,” etc. (Matthew 28).

III. Look at Christ’s method in bringing about the fulfilment of His promises.—

1. It was essentially different from that of the Jews. They would have brought it about vi et armis; Christ, by spiritual influence and moral power. They would have taken the sword—some of the disciples even—as Mohammedanism did at a later day, only “to perish by the sword” (Mat_26:52).

2. Christ wields a power which no material force can hem in or subdue; and His empire is in the hearts of men. He brings them to Himself by the power of His redeeming love and grace, so that they willingly hear His voice and obey Him. They shall come, are coming, from north, south, east, and west, “and shall sit down with Abraham,” etc. (Mat_8:11), and they shall become “one flock,” etc. Not one fold, one rigid, ecclesiastical system; but unity in diversity, one flock consisting of Jewish and Gentile Church, companies from among “Barbarian, Scythian,” etc. (Col_3:11), men of different nations, different Church orders, following different forms of worship, yet all joined in unity of love and service.

3. And how does He lead them into this unity? He brings the flock, it is true, but does so by bringing first the individuals to Himself. With each He pursues His own way, leading each as He sees best, varying His methods with each member of the separate folds, as every member is dissimilar from every other member.

4. There is no mechanical method of “turning out” Christians; each individual must for him or herself hear Christ’s voice. And so it comes about that He leads His people by “ways they know not” often, sometimes rough ways, where they may “sow in tears.” But not for ever: it is that they may “reap,” etc. (Psalms 126). While men of the world escape, His sheep are often severely punished for transgression, e.g. “Moses” (Deu_3:26-27). So that His people may often say, “If in this life only,” etc. “But to whom He gives much, of them,” etc. (Luk_12:48): the branches of the vine are pruned that they may bring forth more fruit (Joh_15:2).

5. See in the history of the Church how variously He deals, etc. In what different ways are a John, Paul, Luther, Savonarola, etc., brought to Him and kept in His flock! He often leads us otherwise than we desire—to-day to “green pastures,” to-morrow to the valley of shadows: times of fervour are succeeded by seasons of frigidity, “Where is the blessedness,” etc.—times of peace by trial and persecution—times of answer to prayer by times of withholding the answer. Something we clung to as a chief good is taken from us, and it is only long after, perhaps, that we see what a danger we were then snatched from. His flock, indeed, learn as He gathers them that “His ways are not our ways,” but better, etc. (Isa_55:8).

6. And thus He individually gathers them, through the power of His love, working of His Spirit, ministry of the word, and all means of grace, until they attain the unity of faith, and through hearing His voice, and following Him, to membership of the one flock of which He is “the chief shepherd and bishop” (1Pe_5:4). In this is fulfilled His personal and prophetic word.

IV. Hindrances to the fulfilment of this promise which still exist.—

1. The age in which we live has seen a marvellous extension of endeavour to fulfil our Lord’s injunction to the Church to “make disciples,” etc., marvellous when we remember that even at the beginning of this century Christian people were found who argued that it was not our part to send the gospel to Jew and Gentile, etc.

2. This was just how the Jews of our Lord’s day acted. They did not see that they were called to make known God’s saving health to all nations. And we know the result. In the history of Judaism since the fall of Jerusalem, the fate of subjects of God’s kingdom neglecting their responsibilities, etc., is seen.

(1) One great hindrance to the fulfilment of this divine promise is the supineness, want of interest, indifference, of those who call themselves Christ’s, to the Redeemer’s command. What shall we say of a Christian people who call themselves God’s flock, and spend on football yearly about four millions of pounds, on drink over one hundred and fifty millions, and on missions a paltry one and a half million? The Church needs waking up, etc.; then perhaps the ships of Tarshish will bear fewer kegs of rum and gunpowder to the heathen, and a larger number of “messengers proclaiming the gospel of peace,” etc.

(2) Another and in some ways greater hindrance is the strife and division between different sections of Christ’s flock. This arises from the lack, fundamentally, of pure Christian charity—love. There is less now than in former times, let us be thankful, of the unchurching of one another by Protestant communities of the faithful, although there is still more than enough of it. And until the light of pure truth breaks in on the Roman and Greek communities, not much is to be hoped from those quarters. Although many faithful people are in those communities, as a whole their errors must keep them from the close unity of the flock. But better things might be expected from enlightened communities of the Reformed than the state of things that exists. Pray for the spirit of Christian love, so that this promise may speedily be fulfilled, and there “be one fold,” etc.

Joh_10:17-18. “I have power to lay down My life.”—This is not spoken of the power men have to lay down life voluntarily, as distinguishing them from the lower animals; nor of the somewhat equivocal courage required to lay down life, so as not to have to drink to the dregs the cup of suffering or shame. It refers rather to the power, which we as Christians ought to feel that we have, to lay down our lives as Christ did for the sake of what is good. The consciousness of power to do this is a high privilege:—

I. Because nothing else raises us so much above earthly things.—The changes of life, whilst they bring what is pleasant, etc., also threaten us with loss. The latter is all the more hard to bear when we are conscious that we would never willingly have submitted to it. Some are satisfied when the loss is balanced by the gain. But must they not feel that the preponderance is ever uncertain, and that in regard to it they are altogether dependent? Others seek in various ways to endeavour to secure as long a lease of life’s possessions as possible. But must they not feel that the ordering of life is not in their own hands? One safe way remains, i.e. when a man has laid down his course for life, and resolves to lose life itself, the sum-total of all those particular possessions, rather than swerve from that course. In view of this all he does not lose is gain, and every loss which confirms him in his duty will be a voluntary surrender. In misfortune he feels that he who possesses what is dearer than life need not weakly grieve over the loss of a single possession. Only thus can we be free—more free than if we possessed many of earth’s gifts, and were secure in the possession of them. This we see exemplified most gloriously in the case of Christ. If He had surrounded Himself with the heavenly hosts, and escaped from the hands of His foes, would He have seemed to us so sublimely elevated above all earthly power, as He is now, since He voluntarily gave Himself to die?

II. Because nothing so greatly consoles us in view of the insignificance of our efforts.—We are not to reckon up the value of our works, but believe that actions apparently unequal may in view of this be equal in God’s sight. The measure of our work is the exercise of our powers. Even when sometimes we are inclined to be contented with our efforts, we feel that by greater exertion we might have done more. Men often feel also that they are not in positions in which all their powers might be best utilised. In respect of this, on what shall we stay ourselves if not on our readiness to use all our powers in doing what is incumbent on us? And how shall we be better conscious of ability to do this, than when we feel in us the power rather to lay down life itself than to turn away from the end set before us? What greater proof did the Redeemer give us of His unbounded obedience, or what greater could be required, than that He went forward to death to fulfil the Father’s will? When we can do this, the Father will love us as He loved Him.

III. Because nothing can purify us so thoroughly from the suspicion of self-interestedness in our activity.—Evil mixes in everything which is of consequence in our lives. Too late sometimes we discover that it has been mixed up with what was begun from the very purest motives—in the form, e.g., of selfishness or vanity. The more narrowly we observe ourselves we shall see occasion in this respect to blame ourselves severely. But how, in such case, can we have a clear conscience toward God, unless through this power of laying down our life? Whatever is impure in connection with our possessions must be concerned with merely earthly possessions. In order then best to cut ourselves loose from dependence on them, and to be pure in heart, we must seek to feel ourselves strong enough not to be willing to give up these particular possessions alone, but that which is the sum-total of them all. So we judge others should act. Nothing washes away the reproach of self-interestedness more thoroughly than a real martyrdom. The bitterest foes of the Saviour, when He went forward to death in reality, could not impute to Him any self-interested aim. We see then how true it is that the Redeemer can raise us toward Himself only in so far as we take up our cross and follow Him; and that the most precious blessings of our fellowship with Him come to us in our readiness, if need be, to suffer and die for Him and the concerns of His kingdom. But who will assure us that this consciousness of our power to lay down our life will not prove to be spurious? Beneath the cross of Christ our hearts cannot deceive us in this matter. Here each one will find, when he needs it, the conviction that he is, or the power to become, such a one.—Abridged from Schleiermacher.

Joh_10:19-21. “A sign which shall be spoken against.”—“The thoughts of many hearts” were again being revealed; and the divisions which followed Christ’s teaching were becoming more and more sharp, as that teaching became more searching and personal, and as the cross at the end of the way became more distinct. And this is not to be wondered at. Every reformation and every reformer are causes of division. When truth enters the lists, error and falsehood are compelled to take up arms, after their kind. When goodness draws near, wickedness gnashes its teeth. And those who by nature are allied to either will then fall into their true places, although before it may have been difficult to distinguish between the two classes. Ever and anon there are crises in life which tend to bring these two classes into prominent opposition. It was so in Jerusalem at the period of our narrative.

I. A wicked charge.—

1. This was not the first time such a charge had been levelled against our Lord (Joh_7:20, Joh_8:48). Spiritual, like mental, derangement considers itself alone sane. These Jews could not bear the presence and teaching of Christ, which were a continual reproach to them.

2. Especially were they enraged at our Lord’s claim to such close relationship with His Father. If that were a fact, then indeed they were condemned, so utterly inimical were they in nature and life to Christ.

3. But there was no attempt on their part to discover whether in any sense Christ’s words were true. They must not be admitted to be true, otherwise there would be an end of all authority over the people on the part of these Jews.

4. Nor must the people be permitted to be influenced any longer by Jesus. Hence the resort of these men to the old, coarse method of abuse: “He hath a demon, and is mad.”

II. A convincing rejoinder.—

1. It is a matter of every-day experience that contemptuous and contumelious charges and names flung abroad in the heat of party strife do tell with many of the unthinking multitude. It is a poor and contemptible proceeding, looked at in any light. But although it may succeed with some, it will just have the opposite effect on rational-minded, thinking men. It will lead to a more strict examination of facts; and the evil name or imputation will generally in the end recoil on the head of him who gave it currency. Such an action is somewhat of a boomerang nature.

2. It was so on this occasion. As some of the thinking people reflected on the beautiful, tender, and loving words of the Saviour—as they remembered His miracles, the healing of the man born blind, which had led to such prolonged discussion and to such a display of heated feeling—these people answered with a simple directness that silenced the slanderers: “These are not the words of Him that hath a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

3. By all candid minds the “teaching” of Jesus was seen to be with authority; it was so lofty and spiritual, yet ever graded so as to be comprehensible to his hearers. He taught men “as they were able to bear it” (1Co_3:2). Unlike the scribes, He did not restrict Himself to the instruction of learned coteries. The poor and degraded shared His instructions, and the common folk heard Him gladly. All reasonable men must have seen that such teaching was truly Godlike and bore the stamp of heaven. It was given to all freely, just as God’s providential care is over all His works.

4. And then Christ’s miracles! So beneficent, so divine! It was impossible that minds not distorted by hate and bigotry could believe that powers such as these could come from beneath.

III. A lesson for the time.—

1. There are still divisions because of Christ, and Christ’s disciples are frequently treated as was their Master. When men become spiritually in earnest, often people of the world, worldly friends, think their earnestness a symptom of mental ill-health. It was so in the case of Chalmers, e.g., when first he began to preach with power. “Mad Tom Chalmers” was a familiar expression. So has it been with other men of spiritual power. The words of Festus to Paul (Act_26:24) are memorable. “The disciple shall be as his Master.”

2. And are there not those to-day who hint that Christ’s claims are a delusion or a myth, that the records of His mighty works are fables? But are not His works still among us to confute these modern calumnies? Look around. See amid all the imperfections of Christendom the tokens and evidences of His presence in works of love and mercy, etc., unknown before He lived and moved among men. Let men and women testify how He has rescued them from the horrible pit and miry clay, etc. (Psalms 40); how He has brought them out of darkness into marvellous light, etc. “By its rays we recognise the sun; by its fruits we know the tree; by his seal and signature we know who the man is; and by His works we know the Master.”

HOMILETIC NOTES

Joh_10:12. The motto of the hireling is Non vos, sed vestra, i.e. Not you, but yours—your milk, your wool. Soul-tenders and not wallet-tenders—so should it be with Christ’s pastors. The description of a true shepherd was thus made by one who painted a mirror, and wrote under it, Cunctis œque fidum, i.e. He does not play the hypocrite, but represents people as they really are. We must, before all things, see to the glory of God and the salvation of men, for for these two reasons God has constituted the ministry of preaching. The hireling has always Pax vobis (Peace be with you) on his tongue, never Vae vobis (Woe be to you). Good shepherds and hirelings are never more easily distinguishable than in circumstances of persecution, poverty, sickness, etc. At no other time does the shepherd remain more closely by his flock, and at no other time does the hireling so readily forsake his flock. The spiritual office brings with it not pleasure, but a load; not glory, but often grief; not laughing, but watching. People might say of the preacher’s hood and gown as that king said of his kingly robe: “If any one knew how much care, trouble, and responsibility are concealed in it, he would not lift it up from the ground.” A pastor is Christ’s under-shepherd. The prayer book must never be far from him, so that he may at all times cry out in spirit for himself and his hearers. His shoes are patience, with which he passes through all adversity, and endures as a good soldier of Christ. His shepherd’s wallet is the Holy Scripture. He brings thence things new and old—the law to terrify the old man and the Gospel to entice and comfort the new man. His shepherd’s crook is the staff “chastisement” and the staff “gentleness”; with that he brings down proud spirits, with this he raises up the humble. His shepherd’s dog is watchfulness; he slumbers not, but cares for the flock committed to his charge. His pastoral flute is cheerfulness and kindliness, with which he attracts souls to him, so that they may follow the teaching of the Lord which he sets forth.—From J. J. Weigel.

Joh_10:14. Truly knowing Christ.—Many know Christ indeed according to His mercifulness, but do not wish to know Him according to His righteousness; therefore they sin without fear. Others recognise Him, however, as the Righteous One, but not as the Merciful One; therefore they despond in sin, and will not allow themselves to be comforted. If thou givest up Christ, He will in turn give thee up. God punishes slighting with deprivation. If Christ sometimes pastures His lambs not among corn, but only beside it, it is simply because too rich a pasturage would not be good for them. It was not without purpose that the high priest of the old economy was required to bear on his heart the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, when he went into the holy place. Without doubt this signified that a true guardian of souls will bear his flock in his heart, and also in his mind, so that he may never forget to pray, watch, fight for them.—Idem.

Joh_10:15. Christ knows His sheep.—Renatus Campanus, a French gentleman of rank, ordered those of the reformed faith who fell into his hands to be cast into a deep lake, which he called his great beaker. On one occasion, when asked by King Charles IX. how many Lutheran heretics he had put into his welcome-cup, he replied that he had not kept a register of such worthless and small matters. So much men’s souls were valued by him, which, however, are of great worth in God’s sight.—Idem.

Joh_10:16. The Church of Christ is a sheepfold.—Because from outside, under the cross, it has a poor appearance. Because it is not fixed in any one place. Because within it are sheep and lambs, strong and weak. Because it is surrounded by foes, like a sheepfold by the wolves.—Idem.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Joh_10:2. The true Shepherd.—All these traits are so speaking that they require no great explanation. Christ is the essential good shepherd, because that faithfulness with which the heart of the true shepherd beats for the sheep reappears in His heart in a higher form—a faithfulness carried to its utmost perfection on behalf of His human flock, viewed in their need of pasture, of protection, and of a shepherd; yea, because His heart is the centre and fountain-head of all that faithfulness and compassion with which true shepherd-hearts in their spheres of labour, whether spiritual or secular, beat for all living beings which require protection and pasture—for all flocks requiring the shepherd; because He is essentially the ordained shepherd of mankind, and mankind is eternally His flock, which entirely needs His presiding shepherd’s glance, His protection, and His pasture; and because He is ready to deposit His life for the deliverance of this flock.—J. P. Lange.

Joh_10:8. Robbers of the fold.—The home missions, institutions, and associations of the Romish Church, the orders of monks and nuns, had lapsed for the most part into a state of corruption through the universally corrupt condition of the whole Church. Their powerlessness to effect any radical betterment was not overlooked by the enlightened men of that time. As the Romish See, and the priesthood serving under it, were fighting in especial to sustain the outward authority of the Church, and in consequence permitted the care for the eternal salvation of those souls committed to their charge to recede all too far into the background—as those shepherds of Christendom, to use Ezekiel’s words (Eze_34:3-4), ate the fat, clothed them with the wool, etc.—the spiritual societies, whilst they acknowledged no higher authority than the Romish See, so fell away into a carnal activity, a sensuality and riotous living, avarice and pride, that they helped to draw the Church more deeply into corruption rather than to save it. “They appeared principally,” as an old historian said, “to be appointed to be fishers of money rather than of men by the Papal See.” If Christendom were not to be destroyed, the merciful Saviour, the faithful chief Shepherd, must needs Himself intervene and rouse up soul-shepherds, who should, in the spirit and mission of their Master, seek the lost, bring back the erring, etc., with joyful consecration.—Bachring-Johannes Tauler.

Joh_10:10. A call to faithfulness.—And you, father, guardian, shall you not come through Jesus, as through the door, and pray that you may have a shepherd’s heart for your child’s sake, so that you may be able to nurture the seed sown by pastoral instruction? And you, mother, do you not hear the commission, “Feed My lambs”? Dare you into the opening lily-cup of a child’s spirit, expanding to receive God’s word, pour the glowing ashes of worldliness and vanity? Teachers, counsellors of the people, authors, journalists—not alone among the clergy are there hirelings, thieves, robbers; and not alone either among the clergy are there shepherds after God’s own heart! In the abbey of Alpirsbach, and over the porch of the convent church there, is represented a husband and wife of the Hohenzöllern family kneeling and praying. They belonged to the most remote of the ancestors of the noble Hohenzöllern house. Above the figures are engraved the words: “I am the door; through Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” Let us here seek the true pasture; let us lead others to it, so that one day we may, both shepherd and flock, be led by the chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls to living streams above!—Dr. R. Kögel, “Predigt.”

Joh_10:11. True pastors.—Oh that we (pastors) were faithful like our Lord, and no hirelings! that none of us served for reward, daily bread, the honour and applause of the world, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart! that we, we too, were contented, even though the reward of our pains were shame and persecution, thorny crown and cross! that we did not trouble ourselves so much about an easy and pleasant life, but more especially about the flock committed to us! that we followed even individual souls, as He went after the individual lost sheep! We read how He sought Thomas in the desert of unbelief, how He followed Peter in his wandering with the thrice repeated question, “Simon, son of Jona,” etc.

(21). The ancient Apostolic Church had such pastors; so, too, has the Evangelical Church in her times of gracious visitation. During the first period of the pestilence which Luther passed through in Wittenberg, he wrote to his friend John Lange, prior of the Augustinians in Erfurt: “The pestilence has come, and began here suddenly and violently, especially among the dear children. You advise me to take flight. I trust the world will not be ruined, even though Brother Martin should die. I am set here; because of my duty I dare not flee until duty, which has called me hither, recalls me.” And thus he persevered during three periods of pestilence at his post in the community, comforting and pasturing the flock like a good shepherd.—Translated from Ahlfeld, “Predigt.”

Joh_10:12. The hireling.—Under the image of a hireling are here presented all surreptitious leaders of men who only for reward, or gain of some sort or other, have undertaken an overseer’s office with a human flock. They are integrated by the wolf, the natural enemy of sheep, who makes havoc of flocks and scatters them. The hireling and the wolf present toward one another an elective affinity and an historical oneness. The one exhibits the heartless flock-leader, who has no concern for the flock, but who seemingly serves them rightly so far as it suits him, for the sake of the hire. The wolf exhibits the principle of hostility to the flock, as it openly appears doing its work of destruction in the person of decided spirits of error and popular seducers. And just by the wolf’s appearing is the hireling revealed as hireling. This last does not live for the flock; he watches not against the wolf. The enemy may be near, and he has yet hardly observed it; as soon as he does observe it, he takes to flight. He is very far from contending with his life against the destructive principles of the wolf, but leaves him to do as he will. Yes, so soon as the delusion of spirits has attained a certain recognition, he joins it. The hireling in the third part of the parable is, we may perceive, to be conjoined with the wolf among the thieves and murderers in the first and second parts. The thief and murderer, when unfolded to view, is half hireling, half wolf.—J. P. Lange.

Joh_10:12. Faithful shepherds and hirelings.—The office of teacher is related to that of preacher. A Christian teacher should remember above all things this: that his scholars are Christians, baptised in Christ’s name. Baptism is the bond of union between the Church, that school of adult persons, and the school, that Church of the little ones. Even the high schools should not be considered to occupy too lofty a position for their teachers to have the calling of soul-winners. So, too, a professor of theology should not only rear scholars, but Christian disciples. Whoever of us has had a Christian teacher, whether in early childhood or in later youthhood, either as tutor or religious instructor, who did not spare labour and application to be faithful in little things and to the little ones, on whose brow the earnestness of eternity seemed written, who therefore understood how to make a Scripture lesson instructive, because he himself believed in it; who knew how to train for the Saviour, because to the Saviour he himself belonged,—whoever has had such a teacher will daily pray, Hallowed be Thy name among teachers and scholars; may Thy kingdom come into the schools and through the schools.

“Zion’s desolate paths repair;

Whate’er can stay Thine own dear word’s free way,

Remove, ah! swift remove it, Lord, away:

Eradicate vain unbelief’s despair;

From every selfish hireling set us free,

That Church and school may both God’s garden be.”—Kögel, “Predigt.”

Joh_10:12. All public teaching partakes of the pastoral office.—Literary men and writers for the journalistic press should look into the mirror of our gospel for self-examination, and arraign themselves before conscience as to whether they have sought to implant and foster ideal opinions, or materialistic opinions with the mark of the beast and the sycophancy of the serpent; whether they have spared and defended the sanctuary, or have laid it in ashes with the torch of a Hero-stratus; whether they are incorruptible or venal. They also—yes, they also—have the office of public teachers, and have affinity with the pastoral office!—Idem.

Joh_10:14. Following Christ.—If from the tree, under which he had last rested, the shepherd has broken off a green branch and holds it behind him, then the flock follow. If he turns round and invites them with gentle voice, then they follow him. Yet they follow also even when he does not look back at them, but silently and steadfastly advances. You will follow if Christ breaks off for you green twigs from the tree of grace. You will follow when He invites you with the sweet voice of His gentleness, when He gives you what your heart desires. But that is not enough. When He goes forward as if He had forgotten you, when for days and weeks and months you have not consciously received any glance of His grace, then must you still follow. There have been many in the Church … on whom spiritual peace and freedom have never smiled, and yet they have followed on. Although (internally and externally) they have had to press on through thorns and thickets, they have followed His footsteps. Such only are of His true flock. So must you learn to follow Him. Oh, this following, unconditional following, let Him lead how He will—this is a theme suited to our times! When darkness falls, incontinently must you hold closely to the good Shepherd. For in times of tribulation and anxiety the wolf crouches beside every path. Especially at such times the Christian will keep close to the Shepherd and the flock, for each individual may readily become a prey. Especially at such times must the lambs, the young in Christ, be kept near Him, for they are not yet firmly established in His way. They are easily enticed away, one knows not how. But he who thus keeps himself, and his, close to Christ can be of good cheer, even when night falls around.—Transtlated from Ahlfeld, “Predigt.”

Joh_10:16. “Other sheep, not of this fold.”—John Wesley once, in the visions of the night, found himself, as he thought, at the gates of hell. He knocked and asked who were within. “Are there any Roman Catholics here?” he asked. “Yes,” was the answer, “a great many.” “Any Church of England men?” “Yes, a great many.” “Any Presbyterians?” “Yes, a great many.” “Any Independents?” “Yes, a great many.” “Any Baptists?” “Yes, a great many.” “Any Wesleyans here?” “Yes, a great many.” Disappointed and dismayed, especially at the last reply, he turned his steps upward and found himself at the gates of paradise, and here he repeated the same questions. “Any Wesleyans here?” “No.” “Any Presbyterians?” “No.” “Any Church of England men?” “No.” “Any Roman Catholics?” “No.” “Any Baptists?” “No.” “Any Independents?” “No.” “Whom have you here, then?” he asked in astonishment. “We know nothing here,” was the reply, “of any of those names you have mentioned. The only name of which we know anything here is ‘Christian.’ We all are Christians here; and of these we have a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues.”—From the “Quiver.”

Joh_10:17-18. The meaning of the self-sacrifice of Christ.—He died of His own free will. From the very beginning His obedience was voluntary. His incarnation loses its whole meaning and value, unless we understand it as the willing entrance into our condition for our sakes of the Son of God. For our sakes He deigned and consented to be born, even as for our sakes He deigned and consented to die. He had before Him all the way what He was to pass through. In the very beginning of His ministry the same thought came over His spirit that crossed it at the end; and He said that He had to be lifted up even as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness. This gives their whole meaning to His sufferings. The very essence of sacrifice lies in the spirit; and if the spirit of Jesus Christ had rebelled, or if He had been but the feeble victim of an enormous wrong. His sacrifice would have been of no value. So if the shocks and storms of life had taken Him unawares, as they take us, the meaning of that life would not have been what it is. But we know that He counted the cost, that every step of His restless, wandering life brought Him nearer Jerusalem, where the prophets were slain, and that He freely willed to die for us. If I had known, we often say, what I had to pass through, I never could have lived. He knew it all, and loaded with the weight of this foreknowledge, He went through it for our sakes.—W. Robertson Nicoll.

Joh_10:21. Misjudgments of the world.—“Your studies have turned your head, Paul.” Such was the judgment of the cool worldling on the inspired witness of the truth. And we cannot much wonder at the heathen Roman, since he had no conception of the light of Gospel truth, or the sacred fire of the apostolic spirit of witness-bearing. But does not the Christian world sometimes judge very similarly to-day? Is it given to a preacher to handle the sword of the Spirit with power, then the world may not be disinclined to allow that he has a certain amount of talent, but they are of opinion that he lets his light shine simply for the sake of glory. That it is a heartfelt matter with him they will hardly credit; or they then say about him, “Much learning makes him mad.” If a Christian seek to be earnest in his Christianity, in his faith, life, and walk, then if the cool worldlings do not set him down as a hypocrite, they will dub him an extravagant fanatic, whose excessive Bible-reading and church-going have turned his head; and again the cry is, “Paul, thou art beside thyself.” This is a very usual judgment of the man of the world on the man of God. His childlike faith is set down as spiritual narrowness, his earnest Christian walk as hypocrisy, his blessed Christian hope as a vain dream; whilst the man of the world’s own lukewarmness is reckoned as sobriety of judgment, prudence, illumination, and culture. So did they judge of the witnesses of truth at Pentecost: “They are full of new wine.” And of Christ Himself, the light of the world, they said, “He is mad, and hath a demon.”—Karl Gerok, “Predigt.”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

VI

CHRIST THE FULFILMENT OF ALL SYMBOLICAL PASTORAL LIFE; THE TRUTH OF THE THEOCRACY AND THE CHURCH. A) THE DOOR OF THE FOLD IN ANTITHESIS TO THE THIEVES; B) THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERD IN ANTITHESIS TO THE HIRELING AND THE WOLF; C) THE CHIEF SHEPHERD OF THE GREAT DOUBLE FLOCK. (REFERENCE OF THE DOOR OF THE FOLD TO THE EXCOMMUNICATION, Joh_9:35. CHARACTERISTICS OF FALSE SHEPHERDS, THIEVES AND MURDERERS. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD. CHRIST, THEREFORE, NOT ONLY THE HIGHER REALITY OF THE EARTHLY, BUT ALSO THE TRUTH AND FULFILMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL PASTORAL OFFICE IN ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH, IN CONTRAST TO THE FEARFUL PERVERSIONS OF THE SYMBOLICAL OFFICE.) THE SYMBOLICAL COMMUNION AND THE REAL COMMUNION, OR SYMBOLICAL EXCOMMUNICATION AND REAL EXCOMMUNICATION.—THE COMMOTION AND DISAGREEMENT AMONG THE JEWS AT THEIR UTMOST HEIGHT

Joh_10:1-21

(Joh_10:1-11 pericope for Tuesday in Whitsun-week; Joh_10:12-16 pericope for Misericordias Domini.)

1Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by [through] the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2But he that entereth in by [through] the door is the [omit the] shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear [give heed to] his voice: and he calleth1 his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4And when he putteth forth his own sheep [when he hath put forth all his own],2 he goeth before 5them, and the sheep follow him: for [because] they know his voice. And [But] a stranger will they [they will] not follow,3 but will flee from him; for [because] they know not the voice of strangers.

6This parable spake Jesus [Jesus spoke] unto them; but they understood not what things they were which he spake [spoke] unto them.

7Then said Jesus unto them again [Jesus therefore said],4 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All that ever [All those who] came before me [or, instead of me, ἦλoον πρὸ ἐμοῦ]5 are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door; by [through] me if any man enter in, he shall 10[will] be saved, and shall [will] go in and out, and [will] find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for [omit for] to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come [I came] that they might [may] have life, and that they might have it more abundantly [may have abundance].

11I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth [layeth down]6 his life for the sheep. 12But he that is an hireling, and not the [a] shepherd, whose own the sheep are not [nor the owner of the sheep], seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth [teareth] them, and scattereth the sheep.7 13The hireling fleeth,8 because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine [and they know 15me9 even as]. As [as] the Father knoweth me, even so know I [and I know, κὰγώ] the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall [will] hear my voice; and there shall be [will become] one fold [flock, ποίμη, not αὐλή, Comp. Joh_10:16], and 17[omit and] one shepherd. Therefore [On this account, for this reason] doth my [the] Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might [may] take it again. 18No man [No one] taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment10 have I received of my Father.

19There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. 20And many of them said, He hath a devil [demon], and is mad; why hear ye him? 21Others said, These are not the words of him [of one] that hath a devil [demon]. Can a devil [demon] open the eyes of the blind?

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL11

[The parabolic discourse of John 10 is closely connected with the preceding miracle and suggested by the tyrannical and cruel conduct of the Pharisees—the blind guides and false shepherds—towards the blind man who had been restored to sight by Jesus—the Light of the world and the true Shepherd. It was no doubt spoken before the same audience, as may be inferred not only from the uninterrupted connection, but also from the express reference to the preceding miracle in Joh_10:21. We have here a divine pastoral taken from everyday life in Palestine and addressed mainly to ministers of the gospel. With the whole subject should be carefully compared the Old Testament descriptions of the false shepherds and the true Shepherd of Israel with prophetic reference to the Messiah, in Ezekiel 34.; Jer_23:1-6; Zec_11:4-17. To these may be added, as a remoter parallel, the incomparable Psalms 23 which represents the Lord as the good Shepherd of the individual believer, who feeds and guides and protects him throughout life, and even through the dark valley of death.12—John omits the parables which form such a prominent and characteristic part of Christ’s teaching in the Synoptists (comp. especially Matthew 13), but he gives two parabolic discourses or parabolic allegories, extended similes (called παροιμία, Joh_10:6), one on the Good shepherd (John 10), and on the True Vine (John 15), which are not found in the other Gospels. A parable (παραβολή, from παραβάλλω, a comparison, similitude), in the strict technical sense derived from the synoptical parables, is a poetic narrative taken from real life for the illustration of a higher truth relating to the kingdom of heaven, which is reflected in, and symbolized by, the world of nature. As a conscious fiction, the parable differs from the myth, and the legend, which are unconsciously produced and believed as an actual fact (as children invent stories without doubting the reality); as a truthful picture of real life for the illustration of spiritual truth, it differs from the fable, which rests on admitted impossibilities (as animals thinking, speaking and acting like rational men), and serves the purpose of inculcating the lower maxims of worldly wisdom and prudence. John’s parables are extended allegories rather than parables; they present no narrative or completed picture, but simply one figure, either a man (the shepherd in relation to his flock), or an object of nature (the vine in relation to its branches), as a symbolic illustration of the character and relation which Christ sustains to His true disciples.13 Christ stands out here expressly as the object and meaning of the parable. In the parable before us we must distinguish two acts: in the one Christ appears as the Door of access to the church and to God, Joh_10:1-10; in the other as the true Shepherd of the flock, Joh_10:11 to Joh_18:14 A similar blending of images we find in Hebrews 9, 10, where Christ is set forth both as the priest and the sacrifice, as the offerer and the offering (Joh_9:12; Joh_10:19). Bengel says: Christus est ostium et pastor et omnia.—P. S.]

Our section closes the period of undecided fluctuations and fermentations in the nation. It is not merely a continuation of the word of the preceding chapter (as Meyer, Tholuck, Besser suppose); in that light is the fundamental idea, in this the shepherd is the leading thought. The conversion of the man who was born blind to Christ and his excommunication by the Pharisees (it appears from this chapter also, that they acted as an official forum) induce the Lord to exhibit in His own person the truth and fulfilment of the earthly as of the spiritual pastoral office, and in believers on Him the truth and fulfilment of the theocratic communion. Hence, this discourse ripens the disagreement among the people to a point necessarily resulting in separation. The scene is undoubtedly unchanged, the auditors are the same, but there is no reason why we should on this account, in pursuance of the example of Meyer [to which Alford assents], begin the chapter with Joh_9:35. Even Joh_10:40-41 belong to the close of the foregoing chapter.

This figurative speech is in form a flowing parabolical discourse [παροιμία, together with παραβολή to be comprehended in the Hebrew מָשָׁל; according to Quinctilian: fabella brevior, as the saying, Joh_15:1), and not a completed similitude (a parable). There is no foundation for the assumption of Strauss, that what was originally a parable was transposed by the hand of the evangelist into this more fluent form, especially as flowing parabolic discourses are to be found in the Synoptists also. Tholuck after Wilke (Rhetorik [p. 109],): “It has the character of an allegory, which exhibits a relation and is technically significant in all its features, not that of a parable, the scope of which is the application of the fundamental thought.” Allegories and parables form, however, no true antithesis. See Comm. on Matthew, chap. 13.

Joh_10:1-9. First parabolic discourse.—Christ the Door of the fold for the true shepherds of the communion in antithesis to thieves and slaughterers. Introduced by the solemn formula, Verily, verily.—Certain knowledge of the true church-discipline in antithesis to that exercised by the hierarchy.

Joh_10:1. He that entereth not through the door, etc.—A figure borrowed from oriental pastoral life. The sheep needing protection and guidance, but, at the same time, submissive and gentle, pressing closely to its fellows in such wise as to form a flock, knowing and following its leader, symbolizes the pious, believing soul;15 the flock is a symbol of the Church;16 the shepherd, entering by the door, symbolizes the ministry in the Church (Psa_100:3; Psa_95:7; Psa_77:20); the fold גְּדֵרָה αὐλή aula), i.e., an uncovered space, surrounded by a low wall and affording protection to the flock at night—is a symbol of the fenced-in and inclosed theocracy (φραγμός, Mat_21:33); the door itself, as the necessary entrance to the fold, is the symbol of Christ. For the further features consult the sequel. The Entering in [εἰσερχόμενος] is brought forward as the leading thought in antithesis to the climbing up [ἀναβαίνων]. By itself it denotes authorized entrance with right purposes. Each, however, is characterized by the addition: Through the door. There should be no doubt as to the meaning of this, after the explanation of Christ, Joh_10:7, in reference to the Pharisees who did not understand Him, Joh_10:6 : I am the door.

The interpretation of the door as signifying the Holy Scriptures (Chrysostom, [Theophyl., Euth.-Zigab.] Ammon), is connected with the false discrimination of the parabolic discourses, in accordance with which the similitude changes as early as Joh_10:8 or 9; Tholuck approves of this discrimination. Patristic expositors since Augustine have therefore rightly comprehended the expression as having reference to the institution of the ministry by Christ; they were wrong only in limiting it to the historic Christ and the New Testament ministry. Luthardt wishes us to understand by the door, simply, the way ordained by God, without further definition, in contradiction to Joh_10:7. Tholuck, assenting to the opinion of Luthardt: the right, divinely ordained entrance, by which devoted love to the sheep is meant. De Wette: Only in His truth, in His way can one arrive at the condition of a true shepherd of the faithful. Approximately correct. But why is Christ spoken of in the Old Testament, and why is He in an especial manner the subject of this Gospel throughout? Christ is the principle of the Theocracy, the fundamental idea, fundamental impulse and goal of the Old Testament church of God, and hence the principle of every theocratico-official vocation from the beginning. Thus, He is the Door of the fold. He who enters not by Abrahamic faith in the promise, or through the spirit of revelation and in accordance with that, upon a theocratic office, has not entered into the fold through the door. Even Meyer says: Christ Himself is the door,—with the wonted, chiliastic reference, however, to the “future members of the Messianic Kingdom.”17

Climbeth up some other way [ἀναβαίνων ἀλλαχόθεν].—Climbeth over from some other side [than the one indicated by the door], in order to get in over the wall or over the hedge. The “Other whence [ἀλλαχόθεν, like the old classical ἄλλοθεν],” chiefly indicates the other place; it denotes likewise, however, the comer from some other direction, the stranger, who does not belong to the fold. Significant of the untheocratic mind, i.e., disbelief of the promise, and of untheocratic motives (according to Matthew 4 cupidity and sensuality, ambition, lust of power). The climbing over may denote a human, vain striving in scriptural learning, legalistic zeal, etc., in antithesis to the way of the Spirit.

The same is a thief and a robber.18 The false way is in itself indicative of treacherous designs. The λῃστής, robber, is not simply a climactic augmentation (Meyer); neither is it a downright murderer. But the robber readily becomes a murderer if he meet with resistance, and the sheep-robber in the like case becomes a slaughterer (in this respect also the translation: Murderer is incorrect, since it is a question of sheep). In the explanation, Joh_10:10, the thief is the leading idea; it is divided, however, into the stealing thief and the rapacious slaughterer and destroyer. Thus, false officials become thieves to those souls that submit themselves to them and confide in them, and worriers of those that maintain their independent faith, as. chap. 9 of the blind man whom they excommunicated. The antithesis presented by these thieves and true shepherds is of course (after Tholuck) the antithesis of selfishness (Eze_34:8) and love (Jer_23:4).

Joh_10:2. Is a shepherd of the sheep.—[ποιμήν without the article, in the generic sense, while in Joh_10:11-12; Joh_10:14 where it refers specifically to Christ, the article is used three times. The E. V. misses this difference by translating in all cases “the shepherd,” while Luther is equally inaccurate in using uniformly the indefinite article: “ein (guter) Hirte.” In tho first part of the parable, Joh_10:1-10, Christ appears as the Door; in the second as the Shepherd. He is indeed both, but the figures must not be mixed in the same picture.—P. S.] Only he who has become a shepherd through faith in the promise or through Christ, has a loving shepherd’s heart. The form of his entrance upon the office must have been pure, in accordance with his pure motive, and he will prove himself a shepherd. This True shepherd does but form a contrast to the robber; he is not yet, as the Good Shepherd, placed in antithesis to the hireling, or as the head Shepherd (Joh_10:16) to the under shepherds.

Joh_10:3. To him the porter [ὁ θυρωπός] openeth.—The porter watches in the night-time within the fold, and in the morning thrusts aside the bolt for the shepherd when he announces himself. Meyer (after Lücke, De Wette and others): “Ὁ θυρωρός is requisite to complete the picture of the lawful entering in, and is not designed for special exegesis; hence it is not taken into consideration again Joh_10:7. It is, therefore, not to be interpreted either as referring to God (Maldonat, Bengel [Tholuck, Ewald, Hengstenberg, with reference to Joh_6:44 f.] ), or to the Holy Spirit, Act_13:2 (Theodor., Heracl., Rupert, Aret., Cornel, a Lap. and several others), or to Christ (Cyrill, Augustine), or to Moses (Chrysost., Theod. Mopsuest. and several others).” Tholuck interprets it as signifying The Father, in accordance with Joh_6:44-45. But as the porter is within, in the fold, we must undoubtedly, with Stier, apprehend the Holy Spirit in this feature of the parable, although qualified as the Spirit of the church; this view is contested by Luthardt without sufficient grounds.19

And the sheep [τὰ πρόβατα] give heed to his voice, and he calleth his own sheep [τὰἵδιαπρόβατα] by name.—The article τὰ πρόβατα is to be observed. According to most expositors, these are all the sheep of the fold, and are identical with the ἴδια προβατα. [Bengel, Luthardt, Hengstenberg, etc.—P. S.] This view is impugned by the fact that nothing is said of the πρόβατα in general, but that they hear his voice; the ἴδια however, he calls by name.20 According to Bengel, these ἴδια are distinguished from the great mass of the sheep by their special need. Meyer considers it necessary to make use of the circumstance that one fold often afforded shelter at night to several flocks, whose shepherds, coming every morning, were known to all the sheep. On the other hand, the ἴδια are the sheep belonging to the particular flock of the shepherd in question. It is, however, an unfree dependence [of Meyer] upon an archæological note to pretend to discover in this passage a portrayal of the driving together of a plurality of flocks, when the figure has reference to the unitous Old Testament Theocracy. The second misapplication of an archæological comment, according to which it, was customary for the shepherds to give names to the sheep (Pricæus on our passage), consists in the idea that the shepherd must call out all the sheep of his flock by their names (indulge in a very minute roll-call). The statement that the sheep hear his voice forms part of the ideal background of the figure, for in the enclosure of the Old Testament Theocracy there are some that are not true sheep, and these do not give ear to the voice of the shepherd (comp. the Prophets and Galatians, chaps. 3 and 4). But from the real sheep, i.e., the susceptible in general, Christ further distinguishes the ί̓δια πρόβατα, that the shepherd calls by name; the favorite sheep, the elect in a stricter sense [Leben Jesu, II., p. 995); in the symbol of pastoral life the bell-wethers which precede the flock and are followed by it.21

Meyer controverts this view in the text and ratifies it in the note (against Luthardt) in these words [p. 395]: “Only the ἴδια does the shepherd call by name.” The idea of the figure is very clear: among the sheep there are some that are on terms of closest intimacy with the shepherd; these he calls by name, and because these follow him, he is followed by the whole flock. But to τὰ πρόβατα, the others in the fold, do not here come under further consideration.

Joh_10:4. And when he hath put forth [ἐκβάλῃ] all his own [τὰἲδιαπάντα, according to the true reading, instead of τὰ ἴδια πρόβατα his own sheep.—P. S.] These come at his call. He Lays Hold Of Them and brings them out through the door. Comp. Acts 10. An intimation of the exode of the faithful from the old theocracy. He brings forth all the elect (see the reading πάντα), leaves not one behind.

[Ἐκβάλλειν illustrates the energetic mode of ἐξαγαγεῖν, and is appropriate to the employment of a shepherd who “drives” and “turns out” the sheep to pasture. It implies that the sheep hesitate and linger behind, and must be almost forced out of the enclosure. Dr. Lange first discovered in this passage an allusion to the approaching violent secession of the Christian church from the Jewish theocracy, although Luther already intimated that Christian freedom from legal bondage and judgment was here hinted at. It is supported by the term ἐκβάλλειν, by the true reading, πάντα, but especially by the preceding historical situation, the excommunication of the blind man, Joh_9:34, the threatening decree of the excommunication of Jesus with all His disciples (Joh_9:22) and the deadly hostility of the Jewish leaders, which made an ultimate violent rupture inevitable. Meyer objects without reason, but Godet adopts and expands Lange’s view, although he connects it more with ἐξάγει (Joh_10:3) than ἐκβάλῃ (Joh_10:4). “Jesus, he says (II. 280), charactérize par ces mots une situation historique determinée. Le moment est venu pour lui d’emmener son propre troupeau hors de la théocratic, dévouée à la ruine,” etc.—P. S.]

Joh_10:5. But a stranger.—The communion represented in Joh_10:4-5, is delineated in respect of its exclusive nature. By the stranger only the false prophets can here be understood, until the time of the pseudo-Messiahs.22

[They will not follow, but will flee from him. The future οὐ μὴ ἀκολουθήσουσιν (the true reading instead of ἀκολουθήσωσιν), and φεύξονται is taken by Lampe as Prophetic, pointing to the cathedra Mosis plane deserenda, by Meyer simply as indicating the consequence.—This whole picture of Joh_10:4-5 is drawn from real life, and is to this day illustrated every day on the hills and plains of Palestine and Syria. Thomson, The Land and the Book, I. p. John 301: “I never ride over these hills, clothed with flocks, without meditating upon this delightful theme. Our Saviour says of the good shepherd, ‘When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him.’…This is true to the letter. They are so tame and so trained that they follow their keeper with the utmost docility. He leads them forth from the fold, or from their houses in the villages, just where he pleases. Any one that wanders is sure to get into trouble. The shepherd calls sharply from time to time to remind them of his presence. They know his voice, and follow on; but, if a stranger call, they stop short, lift up their heads in alarm, and if it is repeated, they turn and flee, because they know not the voice of the stranger. This is not the fanciful costume of a parable; it is a simple fact.”—P. S.]

Joh_10:6-7. This parable spoke Jesus unto them, etc.—Παροιμία [not=παραβολή], any discourse deviating from (παρά) the common way (οἶμος). See above [and Meyer and Alford in loc.]. What has been said is totally incomprehensible to the Pharisees, in consequence of the idea entertained by them of their office; hence follows the direct explanation of Christ, see above. Tholuck remarks: The not understanding is not to be taken in a merely literal sense, any more than Joh_8:27; it means rather a state of being sealed up against that truth, which would affirm that they are not the true leaders of the people. Nevertheless it is here a question of an inability to understand, resting upon that evil basis, not simply of the unwillingness to understand.—The door to the sheep, i.e., here, the door of the shepherds; not yet primarily that of the sheep (Chrysostom, Lampe). [Joh_10:7. I am the door of the sheep. An expansion of the parabolic allegory and the key to its understanding. Ἐγώ, emphatic. τῶνπροβάτων not to the sheep (Lange and Meyer who thinks that Joh_10:1 requires this interpretation), but for the sheep, i.e., the door through which both the sheep and the shepherds (spoken of Joh_10:1-5 in distinction from the one true arch-shepherd, mentioned afterwards, Joh_10:11) must pass into the fold of the church of God (Chrysostom, Lampe, Hengstenberg, Godet, Alford, etc.).—P. S.]

Joh_10:8. All who came instead of me, ἧλθονπρὸἐμοῦ.—The expression is obscured by the failing to abide strictly by the figure, i.e., the door. In the first place, then, the meaning is: all who πρὸ τῆς θύρας ἧλθον. With the first idea of passing by-the door, this other is connected: the setting of themselves up for the door, i.e., all who came claiming rule over the conscience, as spiritual lords, instead of the Lord who is the Spirit. The time of their coming is undoubtedly indicated to be already past by the ἧλθον, not, however, by the πρό, forasmuch as the positive πρό does not coincide with the temporal one. Hence we must not only reject the interpretation of this passage as an antijudaistic utterance against Moses and the Prophets (Hilgenfeld23), but also the temporal construction of Meyer: the hierarchic, especially the Pharisaic opposition preceded Him.24 John the Baptist also came before Him, as did all the Prophets. The explanations of Camerarius: præter me (sine me, me neglecto), of Calov: before me (antequam mitterentur, instead of after me), of Tittmann, Schleussner: ὑπέρ, loco, in the place of, are correct; they are, however, imperfect and liable to misapprehension, since all the prophets came in a certain sense loco Christi. The instead of our text at once expresses the substitution of some one for Christ, the denial of Christ, the claim to absolute Messianic authority. And at the same time emphasis is given to the ἦλθον. They came as though the Messiah were come; there was no room left for Him (Jerome, Augustine, etc.). As a matter of course, they were false Messiahs, though without bearing that name. It is not necessary that we should confine our thought to those who were false Messiahs in the stricter sense of the term (Chrysostom, Grotius and many others), since the majority of these did not make their appearance until after Christ. Every hierarch prior to Christ was pseudo-Messianic in proportion as he was anti-christian, for pseudo-christianity involves anti-christianity, and the converse is also true. To covet rule over the conscience of men is pseudo-christian. Be it further observed that the thieves and robbers who climb over the wall, appear in this verse with the assumption of a higher power. They stand no longer in their naked selfishness; they lay claim to positive importance, and that not merely as shepherds, but as the Door itself. Thus, the hierarchs had just been attempting to exercise conscience-rule over the man who was born blind.

But the sheep did not heed them. Only those who were like-minded with them became their followers. But the true sheep remained constant to the good Shepherd.

Joh_10:9-10. I am the door; if any one enter in through me.—Conclusion of the antithesis.—Enter in through me, he will be saved; i.e., he shall find deliverance in the theocratic communion. The fence of the fold saves from destruction; so also does entrance into the true fastness of the church Through Christ.—He will go in, i.e., in the truth of the Old Testament he shall subordinate himself to the Law.—He will go out; i.e., he shall find in the fulfilment of the Old Testament, in Christ, the liberty of the New Testament faith.—And will find pasture. He who goes out through the door shall reach the true pasturage of faith, knowledge, peace. Already a new parabolical discourse announces itself: the true shepherd does indeed find the pasture for his sheep in the first place, but he also finds it for himself as a sheep (Augustine, Stier and others). Opposed to him stands the thief who arbitrarily makes a false door for himself, and finally himself counterfeits the door. He comes but, on the one hand, to steal, i.e., to rule over souls, and, on the other hand, to slay, i.e., to cast out spirits; in the one case, however, as in the other, to destroy.

The following words: I came that they may have life, and that they may have abundance (περισσόν), constitute the transition to the next parable. Two considerations here claim our attention. First, they are for the first time to receive true life; secondly, together with true life they are to receive abundance of true food (green meadows, fresh water-springs). [Comp. Joh_1:1 : “Of His fulness have we all received grace for grace.” The English Version (with the Vulg., Chrysostom, Grotius, etc.), renders περισσόν “more abundantly,” but this would require περισσότερον.—P. S.]

Joh_10:11. I am the good shepherd. Second parabolic discourse. Antithesis of the good Shepherd and the hireling, on the one hand; on the other hand, of the good Shepherd and the wolf, Joh_10:11-15. I, Ἐγώ, emphatically repeated. As The Shepherd (with the article), He is the true, real Shepherd, in antithesis to symbolical shepherds in the field and symbolical shepherds in the legal office (Heb_13:20 : ό ποιμὴν ὁ μέγας); as the Good Shepherd (ὁ καλός25). He is the ideal of the shepherd (Psalms 23; Isa_40:11; Eze_34:11) in antithesis to bad shepherds (Ezekiel 37; Zechariah 11; Jeremiah 23), who first appeared in the form of the thief, and now branch out into the figures of the Hireling and the wolf. That this is at the same time indicative of the promised Shepherd, Eze_34:23; Eze_37:24, results from the foregoing passages, especially the: “I came,” “they came in my position.” “Comp. Tr. Berachoth, fol. Leviticus 1 : Three things God Himself proclaims; famine,, plenty and a פּרנם טוב i.e., a good shepherd or head of the congregation; פדנסים טובים of Moses and David in Vitringa, Syn. Vet., p. 636. As the leading consideration in the idea of the shepherd, sacrificing love for his sheep is brought forward in Heb_13:20.” Tholuck.

Layeth down his life for the sheep—Τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν, a Johannean expression (Joh_13:37; Joh_15:13; 1Jn_3:16). If we keep the figure in mind, this is here expressive neither of the sacrificial death, nor of the payment of a ransom for the slave, but of the heroic risking of life in combat with the wolf. The ὑπέρ, then, is here synonymous with ἀντί. The shepherd dies that the flock may be saved. [Alford: “These words are here not so much a prophecy, as a declaration, implying, however, that which Joh_10:15 asserts explicitly.”—P. S.]

Joh_10:12. But he that is an hireling [μισθωτός]. —He is characterized by two things: 1. he is not a real shepherd to the sheep, but a hired servant,—he has no affection for the sheep; 2. the sheep are not his own, are not united to him by appropriation and cannot confide in him. The inner vital bond is wanting on both sides. Characteristic of the Pharisaic leaders of the people. Whose own the sheep are not, does not denote the “owner,” but the own shepherd. In this very thing consisted the guilt of the hierarchical hirelings, that they constituted themselves “owners” of the flock. And in this very way also they became hirelings, i.e. under-shepherds, to whom the dishonestly increased wages were the principal thing, while they of course as hirelings had also the predicate of the official situation. [Christ sees here, prophetically, the long list of those selfish teachers who make merchandise of the ministry for filthy lucre and hate the cross, from the apostolic age (Gal_6:12; Php_3:18) down to the present.—P. S.]

He beholdeth the wolf coming.26—That he perceives him while yet at a distance, is expressive of his fear, not of his watchfulness; this fear is manifested by his withdrawal at first to a place of security (ἀφίησι τὰ προβ.), and then by his downright flight (φεύγει). The wolf comes from without, from the wilderness; he is, however, connected with the hireling by the fact of his being an alien to the flock and by his treachery towards it. He has been interpreted as symbolizing the devil (Euthymius and others, Olshausen), heretics (Augustine and others), “every anti-theocratic power” (Lücke); “every anti-Messianic power, whose ruling principle, however, as such, is contained in the devil” (Meyer). According to Mat_7:15 and Act_20:29, wolves may also make their appearance in an official or pseudo-prophetic form. In such case, however, according to the first passage, they have disguised themselves in sheep’s clothing. The declared wolf is the enemy of the flock, displaying his enmity openly and boldly, while the apostasy of the hireling is still cloaked in cowardly friendship; hence the wolf is the antichristian adversary of the Church, as heretic or persecutor,—in any case the instrument of Satan (comp. the Wolf in Northern Mythology).

The wolf ravisheth them and scattereth.—Twofold pernicious effect. Individual sheep are ravished and torn to pieces, i.e. individual souls are destroyed, but the flock as a Whole, the Church, is confused and scattered.

Joh_10:13. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, etc.—No repetition, but the explanation of the flight. As a hireling, he is solely and selfishly interested in pasturing himself; he has not the welfare of the sheep at heart. It is questionable in what degree this figure is illustrated by the conduct of the Jewish shepherds of that time. They did not seem to be wanting in bravery; at first they acted like havening wolves towards Christ, the Good Shepherd, and in the Jewish war they conducted themselves in a similar manner towards the Romans. The point illustrated by the figure is this: The hireling vanishes at the appearance of danger. There are two classes of shepherds to be found when destruction overtakes a church; the one class is composed of cowards who are secretly faithless, the other of bold and open apostates. It is, however, the cowardice of the former that enables the boldness of the latter class to excite consternation in the church. Such hirelings composed a good part of the Sanhedrin, and were especially numerous among the Scribes in the time of Jesus (Joh_12:42); they possessed a consciousness of the truth of Christ but no heart for it, and they delivered up the Good Shepherd to the wolf.

Joh_10:14. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, etc.—Explicit interpretation of the parabolic discourse just unfolded, as Joh_10:7. The proof of this character: I know them that are Mine, and the fact of the indissoluble connection with the flock, with true believers, whom the Father has given Him, here expressed by the relation of mutual acquaintance. True, this knowing does not mean loving; but it is still an emphatic expression by which a loving knowledge is implied. It is the expression of the personal, divine cognition of kindred personalities. The grace of Christ is such a cognition of His own on His part; faith, on the other hand, is a corresponding cognition of Christ on their part.

Joh_10:15. Even as the Father knoweth me.—[Belongs to the preceding verse. The E. V. wrongly treats this as an independent sentence.—P. S.] In the personal, spiritual communion of the Father with Christ, and of Christ with the Father, the mutual relationship between Christ and the faithful is rooted. The “as” denotes the similarity of manner as also of kind, inasmuch as the life imparted by Christ to His people is a divine one. A chief motive for the comparison, however, is that the cognition on the part of Christ is the cause of His recognition by believers in return, as the cognition of the Father is the foundation for the corresponding cognition of Christ (comp. chap, Joh_14:20; Joh_15:10; Joh_17:8; Joh_17:21; 1Jn_5:1; Mat_25:40). Tholuck: “The γινώσκειν τὰ ε̇μά corresponds with the καλεῖν κατ’ ὄνομα, the γινώσκομαι with the οἴδασι τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ.”—And I lay down my life.—Expression and measure of the strength of His love towards His people. But the salvation of the heathen also is to be effected by His death (see Joh_11:52; Joh_12:24; Eph_2:14; Heb_13:20). Thus this thought leads to the following. Τίθημι. “Near and certain future,” Meyer.

Joh_10:16. And other sheep I have. [Other sheep, not another fold; for they are scattered throughout the world (Joh_11:52), while there is but one kingdom of Christ into which they will all ultimately be gathered, and to which they already belong in the counsel and love of God and His Son. Salvation comes from the Jews, but passes over to the Gentiles.—P. S.] Christ the chief Shepherd as Shepherd of the double flock of believers from the Jews and the Gentiles, Joh_10:16. The Jews resident out of Palestine (Paulus) are not meant, for they too belonged to the unitous Jewish fold; it is the heathen to whom Christ refers; they are not to be thought of as existing in a fold (De Wette), although subject to the guidance of God in another way (Joh_11:52; Act_14:16). The heathen are His sheep in the manner stipulated, even as the Jews, i.e. those who hear His voice, who follow the drawing of the Father. Of these Christ says: I have them (ἔχω) with divine confidence. He must lead them (δεῖ); it is the decree of His Father’s love and of His own love. That He shall bring them into the fold of Israel (Tholuck), is not implied by the ἀγαγεῖν, which “means neither adducere, bring (Vulgate, Luther, Beza, Lutthardt [Hengstenb. Godet]), nor συναγαγεῖν (Euthymius, Casaubon and others), but to lead as a shepherd.” Meyer. Bengel: “Non opus est illis solum mutare.” Yet the form: ἀγαγεῖν certainly indicates that the imminent manifest leading of these sheep is a continuation of a secret leading, previously begun (gratia præveniens). Christ saw the restriction of His ministry to Israel (Mat_10:5) abolished with His death (Mat_21:43; chap. 28) As the exalted Christ He was made manifest as the Shepherd of the nations.

And they shall hear my voice.—Christ’s confidence in His mission to the Gentiles presupposes at the same time an assurance of their destination to salvation and of the divine guidance of grace exercised over them. They are already sheep, not merely proleptically speaking (Meyer), for the idea of the sheep which gives heed to the voice of the shepherd, and the idea of the regenerate child of God are not one and the same. The sheep is a symbol of the man who hears the voice of Christ; hence, he is shown to be a sheep by his calling, while regeneration occurs but in company with justification.

One shepherd, one flock [μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμήν].27—The asyndeton betokens the closer connection of the two members. On an analogous utterance of Zeno in Plutarch28 (Alex., chap. vi.), see Tholuck. The two flocks become one flock by means of the one Shepherd, in Him; not by entrance into the αὐλή of the Jews. On the contrary, the subject recently under consideration has been the leading of the Jewish flock out of the αὐλή to pasturage. Tholuck: “Since the Old Testament and the New Testament kingdom of God is but One kingdom, the latter being merely an outgrowth of the former, the Gentiles’ reception into it is pictured as a leading unto Zion (Isa_2:3; Zec_14:17), by Paul as a grafting into the trunk of the good olive-tree and, similarly, in this passage as a reception into the αὐλή of Israel.” See, against this view, the note to Joh_10:16. In connection with the unity of the Old and the New Testament kingdom of God, we must, however, not overlook the antithesis between the typical Old Testament theocracy and the real New Testament kingdom of heaven. See Dan_7:14. The latter does not issue from the former, but the former goes before the latter shadow-wise. Christ is the principle of the kingdom of heaven; He is, therefore, also the principle of the unity of the two flocks, Rom_11:25. Inner relation to Christ being the grand point here, this promise has been fulfilled from the beginning of Christianity (one church); but, hence, it must also receive at last its perfect fulfilment in appearance. [Christ is, as Bengel remarks on εἶζ ποιμήν always the one Shepherd by right, but He is to become so (γενήσεται) more and more in fact. So it may be said, the unity of Christ’s flock exists virtually from the beginning and need not be created, but must be progressively realized and manifested in the world. The unity of the church, like its catholicity and holiness, are in a steady process of growth towards perfection. “It has not yet appeared what we shall be.” The nearer Christians draw to Christ, the more they will be united to each other. It is a shallow exegesis to say that this word of Christ was completely fulfilled in the union of Jewish and Gentile believers in the apostolic church. It was indeed fulfilled then; comp. Eph_2:11-22, which is a good commentary on the passage; but it is also in ever-expanding fulfilment, and, like His sacerdotal prayer for the unity of all believers, it reaches as a precious promise far beyond the present to the gathering in of the fulness of the Gentiles and such a glorious unity and harmony of believers as the world has never seen yet. Meyer says correctly: “The fulfilment of the sentence began with the apostolic conversion of the Gentiles; but it progresses and will only be complete with Rom_11:25 f.”—P. S.]

Joh_10:17. On this account doth the Father love me.—The freedom of Christ’s self-sacrifice, Joh_10:17-18. Various conceptions. 1. Διὰ τοῦτο—ὅτι significatively refers to the following: “By this doth the love of my Father appear, that I lay down My life only to take it again” (Bucer, Stier). This view may seem to be upheld by the fact that the love of the Father precedes the work of redemption, and is manifest in the exaltation of Christ. But the love which from eternity has flowed from Father to Son, the love modified by their Trinitarian relation, does not exclude a love to the God-Man, called forth by His historic accomplishment of the work of redemption, and by His moral conduct on earth. Comp. Joh_8:29; Php_2:9. Hence 2. Meyer: Διὰ τοῦτο—ὅτι is to be understood as in all passages in John (Joh_5:16; Joh_5:18; Joh_8:47; Joh_12:18; Joh_12:39; 1Jn_3:1): on this account, because namely,—so that διὰ τοῦτο refers to the words preceding, and ὄτι introduces an exposition of διὰ τοῦτο. Consequently: “therefore, on account of this my pastoral relation of which I have been speaking (down to Joh_10:16), doth My Father love Me, because namely, I (εγώ with the emphasis of self-appointment, see Joh_10:18) lay down My life,” etc. Manifestly, the whole thought is contained in Joh_10:15-16 also, for the resurrection of Christ must of course precede the taking possession of the “other sheep” from the heathen-world.

Even the conclusion, in order that I may take it again (ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν), is variously understood. 1. It denotes the simple consequence of the sacrifice of Christ expressed in the preceding clause (Theod. of Mopsuest., and many others); 2. it indicates the condition (hac lege ut, Calvin, De Wette); 3. the subjective purpose of Christ: because thus only could be fulfilled the ultimate design of the pastoral office Joh_10:16 (Stier, Meyer); 4. the divine appointment of the aim; namely, in order to take it again, in accordance with the purpose of God, 1Co_1:14; 1Co_7:29; Rom_8:17. This taking again, also, is comprehended in the divine ἐντολὴ τοῦ πατρός, Joh_10:18. Tholuck. Since the obedience of Christ is here represented as the object of the love of God, ἵνα must undoubtedly be understood as referring to the purpose of Christ; this purpose, however, is not merely subjective, but corresponds with the ἐντολή of the Father, which again, is an ἐντολή of personal life; this has not without reason, been urged by Calvin and De Wette.

The sense then is this: therefore doth My Father love Me, because I, dying, render a sacrificial obedience whose principle and motive is infinite trust in the resurrection of My personal life in the fellowship of His absolute personality; because I do not die despairingly, with the idea of annihilation, but in the assurance that I shall thus obtain the full revelation of life; or because I fall into the ground like a grain of wheat, in order to bear much fruit. In this victorious reliance on the new life in death contained in His sacrifice, Christ is the delight of the Father, as, in a similar spirit, the Christian is well-pleasing to God in Christ (see Isa_53:12; Luk_2:14; Mat_3:17; Joh_17:5; Joh_12:28; Joh_17:1). “If the Father love the Son for this reason, this love contains also His love to the world, in the sense of Joh_3:16. Calvin: amorem unigenito debitum ad nos velut ad finalem causam refert.” Tholuck.

Joh_10:18. No one taketh it from me.—As on many other occasions Christ has here, by the solemn asseveration of His voluntary self-sacrifice, precluded any misconstruction of His death, as if He had succumbed to the hostile power of the world involuntarily and contrary to His expectations.29—I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. Different interpretations of ἐξουσία.

1. Ancient dogmatical opinion: the power of the Son of God, the power of the divine nature to render the human nature quiescent in death, and to rouse it again. Tholuck: “Like Joh_14:13 a dictum probans for the non posse mori of the Redeemer (Quenstädt, III. p. 420, also according to Beck, Christl. Lehrwissenschaft, 2. p. 513 and 517). But it is not the intrinsic, physical necessity of death that is denied, but the compulsive force of circumstances, as οὐδείς shows. Nothing is meant but what is contained in Mat_26:53. Comp. Joh_14:30. Mortality, as also Luther rightly acknowledges, is to be imputed to Christ, inasmuch as He took upon Himself sin-infected [?] humanity; see my [Tholuck’s] Commentary on Rom_6:9.”

2. Meyer: “The authorization, in the first place of His self-sacrifice and secondly of His re-assumption of life, resting in the divine ἐντολή.” Probably a not altogether correct resumption of the views of Lücke and De Wette.

3. Lücke: “If the Father have given to the Son to have life in Himself (Joh_5:26), He has also given Him power to take it again. If that power be essentially a moral one, so too is this. But holy, moral power is at the same time always a power over nature. Forasmuch as Christ freely died as the Holy One, He likewise had power over death, but as a power in which the power of the Father is always present as absolute cause.”—There, however, the definite distinction: in Himself, Joh_5:26, is not adhered to.

4. Tholuck: “The human πνεῦμα of Christ did not die; His self-activity, gaining still greater freedom by His death, penetrates the bodily organ and admits it to the process of spiritualization; thus, according to John 5, Christ proceeds in the case of believers. Again, in Joh_2:19 it is the Son who effects His own resurrection.”

5. A separation of the divine and the human nature is unseasonable here. It was in His divine-human nature that Christ had life, as the principle of immortality and revivification, in Himself, i.e., in personal principial independence, though it was communicated by the Father. In this life-power, as the Man of spirit from heaven (1Co_15:45), He could pass immediately, by transformation, from the first earthly form of existence into the second heavenly one. But He also had power to let His pure and holy body assume the death-form of natural humanity (not by a quiescence of its immortality, but by suffering the natural conditions of death, by humbling Himself as a man even to die as men do). He might die, but He could not see corruption; for He had power to take His life again, i.e., to cause the transformatory energy reposing in His spirit, now modified into a resurrective energy, to operate within His organism from which life had been expelled. This fact is a re-animation on the part of the Father, since the physical conditions of life, the omnipresent healing powers of God in nature, forthwith meet the spirit returning to life; it is a spontaneous resurrection, because, at the actual life-call of the Father, Christ from the other world performs the wonder of His self-quickening. [Comp. Joh_9:19; Joh_11:25, ἐγώ εἱμι ἡ ἀνάστασις; 1Pe_3:19, ζωοποιῃθεὶς πνεύματι.]

This commandment, i.e., this known, universal law of life. Christ never has but one law of life, for holy life is perfect simplicity. This ἐντολή is the voice of God in unison with His situation and His consciousness. It has a peculiar form for each moment, Joh_12:49. Here, however, He has sketched it in respect of its ground-plan. It is the fundamental plan foretokened in the leading of all Old Testament saints through suffering to glory and reflected in the lives of all the faithful. This ἐντολή has reference not merely to dying (Chrysostom), nor is it to be understood simply as a promise of new life (many of the ancients); it embraces both considerations, their indissoluble connexion being precisely the main point.

Joh_10:19-21. There was a division therefore again. —The definite presentation of the characteristic features of Christ's redemptive work again occasions a division among the Jews, Joh_10:19-21; a division which is to be regarded as the final and most serious one, the foretoken of approaching separations. Be it observed that this division occurs among the “Jews” (not in the ὄχλος), i.e., among the Pharisaic hearers with whom the Lord’s last discussion was, Joh_9:40. Πάλιν refers to Joh_9:16.

The last words of Christ had indeed the effect of embittering and hardening the majority still more. They now advance the opinion: He hath a demon, etc.; still they dare not say it to His face. They propose, however, to treat Him as a madman and pay no more attention to Him. On the other hand, the friendly minority seem to be intimidated in this instance also. It is patent that they are themselves impressed by the words of Jesus (“these words are not the words,” etc.); but the only argument that they think will tell upon their adversaries is: Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Meyer: The miracle seemed to them too great to have been performed by such agency, although it results from Mat_12:24, that in former times even beneficent miracles may have been ascribed to demons. That passage, however, does not present a view prevalent among the Jews; it merely demonstrates that the spirit of blasphemy ventured to put an evil construction upon all the miracles of Jesus.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Symbolism of the Theocracy, the Church and the Christian Pastorate. Christ the Door of the Fold, i.e., the fundamental condition of a true pastoral life for all time.

A. First Parable: His relation to the shepherds: He is the principle, the spirit and the goal of the pastoral office. They are either real shepherds, or, with the appearance of shepherds, thieves and murderers. a. Characteristics of genuine shepherds: In respect of their relation to Christ, to the porter, to the sheep. (They know the sheep; the sheep know them. They lead them out of the fold to the pasture, from forms into life.) b. Characteristics of false shepherds: In relation to Christ, to the porter, to the sheep. Pseudo-Christianity in the broader sense of the term: (1) Before the appearance of Christ. (2) After the appearance of Christ.

B. Second Parable: His relation to the sheep (to which the shepherds also belong). He the Good Shepherd, the Arch-Shepherd. Property of the Good Shepherd. Antithesis: the hireling and the wolf. False shepherds in collusion with declared enemies. Pseudo-Christianity in its transition to Anti-Christianity.

C. Third Parable: Christ the Head-Shepherd. The other sheep and their union with the sheep of the fold. The end: One Shepherd and One Flock. The condition: the sacrificial death of Jesus. The freedom of His self-sacrifice. The three periods of the divine pastoral office on earth; a. Christ the spirit and root of the pastoral office. Applied pre-eminently to the Old Testament time. b. Christ the Arch-Shepherd. Appearance, life and work of Jesus. c. Christ the Head-Shepherd. The New Testament Church.

2. The dechristianized official life. How the thief gradually branches out into the hireling and the wolf. The thief and the robber. The render and scatterer. How he neither knows, nor will know, any door of the fold, either for ingress or egress. How he at last vanishes from the scene, and there is but One Shepherd, One Flock. When the right motive is absent, there are always false motives (egotistical worldly ones); where the true means of entrance are not, there are always false ones (simony in the fullest sense); where true pastoral labor is not, a destructive influence over the flock invariably takes its place.

3. Christ the Door of the Fold or Old Testament Theocracy: (1) For protection from without during the night-time, (2) for removal to the pasture in the New Testament morning.

4. Church-life at the core a personal relation: (1) The Shepherd and the favorite sheep and the sheep in general; (2) the sheep which understand His call,—which at least know Him by the tone of His voice.

5. Decisive mark of the true shepherd: Love to the sheep, faithfulness, devotion to them unto death. The death of the Arch-Shepherd, the preservation of the sheep.

6. The end: One Shepherd, One Flock.

7. The mystery of the resurrective power in the dying Christ.

8. The opinion of enemies touching the shepherd’s call of the Lord. The disagreement between friends and enemies progressing towards separation.—See, moreover, in reference to particular details,—for example the doctrine of excommunication—the above Exegetical Notes.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Trial of the excommunication or ban-decree of the Pharisees on the part of the Lord—Trial of the spiritual administration of office by the symbol of pastoral life.—Earthly pastoral affairs an image of spiritual pastoral affairs.—The three parables of Christ concerning the marks of genuine shepherds: 1. They are called through the pastoral spirit of Christ (by Him, in Him, to Him); 2, they are themselves sheep in Him, the Arch-shepherd; 3, they rejoice at the union of the divided flock, the scattered sheep.—Christ’s conception of the pastoral office.

The first parable, or Christ the Door of the fold. 1. What the passing by imports: a, denial of the door; b, an arbitrary climbing in; c, denial of the sheep; d, stealing, strangling, destroying. 2. What the going in through the door imports; a. recognition of the door and the porter; b, a calling of the sheep; c, a leading of them out to the pasture; d, the proving one’s self to be a shepherd in the pasture also.—The voice of the shepherd and the voice of the stranger—What Christ understands by the voice of the pastor.—The door to the church and the door to the hearts (to the fold and to the sheep) one.—The cordial understanding between shepherd and flock.

The second parable, or Christ the Good Shepherd. 1. His pastoral aim, Joh_10:10; John 2. His pastoral mind, Joh_10:11; John 3. His pastoral zeal. He removes the hireling, opposes the wolf, Joh_10:12-13; John 4. His pastoral joy, Joh_10:14-15.—The hireling and the wolf in the flock of Christ: 1. In respect of their contrast; 2. in respect of their connection.—The sheep are His: 1. By original nature; 2. by divine appointment; 3. by virtue of His self-sacrificing fidelity.—The Good Shepherd knows His own: 1. By their attraction to Him; 2. by their tractableness.

The third parable: “And other sheep I have.” 1. Sheep without a fold, without pasture, without shepherds, and yet His sheep, or the wonders of gratia præveniens. 2. Attested as sheep; a, by His destination to die for them and to be exalted to glory in order to lead them; b, by the fact that they know His voice; c, by their becoming under Him, the Shepherd, One Flock with the former sheep.—“And there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.”—The death of the faithful Shepherd, the revelation of the divine pastoral fields; 1. The sign of true shepherds and true sheep; 2, the salvation of the flock; 3, their union under the one Shepherd’s staff of Christ.—The word of Christ: One Shepherd, one flock; 1. How it has already been invisibly fulfilled; 2. how its fulfilment shall one day be fully visible; 3. how it is continually being fulfilled more and more in great signs.—The One Shepherd is Christ alone, as believers alone constitute the One Flock.—The freedom in the self-sacrifice of Christ: l. As a power of love; 2, as a power of life; 3, as a power of hope.—The mark of genuine, pious submission to God unto death, is the hope of resurrection.—True joyfulness in sacrifice is always at the same time an assurance of resurrection.—The death of Christ the consummation of the good-will of God to mankind in Him.—The death of Christ the unique great deed, 1Jn_4:9.—The communion of God a kingdom of personal life.—How the word of Christ concerning His faithfulness as a Shepherd itself severs the true members of His flock from His enemies (the prelude to the final future separation of sheep and goats).

Starke: The church (Theocracy) resembles a sheep-pen (a fold): 1. Unity of the sheep; 2. goats among them, hypocrites; 3. protection from cold, thieves, robbers; 4. of mean appearance; 5. in wildernesses yet fruitful places, (or rather in solitary but grassy pastures). Considered significant of separation from the world; riches of the Word of God, etc., (Eze_34:1; Jer_23:1; Mat_9:36; Isa_40:11; Isa_1:23; Hos_6:9, etc.)—Zeisius: The mask must finally be torn away from unfaithful shepherds, wicked teachers.—The door of faith, of the mouth, of heaven, etc. All such doors must be opened to us by the Holy Ghost.—Shepherds and sheep are together; preachers must not sunder themselves from their hearers.—Canstein: In all ages a true though invisible church has existed, which has not listened to seducers, but has followed Christ only.—Quesnel: We never know better what is meant by good shepherds and hirelings, than in times of persecution.—Men may flee not only in body, but also in spirit.—False prophets called dumb dogs, Isa_56:10; Eze_13:5,—who, as shepherds, assume a very bold front, and yet flee when they should stand.—Zeisius: O gracious, cordial and blessed acquaintance of Christ and believers!—Who would count his life too dear when the honor and will of Christ demands it? Christ affords all men at all times, and in all places, an opportunity of becoming sheep of His flock.

Braune: Psa_78:72; Ezekiel 34.—A hireling gradually becomes a thief and a murderer because he has not a shepherd’s heart.—Gossner: Where do the thieves climb in? How do they enter upon the office of teachers, into the churches? Ambition and avarice, etc.—The harmony existing between Christ and the Holy Ghost.—They flee from him (the sheep from the stranger). They do not in addition, however, use violence towards him.—Hence the world’s lamentations over the obscurity of the Bible: The porter does hot open to them because they are not sheep. But why do the simple understand? Because they are sheep.

Heubner: “He that entereth not in at the door.” General import: He who does not enter upon his work as a teacher in the open way, pointed out by God Himself. Special import: He who fails to enter upon the office of a teacher through the Messiah whom God has ordained, with faith in Him, in His strength and in fellowship with Him,—“But climbeth in some other way.” The general meaning of this is: He who seeks to gain access to the people and to obtain office and authority with them by unlawful means, without inward calling and with carnal views.—A soul-murderer is far more horrible than a body-murderer.—False preaching, wolf's preaching, as Luther calls it.—Poor fools, who seek to press into hearts by their strength, art or clamor.—Sheep, souls who already feel drawn to the Saviour, soon obtain a right discernment.—He calleth His sheep by name. In this see the special care of souls.—One’s life is more edifying than one’s doctrine.

Joh_10:6. How many thousands of hirelings have read this text without noticing how it touches them.—On the first pericope, Joh_10:1-11 : Comparison of false teachers and Christ.—How shall Christians learn to distinguish misleaders from true leaders?—The Good Shepherd. Love will run some risk.—The wolf. The devil and men resembling Satan.—An evil spirit has supplanted the old public spirit of faith.—The extent of the love of Christ.—Such a great, wide-embracing heart is proof of the wide-embracing spirit.—If we grow more like Jesus our hearts also expand.—In Christ is the centrum unitatis of the churches.—On the second pericope, Joh_10:11-21 (Misericordias): The mutual fidelity of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and His flock.

Joh_10:18. The death of Jesus a voluntary self-surrender.

Schleiermacher: Those who are able to promote the outward prosperity of men should make use of this excellent gift; but they should neither believe themselves nor persuade others that they thereby give men the right and the true.—(Faithful following of Jesus:) The bond of faithfulness which has held the little troop of believers together through all seasons of disgrace and persecution.—Marheineke: The invisible rule of Christ over all human souls.—Höpfner: What relation does the Reformation sustain to the promise of the Lord: There shall be one flock and One Shepherd?—Burk: The acquaintanceship between Christ and believers.—Rautenberg: The dispersion of the flock of Christ.—Arndt: The Good Shepherd knows His sheep: 1, By their faith; 2, by the Holy Ghost; 3, by the renewal of their lives; 4, by prayer.—Florey:In the pastoral office of the Lord the glory of His divine love is revealed.—Ahlfeld: The Good Shepherd and His flock.

[Craven: Christ, the author and finisher of our faith: 1. the shepherd who seeks the unfolded sheep and guides them (Joh_10:16); 2. through Himself, the door; 3, to Himself, the governing, nourishing and protecting Shepherd.—Christ the door, denoting—1, His authority to admit and shut out; 2. His sacrifice, Heb_10:19-20.

Joh_10:19-21. The division occasioned by the revelation of unpleasant or mysterious truth. Unbelief ignores miracles because of difficulties; faith ignores difficulties because of miracles.—From Chrysostom: Joh_10:1. The Scriptures the door; they 1. admit to knowledge of God; 2. protect the sheep; 3, shut out wolves; 4, bar entrance to heretics.—(Our Lord calls Himself the door, Joh_10:7; He is the door as He introduces us to the Father, but the Scriptures are a manifestation of Christ, and in certain respects they are what He is.—E. R. C.)—Some other way (Joh_10:1), the commandments and traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees.—From Augustine: Christ a lowly door—he who enters through Him must be lowly, the proud climb up some other way.

Joh_10:3. He leadeth them out, implies that He looses the chains of their sins that they may follow Him.

Joh_10:6. Our Lord: 1. feeds by plain words; 2. exercises by obscure.

Joh_10:5; Joh_10:8. The times (before and after the advent) different; the faith, the same.

Joh_10:8. By going in, i.e., by faith, they have life; by going out, i.e, by death, they have life more abundantly.

Joh_10:7; Joh_10:9. How does He enter by Himself? We enter by the door because we preach Christ, He preaches Himself.

Joh_10:11. The good Shepherd; 1. not because He gave His life, but 2. because He gave His life for the sheep, 1Co_13:3.

Joh_10:18. He shows His natural death was the consequence; 1. not of sin in Him, but 2. of His own will, as to the (1) why, (2) when, (3) how.—From Theophylact: Joh_10:3. The Holy Spirit the porter, by whom; 1. the Scriptures are unlocked; 2. the truth revealed.

Joh_10:10. The thief is the devil, who 1. steals by wicked thoughts; 2. kills by the assent of the mind to them; 3. destroys by acts.

Joh_10:14. The good Shepherd knows His sheep (and is known by them.—E. R. C), because He is so attractive to them.—From Gregory: Joh_10:9. Shall go in, i.e., to faith; shall go out, i.e., to sight; find pasture, i.e., in eternal fulness.

Joh_10:11. He, 1. did what He bade; 2. set the example of what He commanded.

Joh_10:12-13. An hireling holds the place of a shepherd, but 1. seeks not the gain of the sheep; 2. pants after the good things of earth; 3. rejoices in the pride of station. The hireling flees; 1. not by changing place, but 2. by withholding consolation. The hireling does not face danger, lest he should lose what he loves. Whether one be a shepherd or an hireling cannot be told for certain except in time of trial.

Joh_10:15. By my love for my sheep, I show how much I love my Father.—From Alcuin: Joh_10:18. The Word does not receive a commandment by word, but contains in Himself all His Father’s commandments.—From Melanchthon: Joh_10:4. A picture of a true pastor; he shall 1. be saved himself; 2. go into intimate communion with God; 3. go forth furnished with gifts and be useful in the church; 4. find food and refreshment for his own soul.—From Musculus: Joh_10:9. Our Lord does not say; 1. if any learned, or righteous, or noble, or rich, or Jewish man, but 2. if any man.

Joh_10:12. Churches cannot keep together without (faithful) pastors, the wolf scattereth them.—From M. Henry: The similitude is borrowed from the custom of the country; similitudes should be taken from those things which are familiar, that the things of God be not clouded by that which should clear them.—The industry of the wicked to do mischief should sham us out of slothfulness and cowardice in the service of God (Joh_10:1).—The rightful owner enters in by the door as one having authority (Joh_10:2).—Good men have the good qualities of sheep; 1. harmless, 2. meek, 3. patient, 4. useful, 5. tractable to the Shepherd, 6. sociable, 7. much used in sacrifice.—The good Shepherd 1. knows His own sheep, 2. calls each one by name, 3. marks them, 4. leads them out to pasture, 5. makes them feed and rest, 6. speaks comfortably to them, 7. guards them, 8. guides them by going before.—Christ’s explication of the parable; whatever difficulties there may be in the sayings of Jesus, we shall find Him willing to explain, if we be willing to understand; one scripture expounds another.—Though it may be a solecism in rhetoric to make the same person to be both the door and the shepherd, it is no solecism in divinity to make Christ have His authority from Himself—Himself to enter by His own blood into the holy place.—Christ the door, 1. a door shut, to keep out thieves and robbers, 2. a door open, for passage and communication—(1) by Him we have our first admission into the flock, (2) by Him we go in and out in religious conversation, (3) by Him God visits and communicates with the church, (4) by Him we are at last admitted into heaven.—The mischievous design of the thief; the gracious design of the shepherd—(1) to give life to the sheep, (2) to give His life for the sheep.—A description of bad shepherds—1. then bad principles (as hirelings), (1) the wealth of the world their chief good, (2) the work of their place the least of their care; 2. their bad practices the effect of bad principles, (1) they desert the flock when danger threatens, (2)(they rob when in apparent safety. E. R. C.)—The acquaintance of Christ with those hereafter to be of His flock (Joh_10:16); Observe 1. the eye Christ had to the Gentiles, 2. the purposes of His grace concerning them (“them also I must bring”): (a) the necessity of their case required it, (4) the necessity of His own engagements required it; 3. The blessed effect of His purpose, (a) they shall hear my voice—not only shall my voice be heard among them but by them, (b) there shall be one fold (flock) and one Shepherd—Jews and Gentiles (all classes) being united to Christ, unite in Him.—Christ takes off the offence of the cross by four considerations (Joh_10:17-18), the laying down of His life was 1. in order to His receiving it again, 2. the condition of His exaltation—therefore doth My Father love Me, 3. voluntary, 4. by order and appointment of the Father.—Better that men should be divided about the doctrine of Christ than united in the service of sin (Joh_10:19).—From Burkitt: He calleth His own sheep by name (Joh_10:5)—this denotes, 1. a special love He bears them, 2. a special care He has over them, 3. a particular acquaintance with them.—He goeth before them (Joh_10:4), He treads out those steps which they take in their way towards heaven.—He does not say all that were sent before Me, but all that came before Me (Joh_10:8)—The properties of a good shepherd—1. to know all his flock, 2. to take care of them, 3. to lay down his life for them, 4. to take care for increasing his fold (Joh_10:16).—From Besser: Joh_10:14, Am known of Mine; a rebuke of those doubters who in voluntary humility refuse to be sure of their salvation.—From Stier: I. Concerning the true and false shepherd generally in order to a transition to Christ himself, who is in the fullest sense the Shepherd: 1. the fundamental difference, i.e. the entering in to the fold through the right door (Joh_10:1-2); 2. the difference as to result, the true shepherd, (1) is admitted by the porter, (2) is acknowledged by the sheep, (3) leads them out going before, (4) they follow—the stranger, they (1) follow not, (2) flee from (Joh_10:3-5). II. The medium of transition concerning Christ as the door: 1. to the sheep for all under-shepherds (Joh_10:7-8), 2. more comprehensively, of the shepherds and the sheep (Joh_10:9). III. The true and good shepherd in the sole and supreme sense, 1. in contrast with the enemy and his servants, with (1) the thief (Joh_10:10), (2) the hireling and the wolf (Joh_10:11-13), 3. independently (Joh_10:14-18).

Joh_10:3. Preaching is the calling of individuals, and finds its consummation in the special care of souls; the leading out requires the going before of the shepherd in life and example.

Joh_10:14. My sheep—mine, a plain indication that there are false sheep [?goats rather according to Scripture language] as well as false shepherds.—From Ryle: The use of a parable to convey indirectly a severe rebuke. Joh_10:2. If we would know the value of a man’s ministry we must ask—Where is the door? does he bring forward Christ and give him His rightful place?

Joh_10:3. The character of a true shepherd shown, 1. the porter knows by his manner of approach that he is a friend, 2. the sheep recognize his voice, 8. he calls each sheep by its own name, 4. he leads the sheep out. to pasture.

Joh_10:4-5. A spiritual instinct in believers which generally enables them to distinguish between true and false teaching, 1Jn_2:20.

Joh_10:6. They understood not; if Christ was not understood, His ministers cannot wonder that they are often misunderstood.

Joh_10:9. Go in and out is a Hebraism, 1. implying a habit of using a dwelling as a home, 2. expressing the habitual and happy intercourse of a believer with Christ.

Joh_10:11-13. The great secret of a useful and Christ-Like ministry is to love men’s souls; he that is a minister merely to get a living, or to have an honorable position, is the hireling of the verses. The true pastor’s first care is for his sheep; the false pastor’s first thought is for Himself.

Joh_10:14. Christ knows all His believing people; He knows 1. their names, 2. their families, 3. their dwelling—places, 4. circumstances, 5. private history, 6. experience, 7. trials.

Joh_10:16. One flock (ποίμνη not αὑλὴ); there is only “One holy Catholic Church,” but there are many various visible churches.—From Barnes Joh_10:1-2. The only way of entering the Church is by the Lord Jesus, i.e. by, 1. believing on him, 2. obeying His commandments.

Joh_10:10. Life—more abundantly; they shall have, 1. not merely life, i.e. bare existence, but 2. all those superadded things which are needful to make life blessed and happy (both here and hereafter. E. R. C.)

Joh_10:21. The preaching of Jesus always produced effect—it made [bitter enemies, or decided friends. Not the fault of the gospel that there are divisions, but of the unbelief and mad passions of men.—From Owen: Joh_10:5. The blessings promised are twofold, 1. perfect safety (shall go in and out), 2. abundance of pasturage.

Joh_10:15. I lay down My life; the consequence and illustration of His love.

Joh_10:18. The fact that Christ’s death was voluntary shows that it was necessary.—From Webster and Wilkinson: Joh_10:9. There is no door between the soul and Christ.

Joh_10:16. Eph_2:11-22 a perfect commentary on the passage.]

Footnotes:

[1]Joh_10:3.—Φωνεῖ, in accordance with A. B. D. L. [X., Sin., Lachm., Tischend., Alf], etc., instead of καλεῖ [text. rec.]. The former verb better corresponds with the figure. The sheep, as sheep, are not influenced by an understanding of the call, but by its warm, accustomed tone.

[2]Joh_10:4.—Τὰ ἴδια πάντα a more expressive reading than the received text, in accordance with B. D. L. X. [Sin.], etc., Lachmann, Tischendorf. [Alford: The text. rec. reads καί at the beginning, andτὰ ἴδια πρόβατα, his own sheep, mechanically changing πάντα into πρόβατα—P. S.]

[3]Joh_10:5.—In accordance with vastly preponderant authorities, A. B. D., etc., ἄκολουθήσ ο υσιν instead of θήσ ω σιν [The usual conjunct, was substituted for the indicat. and is sustained by Cod. Sin., which in this case agrees with the text. rec.—P. S.]

[4]Joh_10:7.—[The text. rec. inserts αὐτοῖς with D. against preponderating testimony, πάλιν is better supported, but omitted by אּ* Tischend, ed. viii., reads simply εἶπεν οὖν ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς, Alf. retains πάλιν.—P. S.]

[5]Joh_10:8.—Πάντες is wanting in D., etc., on account of the difficulty of the passage, and πρὸ ἐμοῦ in E. F. and some others, because the passage could be turned against the Old Testament by the Gnostics. See De Wette on the passage. [Tischendorf, ed. 8, omits πρὸ ἐμοῦ in accordance with א.* E. F. G., etc.; Alt, Westcott and Hort retain it, and explain its omission, with De Wette, Meyer and Lange, from the fear of the Gnostic and Manichæan misuse of the passage against the O. T. On the different translations of πρὸ ἐμοῦ—before me, instead of me, without regard to me, etc.—see the Exeg.—P. S.]

[6]Joh_10:11.—[τίθησιν, layeth down, is preferred by Tischend., Alt, W. and H. to δίδωσιν, giveth.—P. S.]

[7]Joh_10:12.—[The last τὰ πρόβατα is omitted by א. B. D. L., Tischend., W. and H., bracketed by Lachm., Alf, defended. by Meyer and Lange, who regards it as “indispensable for the expression of the idea that the wolf is Indeed able to make individual sheep his prey, but not the flock as a whole which he can only scatter.”—P. S.]

[8]Joh_10:13.—The words: ὁ δὲ μισθωτὸς φεύγει, the hireling fleeth, might appear to be a superfluous repetition or might be omitted; on this account they are wanting in B. D. L. Sin. (Tischendorf). They however serve as an introduction to the characterization of the hireling.

[9]Joh_10:14.—Instead of γινώσκομαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν [text, rec], B. D. L. [Cod. Sin.], etc., read γινώσκουσιν με τα ἔμά. So Lachmann, Tischendorf. Meyer justly remarks (following De Wette): This active turn is in conformation to the following.

[10]Joh_10:18.—[Lange renders ἐντολήν rather freely: Lebensgesetz, law of life; Noyes: charge.—P. S.]

[11]Comp. Chr. Fr. Fritzsche: Commentatio de Tens janua ovium, eodemque pastore. In Fritzschiorum Opuscula. [Voretzsch: Dissert. de John 10. Altenb., 1838].

[12][Comp. also the description of eastern shepherd life in Dr. Thomson’s The Land and the Book (New York, 1859), vol. 1., p. 301 ff., which tends to confirm and illustrate many particulars in this parable]

[13][Similar brief parabolic allegories we find also in the Synoptists, Mat_9:37-38; Mat_24:4-45 Luk_15:4-5; Luk_17:7-9. John never uses, παραβολή, which occurs nearly fifty times in the Synoptists and twice in the Hebrews, but παροιμία four times, viz., Joh_10:6 (parable in the E. V.); Joh_16:25; Joh_16:29 [rendered proverbs]. Literally, παροιμία [from παρά and οἶμος way, course] means a by-word, an out of the way discourse, hence a figurative, enigmatic, pregnant speech, a dark saying [in opposition to, παῤῥησίᾳ λαλεῖν]; then also, and, like tho Hebrew maschal, a sententious maxim, proverb or also parable in the usual sense.—P. S.]

[14][Dr. Lange resolves it into three parables, by dividing the second act into two (Joh_10:16). Christ the Shepherd in relation to the sheep, and Christ the Arch-shepherd of Jews and Gentile3. Godet, less appropriately: First Parable: the shepherd (in general), 1–6; Second Par.: the door, 7–10; Third Par.: the Good Shepherd, 11–18.—P. S.]

[15][Augustine, Lampe, and Meyer correctly confine the sheep to the elect, or the true believer. Alford: “The sheep throughout this parable are not the mingled multitude of good and bad; but the real sheep, the faithful, who are, what all in the fold should be. The false sheep (the goats rather, Mat_25:32) do not appear; for it is not the character of the flock, but that of the shepherd, and the relation between him and the sheep, which is here prominent.”—P. S.]

[16]That is the community of believers in the church; while the church as an organized institution (the theocracy in the Old, the visible church in the New economy), is represented by the fold, the αὐλὴ τῶν προβάτων. See below.—P. S.]

[17][Meyer quotes in illustration Ignatius Ad. Philad. c. 9, where Christ is called θύρα τοῦ πατρός, and Pastor Hermæ Sim. ix.12, to which may be added Joh_3:9 : “As no one can enter into a city but by its gate, so no one can enter into the kingdom of God but by the name of the Son of God.” The reference of the door to Christ is settled by the text itself (Joh_10:7) and should not be disputed, as Melanchthon says: “Ipse textus addit imagini interpretationem qua contenti simus.”—P. S.]

[18][Comp. Joh_10:8, where the same persons are meant by κλέπται καὶ λησταί, viz., the anti-messianic (Jewish) and anti-christian hierarchy, especially the Pharisees and their successors in the Christian church. In the Synoptists Christ speaks of them with equal severity; comp. Mat_23:13; Mar_12:33-40; Luk_12:2.—P. S.]

[19][Alford agrees with Lange and Stier in referring the θυρωρός especially to the Holy Spirit. In the parallel passages, however, which he quotes, Act_14:27 (how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles); 1Co_16:9 (no agent mentioned); 2Co_2:12; Col_4:3 (that God would open into us a door), there is no specific reference to the Holy Spirit, except in Act_13:2, which ho omits. Godet understands the porter of John the Baptist (comp. Joh_1:7, but this would confine the parable to the. Old Testament theocracy, while it is equally applicable to the Christian church. Webster and Wilkinson: θυρωρός, as in Mar_13:34, signifies a minister, one who has charge of the house of God.—P. S.]

[20][κατ’ ὄνομα, distributively, each by its own name, not simply ὀνομαστί, or ὀνόματι, or ἐπ’ ὀνόματος. It denotes Christ’s individual interest in each soul. On the eastern custom to name sheep, individually, as we give names to horses and dogs, see the quotation in the next note.—P. S.]

[21][In favor of this interpretation may be quoted the following remarks from Dr. W. W. Thomson, The Land and the Book (N. Y., 1859), vol. I., p. John 302: “Some sheep always keep near the shepherd, and are his special favorites. Each of them has a name, to which it answers joyfully, and the kind shepherd is ever distributing to such choice portions which he gathers for that purpose. These are the contented, happy ones. They are in no danger of getting lost or into mischief, nor do wild beasts or thieves come near them. The great body, however, are mere worldlings, intent upon their own pleasures or selfish interests. They run from bush to bush, searching for variety or delicacies, and only now and then lift their heads to see where the shepherd is, or rather, where the general flock is, lest they get so far away as to occasion remark in their little community, or rebuke from their keeper. Others again are restless and discontented, jumping into every body’s field, climbing into bushes, and even into leaning, trees, whence they often fall and break their limbs. These cost the good shepherd incessant trouble. Then there are others incurably reckless, who stray far away, and are often utterly lost.”—P. S.]

[22][So also Alford: ἀλλότριος is not the shepherd of another section of the flock, but an alien: the λῃστής of Joh_10:1.—P. S.]

[23][And the anti-Jewish Gnostics and Manichæans, who used this passage as an argument against the Old Testament.—P. S.]

[24][So also Bengel (who presses εἰσί as indicating living opponents) and Lücke. Dean Alford likewise takes πρό in the sense of time, but includes in those false predecessors all the followers of the devil (comp. Joh_8:44), who was the first thief that clomb into God’s fold. His was the first attempt to lead human nature before Christ came. Wordsworth lays the stress on ἦλθον, came (i.e., in their own name), as opposed to being sent; but such a distinction is artificial and is set aside by the fact that Christ says of Himself ἐγὼ ἦλθον, Joh_10:10. Still others limit πάντες to false Messiahs and false prophets before Christ.—P. S.]

[25][Καλός, fair, beautiful, often in the moral sense, good, comp. the Attic καλὸς ἀγαθός in opposition to πονηρός, κακὀς. Here it is almost identical with ἀληθινός, genuine, as set over against the imperfect, the inadequate; the model shepherd. Comp. Joh_1:9; Joh_6:32; Joh_15:1 (I am the true, genuine, ideal Vine).—P. S.]

[26][In the East the shepherds are well armed to defend their flock against fierce wolves, leopards, and panthers who prowl about the wild wadies and frequently attack the sheep in the very presence of the shepherd. And when the thief and the robber come, the faithful shepherd has often to risk his life for the flock. Dr. Thomson says (I. 302); “I have seen more than one case in which he had literally to lay it down in the contest.”—P. S.]

[27][Alford: “The μία ποίμνη is remarkable—not μία αὐλή, as characteristically, but erroneously rendered in the E. V.: not one fold, but one flock; no one exclusive enclosure of an outward church,—but one flock, all knowing the one shepherd and known of Him.” The Ε. V. followed the Vulgate (ovile), Cranmer’s and the Geneva Bible.—P. S.]

[28][Of a union of all men ὤσπερ ἀλέλης συννόμα νόμῳ κοινῷ σνυτρεφομἐνης. A stoic dream that can only be realized by Christianity,—P. S.]

[29][Olshausen: “Joh_10:18 shows that neither a compulsory decree of the Father, nor the power of the Evil One occasioned the death of the Son, but that it resulted only from the inward impulse of the love of Christ…. This view sets aside many objections derived from the argument that God, as love, could not deliver the Son to death. The death of Christ is the pure effluence of boundless love, which thus displays its very essence in the sublimest form.”—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 10

1. The Shepherd of the Sheep. (Joh 10:1-5.)

2. The Good Shepherd, His Sheep and His Work. (Joh 10:6-21.)

3. At the Feast of Dedication; the Repeated Testimony. (Joh 10:22-30.)

4. Accused of Blasphemy and His Answer. (Joh 10:31-39.)

5. Beyond Jordan; and Many Believed on Him. (Joh 10:40-42.)

The teaching of this chapter is closely linked with the preceding event. It has become evident that the true sheep of Christ, belonging to His flock, would be cast out of the Jewish fold. The healed man cast out had become one of His sheep. Therefore He teaches now more fully concerning Himself as the Shepherd and about His sheep. The Old Testament speaks often of Israel as the sheep of Jehovah, and of Jehovah as the Shepherd. (Psa 80:1; Psa 95:7; Psa 23:1; Eze 34:1-31; Zec 11:7-9; Zec 13:7.) The true Shepherd had come through the appointed door into the sheep fold, that is among Israel. He is the only One, and the porter (the Holy Spirit) opened to Him. He came and called His own sheep by name to lead them out. And the sheep hear His voice and follow Him. All is Jewish. He came the true Shepherd, into the sheepfold to lead them out to become His flock. It was a parable He spoke in these opening verses, but they did not understand it. What follows is a fuller revelation of Himself as the good Shepherd, and the sheep who belong to His flock. Judaism was a fold out of which the Shepherd leads His flock. He is the Door of the sheep. He is the means of getting into the flock, as a door is the means of getting into a house. Through Him all His sheep must enter by faith into the flock. There is no other door and no other way. He came into the fold by God’s appointed way and He is God’s appointed way. “I am the door, by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” A most blessed promise. He is the door. Any man, it does not matter who it is, any man may enter in by Him and then having entered in by Him, that is believed on Him, He promises salvation, liberty and food. These three things are bestowed upon all who believe on Him. Salvation is in Him and it is a present and a perfect salvation; liberty, freed from the bondage of the law which condemned the sinner, a perfect liberty; pasture, food, which He supplies; He Himself is the food, a perfect food. It is all found outside of the fold, the fold of Judaism, and in Christ. He came that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. The abundant life He speaks of here is the life which comes from His death and resurrection. The good Shepherd had to give His life for the sheep. How different from the hireling, who fleeth and careth not for the sheep. The hirelings were the faithless shepherds. (Eze 34:1-6.) Again He said: “I lay down my life for the sheep.”

“The expression, ‘laying down the soul or life’ for any one, does not occur anywhere else independently in the New Testament. It is never found in profane writers. It must be referred back to the Old Testament, and specially to Isa 53:10, where it is said of Messiah, ‘He shall make, or place, His soul an offering for sin.’”--Hengstenberg

In Joh 10:16 our Lord speaks of other sheep, which are not of this fold. These are the Gentiles. He leads out first from the Jewish fold His sheep; then there are the other sheep whom He will bring and who will hear His voice. The result will be one flock and one Shepherd. The Authorized Version is incorrect in using the word “fold.” Judaism was a fold, the church is not. The ecclesiastical folds in which Christendom is divided have been brought about by the Judaizing of the church. The fold no longer exists. There is one flock as there is one Shepherd; one body, as there is one Lord. All who have heard His voice, believed on Him, entered in by Him, are members of the one flock.

At the Feast of Dedication, commemorating the cleansing of the Temple and rededication by Judas Maccabaeus after the desecration by Antiochus, (See Dan 8:9-14) the Lord continued His blessed teaching, ending it once more with a great revelation of Himself. He makes a most blessed addition to His previous instructions concerning Himself and His sheep. “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Here we have the comforting assurance of the absolute security of every sheep of Christ. Eternal life is a present and personal possession, not something which comes after death. It is therefore an abiding possession and cannot be lost. Then He Who is the Life and the Light, the Way and the Truth, assures us that His sheep shall never perish. Some say that He said “no one can pluck them out of His hand” but we can do it ourselves by living in sin, etc. This is fully answered by the correct rendering of His words, “they shall never perish.” It means literally: “they shall in no wise ever perish.” This is absolute; it covers everything.

Then His great revelation: “I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews understood what He meant, for they wanted to stone Him. After His answer they wanted to take Him, but He escaped out of their hands. His hour had not yet come.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 8.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Joh 10:1-29. “Truly, truly, I say unto you, The one not coming in through the door, but climbing up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.” It is subsequently revealed that Christ Himself is the door. I have heard superstitious, ignorant preachers hold up water baptism as the door, and contend most pertinaciously that you must receive it according to their ipse dixit, or lose your soul. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” Here you see that Christ Himself is the door into the fold of redeeming grace, the Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. Hence it is silly heresy to talk about any other door, and, as here Jesus says, the one entering in through another door is a thief and a robber: A thief, because he is trying to steal heaven for himself without paying the price — forsaking all, and following Jesus to Calvary, and having old Adam crucified. He’s a robber, because he robs all who follow him of their heavenly hopes and never-dying souls. “He that cometh in through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.” The porter here is none other than the Holy Ghost, who goes before and prepares the way for Jesus; i. e., opens the heart and lets Him in. So the blessed Holy Spirit keeps the door of the heart, and if you yield to His heavenly influence, will certainly open it and let Jesus come in. In a similar, but a subordinate sense, this is true of all who faithfully follow the Good Shepherd. If you are truly the Lord’s blood-washed, spirit-filled, fire-baptized preacher, the Holy Spirit will go before you, and open the hearts of the Lord’s elect, give you audience with them, and make you humbly instrumental in doing them good. Here we see that the Lord’s sheep know His voice, and He calls each one by name. In Palestine there are no fences, and all stock are herded, the herdsmen remaining with them day and night. An old tourist, who has spent twenty-five years in that country escorting travelers all over it, and is intimately acquainted with everything appertaining to it, related to me the literal fulfillment of this Scripture at the present day; e. g., a sheep has been lost out of a flock, and the shepherd surmises that it has gotten into some other, calls to his neighbor shepherd on a contiguous mountain, “Have you any stray sheep?” “I do not know. Wait a minute, and I will see.” He calls out to his flock, and they all quit grazing, and raise up their heads to hear his voice, except one, which pays no attention to him, but grazes on. Then he answers, “Yes, I have one that does not belong to me. Come and see if it is yours.” So he comes over and calls, and none of the flock quit grazing to give him any attention except that one, which holds up his head and listens to him. Then the shepherd says,” Take it along; it is yours.” It is very consolatory to know that the Good Shepherd is so familiar with us as to call us all by name. During my childhood and youth, I heard my name constantly. Since I entered public, professional life, I am called by other epithets, and seldom hear the name given to me by my beloved parents, who are now in glory. When I meet an old friend of my boyhood, who freely calls me by my name, I feel good. “When he may put out all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.” It is not the custom of the Oriental shepherd to drive his flock, but to lead them, and they always follow whithersoever he goes. This is also the custom in the great West, where they are herded after the manner of the Old World. An old California shepherd told me that he was herding two thousand sheep up on the mountain, when a snow fell, covering the grass so they could not get it. Then, mounting his pony and calling aloud, he sets out for the plains, where the snow never falls, the whole flock following him. We should adhere pertinaciously to our Savior’s Word, and never drive, but always lead the people of God. There is but one way to lead them, and that is to be more proficient in the Truth of God, a better exegete of the Scripture, more zealous for truth and righteousness, more abundant in good works, more humble, meek, and lowly, and more like Jesus, than they are. If some of them excel us in Christ-likeness, we should rejoice in God, and be a follower of such, as they follow Jesus. Pastor is a Latin word, which means shepherd; episcopos, bishop, being the Greek. O how few pastors actually lead their flocks in the way of humility, love, holiness, and heaven! All who do not thus lead them should resign at once. How common is it now, rather than lead, thus diametrically to antagonize the precept and example of the Chief Shepherd!

“But they will not follow another, but will fly from him , because they do not know the voice of strangers.” This explains the reason why the godly members of Churches in all ages have been stigmatized as schismatical, revolutionary, and unmanageable. It is because there is a stranger in the pulpit, and they are the Lord’s true sheep, and will not follow him. At this point bloody persecutions have broken out, ever and anon, through all bygone ages. You have nothing to do but give this matter a little attention, and see how carnal pastors are utterly incompetent to manage the spiritual members of their congregations. To follow them would be to go down to perdition. The Lord’s sheep never have followed, and never will fallow, the voice of a stranger. “Jesus spake this parable to them; and they did not know those things which Jesus was saying to them.” An unspiritual audience frequently signally fails to understand spiritual truth. “Then Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say unto you, That I am the door of the sheep.” Hence you see we must come to Jesus personally, and pass through His arms into the fold of salvation. Consequently all of the Lord’s sheep enjoy a happy, personal acquaintance with the Good Shepherd, who, like the Palestinean herdsman, abides with His flock night and day. “All, so many as came, are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them.” Here we have ethon, “came,” in the second aorist tense, not only past, but instantaneous and complete, alluding to Satan and his demoniacal armies, who made the first run on the world, and did their utmost to capture it all, four thousand years having rolled away before the Incarnate Shepherd came on the earth. The sheep were here in all ages, but did not hearken to the voice of the counterfeit shepherds.

“I am the door; through Me, if any one may enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” This is a beautiful, natural description of nomadic life among the Orientals, the flock going out and coming in, led by the shepherd. How beautifully symbolic of the spiritual shepherdhood! N.B. — There are no fences in that country, the sheep having access to any and every place whither the good shepherd may lead them. You can not find a trace nor a track of denominationalism in the Bible. This is man’s work, Satan thus building up fences to separate the Lord’s sheep, so he can starve at least some of them to death; as there is always plenty of good grass in some river valley, mountain cove, or fertile plain, where the showers fall and keep the fields always green. Consequently, if there were no fences, the sheep could all find good grazing, live fat and flourishing. All the great revivals in bygone ages have conduced to break down these partition walls. The present holiness movement is doing a grand work, knocking down the fences, and letting the Lord’s sheep come together and enjoy the good grass in all the different pastures. Besides, entire sanctification disencumbers people of every burden, making them active as catamounts, so they can jump over all the devil’s fences into a Methodist clover-field, a Baptist blue- grass pasture, a Presbyterian wheat-field, or a grand Quaker lawn, where a variety of grasses grow, and thus availing themselves of the wholesome pabulum which the Good Shepherd provides. O how we flourish and fatten, the beautiful lambs skipping on all the hills, and the copious white fleeces washed clean in the crystal rivers, which course through the fertile plains of Immanuel’s pasture-lands! “The thief does not come except that he may steal, murder, and destroy.” All carnal, worldly preachers belong to the catalogue of these thieves, who are really actuated by carnal motives, and the effect of their work is to steal the fleece, fat, and milk of God’s flock, and destroy them, because they do not care for their souls; so when they get what they have, they let Satan take their souls. “I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” We have life in regeneration, and the same life superabounding in sanctification.

“I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” As Jesus died to save the whole world, so we, as His subordinate shepherds, should be ready at all times to lay down our lives for souls.

“The hireling, not being a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flies, and the wolf seizes them and scatters them; because he is an hireling, and there is not a care to him concerning the sheep.” Read Ezekiel 34 to the shepherds abiding in their tents, feasting on the fat, drinking the milk, and clothing themselves with the wool of the flock, while the sheep are scattered abroad, on every high hill, down in every deep valley, wandering amid the crags and precipices, the wolves devouring them without mercy. The above statement of our Savior with reference to the hireling shepherd, certainly does sweep the salaried ministry from the face of the earth. We dare not stipulate and make finances a consideration, lest we fall under the ban of the hireling shepherd. O how significant in this connection the faithful words of Peter, while venerable with years and looking bloody martyrdom in the face! “Therefore I, being an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, also a participant of the glory about to be revealed, exhort the elders who are among you: Feed the flock of God which is among you, not from constraint, but willingly, for God’s sake; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; nor as it were domineering over the heritages, but being examples of the flock; and the Chief Shepherd appearing, you shall receive a crown of glory, which will never fade away.” The man who is afraid in reference to his temporal support has mistaken his calling, or at least he has not tarried long at Jerusalem, nor received the “perfect love, which casts out fear” of starvation and everything else. The Lord does not want any shepherds who are troubled with fears in reference to temporal support. Full salvation clears all that away, and prepares you to go to Greenland, and freeze to death for Jesus’ sake, or to India and starve, and in either case, die shouting, in glowing anticipation of a martyr’s crown, the grandest boon achievable beneath the skies. These declarations of Jesus abundantly explained the present deplorable apostasy of the Churches. The devil’s wolves come round in the form of dances, frolics, theaters, circuses, card- parties, horse-races, saloons, etc. The pastor sees his flock going headlong to ruin, ignores the whole matter, and plays dummy. Why? If he takes the devil by the throat, does his duty, contends for the faith once delivered to the saints, preaches holiness or hell like lightning, and enforces discipline, fearless of men and devils, taking the rotten potatoes all out of the barrel so as to save the few sound ones, they will get mad at him, refuse to pay their assessments, his salary must be reported largely deficient at the ensuing Conference, himself discounted for inefficiency, and be taken out of the fat station and sent to a poor circuit. What is the result? His courage fails, and the wolves devour the flock: he sells out their souls to the devil for filthy lucre, receives a fat salary, lives like a king, lets his own children go to the devil; is honored and applauded as an efficient and faithful pastor, while heaven mourns and hell rejoices. What is the solution of this dismal problem? He is a hireling shepherd, and Jesus says, for that very reason, he is utterly untrustworthy; for the sake of his salary, he lets the wolves devour the sheep. You see the point? He should be no hireling, but a volunteer for Jesus, to save souls from hell, and looking to God alone for support, temporal and spiritual. Let me corroborate the venerable apostle I assure you, God will be everything to you, and feed you and yours, like He feeds the birds. I have been a preacher longer than Peter, but not so long as John. So I gladly add my testimony to theirs. O Lord, what shall become of Thy Church under a hireling ministry? Jesus tells the dark secret. Satan’s wolves capture and scatter the flock. “I am the Good Shepherd, and know Mine, and Mine know Me, as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” How grand and glorious is the preaching of Jesus on the direct witness of the Spirit! He knows every true heart, and every faithful soul knows Him. Blessed consolation! Here He affirms repeatedly that He lays down His life for the sheep. That is true subjectively, as none but the elect avail themselves of His vicarious atonement; while objectively, He gave His life for all, making their salvation a gracious possibility. “He tasted death for every one.” (Heb 2:9.) “But I have other sheep, which are not of this fold, and it behooveth Me to bring them, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one Shepherd and one fold.” And the other sheep, not of the Jewish fold, were in all the Gentile world. Here you see that the Lord wills but one fold, as there is but one Shepherd. He broke down the partition wall between the Jews and the Gentiles (Ephesians 2); and you may rest assured that He is grieved over all the partition walls which have ever been built up by the sects and denominations. “Therefore the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again.” In the track of Jesus and two hundred millions of martyrs, we have blessed assurance that if we lay down our lives for Him, we shall follow Him in the glorious resurrection, receiving life immortal, triumphant over death, hell, and the grave, and glorious beyond all possible conception. “No one taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself; but I have the privilege to lay it down, and I have the privilege to take it again; this commandment I received from My Father.” With Jesus, our Paragon, and like Him constantly ready for martyrdom, O what a glorious privilege to be one of His sheep, and even a subordinate shepherd! The elect of God are in every nation, the sheep of the Lord’s pasture, and exposed to prowling wolves, roaring lions, and bloodthirsty tigers. O what a grand open door for the subordinate shepherds of Jesus, to go away to the mountains, deserts, and jungles, hunt the lost sheep, and bring them back to the fold! They are all around us, invaded, desolated, and scattered by the ferocious beasts of prey, beside the millions in heathen lands. If you could only look up to heaven, and see the crown of glory in the hand of the Chief Shepherd, ready to place on the brow of the most humble man or woman who will dare to go out in the name of the Good Shepherd, and hunt up the lost sheep, and lead them into green pastures, where they can lie down beside the still waters, methinks every reader of these lines would cry out: “Good Shepherd, let me go. I do not wait for the hire of paltry pelf. I am ready to lay down my life for the sheep.” Mark it down, we can not depend on a hireling ministry to do this work. Jesus has so decided, and He makes no mistakes.

“Again there was a division among the Jews on account of these words. Then many of them were saying, He hath a demon, and is gone mad; why do you hear Him? Others were saying, These are not the words of a demonized man; whether is a demon able to open the eyes of the blind?”

“The servant is not above his Lord, nor the disciple above his Teacher.” You see here how they declared that Jesus had a demon, and was gone mad; i. e., that He was actually run mad by the demon which possessed Him. You see here that many of His audience spoke out, pleading with the people to go away and not listen to Him, as He was a demonized madman. Do you not know that the carnal world and counterfeit religion are the same today as in our Savior’s time? Rely upon it, if you go out and preach the truth as it is in Jesus, fearless of men and devils, they will talk about you in the scurrilous and blasphemous manner in which they denounced and anathematized Him. “And it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem; it was winter.” This feast was the anniversary of the temple’s dedication, after it had been purified from idolatry and thoroughly repaired, at the close of the three years and a half, during which it was polluted by idol worship during the occupancy of the Syrians, and the time was B. C. 25.

“And Jesus was walking about in the temple, in the Porch of Solomon.” This was not connected with the temple proper, but was a magnificent building, erected by King Solomon, near the Beautiful Gate, leading through the east wall of the city into the Temple Campus, and about six hundred yards northeast of the temple proper, as all the campus, about thirty-five acres, with its many buildings, was denominated The Temple. “Then the Jews surrounded Him, and continued to say to Him, How long will You take away our life? If Thou art the Christ, tell us openly.” This seems like a reasonable appeal, begging Him to relieve all their suspense, solicitude, and torture by telling them outright whether He is the Christ. They had a law among themselves that if any one claimed to be the Christ, he should be brought before the Sanhedrin for examination. In this way they were hypocritically endeavoring to get some clue at Him to make Him a prisoner. Besides, it is well understood that the Christ was to be King of the Jews. Hence the liability of bringing Him into trouble with the Roman Government, and having Him arraigned before Pilate on the charge of high treason. While thus they outwardly manifest sincerity and candor, Jesus read their hearts, and knew the diabolism of their intention. “Jesus responded, I told you, and you do not believe; the works which I do in the name of My Father, these testify concerning Me.” The healing of the man born blind, about which they all well knew, was all that honest men could want by way of assurance as to His Christhood. So He refers them to His miracles, which spoke louder than words. “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.” This tells the dark secret. Those Jews, the favored people of God, the leading preachers and laymen, standing at the head of the Church, were not of His sheep; i. e., they were reprobated and hopelessly doomed; not that God reprobates men to death, but they reprobated themselves, rejecting the Holy Ghost, and even imputing His works to the devil, thus, with all their clerical offices and honors, plunging headlong into everlasting woe.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall pluck them out of My hand.” This is wonderfully strong, beautiful, and consolatory. The reason why those Jews did not spiritually hear His voice

(because they certainly heard it physically) was because they were not of His sheep. While He assures us that His sheep will never perish, and no one is able to pluck them out of His hand, we must bear in mind the liability of the sheep to stray away from the fold and be lost. While there is no power in the universe competent to pluck us out of the hands of the Omnipotent Savior, yet we are free and on probation, exposed to temptation and a thousand liabilities and snares, as we see above, in the case of those wolves, which are prowling all around us and ready to devour us. The danger is not on the side of power, but our own will. “The Father, who has given them unto Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of the hand of the Father.” Of course, the Father saw all the saved before He sent Jesus into the world and gave them to Him; therefore if Satan comes first, so far as the question of power is concerned, he, a poor finite being, would have to be stronger than the Almighty. He would have to conquer the Son, who has us in His hands, and also the Father, who gave us to His Son, if He ever gets us. Hence you see, the omnipotence of the Trinity is pledged for our security. Consequently the danger, in view of which Jesus so faithfully warns us about Satan’s wolves, is altogether on the human side. Therefore we see, while God elects people to life, He does not reprobate any of them to death. We are all free to choose between sin and holiness. If we choose the latter, we are elected to life; if the former, we are reprobated to death, from the simple fact that the “wages of sin is death.” If we remain in sin, we are in the hands of Satan, who, at the close of this life, has no place to put us but hell.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 21

JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them; but they understood not what things they were which He spake unto them. Jesus therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture. The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep. He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth them: he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father.- Joh_10:1-18.

This paragraph continues the conversation which arose out of the healing of the blind man. Jesus has pointed out to the Pharisees that they are affected with a more deplorable blindness than the born-blind beggar; He now proceeds to contrast their harsh treatment of the healed man with His own care of him, and uses this contrast as evidence of the illegitimacy of their usurpation of authority and the legitimacy of His own claim. It has been related (Joh_9:34) that the Jews had excommunicated the blind man because he had presumed to think for himself, and acknowledge as the Christ One regarding whom they had quietly enacted (Joh_9:22) that if any one acknowledged Him he should be banished from the synagogue. Very naturally the poor man would feel that this was a heavy price to pay for his eyesight. Brought up as he had been to consider the ecclesiastical authorities of Jerusalem as representing the Divine voice, he would feel that this excommunication cut him off from fellowship with all good men, and from the sources of a hopeful and godly life. Therefore, in pity for this poor sheep, and in indignation at those who thus assumed authority, Jesus explicitly declares, I am the door. Not through the word of men who tyrannize over the flock to serve their own ends are you either admitted to or debarred from the real sources of spiritual life and fellowship with the true and good. Through Me only can you find access to permanent security and the free enjoyment of all spiritual nutriment; By Me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

The primary object, then, of this allegorical passage is to impart to those who believe in Jesus the truest independence of spirit. This our Lord accomplishes by explicitly claiming for Himself the sole right of admission or rejection from the true fold of Gods people. He comes into direct collision with the ecclesiastical authorities, denying that they are the true spiritual guides of the people, and presenting Himself as the supreme authority in matters spiritual. This uncompromising assertion of His own authority He makes in parabolic language; but that no one may misapprehend His meaning He Himself appends the interpretation. And in this interpretation it will be observed that, while the great ideas are explained and applied, there is no attempt to make these ideas square with the figure in every particular. In the figure, for example, the Door and the Shepherd are necessarily distinct; but our Lord does not on that account scruple to apply both figures to Himself. The rigidly logical explanation is thrown to the winds to make way for the substantial teaching.

I. First, then, Jesus here claims to be the sole means of access to security and life eternal. I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture, Prompted by consideration for the feelings of the blind man, this expression would by him be interpreted as meaning, These arrogant Pharisees, then, can after all do me no injury; they can neither exclude nor admit; but only this Person, who has shown Himself so compassionate, so courageous, so ready to be my champion and my friend. He is the door. And this simple and memorable claim has remained through all the Christian centuries the bulwark against ecclesiastical tyranny, not indeed preventing injustice and outrage, but entirely robbing excommunication of its sting in the conscience that is right with its Lord. Outcast from the fellowship and privileges of so-called Churches of Christ many have been, who had yet the assurance in their own heart that by their attachment to Him they had entered into a more lasting fellowship and unspeakably higher privileges.

By this claim to be the Door, Jesus claims to be the Founder of the one permanent society of men. Through Him alone have men access to a position of security to association with all that is worthiest among men, to a never-failing life and a boundless freedom. He did not use His words at random, and this at least is contained in them. He gathers men round His Person, and assures us that He holds the key to life; that if He admits us, words of exclusion pronounced by others are but idle breath; that if He excludes us, the approval and applause of a world will not waft us in. No claim could possibly be greater.

II. Jesus also claims to be the Good Shepherd, and sets Himself in contrast to hirelings and robbers. This claim He proves in five particulars: He uses a legitimate mode of access to the sheep; His object is the welfare of the sheep; His Spirit is self-devoted; He knows and is known by His sheep; and all He does the Father has given Him commandment to do.

1. First, then, Jesus proves His claim to be the Good Shepherd by using the legitimate means of access to the sheep. He enters by the door. The general description of the relation between sheep and shepherd was drawn from what might be seen any morning in Palestine. At night the sheep are driven into a fold, that is, a walled enclosure, such as may be seen on our own sheep farms, only with higher walls for protection, and with a strongly-barred door in place of a hurdle or light gate. Here the sheep rest all night, guarded by a watchman or porter. In the morning the shepherds come, and at the recognised signal or knock are admitted by the porter, and each man calls his own sheep. The sheep, knowing his voice, follow him, and if any are lazy, or stubborn, or stupid, he goes in and drives them out, with a gentle, kindly compulsion, A strangers voice they do not recognise, and do not heed. Besides, not only do they disregard a strangers voice, but the porter also would do so, so that no robber thinks of appealing to the porter, but climbs the wall and lays hold of the sheep he wants.

Here, then, we have a picture of the legitimate and illegitimate modes of finding access to men and of gaining power over them. The legitimate leader of men comes by the door and invites: the illegitimate gets in anyhow and compels. The true shepherd is distinguished from the robber by both the action of the porter and the action of the sheep. But who is the porter who gives Christ access to the fold? Possibly, as some have suggested, the mind of Christs contemporaries would revert to John the Baptist. The claim of Jesus to deal with men as their spiritual protector and leader had been legitimated by John, and no other pretended Messiah had been. And certainly, if any individual is indicated by the porter, it must be John the Baptist. But probably the figure includes all that introduces Jesus to men, His own life, His miracles, His loving words, providential circumstances. At all events, He makes His appeal openly, and has the requisite pass-word. There is nothing of the thief or the robber about His approach-nothing underhand and stealthy, nothing audaciously violent. On the other hand, All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers. The contemporary authorities in Jerusalem had come before Jesus, in so far as they had prepossessed the minds of the people against Him, and forcibly kept the sheep from Him. Their prior claims were the great obstacle to His being admitted. They held the fold against Him. It must have been plain to the people who heard His words that their own ecclesiastical authorities were meant. And this is not contradicted by the added clause, but the sheep did not hear them. For these usurping leaders did not find the ear of the people, although they terrified them into obedience.

2. The Good Shepherd is identified and distinguished from the hireling by His object and His spirit of devotion-for these two characteristics may best be considered together (Joh_10:10-13). The hireling takes up this business of shepherding for his own sake, and just as he might take to keeping swine, or watching vineyards, or making bricks. It is not the work nor the sheep he has any interest in, but the pay. It is for himself he does what he does. His object is to make gain for himself, and his spirit is therefore a spirit of self-regard. Necessarily he flees from danger, having more regard for himself than for the sheep. The object of the good shepherd, on the contrary, is to find for the sheep a more abundant life. It is regard for them that draws him to the work. Consequently, as all love is self-devoting, so the regard of the shepherd for the sheep prompts him to devote himself, and, at the risk or expense of his own life, to save them from danger.

This differentiation of the hireling and the good shepherd was, in the first instance, exemplified in the different conduct of the authorities and Jesus towards the blind man. The authorities having fallen into the idea which commonly ensnares ecclesiastical magnates, that the people existed for them, not they for the people, persecuted him because he had followed his conscience: Jesus, by interposing in his favour, risked His own life. This collision with the Pharisees materially contributed to their determination to put Him to death.

Probably our Lord intended that a larger meaning should be found in His words. To all His sheep He acts the part of a good shepherd by interposing, at the sacrifice of Himself, between them and all that threatens (Joh_10:17-18). His death was voluntary, not necessitated either by the machinations of men or by His being human. His life was His own, to use as He saw best; and when He laid it down He did so freely. It was not that He succumbed to the wolf, to any power stronger than His own will and His own discernment of what was right. We may resign ourselves to death or choose it; but even though we did not, we could not escape it. Christ could. He laid down His life; and He did so, moreover, that He might take it again. His sheep were not to be left defenceless, shepherdless: on the contrary, He died that He might free them from all danger and become to them an ever-living, omnipresent Shepherd. In these words the figure is lost in the reality.

In the words themselves, indeed, there is no direct suggestion that the penalty of sin is that which chiefly threatens Christs sheep, but Christ could hardly use the words, and His people can hardly read them, without having this idea suggested. It was by interposing between us and sin that our Shepherd was slain. At first sight, indeed, we seem to be exposed to the very danger that slew the Shepherd: the wolf seems to be alive even after slaying Him. In spite of His death, we also die. What then is the danger from which He by His death has saved us?

The danger which threatened us was not bodily death, for from that we are not delivered. But it was something with which the death of the body is intimately connected. Bodily death is as it were the symptom, but not the disease itself. It is that which reveals the presence of the pestilence, but is not itself the real danger. It is like the plague-spot that causes the beholder to shudder, though the spot itself is only slightly painful. Now a skilful physician does not treat symptoms, does not apply his skill to allay superficial distresses, but endeavours to remove the radical disease. If the eye becomes bloodshot he does not treat the eye, but the general system. If an eruption comes out on the skin, he does not treat the skin, but alters the condition of the blood; and it is a small matter whether the symptom goes on to its natural issue, if thereby the eradication of the disease is rather helped than hindered. So it is with death: it is not our danger; no man can suppose that the mere transference from this state to another is injurious; only, death is in our case the symptom of a deep disease, of a real, fatal ailment of soul. We know death not as a mere transference from one world to another, but as our transference from probation to judgment, which sin makes us dread; and also as a transference which in form forcibly exhibits the weakness, the imperfection, the shame of our present state. Thus death connects itself with sin, which our conscience tells us is the great root of all our present misery. It is to us the symptom of the punishment of sin, but the punishment itself is not the death of the body but of the soul; the separation of the soul from all good, from all hope,-in a word, from God. This is the real danger from which Christ delivers us. If this be removed, it is immaterial whether bodily death remain or not; or rather, bodily death is used to help out our complete deliverance, as a symptom of the disease sometimes promotes the cure. Christ has tasted death for every man, and out of each mans cup has sucked the poison, so that now, as we in turn drink it, it is but a sleeping draught. There was a chemistry in His love and perfect obedience which drew the poison to His lips; and absorbing into His own system all the virulence of it, by the immortal vigour of His own constitution, He overcame its effects, and rose again triumphing over its lethargic potency.

It was not mere bodily death, then, which our Lord endured. That was not the wolf which the Good Shepherd saved us from. It was death with the sting of sin in it. It is this fact which shows us, from one point of view, the place of Christs death in the work of atonement Death sets the seal on a mans spiritual condition. It utters the final word: He that is holy, let him be holy still; he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. The biblical view of death is that it marks the transition from a state of probation to a state of retribution. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death the judgment. There is no coming back again to make another preparation for judgment. We cannot have two lives, one after the flesh, and another after the spirit, but one life, one death, one judgment. Bodily death therefore thus becomes not only the evidence of spiritual death, but its seal. But this, falling upon Christ, fell harmless. Separation from God must be separation of the will, separation accomplished by the souls self. In Christ there was no such separation. Sinners abide in death, because not only are they judicially separated, but they are in will and disposition separate. Plunge iron and wood into water: the one sinks, the other rises immediately, cannot be kept under, has a native buoyancy of its own that brings it to the surface, immerse it as often as we please. And Christ is as the wood cut by the prophet, that not only floats itself, but brings to the surface the heaviest weight.

3. It is the mutual recognition of sheep and shepherd which decisively exhibits the difference between the true shepherd and the robber. The timid animals that start and flee at the sound of a strangers voice suffer their own shepherd to come among them and handle them. As the ownership of a dog is easily determined by his conduct towards two claimants, at one of whom he growls and round the other of whom he joyously barks and jumps; so you can tell who is the shepherd and who is the stranger by the different way in which a sheep behaves in the presence of each. If a shepherds claim were doubtful, it might be settled either by his familiarity with its marks and ways, or by its familiarity with him, its sufferance of his hand, its answer to his voice. Christ stakes His claim on a similar mutual recognition. If the soul does not respond to His call and follow Him, he will admit that His claim is ill-founded. He may require to enter the fold, to rouse the slumbering by a tap of His staff, to lift the sickly, to use a measure of severity with the dull and slow; but ultimately and mainly He bases His claim to be the true Leader and Lord of men simply on His power to attract them to Him. If there is not that in Him which causes us to mark Him off from all other persons, and makes us expect different things from Him, and causes us to trust ourselves with Him, then He does not expect that any other force will draw us to acknowledge Him.

The application of this to the attitude the blind man had assumed towards the Pharisees and towards Jesus was sufficiently obvious. He had disowned the Pharisees; he had acknowledged Jesus. It was plain therefore that Jesus was the Shepherd, and it was also plain that the Pharisees were not among Christs sheep; they might be in the fold, but as they did not recognise and follow Christ they showed that they did not belong to His flock. And Christ trusts still to His own attractiveness and fitness to our needs. It is very remarkable how insufficient an account of their own conversion highly educated persons can give. Professor Cliffords favourite pupil was, like himself, an atheist; but racked by distress on account of Cliffords death, and being obliged to pass through other circumstances fitted to disclose the weakness of human nature, this pupil became an ardent Christian. One reads the record of this conversion expecting to find the reasoning power of the mathematician adding something to the demonstration of Gods personality, or building a sure foundation for Christian faith. There is nothing of the kind. The experience of life gave new meaning to Christs offer and to His revelation-that was all. So too in criticizing Renans Life of Christ, a French critic more profound than himself says: The characteristic thing in this analysis of Christianity is that sin does not appear in it at all. Now if there is anything which explains the success of the Good News among men, it is that it offered deliverance from sin-salvation. It certainly would have been more appropriate to explain a religion religiously, and not to evade the very core of the subject. This Christ in white marble is not He who made the strength of the martyrs. All this just means that if men have no sense of need they will not own Christ; and that if Christs own presence and words do not draw them, they are not to be drawn. Of course much may be done in the way of presenting Christ to men, but beyond the simple exhibition of His person by word or in conduct not much can be done. It is a mystery, often oppressive, that men seem quite unattracted and unmoved by the Figure that so transcends all others, and gives a heart to the world. But Christ is known by His own.

This great fact of the mutual recognition of Christ and His people has an application not only to the first acceptance of Christ by the soul, but also to the Christian experience throughout. A mutual recognition and deep-lying affinity not only at first forms but for ever renews and maintains the bond between Christ and the Christian. He knows His sheep and is known by them. Often they do not know themselves;[35] but the Shepherd knows them. Many of us are frequently brought into doubt of our interest in Christ, but the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. We go astray, and get so torn with thorns, so fouled with mire, that few can tell to what fold we belong-our owners marks are obliterated; but the Good Shepherd in telling His sheep has missed us, and come after us, and recognises and claims us even in our pitiable state. Who could tell to whom we belong when we lie absolutely content with the poisonous pasture of this worlds vanities and rank gains; when the soul is stained with impurity, torn with passion, and has every mark that distinguishes Christs people obscured? Is it surprising we should begin then ourselves to doubt whether we belong to the true fold or whether there is any true fold? Shameful are the places where Christ has found us, among prayerless days, unrestrained indulgences, with hardened heart and cynical thoughts, far from any purpose of good; and still again and again His presence has met us, His voice recalled us, His nearness awakened once more in us the consciousness that with Him we have after all a deeper sympathy than with any besides.

The whole experience of Christ as our Shepherd gives Him an increasing knowledge of us. The shepherd is the first to see the lamb at its birth, and not one day goes by but he visits it. So needful and merciful a work is it that it has no Sabbath, but as on the day of rest the shepherd feeds his own children so he cares for the lambs of his flock, sees that no harm is befalling them, remembers their dependence on him, observes their growth, removes what hinders it, hangs over the pale of the fold, watching with a pleased and fond observance their ways, their beauty, their comfort. And thus he becomes intimately acquainted with his sheep. So Christ becomes increasingly acquainted with us. We have thought much of Him; we have again and again pondered His life, His death, His words. We have endeavoured to understand what He requires of us, and day by day He has somehow been in our thoughts. Not less but far more constantly have we been in His thoughts, not a day has passed without His recurrence to this subject. He has looked upon and considered us, has marked the working of our minds, the forming of our purposes. He knows our habits by watching against them; our propensities by turning us from them. We are not left alone with our awful secret of sin: there is another who comprehends our danger, and is bent upon securing us against it.

Slowly but surely does Christ thus win the confidence of the soul; doing for it a thousand kind offices that are not recognised, patiently waiting for the recognition and love which He knows must at last be given; quietly making Himself indispensable to the soul ere ever it discerns what it is that is bringing to it so new a buoyancy and hope. Slowly but surely grows in every Christian a reciprocal knowledge of Christ. More and more clearly does His Person stand out as the one on whom our expectation must rest. With Him we are brought into connection by every sin of ours, and by every hope. Is it not He before whom and about whom our hearts thrill and tremble time after time with a depth and awe of emotion which nothing else excites? Is it not to Him we owe it that this day we live in peace, knowing that our God is a loving Father? Is it not still His grace we must learn more deeply, His patient righteous way we must more exactly fall in with, if we are to forget our loved sin in the love of God, ourselves in the Eternal One? What is growth in grace but the laying bare of the sinners heart to Christ, fold after fold being removed, till the very core of our being opens to Him and accepts Him, and the reciprocal laying bare of the heart of Christ toward the sinner?

For this growth in mutual understanding must advance till that perfect sympathy is attained which Christ indicates in the words: I know My sheep and am known of Mine, as the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father. The mutual understanding between the Eternal Father and the Son is the only parallel to the mutual understanding of Christ and His people. In the loving union of husband and wife we see how intimate is the understanding, how the one is dissatisfied if any anxiety is not uttered and shared, how there can be no secret on either side. We see how a slight movement, a look, betrays intention more than many words of a stranger could reveal it; we see what confidence in one another is established, how the one is not satisfied until his thought is ratified by the other, his opinion reflected and better judged in the other, his emotion partaken of and again expressed by the other. But even this, though suggestive, is but a suggestion of the mutual intelligence subsisting between the Father and the Son, the absolute confidence in one another, the perfect harmony in purpose and feeling, the delight in knowing and being known. Into this perfect harmony of feeling and of purpose with the Supreme does Christ introduce His people. Gradually their thoughts are disengaged from what is trivial, and expand to take in the designs of the Eternal Mind. Gradually their tastes and affections are loosened from lower attachments, and are wrought to a perfect sympathy with what is holy and abiding.

[35] St. Augustine.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

10:1-42 Chapter 10 continues the series of festival sermons (see study note on 5:1–10:42). Here, the setting is Hanukkah (the Festival of Dedication), the timing of which is crucial to understanding the story (see study note on 10:22).

10:1-21 This illustration of a shepherd and his sheep assumes a Middle Eastern understanding of shepherding and draws on Old Testament tradition deeply embedded in first-century Jewish culture. God was the shepherd of Israel (Gen 49:24; Pss 23; 78:52-53; Isa 40:10-11). Spiritual and political leaders of Israel were also shepherds of God’s people, the flock of God (Isa 56:9-12; Jer 23:1-4; Ezek 34). Jesus’ sermon builds on the occasion of Hanukkah (see John 10:22) to address the theme of shepherds, using this festival as an opportunity to reflect on Israel’s leaders (“shepherds”) in light of Ezek 34. Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd (John 10:11-14).

10:1 A wilderness shepherd would build a sheepfold, a pen with low stone walls topped by thorny branches, to hold his sheep at night and protect them from danger. • The pen had one gate (or opening in the wall) that was closed with branches. Any invasion of the pen was a threat to the flock. • A bad shepherd was like a thief and a robber. He exploited the sheep for his own interests and did not care for or nurture them. Bad shepherds took the sheep’s milk and wool for themselves and butchered the sheep without providing for the animal’s safety (Ezek 34:3; see Isa 56:11; Jer 23:1-4). This was Jesus’ most stinging indictment of the Jewish leaders.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 10:1. Ἀμήν verily) These words are in close connection with those that precede; for the ἐκεῖνοι, Joh 10:6, “they understood not what things they were which He spake,” has reference to ch. Joh 9:40, “The Pharisees—heard these words, and said, Are we blind also?” [And indeed we may suppose that this parabolic discourse, Joh 10:1-5, was delivered at a point of time mid-way between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication (Joh 10:22); for Joh 10:21, “Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” refers back to the miracle that was wrought next after the Feast of Tabernacles; and the words which He put forth at the Feast of Dedication, Joh 10:26-30 (containing the same image, sheep), refer to that parabolic discourse (Joh 10:1-5).—Harm., p. 363.]—διὰ τῆς θύρας, through the door) through Christ: Joh 10:9, “I am the door.” Only one legitimate way of access lies open; all others are closed.—εἰς τὴν αὐλήν, into the sheep-fold) concerning which, Joh 10:16, “There shall be one fold and one Shepherd.”—τῶν προβάτων, of the sheep) This allegory is continued as far as to ver, 30. And sheep seem to have been before His eyes at the time.—ἀναβαίνων, climbing up) over the fence.—κλέπτης καὶ λῃστής, a thief and robber) Joh 10:8, “All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers.”

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_10:1.[58] The new chapter ought to have begun with Joh_9:35; for Joh_10:1-21 constitute one act with Joh_9:35-41, as is evident both from the circumstance that Joh_10:1 ff. follow immediately without the slightest indication of a change having taken place, and also from Joh_10:6 (comp. Joh_9:41). The parable is therefore still addressed to the Pharisees of chap. 9; as Joh_10:21 also shows by the reference which it contains to the healing of the blind man.

ἀμὴν ἀμὴν, etc.] After the punitive words of Joh_9:41, Jesus now, with solemn earnestness, and through the medium of a parable, unveils to them how their hostile relation to Him, in rejecting Him, whilst at the same time regarding themselves as the leaders of the people of God, necessarily made them the corrupters of the nation. His discourse proceeds, however, without any objection or contradiction being raised by His opponents; for they did not understand the figure, Joh_10:6; many also fail to understand the explanation, and despise the speaker as crazy (Joh_10:20); whilst others, again, yield to the impression made by the penetrating truth of His words (Joh_10:21). It happened, accordingly, that Jesus was able to carry out the beautiful allegory (Joh_10:6) in all its detail, without interruption, as it were in one breath; and had therefore, at its close, nothing further to do than to let the words spoken produce their natural impression. Their primary effect was a division among His hearers (Joh_10:19), in accordance with Joh_9:39; such as had already showed itself in Joh_9:16.

ὁ μὴ εἰσερχόμενος, etc.] The flocks of sheep spent the night in a fold (αὐλή, גְּדֵרָה) surrounded by a wall, at whose gate an under-shepherd (ὁ θυρωρός, Joh_10:3) kept watch during the night. See especially Bochart, Hieroz. I. p. 482, ed. Rosenm. Opposed to the ΕἸΣΕΡΧΌΜ. ΔΙᾺ Τ. ΘΎΡΑς (the emphasis lies on the last word) is the ἈΝΑΒΑΊΝΩΝ ἈΛΛΑΧΌΘΕΝ, who gets up (on to the wall, for the purpose of coming into the αὐλή, over it) from elsewhere, i.e. from another direction than that indicated by the gate. There is only one gate. On ἀλλαχόθεν, which is equivalent to the old classical ἄλλοθεν, see Ael. H. A. 7. 10; V. H. 6. 2; 4Ma_1:7.

κλέπτ. κ. λῃστής] Thief and robber; a climactic strengthening of the idea (Bornemann, Scholia in Lucam, p. xxx.; Lobeck, Paralip. p. 60 f.); the individual features, however, of the soul-destroying, selfish procedure thus indicated (Eze_34:8; Mal_2:8; Jer_23:1) are not to be dissevered.

For the explanation of the figure we must note,(1) The αὐλὴ τῶν προβάτων is the Church of the people of God, whose members are the πρόβατα (comp. Psalms 23, Ps. 77:21, Psa_95:7, Psa_100:3), conceived in their totality as the future community of the Messianic kingdom (Joh_21:16 f.); comp. Mat_25:32, consequently as to their theocratic destination (ideally). It is in itself correct, indeed, as to substance, to assume a reference to the predestinated (Augustine, Lampe) (though not in the Augustinian sense); but in form it introduces something foreign to the context. (2) The ΘΎΡΑ is not to be left without its proper signification (Lücke, De Wette); nor to be taken as denoting in general the legitimus ordo, the divine calling, the approach ordained by God, and the like (Maldonatus, Tholuck, Luthardt, Brückner, Hengstenberg, Godet, and several others); but Christ Himself is the door; indeed, He Himself in Joh_10:7 expressly thus interprets the point, because His hearers had failed to understand it.[59] The true leaders of the theocratic people can enter on their vocation in no other way than through Him; He must qualify and commission them; He must be the mediator of their relation to the sheep. Quite a different position was taken up by the Pharisees; independently of Him, and in an unbelieving and hostile spirit towards Him, they arrogated to themselves the position of the leaders of the people of God. It is thoroughly arbitrary to assume that Jesus did not here intend by the figure of the gate to denote Himself, notwithstanding the distinct declaration contained in Joh_10:9. Chrysostom, Ammonius, Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, and several others, have perversely interpreted the doors of the Holy Scriptures. Ipse textus addit imagini interpretationem qua contenti simus, Melancthon.

[58] On the parable, see Fritzsche in Fritzschior. Opusc. p. 1 ff.; Voretzsch, Diss. de John x. 118, Altenb. 1838.

[59] Comp. Ignat. ad Philad. 9, where Christ is termed θύρα τοῦ πατρός; also Herm. Past. 3; Sim. 9. 12.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 10:1 . Ἀμὴν … λῃστής . The αὐλή , or sheepfold, into which the sheep were gathered for safety every night, is described as being very similar to folds in some parts of our own country; a walled, unroofed enclosure. The θύρα , however, is not as with us a hurdle or gate, but a solid door heavily barred and capable of resisting attack. This door is watched by a θυρωρός [door-guard, for root “or” vide Spratt’s Thucyd. , iii. p. 132], who in the morning opened to the shepherd. He who does not appeal to the θυρωρός but climbs up over the wall by some other way (lit. from some other direction: ἀλλαχόθεν , which is used in later Greek for the Attic ἄλλοθεν ) is κλέπτης καὶ λῃστής , a “thief” who uses fraud and a “robber” who is prepared to use violence. That is to say, his method of entrance, being illegitimate, declares that he has no right to the sheep.

Joh 9:35 to Joh 10:21 . The good and the hireling shepherds .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chap.

10:1-21.] Of true and false shepherds. Jesus the good Shepherd. This discourse is connected with the preceding miracle; and the conduct of the Pharisees towards the man who had been blind, seems to have given occasion to this description of false shepherds, which again introduces the testimony of Jesus to Himself as the true Shepherd. So that, as Meyer remarks, the paragraph should begin at ch. 9:35 properly. The more we study carefully this wonderful Gospel, the more we shall see that the idea of this close connexion is never to be summarily dismissed as imaginary, and that our Evangelist never “passes without notice to an entirely different and disjointed occurrence or discourse,” as I stated in some of my earlier editions. See on the whole subject of the parable, Jer 23:1-4: Eze_34: Zec 11:4-17.

These opening verses (to ver. 5) set forth the distinction between false and true shepherds. Then (vv. 7, 8, 9) He brings in Himself, as the door, by which both shepherds and sheep enter the fold. Then (ver. 10) He returns to the imagery of the first verses, and sets forth Himself as the Good Shepherd; and the rest (to ver. 18) is occupied with the results and distinctions dependent on that fact.

1. τὴν αὐλ.] ὁ περιτετειχισμένος κ. ὕπαιθρος τόπος (Phavorinus, Lücke ii. 403); just answering, except in this being a permanent enclosure, to our fold. This fold is the visible Church of God, primarily, as His people Israel were His peculiar fold; the possibility of there being other folds has been supposed to be alluded to in ver. 16: but see note there.

The terms in this first part are general, and apply to all leaders of God’s people; in ver. 1, to those who enter that office without having come in by the door (i.e. Christ, in the large sense, in which the O.T. faithful looked to and trusted in Him, as the covenant promise of Israel’s God); and in ver. 2 to those who do enter this way; and whosoever does is the shepherd of the sheep (not emphatic,—not, ‘the Good Shepherd,’ as below, ver. 11, but here it is merely predicated of one who thus enters, that he is the shepherd of that particular fold: it is the attribute of a shepherd thus to enter).

The sheep throughout this parable are not the mingled multitude of good and bad; but the real sheep, the faithful, who are, what all in the fold should be. The false sheep (goats, Mat 25:32) do not appear; for it is not the character of the flock, but that of the shepherd, and the relation between him and his sheep, which is here prominent.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:1. ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν. For this solemn prelude to sayings or discourses of special significance, see on 1:51. It is never used abruptly to introduce a fresh topic, out of connexion with what has gone before, nor does it begin a new discourse. It always has reference to something that has been said already, which is expanded or set in a new light (cf. 8:34, 51, 58). Thus it introduces here the allegory of the sheep in the fold who recognise their shepherd, which arises out of the pronouncements in vv. 26-29. To begin this allegory by “Verily, verily,” is exactly in the Johannine manner.

Verses 1-5 are a παροιμία of general application, of which Jesus explains the reference to Himself and His flock in vv. 7-16.

The αὐλὴν τῶν προβάτων is the open courtyard in front of the house, where the sheep were folded for the night. The word is used thus in Homer, where the Trojans are compared to ὄϊες πολυπάμονος ἀνδρὸς ἐν αὐλῇ (Iliad, iv. 433). So Josephus represents Abraham as sitting παρὰ τῇ θύρᾳ τῆς αὐτοῦ αὐλῆς, where the LXX has σκηνῆς (Gen 18:1; cf. Antt. 1. xi. 2). A shepherd, who had access to the courtyard, would naturally come in and go out by the θύρα. See on v. 16; and cf. 18:15, 16 for these terms.

ἀλλὰ ἀναβαίνων ἀλλαχόθεν, “but one climbing up another way,” sc. a man who gets over the wall into the courtyard. ἀλλαχόθεν (4 Macc. 1:7) is a legitimate form for ἄλλοθεν, and is found in the papyri (see Moulton-Milligan, s.v.). It does not occur elsewhere in the N.T.

ἐκεῖνος, inserted for explicitness, as Jn. so frequently uses it (see on 1:8).

κλέπτης ἐστὶν καὶ λῃστής, “is a thief and a robber”; he has, presumably, come to steal the sheep and to carry them off with violence. See further on v. 8. κλέπτης is used again of Judas (12:6) and λῃστής of Barabbas (18:40). Cf. Oba 1:5 for κλέπται and λῃσταί coming by night.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Second Section: 10:1-21. The First Discourse.

The following discourse includes three parables: that of the shepherd (Joh 10:1-6), that of the gate (Joh 10:7-10), and that of the good shepherd (Joh 10:11-18); the section closes with an historical conclusion (Joh 10:19-21). This discourse is not, like those of chaps. 5 and 6, the development of a theme relating to the person of Christ, and suggested by the miracle which had preceded. Jesus does not explain here, on occasion of the healing of the man born blind, how He is the light of the world (Joh 10:4). But the discourse is, nevertheless, in close connection with the facts related in the preceding chapter; it is, properly speaking, only the reproduction of those facts in a parabolic form. The violent breaking in of the thieves into the sheepfold represents the tyrannical measures of the Pharisees in the theocracy, measures of which the ninth chapter has just presented a specimen; the attraction which the voice of the shepherd exercises upon the sheep and the fidelity with which they continue to follow his steps, recalls the simple and persevering faith of the blind man; finally, Jesus’ action, full of tenderness towards this maltreated and insulted man, is found again in the picture of the good shepherd intervening on behalf of his sheep.

These three parables form three progressive pictures. On the occasion of the violent expulsion of the man born blind, Jesus sees the true Messianic flock separating itself from the ancient Israelitish community and grouping itself around Him; this is the first picture, Joh 10:1-6. Then, He describes the glorious prerogatives which, by His means, the flock once formed shall enjoy, in contrast to the cruel fate which is reserved for the ancient flock which remained under the egoistic and mischievous direction of its present leaders; this is the second picture, Joh 10:7-10. Finally, He places in a clear light the sentiment which is the soul of His Messianic ministry: disinterested love of the flock, in contrast to the mercenary spirit of the earlier shepherds; this is the third picture, Joh 10:11-18. We see that there is nothing vague or commonplace in these descriptions. They are the faithful reflection of the state of things at the very moment when Jesus was speaking. Thus three ideas: 1. The way in which the Messiah forms His flock; 2. The way in which He feeds it; 3. The motive which urges Him to act thus; and in each case, as a contrast, the description of the ministry opposed to His own, as the theocracy at that time presented the example of it.

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

Vv. 1-21.

1. Meyer says that the new chapter should begin with Joh 9:35. This is correct, at least so far as the close connection of the early verses of this chapter with Joh 9:35 ff. is concerned. This connection is manifest from the opening words of the chapter, there being no words of transition or indication of any other day or place. The figure which is employed is one which might easily be suggested by the circumstances, and needs no special explanation. The blind man’s case illustrates that of the sheep which hears the voice of its own shepherd, while the action of the Pharisees is that of the thieves and robbers. This connection shows that, not only in Joh 10:1, but also in Joh 10:8, the persons referred to are those who, like the Pharisees, professed to be the religious guides and teachers of the people, but who were not in the prophetic line which ended in the coming of the true Messiah.

2. Godet holds that there are three parables in this passage—that of the shepherd, that of the door, and that of the Good Shepherd. Perhaps it is more correct to say that there is one formal parable (comp. Joh 10:6), and that, while lingering within the sphere of this, Jesus presents Himself in two aspects which are easily suggested by it. The true explanation of Joh 10:8 is, again, indicated by this immediate connection of ideas. The thieves and robbers of Joh 10:8 are such as are not in union with Him and not in that Divine line in which He comes.

3. The parable, Joh 10:1-5, presents the two ideas of the door and the shepherd, as related to the matter of access to the sheep and their listening to the voice of the one who enters. Jesus afterwards declares that He is the door, and also that He is the shepherd (the Good Shepherd). The true view of the passage seems, therefore, to be this: that the matter is presented in a more general way at first, and then the more specific application is made afterwards. This blind man who had now been healed listens to Jesus and rejects the Pharisees, as the sheep listen to the voice of their own shepherd and flee from a stranger. He and all who have susceptibility to the truth recognize the teacher who brings it and refuse the one who does not. They are of the truth, and therefore they know it when they hear it. In the parable, accordingly, we may believe that the words door, etc., are to be regarded as belonging to the figurative representation only, the whole being designed to bring out the thought just mentioned. Only after Joh 10:6 are we to look for the individual and personal application of the particular words. The question which has been raised by some writers, therefore, as to a personal reference in θυρωρός of Joh 10:3 (whether to Moses, John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit, or some other), is at once set aside, no such reference being intended. This word does not occur in the part of the passage which follows Joh 10:6. This view of the passage, also, explains the last part of the sixth verse most satisfactorily. The Pharisees who were with Jesus, Joh 9:35 ff., did not understand as yet, because the parable was as yet presented in a general way. What follows is of the nature of an explanation, such as is added to the parables in some other cases. The wordπαροιμία does not seem to correspond exactly with παραβολή, which is used by the Synoptics, and in the present instance the preceding verses, to which it refers, contain an allegory rather than an ordinary parable of the narrative order.

4. The expression “I am the door of the sheep” (Joh 10:7) may mean the door of entrance to the sheep, or the door for the sheep. The correspondence of εἰσέλθῃ with εἰσερχόμενος of Joh 10:2 favors the former view, but the words shall be saved, shall find pasture, and that they may have life point very strongly towards the other explanation. In a passage where there is such a manifest freedom in changing the thought from verse to verse (comp. Joh 10:9; Joh 10:11), it cannot be regarded as necessary to limit our interpretation of these expressions by those of Joh 10:2. If such limitation is not forced upon us, the argument derived from the other elements in the case leads to the conclusion that Jesus is speaking of the door by which the sheep may go in and go out. The opening of this door gives free access to the sources of life, which the sheep may find quietly and peacefully. But the thieves and robbers, who cannot open the door, but climb over the wall of the inclosure, come only to destroy.

5. The thought now turns to a comparison of Christ with the shepherd. The transition is apparently suggested, or is, at least, easily made through the words of the last clause of Joh 10:10. He is not only the shepherd, but the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep. From the necessity of the case, this change from the figure of the door to that of the shepherd is accompanied by a change from the thief to the hireling, as representing the Pharisaic leaders. The sphere of thought now is that of dangers to the flock from enemies—the shepherd protects them at the risk of life, the hireling flees. The repetition of the phrase lays down his life, in Joh 10:15; Joh 10:17-18, however, and the presentation of the same idea in other places in this Gospel, seem to indicate something more than this primary idea which belongs to the passage—namely, a reference to the death which He was about to suffer for the redemption of His people. The reaching out of the thought to this greater idea is seen especially in the following verses, Joh 10:14 ff., where the relation of the shepherd and the sheep is more fully brought out—with reference to the intimate knowledge which each has of the other, and the gift which the former makes for the latter.

6. It is in connection with this wider reach of the thought that the reference to the ingathering of the Gentiles is introduced in Joh 10:16. The παροιμία thus widens at the end into an application to the consummated kingdom of God in the world. Beginning with the comparison of Jesus Himself with the Pharisaic teachers, which was suggested by the case of this man who had been healed and then had believed, it terminates with a vision of the future which was to follow after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

7. Joh 10:17-18 now add the thoughts which fundamentally belong to this matter of His sacrifice of Himself for the sheep— that He lays down His life with the purpose of taking it again; that He does this voluntarily, and not by the greater force of another; that this power to lay it down and resume it He has as a prerogative belonging to Himself; that He does the whole work in accordance with the commission and command of His Father. The addition of these thoughts, which are naturally suggested as following upon what had been said in the development and explanation of the παροιμία, served to bring the minds of the hearers and the disciples back to what was set forth in ch. 8 of the relation of Jesus to the Father and His Divine origin, and in this way to complete the whole extended discourse from Joh 7:37 to this point. To the minds of the disciples, as they reflected upon this parable and what followed it—especially as, in their subsequent remembrance of the words, they understood the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection and of the opening of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and as they came to know more fully in their own experience the union of soul between themselves and the Good Shepherd—the words here recorded must have become, in a peculiar sense, an added proof that Jesus was the Son of God, the source of life. It cannot be thought strange, by any candid person, that the story of this blind man should have made an ineffaceable impression on the mind of John, and that the details of it and of the remarkable words which followed it should have been inserted by him among the signs which Jesus did in the presence of His disciples.

Vv. 1-5. “Verily, verily, I say unto you that he who does not enter by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; 2 but he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3. To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by their name and leads them out. 4. And when he has put forth all his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice; 5 they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.”

This picture deserves the name of allegory rather than that of parable. In the parable, there is a story which assumes a form independent up to a certain point of the moral application; in the allegory, the application makes itself felt immediately through every feature of the representation: the image does not take a form independent of the thought. The parable is a picture, the allegory a transparency. The Synoptics also present pictures of this sort; for example, that of the leaven and the grain of mustard-seed.

It has been supposed that the figures employed here by Jesus must have been borrowed from the spectacle which He had before His eyes at this very moment; that it was the hour when the shepherds brought back their flocks from the surrounding country into the city of Jerusalem; and this supposition might be extended to the second picture by holding that Jesus was near the sheep-gate when He uttered the words of Joh 10:7 ff. These suppositions have no impossibility. But as Jesus, in the preceding discourses, has applied to Himself several theocratic symbols, it is possible that He continues the same method. David invoked the Lord as his shepherd (Psalms 23). Jehovah, in His highest manifestation, as Messiah, was represented by the prophets as the shepherd of Israel: Isa 40:11; Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 11. The last passage in particular offers a quite remarkable analogy to the present situation. Like the shepherd of Zechariah, Jesus at this moment, after having vainly sought to gather Israel, renounces the hope of saving the nation; and leaving to the Pharisees (the foolish shepherd of whom Zechariah speaks) the direction of the main portion of the flock, He confines himself to bringing out of this fold which is about to be destroyed the few poor sheep who, like this blind man, look to Him.

Lucke correctly observes that the formula amen, amen, never begins anything altogether new. It unites closely what follows with what precedes, either as a confirmation or as an antithesis. A sheep-fold in the East is not a covered building, like our stables: it is a simple inclosure, surrounded by a palisade or wall. The sheep are taken into it in the evening. Several flocks are ordinarily brought together in such an inclosure. The shepherds, after having committed them to the care of a common keeper, the porter, who, during the night, is charged with watching over their safety, return to their homes; in the morning, they return and knock at the door of the inclosure which is strongly fastened; the keeper opens it. They then separate each one his own sheep, by calling to them, and after having gathered their flock lead them to pasturage.

As for robbers, it is by climbing the wall of the inclosure that they try to enter into the fold. To recall to mind these details which Bochart has described in his Hierozoicon, and which are confirmed by modern travelers, is almost to have explained our allegory. It is impossible for me to understand how Weiss can deny that the sheepfold denotes the theocracy, or more exactly the Kingdom of God in its preparatory form. According to him, this figure does not have in itself any value and is only a condition for the setting forth of two different ways of acting, that of the shepherd and that of the robbers, which are to be described. But Joh 10:16 says quite plainly that Israel is the αὐλή, the inclosure of the sheep. There is a shade of difference between theκλεπτής or thief and the ληστής or robber; the second term suggests a more marked degree of violence and audacity than the first. The one steals, the other slaughters. Jesus means to describe thereby the audacity full of cunning with which the Pharisees had succeeded in establishing their authority in the inclosure of the people of God, beyond the limits of any charge instituted by God. Nothing in the law, indeed, justified the mission which this party had arrogated to itself in Israel, and the despotic power which it exercised. In opposition to this unauthorized ministry, the figure of the door quite naturally designates the legitimate entrance, consequently a divinely instituted function—in the context, especially the Messianic office announced and prefigured in the whole of the Old Testament.

We need not allow ourselves to be turned aside from this altogether natural sense of the figure, as it results from the contrast between Joh 10:1-2, by the declaration of Jesus in Joh 10:7. That verse is not the explanation of the present parable; it is the beginning of a new parable in which different, although analogous, figures are freely employed in the service of an altogether different idea. Some interpreters,Lucke, Meyer, Reuss, Luthardt, etc., regard the door in this first parable as representing the person of the Lord Himself. Consequently they see in the shepherds who enter in by the door the true leaders of the sheep, who are introduced to them by Jesus. But with what fitness would Jesus proceed to speak here of the future pastors of His Church? Still if the disciples had played a part in the preceding narrative, this might help us to understand an anticipation which is so improbable! The door represents the Messianic office divinely instituted and forming the legitimate entrance into the theocracy prepared for its normal leader, the shepherd, that is to say, the Messiah. Undoubtedly, the word ποιμήν, shepherd, is in the Greek without an article, and consequently an adjective word. It designates the quality, not the individual: he who enters as shepherd (opposed to: as robber). But this form does not at all prevent the application of this figure to Jesus (Joh 10:12).

He who comes in the character of shepherd has no need, like a robber, to scale the wall of the inclosure: the porter opens to him. Who is this porter? Quite naturally: he who is charged by God with introducing the Messiah into His divine office. Can it be, as Bengel, Hengstenberg andGess think, the Father, who draws souls to the Son (Joh 6:44)? But God, the owner of the flock, cannot be fitly represented as a servant of an inferior order, subordinate to the shepherd himself. According to Stier and Lange, He is the Holy Spirit: the same objection. Moreover, Jesus must designate by this figure an historical function, a ministry as positive as that of the Messiah Himself. According to Chrysostom, he is Moses, inasmuch as the law leads to Christ. This is very far fetched and refined. Lampe understood by the porter all those who were expecting Christ in Israel, and more especially John the Baptist. It seems to me that the nature of things and the beginning of our Gospel prove very clearly that Jesus, in expressing Himself in this way, thought of the forerunner and of the forerunner only. God had raised up John the Baptist expressly to point out the Messiah to the people and to introduce Him into their midst: “There appeared a man sent from God to bear testimony to the light, to the end that all might believe through him” (Joh 1:6-7). It was he whose testimony had brought to Jesus His first believing followers, and should have opened to Him the heart of the whole people. As to those who, like Lucke, de Wette, Meyer, Luthardt, Weiss, see in this point only an embellishment of the picture without application, there is no argument, properly so called, to oppose them. This is a matter of feeling. My impression is that every point in this picture answers to an historical reality.

It is not only the mode of entrance which distinguishes the shepherd from the robber; it is also the manner in which, when he has once entered, he acts towards the flock. The robber lays hold of the sheep by violent measures; the shepherd simply makes them hear his voice, and his sheep, immediately recognizing it, separate themselves from among those which belong to other shepherds and come to gather around him. The words: the sheep hear his voice, might refer to all the sheep contained in the inclosure, and the words which follow: his own sheep, apply solely to the sheep of the Messiah.

But the expression: hear his voice, is used throughout all this passage in too internal a sense to apply to the purely outward hearing, as would be the case with the first sense. It appears to me, therefore, that it is better to apply the first words of Joh 10:3 already to the sheep of the Messiah in the theocracy, and that, if Jesus afterwards adds the epithet ἴδια (his own), it is, not to distinguish them from the preceding, but to emphasize the altogether new value which they acquire for His heart, when once, through the act of faith, they have really become His. These remarkable expressions rest upon the fact that between the voice of the Messiah and the heart of believers there exists a pre- established harmony, in virtue of which they recognize Him immediately when He shows Himself and speaks. This fact of which the experience of the first disciples (chap. 1), as well as that of the whole Church, bears witness, is explained by what has been said in the Prologue of the original pouring forth of life and light from the Logos into the human soul (Joh 1:4; Joh 1:10). It was from such words as those of our passage that John had derived that profound thought.

The shepherd pronounces the particular name of each one of the sheep—this is the sense of the reading φωςεῖ —or he summons them to follow him by calling them by their name; this is what the reading καλεῖ signifies. In both cases, the question is of something more special than the general call to faith indicated by the words his voice. When they have once come to Him with faith, He gives them a sign of recognition and favor which is altogether personal. The name, in the Scriptures, is, as Hengstenberg says, the expression of the personality. This special designation which is given to each sheep is the proof of the most individual knowledge and the most intimate tenderness. Recall the name of Peter given to Simon (Joh 1:43), and the apostrophe: Mary (Joh 20:16), in which Jesus sums up all that Mary is to Him and all that He is to her. Recall also the “Believest thou?” addressed to the blind man who was cured, Joh 9:35.

In the general picturing of the parable, the words: “And he leads them out,” designate the act of the shepherd leading his flock to pasturage. But the question is whether this feature refers only to the care which every shepherd gives daily to his flock, or whether it is not intended here to describe a definite historical situation: the going forth of the Messianic flock from the theocratic inclosure devoted to ruin. This sense only seems to me to correspond to the idea of the entrance of the Messiah into the sheepfold. In this is a historical fact to which that of the going forth of the shepherd and his sheep answers. Reuss resorts to ridicule, as usual: “If,” he says, “the question were of making the believers go forth from the ancient theocracy, these same believers would be found two lines below entering it again” (alluding to Joh 10:9 : will go in and go out). But this critic forgets that this last expression is borrowed from another parable, where the figures, as we shall see, take an altogether different meaning. Jesus has recognized the signal of the inevitable separation in the treatment to which the man who was born blind has been subjected, in his violent expulsion (Joh 9:34), as well as in the decree of excommunication which strikes Him Himself in the person of his adherents (Joh 9:22); in general, in the violent hostility of which He sees Himself to be the object (chaps. 7 and 8). And it is the result of this condition of things which He describes in the term to lead out, as in the words: he calls them, He had described the historical formation of His flock.

Thus the shepherd has called and then has given a mark of tenderness to the sheep who have come to gather themselves about him; and now he causes them to go forth from the inclosure where they had been shut up. The term ἐκβάλλειν, to drive, cast forth, Joh 10:4, sets forth with emphasis the principal idea of the passage, as we have just pointed it out. This word designates an energetic and almost rough act by which the shepherd helps the sheep, which still hesitates, to break away from the other sheep of the fold and to give itself up to the chances of the new existence which the shepherd’s call opens before it. The rest of the verse describes the life of the Messianic flock, thus formed, in the spiritual pastures into which its divine leader introduces it, then the persevering fidelity of the sheep, of which that of the blind man has just offered an example, and finally the intimate relation which exists henceforth between these sheep and their shepherd. There is great tenderness in the words: “When he has put them forth, he goes before them.” While they were still in the inclosure, he remained behind to put them forth, that there might not be a single one left (πάντα, all, according to the Alexandrian text). But when the departure is once accomplished, He places Himself at their head, in order that He may lead the flock. We see how accurate are the slightest features of the picture. Οἴδασι, they know, means more than ἀκούει, they hear (Joh 10:3); the latter term designated the acceptance of the first call; the other refers to the more advanced personal knowledge which results from daily intercourse. Hence it is, no doubt, that we have the plural οἴδασι following the singular forms which precede.

All along the way which the sheep follow, strange voices make themselves heard, on the right hand and the left, which seek to turn them aside from the steps of the shepherd; they are those of thieves who, not being able to play openly the part of robbers, use means of seduction or intimidation, as did the Pharisees in the preceding scene (Joh 9:14-40). But they succeed no better in breaking the bond which has been formed, than these had succeeded by violence in preventing its formation. The sheep is for the future made familiar with the voice of the shepherd, so that every voice which is not his produces upon it a strange and repellant effect.

We have already refuted the interpretation of those who apply this picture to the pastors of the new covenant. Their principal reason (Joh 10:7 : I am the door) has no weight, the two pictures being different, as we shall see. The figure changes, in any case, from the second to the third parable; comp. Joh 10:7 : “I am the door;” and Joh 10:11 : “I am the good shepherd.” Why not also from the first to the second? The application to Christian pastors wholly breaks the connection of the discourse, both with the preceding scene, and with the situation of the work of Christ at this moment, and finally with the representation of the development of the national unbelief which is the object of this whole part of the Gospel.

In this passage there comes out anew, in the clearest way, the idea of the organic unity of the Old and New Covenant, an idea of which Reuss and the Tubingen school assert that no trace is to be found in the fourth Gospel.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seeing that by Christ only we have access to the Father, there are neither other true shepherds, than those which come to Christ themselves, and bring others thither also, neither is any to be thought the true sheepfold, but that which is gathered to Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

CHAPTER X.

Christ speaks the parable of the sheepfold, 1-6.

Proclaims himself the door of the sheepfold, 7-10,

and the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep,

11-18.

The Jews are again divided, and some revile and some vindicate

our Lord, 19-21.

His discourse with the Jews at the temple, on the feast of

dedication, 22-29.

Having asserted that he was one with the Father, the Jews

attempt to stone him, 30, 31.

He vindicates his conduct, and appeals to his works, 32-38.

They strive to apprehend him; he escapes, and retires beyond

Jordan, 39, 40.

Many resort to and believe on him there, 41, 42.

NOTES ON CHAP. X.

Verse 1. Verily, verily, c.] From Joh 10:6, we learn that this is a parable, i.e. a representation of heavenly things through the medium of earthly things. Some think our Lord delivered this discourse immediately after that mentioned in the preceding chapter others think it was spoken not less than three months after. The former, says Bishop Pearce, was spoken at the feast of tabernacles, see chap. 7, or about the end of September, and this at the feast of dedication, or in December. See Joh 10:22.

Christ, says Calmet, having declared himself to be the light of the world, which should blind some while it illuminated others, Joh 9:41, continues his discourse, and, under the similitude of a shepherd and his flock, shows that he was about to form his Church of Jews and Gentiles, and that into it he would admit none but those who heard his voice. The unbelieving and presumptuous Jews, who despised his doctrine, are the sheep which hear not the voice of the shepherd: the proud and self-sufficient Pharisees are those who imagine they see clearly while they are blind. The blind who become illuminated are the Gentiles and Jews who turn from their sins and believe in Jesus.

The light of the world, the good shepherd, and the door which leads into the sheepfold, are all to be understood as meaning Jesus Christ; the hireling shepherds, the wilfully blind; the murderers and robbers are the false Christs, false prophets, scribes, Pharisees, wicked hireling priests, and ungodly ministers of all sorts, whether among primitive Jews or modern Christians.

Our Lord introduces this discourse in a most solemn manner, Verily, verily!-Amen, amen!-it is true, it is true! - a Hebraism for, This is a most important and interesting truth; a truth of the utmost concern to mankind. At all times our Lord speaks what is infallibly true; but when he delivers any truths with this particular asseveration, it is either,

1. Because they are of greater importance; or,

2. because the mind of man is more averse from them; or,

3. because the small number of those who will practise them may render them incredible. Quesnel.

He that entereth not by the door] Christ assures us, Joh 10:7, that he is the door; whoever, therefore, enters not by Jesus Christ into the pastoral office, is no other than a thief and a robber in the sheepfold. And he enters not by Jesus Christ who enters with a prospect of any other interest besides that of Christ and his people. Ambition, avarice, love of ease, a desire to enjoy the conveniences of life, to be distinguished from the crowd, to promote the interests of one's family, and even the sole design of providing against want-these are all ways by which thieves and robbers enter into the Church. And whoever enters by any of these ways, or by simony, craft, solicitation, c. deserves no better name. Acting through motives of self-interest, and with the desire of providing for himself and his family, are innocent, yea, laudable, in a secular business but to enter into the ministerial office through motives of this kind is highly criminal before God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1. Verily, verily, I say to you. As Christ had to do with scribes and priests, who were reckoned pastors of the Church, it was necessary that they should be divested of the honor of this title, if he wished his doctrine to be received. The small number of believers might also diminish greatly the authority of his doctrine. He therefore contends that we ought not to reckon, in the number of shepherds or of sheep, all who outwardly claim a place in the Church. But we shall never be able, by means of this mark, to distinguish the lawful shepherds from the reprobate, and the true sheep from the counterfeit, if all have the same object, and beginning, and end.

This warning has been highly useful in all ages, and in the present day it is especially necessary. No plague is more destructive to the Church, than when wolves ravage under the garb of shepherds We know also how grievous an offense it is, when bastard or degenerate Israelites pretend to be the sons of the Church, and, on this pretense, insult believers. But in the present day, there is nothing by which weak and ignorant persons are more alarmed, than when they see the sanctuary of God occupied by the greatest enemies of the Church; for it is not easy to make them understand, that it is the doctrine of Christ which the shepherds of the Church so fiercely resist. Besides, as the greater part of men are led into various errors by false doctrines, while the views and expectations of each person are directed to others, scarcely any person permits himself to be conducted into the right path.

We must therefore, above all things, guard against being deceived by pretended shepherds or counterfeit sheep, if we do not choose, of our own accord, to expose ourselves to wolves and thieves The name of “The Church” is highly honorable, and justly so; but the greater the reverence which it deserves, so much the more careful and attentive ought we to be in marking the distinction between true and false doctrine. Christ here declares openly, that we ought not to reckon as shepherds all who boast of being such, and that we ought not to reckon as sheep all who boast of outward marks. He speaks of the Jewish Church, but what he says applies equally well to our own. We ought also to consider his purpose and design, that weak consciences may not be alarmed or discouraged, when they perceive that they who rule in the Church, instead of pastors or shepherds, are hostile or opposed to the Gospel; and that they may not turn aside from the faith, because they have few fellow-disciples, in listening to Christ, among those who are called Christians.

He who entereth not by the door. It is useless, I think, to scrutinize too closely every part of this parable. Let us rest satisfied with this general view, that, as Christ states a resemblance between the Church and a sheepfold, in which God assembles all his people, so he compares himself to a door, because there is no other entrance into the Church but by himself. Hence it follows that they alone are good shepherds who lead men straight to Christ; and that they are truly gathered into the fold of Christ, so as to belong to his flock, who devote themselves to Christ alone.

But all this relates to doctrine; for, since

all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, (Colossians 2:3,)

he who turns aside from him to go elsewhere neither keeps the road nor enters by the door. Now, whoever shall not despise Christ or his instructor will easily rid himself of that hesitation which keeps so many in a state of perplexity, what is the Church, and who are they to whom we ought to listen as shepherds For if they who are called shepherds attempt to lead us away from Christ, we ought to flee from them, at the command of Christ, as we would flee from wolves or thieves; and we ought not to form or maintain intercourse with any society but that which is agreed in the pure faith of the Gospel. For this reason Christ exhorts his disciples to separate themselves from the unbelieving multitude of the whole nation, not to suffer themselves to be governed by wicked priests, and not to allow themselves to be imposed upon by proud and empty names.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(1) Verily, verily, I say unto you.—This formula is not used at the beginning of a fresh discourse, but is, in every case, the solemn introduction of some development of our Lord’s deeper teaching. (Comp. Note on Joh_1:51.) We are not, then, to regard this chapter as a new subject, but as part of the teaching commenced in Joh_9:35, and arising out of the sign of healing the blind man. This sign is present to their thoughts at the close of the discourse, in Joh_10:21.

He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold.—The special form which the discourse here takes has been thought, with a probability which does not fall far short of certainty, due to the actual presence of a sheepfold with the shepherds and their flocks. (See Joh_5:2.) We know that Bethesda was near the “sheepgate,” and we have seen that it is not improbably to be identified with a covered portion of the Pool of Siloam. (See Note on Joh_5:2.) In any case, there must have been sheepfolds sufficiently near to make it possible that they had arrived at one, and the change in the central points of the allegory find their most natural explanation in thoughts of the shifting scene on which it is based. The description of such a scene, by Bochart, written more than two centuries ago, has been borne out by all modern travellers. We have to think of an open fold, surrounded by a wall or railing, into which, at eventide, the shepherds lead their flocks, committing them, during the night, to the care of an under-shepherd, who guards the door. In the morning they knock and the porter opens the door, which has been securely fastened during the night, and each shepherd calls his own sheep, who know his voice and follow him to the pasturage. (Comp. Thomson, The Land and the Book, vol. i., pp. 299-302.)

It is to some part of such a scene as this, passing before our Lord’s eye as He taught, that we have to trace the words which follow. But we must remember that His mind and theirs were full of thoughts ready to pass into a train like this. “Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers” (Gen_47:3), was the statement of the first sons of Israel, and it was true of their descendants. This truth was bound up with their whole history. The greatest heroes of Israel—Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David—had all been shepherds, and no imagery is more frequent in prophecy or psalm than that drawn from the shepherd’s work. We must fill our minds with these Old Testament thoughts if we would understand this chapter. Let any one, before commencing it, read thoughtfully Psalms 23, Isa_40:11, Jer_23:1-4, Ezekiel 34, and especially Zec_11:4-17, and he will find that he has the key which unlocks most of its difficulties. We have, then, the scene passing before their eyes, and the Old Testament thoughts of the Shepherd, connected as they were, on one hand with Jehovah and the Messiah, and on the other with the careless shepherds of Israel, dwelling in their minds; and we have, in the events which have just taken place, that which furnishes the starting-point, and gives to all that follows its fulness of meaning. The Pharisees claimed for themselves that they were shepherds of Israel. They decreed who should be admitted to, and who should be cast out from the fold. They professed to be interpreters of God’s truth, and with it to feed His flock. Pharisees, shepherds! what did they, with their curses and excommunications, know of the tenderness of the Shepherd who “shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young”? Pharisees feed the flock of God! What had they, with their pride and self-righteousness, ever known of the infinite love and mercy of God; or what had their hearts ever felt of the wants and woes of the masses of mankind? This poor blind beggar was an example of their treatment of the weaker ones of the flock. In spirit, if not in deed (Joh_9:22; Joh_9:34), they had thrust him out from the fold of God. The true Shepherd had sought and found this lost sheep, who is now standing near, in His presence and in that of the false shepherds. He teaches who the Shepherd and what the flock of God really are.

On the meaning of “the door,” see the fuller expansion in Joh_10:7-9.

Climbeth up some other way.—Or, more exactly, climbeth up from elsewhere—i.e., from some part of the fence, away from the door where the porter is watching.

The same is a thief and a robber.—The former of these words means the petty thief who commits the smaller or unobserved robbery. The latter means the brigand or highwayman, and is applied, e.g., to Barabbas and to the two crucified with our Lord. The words are repeated in Joh_10:8. They are probably joined together to express, in all its fulness, the idea which is common to both. If we press the individual sense of each, it may be that the false shepherds united the meaner faults and the greater crimes.

(1) At the Feast of Tabernacles there was a practice, one of those which witnessed to a feeling wider than that of those who acted in it, of offering up seventy oxen for the seventy nations of the world, the number being taken partly from the list in Genesis, and partly from a vague idea of its sanctity. The number seventy was thus brought before the people with the recognition of the heathen world as within the hope of salvation, and the minds of men were prepared for the mission of the Seventy, which followed at no long interval.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–10. The Allegory of the Door of the Fold

1. Verily, verily] This double affirmation, peculiar to this Gospel (see on Joh_1:51), never occurs at the beginning of a discourse, but either in continuation, to introduce some deep truth, or in reply. This verse is no exception. There is no break between the chapters, which should perhaps have been divided at Joh_9:34 or 38 rather than here. The scene continues uninterrupted from Joh_9:35 to Joh_10:21, where we have a reference to the healing of the blind man. Moreover Joh_10:6 seems to point back to Joh_9:41; their not understanding the allegory was evidence of self-complacent blindness. This chapter, therefore, although it contains a fresh subject, is connected with the incidents in chap. 9, and grows out of them. The connexion seems to be that the Pharisees by their conduct to the man had proved themselves bad shepherds; but he has found the Good Shepherd: they had cast him out of doors; but he has found the Door: they had put him forth to drive him away; the Good Shepherd puts His sheep forth to lead them. We are not told where these words are spoken; so that it is impossible to say whether it is probable that a sheepfold with the shepherds and their flocks was in sight. There is nothing improbable in the supposition.

He that entereth not by the door] The Oriental sheepfolds are commonly walled or palisaded, with one door or gate. Into one of these enclosures several shepherds drive their flocks, leaving them in charge of an under-shepherd or porter, who fastens the door securely inside, and remains with the sheep all night. In the morning the shepherds come to the door, the porter opens to them, and each calls away his own sheep.

some other way] Literally, from another quarter: the word occurs here only in N.T.

the same] Better, he; literally, that one. It is a pronoun of which S. John is very fond in order to recall with emphasis some person or thing previously mentioned. Comp. Joh_1:18; Joh_1:33, Joh_5:2; Joh_5:39, Joh_9:37, Joh_12:48, Joh_14:21; Joh_14:26, Joh_15:26. In Joh_1:33 (‘the same said unto me’), Joh_5:11, and Joh_12:48 it is inaccurately translated, as here, ‘the same.’

a thief and robber] Everywhere in this Gospel (8, 10, Joh_12:6, Joh_18:40), as also 2Co_11:26, these words are given correctly as renderings of the Greek equivalents; but everywhere else in N.T. (Mat_21:13; Mat_26:55; Mat_27:38, &c., &c.) the word here translated ‘robber’ is less well translated ‘thief.’ The ‘robber’ is a brigand, a more formidable criminal than the ‘thief;’ the one uses violence, the other cunning.

1–18. “The form of the discourse in the first half of chap. 10 is remarkable. It resembles the Synoptic parables, but not exactly. The parable is a short narrative, which is kept wholly separate from the ideal facts which it signifies. But this discourse is not a narrative; and the figure and its application run side by side, and are interwoven with one another all through. It is an extended metaphor rather than a parable. If we are to give it an accurate name we should be obliged to fall back upon the wider term ‘allegory.’

This, and the parallel passage in chap. 15, are the only instances of allegory in the Gospels. They take in the Fourth Gospel the place which parables hold with the Synoptists. The Synoptists have no allegories distinct from parables. The fourth Evangelist has no parables as a special form of allegory. What are we to infer from this? The parables certainly are original and genuine. Does it follow that the allegories are not?

(1) We notice, first, that along with the change of form there is a certain change of subject. The parables generally turn round the ground conception of the kingdom of heaven. They … do not enlarge on the relation which its King bears to the separate members.… Though the royal dignity of the Son is incidentally put forward, there is nothing which expresses so closely and directly the personal relation of the Messiah to the community of believers, collectively and individually, as these two ‘allegories’ from S. John. Their form seems in an especial manner suited to their subject matter, which is a fixed, permanent and simple relation, not a history of successive states. The form of the allegories is at least appropriate.

(2) We notice next that even with the Synoptists the use of the parable is not rigid. All do not conform precisely to the same type. There are some, like the Pharisee and Publican, the Good Samaritan, &c., which give direct patterns for action, and are not therefore parables in the same sense in which the Barren Fig-tree, the Prodigal Son, &c. are parables.… If, then, the parable admits so much deviation on the one side, may it not also on the other?

(3) Lastly, we have to notice the parallels to this particular figure of the Good Shepherd that are found in the Synoptists. These are indeed abundant. The parable of the Lost Sheep (Luk_15:4-7; Mat_18:12-13).… ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Mat_15:24).… ‘But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no Shepherd’ (Mat_9:36), which when taken with Mat_11:28-29 (‘Come unto Me all ye that labour,’ &c.), gives almost an exact parallel to the Johannean allegory.” S. pp. 167–169.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Ver. 1. Verily, verily, I say unto you] Amen is in Holy Scripture either prefixed to a discourse, and then it is a particle of certain and earnest asseveration, when it is doubled especially, as here: or else affixed; and then it is either of assent or assurance, or both, as in the end of the Lord’s prayer.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verily, verily - See the notes at Joh 3:3.

I say unto you - Some have supposed that what follows here was delivered on some other occasion than the one mentioned in the last chapter; but the expression verily, verily, is one which is not used at the commencement of a discourse, and the discourse itself seems to be a continuation of what was said before. The Pharisees professed to be the guides or shepherds of the people. Jesus, in the close of the last chapter, had charged them with being blind, and of course of being unqualified to lead the people. He proceeds here to state the character of a true shepherd, to show what was a hireling, and to declare that he was the true shepherd and guide of his people. This is called Joh 10:6 a parable, and it is an eminently beautiful illustration of the office of the Messiah, drawn from an employment well known in Judea. The Messiah was predicted under the image of a shepherd. Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24; Zec 13:7. Hence, at the close of the discourse they asked him whether he were the Messiah, Joh 10:24.

Into the sheepfold - The sheepfold was an inclosure made in fields where the sheep were collected by night to defend them from robbers, wolves, etc. It was not commonly covered, as the seasons in Judea were mild. By the figure here we are to understand the Jewish people, or the church of God, which is often likened to a flock, Ezek. 34:1-19; Jer 23:1-4; Zec 13:1-9. By the door, here, is meant the Lord Jesus Christ, Joh 10:7, Joh 10:9. He is “the way, the truth, and the life,” Joh 14:6. And, as the only proper way of entering the fold was by the door, so the only way of entering the church of God is by believing on him and obeying his commandments. The particular application of this place, however, is to religious teachers, who cannot enter properly on the duties of teaching and guarding the flock except by the Lord Jesus that is, in the way which he has appointed. The Pharisees claimed to be pastors, but not under his appointment. They entered some other way. The true pastors of the church are those who enter by the influences of the Spirit of Jesus, and in the manner which he has appointed.

Some other way - Either at a window or over the wall.

A thief - One who silently and secretly takes away the property of another.

A robber - One who does it by violence or bloodshed. Jesus here designates those pastors or ministers of religion who are influenced not by love to him, but who seek the office from ambition, or the love of power, or wealth, or ease; who come, not to promote the welfare of the church, but to promote their own interests. Alas! in all churches there have been many - many who for no better ends have sought the pastoral office. To all such Jesus gives the names of thieves and robbers.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In this parable the fold is the Church: the good shepherd, and also the door is Christ: the thieves and robbers are false guides; the hirelings, such ministers as seek their own profit and gain, and a good living, as they call it; the wolves, heretics; the sheep not yet brought into the fold, the Gentiles not then converted. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In this famous parable, which reacheth to Joh 10:30, our Saviour seemeth to drive two great designs:

1. To prove himself the true Shepherd.

2. To prove the Pharisees and teachers of those times thieves and robbers.

It should seem, that the sheepfolds in those countries were houses, which had doors by which the entry was into them: there is no doubt but by the sheepfold is meant here the church of God, in which the people of God are gathered together in one.

By the door he apparently meaneth himself, as he himself speaketh, Joh 10:9. Or rather, more generally, that way which God hath appointed for any that are to take charge of his church to enter. He is both the Shepherd (the true Shepherd) and the Door: the Shepherd, as the care, conduct, and government of the church belongeth to him, and is upon his shoulders: the Door, as he is he whom the Father hath ordained to be the chief Shepherd, from whom all who pretend to any right to teach or govern in the church must derive both their authority and abilities. Now saith our Saviour, Whosoever they be, that thrust themselves into the care, conduct, and government of the church, without any call or warrant from my Father or me, who am the true Door, through which whosoever entereth into the church must enter; and the chief Shepherd, from whom he must derive, or be

a thief and a robber; his very entrance makes it appear, that his end is not to feed the flock, but to feed himself; and that he drives only private designs of advantage to himself.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 1-21. 5. Christ the Shepherd of the flock of God. The discourse which now follows was the Lord"s parabolic or allegoric reply to the conduct of the Pharisaic malignants. These men, claiming to be infallible guides of the ignorant, to be veritable shepherds of the flock of God, had ignored the advent of the true and good Shepherd, had opposed the Divine call and supreme claim of the Messiah, had set themselves to disturb and dislocate the relations between him and those who saw his glory and found in him the Consolation of Israel. They had excommunicated the adoring disciple who had passed out of lifelong darkness into marvelous light. They had exaggerated the faint glimmer of light which had broken upon their own blindness into true vision. They had said, "We see," and thus shown themselves to be willfully in the wrong. Their sin abode upon them. The fold of God"s sheep was something different from their own expectations and definitions. Their way into it proved that they did not know its true nature. To meet this crisis our Lord delivers a triad of related and parallel pictures, which differ from the ordinary parable (parabolh). The parable is a picture which is complete in its elf, and invites the reader to discover some answering spiritual truth. It consists of a careful setting forth of some physical fact, some fragment of biography, some personal or domestic detail. It is true to life and experience, and embodies some ethical principle or religious emotion; and while it does not explicitly teach either, yet it suggests them to the inquiring mind. The parables of the synoptic Gospels are not exclusive or rigid in their form. The so-called parable of "the Pharisee and the publican" and that of "the good Samaritan" are at once transformable into patterns or principles of action. The element of its own interpretation is also conspicuous in that of "the rich man and Lazarus" and "the rich fool." With these latter specimens of our Lord"s teaching may be compared the allegoric illustrations of the present discourse. These pictures are "transparencies" (Godet), through which the Savior"s spiritual teaching pours its own illumination. They both alike differ from the "fable," a form of address in which personal characters and activities are attributed (as in the apologue of Jotham, etc.) to the irrational or even to the inanimate creation.

The first of the similitudes before us has more of the character of the parable proper, because it does not at once carry its own interpretation with it. Vers. 1-6 represent in parabolic form the claims of those who aspired to provide a "door," i.e. a sure and safe entrance to the theocratic fold. In vers. 7-10 our Lord interprets and expands the first representation by giving special significance to the words he had already used, adding something to their meaning, and contrasting his own position with that of all others. From the eleventh to the eighteenth verse he once more reverts to the original picture, and claims to occupy a relation to the sheep of God"s band of far more intimate and suggestive kind than what was connoted by the door into the fold. He is "the good Shepherd." In that capacity he adds other and marvelous features. The parabolic or allegorical language passes away into vivid description of the leading features of his work. The parable at last glows into burning metaphor.

In the first paragraph our Lord gives a parabolic picture of flock and fold, door and porter, robber and shepherd. In the second paragraph he emphasizes the relation between the door and the fold, claiming to be "the Door." In the third he illustrates the function and the responsibility of the true "Shepherd," and the relation of the shepherd to the flock, and he claims to be the Shepherd of Israel.

Vers. 1-6. (1) The parable of the fold and flock, the door and the porter, the robber and the shepherd.

Verily, verily, betokens the deep solemnity and importance of the matter in hand, but not a complete break in the circumstances neither a new audience nor a new theme. The adoption by Jeremiah, (Jer_23:1-4) by Ezekiel, (Eze 34) and by Zechariah (Zec_11:4-17) of similar imagery to denote the contrast between the true and false shepherds, and the anticipation by the prophets of a time when the true and good Shepherd would fulfill all Jehovah"s pleasure, throws vivid light on these words of our Lord. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Several commentators of eminence have maintained that by "the door," in this first verse, our Lord (as in ver. 7) meant at once to designate himself. This is not necessary. He rather summons the Pharisees to recognize the fact that there is a door, a way of sure and divinely appointed admission to the "fold of the sheep," through which the veritable Shepherd passes, bringing his flock with him by well-known voice and manner. Later on, our Lord claims to be the one Way" by which all under-shepherds can gain true access to the flock, and all the sheep of God"s pasture can find protection and freedom; but here he suggests the principle of discrimination between a true shepherd and a thief or robber. The klepthv is one who is selfishly seeking his own ends, and would avoid detection; the lhsthv is one who would use violent means to secure his purpose (Judas was a "thief," Barabbas was a "robber"). The false shepherd disdains the door, and climbs up some other way along his own selfish lines of action (allacoyen is used in this place only, equivalent to "from some other quarter than the ordinary home of the shepherd"). His purpose is not to benefit the sheep, but to seize them, or slaughter them for his own purposes. (Eze_34:8) The Lord suggests that many have assumed to sustain the relation of shepherd to the flock and fold of God, with no inward call either of commission or profession. They have been eager to insist on their own rights, have mistaken their own narrow traditions for the commandments of God, have imposed upon starved and worried souls their own selfish interpretations of that commandment, and have shown that they had no legitimate access to the hearts of men.

Vers. 1-6. The allegory of the shepherd.

Our Lord contrasts the religious guidance of the Pharisees, as the shepherds of the Jewish fold, with that afforded by himself in respect of loyal devotion and obedience.

I THE SHEEPFOLD. This is the Jewish theocracy.

1. The Lord represented himself to the old prophets as the Shepherd of Israel. (Isa_11:11 Eze 35)

2. He had isolated Israel from all the nations of the earth that he might train her for himself.

3. The flock consists of two classes, which are distinguished in New Testament times

a. as "Israel after the flesh" and "Israel after the Spirit,

b. and "the Jew outwardly" and "the Jew inwardly.

II THE DOOR INTO THE SHEEPFOLD. There is a divinely instituted method of entering the sheepfold. It is the Messianic office. Jesus is the Center of the Old Testament theocracy.

III THE TWO CLASSES OF SHEPHERDS.

1. The false guides of the people. "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." The allusion is to the scribes and Pharisees.

(1) They had established an authority over the Jews which had no sanction in the Divine Law. Their methods were unauthorized.

(2) They gained their position of authority by evil methods:

(a) by stratagem, like thieves;

(b) by violence, like robbers.

(3) They used their position, by their mingled hypocrisy and greed, to enhance their own greatness at the cost of the spiritual welfare of the Jews.

2. The true guide of the people.

(1) He appears as one divinely commissioned, and therefore uses the legitimate entrance. "But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

(2) The instant recognition of his office. "To him the porter openeth." It matters little whether the porter signifies

(a) John the Baptist

(b) or the Holy Spirit.

(3) Mark the gentle and effective way in which he manages his sheep.

(a) He calls them forth by name, as if to mark the individual interest of Christ in believers.

(b) He takes himself the way to their pasture. "He leadeth them out; He goeth before them". (Psa_23:1-3) He leads forth his own sheep, in separation from others who follow other guidance. Mark how the sheep respond to his guiding care.

(c) They recognize his voice. "For they know his voice." it is a voice of love, grace, and mercy. They know it

(i) by its majesty and authority;

(ii) by its tenderness;

(iii) by its power in their souls;

(iv) by its consistency with the actual kindness of the shepherd, as contrasted with the dangerous voice of strangers, which they instinctively reject.

(d) They follow him. This is their true safety as well as their happiness. Thus they find their way into the green pastures and the still waters of Divine love and grace.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that entereth not by the door - By Christ. He is the only lawful entrance. Into the sheepfold - The Church. He is a thief and a robber - In God's account. Such were all those teachers, to whom our Lord had just been speaking.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

sin

Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jesus the Good Shepherd.

The parable of the sheepfold:

v. 1. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

v. 2. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

v. 3. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

v. 4. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice.

v. 5. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.

v. 6. This parable spake Jesus unto them; but they understood not what things they were which He spake unto them.

This parable was also spoken in the Temple, shortly after Jesus had found the man that had been blind and had uttered the ominous words to the Pharisees concerning spiritual blindness. He here refers to a sheepfold, to one of the Oriental pens, or corrals, for sheep; This was a yard with a high stone wall to keep out wild animals as well as other intruders. There was a gate or door which was guarded by a porter. Jesus now states that any person that did not choose the gate to enter into the corral, but sought some other way into the interior, by that very token became evident as a thief, whose intention is to steal quietly, or even a robber, who would not hesitate to use violence. The shepherd is not in need of such schemes and stratagems. He comes to the gate of the corral openly, and the door-guard will open the door for him, for he knows the shepherd and his intentions. And when the heavy gate has been unbarred, the shepherd need but raise his voice in the call which is so well known to the sheep, when they will respond at once. He has names for each one of the sheep entrusted to him, and they can distinguish the call. If there should be several herds in the corral overnight, the sheep of each shepherd will still respond only to the voice of their own shepherd. And when all the sheep that belong to his own herd have been put out of the corral, they will follow their shepherd as he leads the way, the shepherd walking in front as is still the custom in the East. They follow his voice, not his clothes nor his dog, as has been ascertained by actual tests. The sheep have such a knowledge of the kind care of the shepherd, of his mild and gentle way of leading and guiding them, that they have full confidence in him. But the sheep fear and flee from a stranger, since his voice is not known to them; they have not learned to trust him as they do their own shepherd. This parable is one of Christ’s most beautiful stories in its completeness and in the detailed correctness of the picture, and the application of the parable was sufficiently obvious. But, as usual, the Jews had no idea of the meaning and of the lesson which the Lord intended to convey.

The sheepfold is the Church of God of all times. The sheep are the members of the kingdom of God, the believers of both the Old and New Testaments that put their trust in the Word of their redemption through the work of the Messiah. But the men that were to be their shepherds, their leaders, have from olden times been divided into two classes. There are such as come to the door openly, that have the call and the duty to take care of the souls entrusted to them, and that carry out their difficult calling in the proper manner, with all faithfulness. For they are assistants of the great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and it is His voice that calls through them. The sheep thus hear the voice of Jesus in the voice of the true pastors, and this they recognize and know perfectly, this they heed gladly. And if they are truly His sheep, they will pay no attention to the call of such as try to imitate the voice of the true Shepherd, but will fear them and flee from them. "For as He has said of His office which He carries on through His Word, thus He also says of His sheep, how they behave in His kingdom, namely, when the door is opened to Him, they at once hear His voice and learn to know it well, for it is a truly comforting, cheering voice, by which they, delivered from terror and fear, come to the liberty that they may expect all mercy and comfort of God in Christ. And when they have once accepted this Shepherd, they adhere to Him alone with all confidence and hear the teaching of none other. " The spiritual hearing of the true sheep of Christ, of the believers, soon becomes so keen that they will distinguish at once between true and false teaching, and they will fear and shun the voice of strangers. They will be enabled to judge doctrine correctly, without any arbitrary commands of a self-constituted hierarchy. "The other doctrine is that all Christians have power and right to judge all doctrine and to separate themselves from false teachers and bishops and not to obey them. For here hearest thou that Christ says of His sheep:... A stranger will they not follow. For that they can judge such things, of that they have this rule which is stated in this word of Christ, that all who do not preach Christ are thieves and murderers. With this statement the judgment is established that there is need of no further knowledge but to be known of Christ, and that they owe it to Him to follow this judgment and therefore to flee and to shun all such, no matter who, how great, and how many they are. " These false shepherds are characterized as such that climb into the corral some other way except through the door. False teachers, that have no call from Christ, whose false doctrine has no right to exist, will not come with the pure Gospel and with a call of which they can prove its divine origin, but will make use of schemes and stratagems to deceive the sheep and inveigle them into listening to them. "Now the Gospel is so tender and precious, it cannot endure any addition or extra doctrines. The spiritual doctrines of getting to heaven with fasting, prayer, and other similar works, they in themselves are side-paths which the Gospel will not suffer; but the opponents want them, therefore they are thieves and murderers, for they outrage consciences and slay and murder the sheep... Thus such a path is murder and death. " All false teachers are thieves and robbers in the sense of Scriptures, and their presence is a constant menace to the Church of God. "But they are called thieves for this reason, since they steal in secretly, and come with fair speeches, as St. Paul says, Rom 16:18, with a great show, and also with true sheep’s clothing, pretend to have special faithfulness and love for the souls, but incidentally have that mark, whereby Christ teaches to distinguish them, that they do not go in at the door, but climb up some other way, that is, as He Himself explains, come before Him and without Him, do not point and refer to Christ as the only Shepherd and Savior."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 10:3

I. There is no difficulty in the general interpretation of the language of the text. Christ has a personal knowledge of His disciples of the most complete and intimate kind, calling each by name, treating him as an individual, according to the nature he possesses and the actual circumstances of his life. What, without exaggeration, may be called a personal friendship, is established between the Lord and each of His disciples. By how few is this truth realised and fully accepted as true for himself, in his own daily life! You can understand how He might name your name in condescension, or in pity, or in reproof; but how He should name your name in pure warmhearted love—in love to you, to your own very self, as cherishing a real, heartfelt, personal attachment to you,—that altogether baffles your comprehension, because you feel that there is nothing in you which is deeply suitable to His love. But He loves the goodness that is begun in you. In one word, He loves the ideal "you," and resolves by His own grace to make it in due time the real "you."

II. The calling and the leading are always united. He calls that He may lead. He utters the name that he, that she, who answers to it may, at the thrilling word, arise and follow Him whithersoever He goeth. There are some who wait for the calling, who listen eagerly for the sound of the name, and who would be more than satisfied to hear it spoken in kindness by the Shepherd every day, but who are far from having any corresponding readiness to accept the leading of the Shepherd. "He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out"—out, of course, from the whole natural sinful life, from all its darkness and misery, into the light and joy of acceptance; out of infantine feebleness into manly strength; out of narrow views into wider; out of mistakes and disappointments into wiser ways and better fortunes; out of besetting sin into waiting duty; sometimes out of safety into perils which lie on the way to a higher safety; and so on and on in a movement which cannot cease until at length, in His own time and way, it will be out of earth into heaven.

A. Raleigh, The Little Sanctuary, p. 44.

Joh 10:4

Christ the Shepherd of His people

I. Christ goes before His people in the path of holy obedience.

II. He goes before them in the path of suffering and tribulation.

III. He goes before them to the grave.

IV. He goes before them to the judgment.

V. He goes before them to glory.

A. D. Davidson, Lectures and Sermons, p. 196.

References: Joh 10:4.—J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 371. Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 242. Joh 10:7-9.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 225. Joh 10:7-19.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 221. Joh 10:8.—J. H. Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 210. Joh 10:9.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ii., p. 125; J. N. Norton, The King’s Ferry Boat, p. 25; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 354; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 148; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 166; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 274; vol. xix., p. 299; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 6th series, p. 263; J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension Day to Trinity, p. 323; Homilist, new series, vol. iv., p. 356. Joh 10:9-11.—D. Fraser, Metaphors of Gospels, p. 316.

Joh 10:10

I. The gift of the Spirit of life dwells in those who are united to Christ in a fulness more abundant than was ever revealed before. And the gift of life is not a power, a principle, but a very true Person dwelling in us. This is the regeneration for which all ages waited till the Word was made flesh—the new birth of water and of the Spirit, of which the baptism of Christ is the ordained sacrament. Here, then, we see a part of this great promise. In one word, it is the fulness of life given to us by the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost, which Christ by His indwelling has bestowed upon us.

II. And besides this, the gift of life is abundant, not only in its fulness, but in its continuance. We cannot die in our Head, because He is life eternal; nor can we die in ourselves, except we cast out the Giver of life who is in us. Our first head fell, and drew us with him into the grave; our second Head is in heaven, and "our life is hid with Him in God." We can die no more by any federal death, but only by our own several and personal death. If sinners die eternally, they die one by one, of their own free choice, even as Adam. And we die now no more by single acts of disobedience, but only by a resolved and deliberate course of sinning. This reveals to us the wonderful love and miraculous longsuffering of Christ, and of the Spirit who dwells in us. Where once He enters, there He abides with divine endurance.

Let us draw from what has been said one or two practical truths of great importance in our daily life. (1) And, first, we hereby know that in all our acts there is a Presence higher than our own natural and moral powers. We were united to Christ by the presence of the Holy Spirit from our baptism. There has never been a moment, from the first dawn of consciousness, from the first twilight of reason and the first motions of the will, when the Spirit of life has not been present with us. The working of the Spirit is, so to speak, co-extensive with our whole moral being. He presides over all the springs of thought, word and deed, by His gracious presence endowing us with power and will to mortify sin and to live in holiness. What, then, is our life but the presence of the Spirit dwelling in us? (2) Another plain and practical truth is, that this Presence works in us according to the revealed and fixed laws of our probation. (3) Lastly, we may learn that the union of this Divine Presence with us in our probation issues in the last and crowning gift of this life—the gift of perseverance. "Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it."

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 159.

Abundant Life

Assuming inequalities of power to reign through every department of life, from the lowest to the highest, what I gather from Jesus’ words is this, that God is not satisfied with any lower form of vitality where a higher can be attained, and that it has been one design of the Gospel to intensify human life, if I may so say, through every region of it; not to damp, impair or enfeeble a man’s life-powers at all, but on every side to exalt them. The Son of God visited us in our far-off and, spiritually speaking, half-dead world, to make ours a more abundant life, as though He had come to bring a spiritual sunshine with Him, or had swept us with Himself into the regions of eternal day.

I. First of all, I think this has come true even in the ordinary and natural experiences of men. The effect of Christianity has not been to deaden men to the interests of this life, with its common joys and sorrows, but, on the contrary, to render our earthly life larger and more intense. The world itself is surely a graver, vaster thing since Jesus Christ died upon it. Common business rises in importance when by it you have the task set you to glorify your Saviour and serve your brother men. Our little life, obscure or petty as it may be, is no longer as a landlocked lake, set by itself apart; but, lo! it is an inlet, with open channel uniting it to the awful ocean beyond, and into it also there pour day after day those mysterious tides of life and passion which come from the infinite heart of the most high and loving One.

II. In the second place, Jesus Christ makes life to His disciples a more abundant thing by conferring upon us a new sort of life, and one which has fuller pulses and a deeper and stronger vitality about it than merely natural or unregenerate men can possess. The experiences of Christian—that is, spiritual life—are more intense than those of nature, because they are awakened in the new-born soul by a far grander and more mighty class of of facts and relationships; eternity is vaster than time, God mightier than the world. Unregenerate men touch time and the world; we, if we are Christ’s, touch God and eternity. A man’s conversion to God adds a fresh region, a new department, to his being; it gives him new thoughts, it quickens in him new emotions, it begets new motives, it sets before him new ambitions. The new life must be a fuller one, a deeper one, than the old, giving birth to thoughts more grave, feelings more deep,—in a word, "life more abundant."

J. Oswald Dykes, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 177.

References: Joh 10:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1150; J. F. Stevenson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 388; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 340; C. Short, Ibid., vol. xxx., p. 261; Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 65; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 302; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 130; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 237; G. Dawson, Sermons on Disputed Points, p. 93; F. Tucker, Penny Pulpit, No. 606; E. Mellor, In the Footsteps of Heroes, p. 172; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 423.

Joh 10:11

The Shepherd of our Souls

In those countries of the East where our Lord appeared, the office of a shepherd is not only a lowly and simple office, and an office of trust, as it is with us, but moreover, an office of great hardship and of peril. Our flocks are exposed to no enemies such as our Lord describes. The shepherd here has no need to prove his fidelity to the sheep by encounters with fierce beasts of prey. The hireling shepherd is not tried. But where our Lord dwelt in the days of His flesh it was different. There it was true that the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

I. From the time of Adam to that of Christ a shepherd’s work has been marked out with special Divine favour, as being a shadow of the Good Shepherd who was to come. The shepherds of old time were such as Jacob, Moses and David—men at once of peace and of war; men of simplicity indeed, "plain men living in tents"; the "meekest of men," yet not easy, indolent men, sitting in green meadows and by cool streams, but men of rough duties, who were under the necessity to suffer, while they had opportunity to do exploits. And if such were the figures, how much more was the Truth itself, the Good Shepherd, when He came, both guileless and heroic. Jacob endured, Moses meditated, and David wrought. Christ, too, not only suffered with Jacob and Was in contemplation with Moses, but fought and conquered with David. Jacob was not as David, nor David as Jacob, nor either of them as Moses; but Christ was all three, as fulfilling all types—the lowly Jacob, the wise Moses, the heroic David—all in one, Priest, Prophet and King.

II. Christ is our Shepherd, and His sheep know His voice. Let us beware of not following when He goes before. Let us not be content with ourselves; let us not make our own hearts our home, or this world our home, or our friends our home; let us look out for a better country, that is, an heavenly. Let us look out for Him who alone can guide us to that better country; let us call heaven our home, and this life a pilgrimage; let us view ourselves as sheep in the trackless desert, who, unless they follow the shepherd, will be sure to lose themselves, sure to fall in with the wolf.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. viii., p. 230.

Of all the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are none more deeply engraven in the mind of the Church, none more dear to her than these. This is one of the Divine sayings in which there is so much of truth and love, that we seem able to do little more than to record it and ponder on it, to express it by symbols, and to draw from it a multitude of peaceful and heavenly thoughts. Let us, then, consider the surpassing and peculiar goodness of the One True Shepherd.

I. And this He has revealed to the world by His voluntary death. There was never any other but He who came down from heaven, that He might lay down His life for the sheep. While we were yet enemies, Christ died for us, "that He might gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad."

II. Again, His surpassing goodness is shown in the provision He has made of all things necessary for the salvation of His flock in this state of mortality and sin. There can no soul fail of eternal life, of reaching the rest of the true fold in heaven, except by his own free will. As the blood-shedding of the Good Shepherd is a full and perfect ransom for all His flock, so has He pledged the perpetual exercise of His unseen pastoral care, to give us all that is needed for our salvation. (1) And for this He has provided, first of all, in the external foundation and visible perpetuity of His Church. He has secured it by the commission to teach all nations, by the universal preaching of His apostles, by shedding abroad the Holy Ghost, by the revelation of all truth, by the universal tradition of the faith in all the world. For the perpetuity of the Church, He has pledged His Divine word that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it;" and in this He has provided for the perpetuity both of truth and grace. What the Church does on earth, it does in His power and name; and He, through it, fulfils His own shepherd care. This, then, is the external ministration of His goodness. (2) But once more. His love and care are shown, not only in the external and visible provision which He thus made beforehand for the perpetual wants of His flock, but in the continual and internal providence wherewith He still watches over it. When He says, "I know My sheep by name," He means that there is nothing in them which He does not know; there is not one forgotten, not one passed over, as He telleth them morning and evening. His eyes are upon us all. And all the complex mystery of our spiritual being, all our secret motions of will, our daily sorrows, fears, and thoughts, are seen and read with the unerring gaze of our Divine Lord. So let us follow Him now "whithersoever He goeth." Be our path through joy or sorrow, in the darkness or in the light, let us follow on to the fold which is pitched upon the everlasting hills; where the true flock shall "pass under the hand of Him that telleth them one by one, till all the lost be found and all His elect come in.

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 1.

When our Lord calls Himself the Good Shepherd, is He using a title which has lost its value since He has ceased to live visibly upon earth, or has this title a true meaning for us Christians—for you, for me, at the present day?

I. Here we cannot but observe that, writing some forty years after the ascension, St. Peter calls Jesus Christ the Shepherd, as well as the Bishop of Souls; and St. Paul calls Him the Great Shepherd of the sheep. And in the earliest ages of the Christian Church, when the cruel stress of persecution drove the faithful from the streets and public places of Rome down into those catacombs which were burrowed out beneath the busy life of the vast pagan city, there was one figure above all others which, in the depths of their dark prison homes, Christians delighted to draw in rude outline upon the vaults, beneath which they prayed. It was the figure of the Good Shepherd. And ever since those days of persecution, when Christmas been asked to bless from His throne some work of mercy for relieving suffering, or for teaching the ignorant, or for delivering the captive, or for raising the fallen, it has been as the Great Shepherd of Christians—the Good Shepherd of humanity.

II. Let us briefly reflect what this truth involves as to our relations with our Redeemer. (1) As the Good Shepherd, He knows His sheep. He knows us individually; He knows all about us. It is because He knows us thus perfectly that He is able to help us, to guide us, to feed us—if we will, to save us; ay, to the very uttermost. (2) And besides this knowledge, He, the Good Shepherd, has a perfect sympathy with each of us. He is not a hard guardian, who sets Himself to keep us in order without any bit of feeling for our individual difficulties. He is touched, as His Apostle says of Him, with a feeling of our infirmities. Nothing that affects any one of us, is a matter of indifference to His tender heart. (3) Above all, as the Good Shepherd, the Christ, He is disinterested. He gains nothing by watching, by guarding, by feeding such as we. We can contribute nothing to His majestic glory. He seeks us for our own sakes, not for His.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 575.

I. Consider this subject, first of all, in its widest possible range. The vast family in heaven and earth, all created being, is under His guidance as the risen and exalted Redeemer. Not only has He created all things, not only does He uphold all things by the word of His power; but, by virtue of redemption, He exercises a peculiar and special government over all things. However little we may be able to enter into the meaning of such a closer relationship being established by redemption, of the fact itself there can be no doubt. Our blessed Lord has become, in a closer sense than before, the guide and overseer and shepherd of the vast and innumerable flock of created beings, since He was born at Bethlehem, since He was crucified on Calvary, since He rose triumphant over death and hell, and was received up into glory. The Christian claims for His own Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the lordship and rule over all the chances and changes of human affairs, and the ordering of the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, to the furtherance of His own high and glorious purposes.

II. We have advanced thus far; but it is plain that, so far from exhausting, we have not even yet approached the full and proper meaning of the term "Shepherd," and the office thus designated. Christ rules and orders the universe, and thus He may be said to be its Shepherd; He governs and arranges the nations and events of the world, and, so far, He may be said to be its Shepherd; but there is a sense even closer than any of these, in which our risen and ascended Saviour is the Good Shepherd; in which all the tenderness of that character, all the individual nearness, all the constant personal vigilance felt and leaned on, may be filled up and realised. Let us note His pastoral care of His people, and the consequent condition of and effect on themselves. (1) He is their Almighty Shepherd. (2) He is an ever-watchful Shepherd. (3) He is a tender and compassionate Shepherd. (4) He is an all-wise Shepherd. Lie still, then, little flock, assured by His almightiness, guarded by His watchfulness, rooted in His sympathy, and safe in His unerring wisdom. Seek no other shepherd, for He is all-sufficient. Question Him not, nor distrust Him. However unpromising life may be, He will bring out of it blessing and joy; for thus saith the Lord God, "Behold I, even I, will both search My sheep and seek them out."

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermon, vol. vi., p. 226.

Our Saviour mentions three evidences, which He gave to entitle Him to the name of the Good Shepherd. And

I. He says, "I know My sheep." The Lord Jesus not only knows the number of His great flock, but His acquaintance is so close and intimate, that "He calleth His own sheep by name."

II. "I am known of Mine." We speak of knowing an earthly friend, not because his name, his position, his character, or his occupation, are known, but because we have tested his sincerity, his liberality, his affection. So, too, in regard to the knowledge which Christians have of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III. The third proof which Jesus gives that He is the Good Shepherd, is the most convincing one of all: "I lay down My life for the sheep." He entered the sheepfold by the same door with them; and, having led them through the gate of death, He will go before them also through the gate of the resurrection, to the better land beyond. J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 171.

Christ is the Good Shepherd

I. Because He owns the sheep. He is the proprietor of the flock. It follows naturally, that He would exercise greater vigilance, and risk greater danger, on their behalf. (1) They are His by the gift of the Father. Over and over again in the course of the Gospels, He gives utterance to this truth: "Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me." (2) They are His by creative ties. This probably is the deep meaning of the phrase, "His own sheep"—sheep which are His, even before they are called. The anthem of redemption excites reminiscences in the soul of the melody of creation; the Shepherd’s voice is not strange, for we have heard it before. The sheep know His voice. (3) They are His also by purchase. He shed His blood, not in His own defence, but for the sake of those whom He came to rescue.

II. Because He knows His sheep. "I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine." (1) He knows the sheep by their faces. When a sinner is converted, he is brought face to face with the Saviour; he looks the Saviour in the face, and the Saviour looks him in the face; and He never forgets any face, once He has a full, fair view of it. (2) He knows you by your names. When men are comparative strangers, they surname and master one another; but the Saviour surnames and masters no one. Like the mother, the sister, or the wife, full of tenderness and affection, He calls you by your Christian names. (3) He, furthermore, is perfectly acquainted with your circumstances. (4) This word "know," means something deeper yet; it means thorough, complete apprehension of your deepest character.

III. Because He feeds His sheep. "They shall go in and out and find pasture." They go in first to the fold. This supposes that they shall rest awhile after their weary wanderings in the desert. (2) They shall go out to graze, Here is safety and satisfaction.

IV. Because He leads the sheep. He leads them (1) Gently, (2) Safely, (3) Through life and death.

J. C. Jones, Studies in St. John, p. 282.

References: Joh 10:11.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. v., p. 282; S. Baring Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 154; A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 85; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 301; H. P. Liddon, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 85. Joh 10:11-16.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., pp. 239-241; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 222; vol. iv., p. 224; Homiletic Magazine, vol. i., p. 195.

Joh 10:14

The True Sheep

Our Lord here says that He and His sheep know each other; that His knowledge of them is one of the tokens of the Good Shepherd; and that their knowledge of Him is one of the tokens of the true sheep. Now, what is this knowledge by which His true sheep are known? It is the knowledge of friendship and love. It is something living and personal, arising out of the whole of our inward nature, and filling all our powers and affections. As He knows us, through and through—all that we have been and are, all that we desire and need, hope and fear, do and leave undone, all our thoughts, affections, purposes, all our secret acts, all our hidden life, which is hid with Him in God—so do His true sheep know him; His love, care, tenderness, mercy, meekness, compassion, patience, gentleness, all His forecasting and prudent watchfulness, His indulgent and pitiful condescension. It is the knowledge of heart with heart, soul with soul, spirit with spirit; a sense of presence and companionship; so that when most alone, we are perceptibly least alone; when most solitary, we are least forsaken. Let us consider how we may attain this knowledge.

I. First, it must be by following Him. "My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me." By living such a life as He lived. Likeness to Him is the power of knowing Him: nay, rather, it is knowledge itself—there is no other. It is by likeness that we know, and by sympathy that we learn. If we would only take the Sermon on the Mount and read it, not as the world has paraphrased it, but as He spoke it; if we would only fulfil it, not as men dispense with it, but as He lived it upon earth, we should begin to know somewhat of those deeper perceptions of his love, tenderness, and compassion which are the peace of His elect.

II. And further than this, there are peculiar faculties of the heart which must be awakened, if we would know Him as He knows us. There can be no true obedience without the discipline of habitual devotion. Meditation is the proof of prayer, and prayer is the life of meditation; and they are therefore inseparable.

III. And lastly, this true knowledge of Him is not a transitory state of feeling. Out of obedience and devotion arises an habitual faith which makes Him, though unseen, yet perceptibly a part of all our life. With this we shall not run great risks of deceiving ourselves. This strong and sustained consciousness of His presence makes all things within the veil more real than those we see. The unseen Head of the Church living and glorified; the mystical body knit in one by the Holy Ghost; the Good Shepherd tending His one fold on the everlasting hills; the familiar image of His loving countenance; and these, all day long, in the midst of work and in their hour of rest, at home or abroad, among men or in solitude, are spread before the sight of hearts that know Him by love.

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 21.

I. Observe, first, that there is a double knowing spoken of here, and that double knowing is distinctly spoken of in the two clauses, there being two correlative clauses, the one depending upon the other. There is (1) the Shepherd’s general knowledge of His flock. He sees them all. They are all before Him. He can tell at a glance whether any are missing. He can tell at a glance whether strangers are in the flock. All are before Him. But (2) there is beyond this a particular knowledge. He calls His sheep by name. Each one in his own personality, each one is before Him as though there were no other in this crowded world. The Shepherd, especially in this land, had this intimate knowledge of his sheep. And this knowledge thus intimate was a knowledge of care and love. It was not a love for humanity; it was a love for the separate souls of which humanity is made up. His care bosoms itself upon His love for each one.

II. "I am known of Mine." That second is the answering image of the first, as it is cast from Christ upon the heart of man. As there is a general knowledge of all the sheep, so there is a general knowledge of Christ. You all have it. As there is in Him not only the general knowledge, but also the particular knowledge, so there must be in you, not that general knowledge only, but the personal, unworked, unwrought knowledge of Him, if you take to yourself the comfort of being amongst those He loves. And observe how that branches forth. As love is the very characteristic of His knowledge of His own, so love bred of His love is the very characteristic of this personal knowledge of Him—love, that master passion, that to which alone the will of man bows, as the iron casts itself into the liquid stream under the breath of the furnace—that which alone can make the hard heart of fallen humanity break into the stream of obedience; personal love to Him, the return of His personal love to you, bred of it. "We love Him because He first loved us." "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." There must be this ring concentric within ring, the general knowledge running out into the particular personal knowledge, and that personal knowledge the knowledge of love.

J. Mackarness, Penny Pulpit, No. 362.

Consider

I. Christ’s knowledge of us—the Shepherd’s knowledge of His sheep. That this knowledge, which passes reciprocally between Christ and believers, is something exceedingly wonderful indeed is evident from the affinity of the line of thought. For these two acts of knowledge are only two links of a chain, which only runs on to other two. And see what these two are. "I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep." There is plainly a balance, there is clearly an argument running up. The knowledge which the Son has of the Father, and which the Father has of the Son, is, and it must be, infinite, beyond conception; because it is the knowledge of a Divine mind. It is the knowledge of an eternity of existence; it is the knowledge of perfect love; it is the knowledge of actual oneness of being; and yet, in a breath with that, Christ says, "I know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father." If Christ knows His sheep, it follows (1) that He knows who are His sheep. Leave it to Him to exercise His own prerogative. His knowledge is both collective and individual. Each of us stands out, this day, as much the object of Christ’s mind, as known and as loved, as if He had nothing else in the whole universe to care about except His flock, and as if in that flock He had no sheep but you.

II. Observe one or two of the consequences which result from this minute individualising knowledge. Remember, Christ knows, not of, but you, and therefore Christ is always looking upon you in a completeness, i.e. with reference to your circumstances; and He will take every little circumstance into consideration. He knows what none else can know: He knows each one’s future, and He is always working up to that future; and that future stretches on beyond this world. It is not only that you are being prepared and trained at every step for some path that you are to tread in this life; but you are being prepared for the exact place you are to occupy, and for the exact service you are to render in heaven.

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 167.

Joh 10:14-15

The Shepherd of the Sheep

Two things come up for consideration in this verse—(1) The good Shepherd in His relation as such; (2) His work.

I. The Shepherd stands in a twofold relation; on the one hand, to Him whose shepherd He is by authoritative appointment, and, on the other hand, to those who are His sheep, by free gift in the gospel, and by personal appropriation in the exercise of faith, wrought in them by the Spirit. (1) The sheep are given to Jesus Christ by the Father; and, as the Father’s gift, He knows them. He holds them as a sacred trust, a precious possession. He has them near to Him; He has them in His heart, in His hand. None shall pluck them out of His hand. (2) Jesus knows the sheep as hearing His voice following Him. He cannot but care for them; He cannot but remember them. He knows them by intimate acquaintance with all their infirmities, by sympathy with them in all their sorrows.

II. The work of the good Shepherd. It is His laying down His life for the sheep. (1) Viewing this work in the light of His relation to the Father, we may see in it one chief part, or rather the crowning and culminating instance, the concentrated essence, as it were, of that perfect obedience by which He fulfilled all righteousness. It is all-important thus to regard the one event of the Lord’s death and resurrection as the sure sign, the pledge and seal, of the thoroughly good understanding that there is between Him as your shepherd and the Father, whom in that capacity He serves. He is faithful to Him who has appointed Him—faithful for ever to the death. (2) Viewing His death in the light of His relation to the sheep, for whom, in obedience to the Father, He lays down his life, it is to be regarded as forming the principal part, the consummation and essence, of His passive obedience and righteousness—His propitiatory or atoning sacrifice. He lays down His life for the sheep, as not only the obedient servant of the Father, but the representative and surety of the sheep. His life is given freely; it is laid down voluntarily; it cannot be demanded by any right: not by right of judgment, for there is no sin; not by right of conquest, for even when crucified through wickedness He lived by the power of God, and had legions of angels at His command.

R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 53.

References: Joh 10:14.—E. Cooper, Practical Sermons, vol. i., p. 276; T. J. Rowsell, Church Sermons by Eminent Clergymen, vol. i., p. 379. Joh 10:14, Joh 10:15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1877. Joh 10:15.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 293. Joh 10:15, Joh 10:16.—H. Platten, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 248. Joh 10:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1713; J. Keble, Sermons from Ascension Day to Trinity, p. 314; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 7th series, p. 83.

Joh 10:17-18

Christ Comforting Himself

I. These words, although spoken, it would seem, to an audience, read like a soliloquy. Jesus Christ, we may say, is here heard comforting Himself, comforting Himself with the reflection that some one loves Him, and with the sense of His power, He could not get on without the assurance that He was loved, any more than we can, least of all, perhaps, the richest, finest natures among us. Some persons are constantly craving and crying out for affection, and devote themselves to the task of choosing their utterances, and framing their conduct, with the view of gaining and keeping as much of it as possible; they scheme and fret for you to fondle them, and are mortified and unhappy if you do not. That is small and weak, and that was not Christ; but to be loved was sweet to Him, and the thought that He was loved, contributed to sustain and animate Him in His work.

II. But the Lord Jesus comforts Himself also, you see, with His full possession of power. It is quite natural and legitimate to contemplate with satisfaction our unrecognised worth and quality, and to retire upon it for consolation; to feel the excellence of the gift in us that is not perceived. We may need to do this occasionally, in encountering depreciation and disparagement, in the presence of supercilious and scornful glances, in order to preserve our self-possession and to keep ourselves from fainting.

III. Observe (1) what it was in Christ which called forth the Father’s love. God loved Him, He states, because He laid down His life in order that He might take it again: not, mark, simply because He surrendered it, but because of the motive that actuated Him, the object He had in view in making the surrender. That was Christ’s grand idea: to die out that He might revive; to be lost, that He might be restored, as the first-born of many brethren, no longer separate and solitary in His filial standing, but influential to gather others into it. (2) The power of Christ. He was capable of taking up and bearing this terrible cross. He was certain, not only that He could bear the cross set before Him, but that He should reap the full, the anticipated fruit of it. And what the secret of it was, He tells us in the words, "This commandment have I received of my Father."

S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 1.

Victim and Priest

I. The perfect freedom or voluntariness of Christ’s death is most plainly declared by Himself in the words which we have selected for our text. They express the abiding purpose of His life. We measure the strength of anyone’s will to suffer, first and most easily, by its deliberate formation and persistent endurance. It is important therefore to see, in the historical evidence of the Gospels, that our Saviour’s resolution to lay down His life was neither an impulse, born of excited feeling and liable to fail before calmer thought, nor a thing of necessity for which He was gradually prepared, and to which He was at last shut up through circumstances; but was a habitual purpose quietly contemplated from the very first, steadily kept in view all along; a protracted life-long will which could never be long absent from his mind by night or day, till in the end it grew to be almost a passion, and burst out at times in such words of vehement desire as these: "How am I straitened till it be accomplished."

II. This is not all. To know how strong was Jesus’ will to suffer death, we must add a new element: the element of self-determination to die. While resignation was a habitual attitude of his soul, there was always more than resignation; there was choice; there was intention. We are apt, I think, to underestimate the priestly act of Jesus in His passion, by thinking rather of His willingness than of His will to suffer. As the reasonable and acceptable victim, He is willing, He consents. But as the Priest or Sacrificer, He does more; He wills, He offers. Even the martyr’s choice of death before sin is less absolute and free by far than the choice of Christ. He was a Martyr; but He was more, a Priest; and offered Himself to His suffering with a perfection of liberty which we most distantly approach by these human parallels, and therefore with an intensity of will which we have no power to measure.

III. The self-sacrificing will of our Victim-Priest was crossed by hindrances from the weakness of the flesh, and it overcame them. Free choice and fixed will triumphed over the last resistance from the flesh, and His strong crying and tears was what the writer to the Hebrews calls it—a sacrificial oblation offered up to Him who could have delivered Him from that great death.

J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons, p. 164.

"I have power to take it again." Of the considerations which our Lord’s self-resurrection suggests; let us content ourselves with these:

I. We are reminded by it what Christianity really and truly means. It is, before all things, devotion to a living Christ.—to a Christ who lives now as energetically as He lived on the morning of the resurrection.

II. Next we see the foundation of our confidence in the future of Christianity. It is based on a risen Christ.

III. Easter brings with it a consolation which no serious Christian will miss. He who could at will resume the life which He had laid down on the cross, can surely quicken at pleasure the bodies which have mingled with the dust, and can reunite them to the spirits with which they were joined from the earliest moments of their existence.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1138.

References: Joh 10:17, Joh 10:18.—T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 199; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 65. Joh 10:18.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 46. Joh 10:22, Joh 10:23.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 18. Joh 10:22-42.—Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 106.

Joh 10:24

The Godhead of Christ

There seems to be much in our Lord’s manner of teaching to justify this question. Men who have sought to win the world to their side, have ever made the most of their pretentions, and those commissioned by God to do a work for Him in the world have never lost an opportunity of publishing the commission under which they acted. But it was not so with our Divine Master. Search diligently through His teaching and preaching, and how rarely do you find Him asserting that He is the Christ. All that He says is pervaded by this truth, but it does not lie prominently on the surface.

I. Why was, it that He did not comply with the request of the Jews? It was because those who made the request, those to whom He spake, could not bear the revelation, because without prepared hearts they were incapable of receiving or believing the truth, because they could not really know the doctrine without seeking to do the will. What is the claim that He would have made upon their faith had He directly answered their enquiry and announced that He was the Christ? He would have demanded that they should have believed Him to be what He was, the very and eternal God; that as the Father is God, so He is God, and this in no secondary or technical sense, but in the fullest and broadest meaning of the words.

II. Whence is it that we so often doubt and hesitate, whether it really is necessary for us to obey all the precepts Christ has left us in the Gospel? Is it not because we have not yet really learnt to know that the Christ whom we worship is God, that He is ever present, marking what we do, and recording all for the day of judgment? Whence is it that the busy occupations of life, buying and selling, and seeking to get gain, are made so absorbing, whilst we feel that calls to devotion and to works of charity can be so easily set aside? It is because in our hearts we regard the world as more solid and substantial than the Gospel, because we have not comprehended what is meant by our communion with Christ as God. Whence is it that men are so overwhelmed by sorrow, loss of friends, shipwreck of fortune, and feeble health? It is because they have not really learnt that it is God’s providence which rules the world, that Christ our God orders all things according to the counsels of His will, and that by loving submission all may be made to minister to their everlasting happiness.

R. Gregory, Penny Pulpit, No. 339 (new series).

References: Joh 10:27.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 995; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 264; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 101. Joh 10:27-29.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of St. John, p. 274. Joh 10:28.—G. Hadley, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 317; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1056; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 168; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ix., p. 279. Joh 10:29.—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 61; A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 408. Joh 10:30.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 525; vol. xv., p. 226. Joh 10:32.—W. M. Taylor, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 86. Joh 10:34-38.—Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 318. Joh 10:39-42.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 251; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1924. Joh 10:41.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. ix., p. 33; Parker, The Ark of God, p. 278. Joh 11:1.—Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 169. Joh 11:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1518; Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 95; Bishop Thorold, The Yoke of Christ, p. 3.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our blessed Saviour having in the end of the foregoing chapter upbraided the Pharisees for their blindness and ignorance in the mysteries of religion, notwithstanding the high conceit which they had of their own knowledge, he proceeds in this chapter farther to convince them, that they were blind leaders of the blind, though they thought and looked upon themselves as the only guides and teachers of the people. And in order thereunto, he propounds a parable of the true and false shepherd, which represents a good and bad pastor and teacher, and gives us a fourfold mark and character of a good shepherd.

Observe, 1. The good shepherd enters in by the door, that is, he has his vocation and mission from Christ: he comes into the church regularly, in a right and approved way and manner; not by any clandestine methods, or indirect means. To him the porter openeth; that is, the Holy Spirit, who openeth the hearts of men to receive Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the gospel, which the faithful shepherds deliver in his name, and by authority received from him.

Learn hence, That all faithful pastors have a lawful call to the work of the ministry: they enter by a right door, and execute their trust in a right manner; but such as, without a call from God unwarrantably thrust themselves into the ministry, are no better, nor no other, than thieves and robbers, in God’s account.

Observe, 2. Another property of a good shepherd is this, That he calleth his sheep by their names.

This importeth three things:

1. A special love that he bears to them. 2. A special care that he has over them. 3. A particular acquaintance with them,

that he may know how to apply himself suitably to them; which though it be eminently verified in Christ, yet it is the duty of every faithful pastor and under shepherd, in his measure, to labour after.

Observe, 3. The good shepherd leadeth out his sheep into good pastures; that is, he feedeth them with sound doctrine, nourishes them with the word of life.

Whereas the hireling or false shepherd, whatever he may do for his own sake, he has no regard to Jesus Christ, to the honour of this person, to the edification of his church, or the salvation of souls; but his design is to raise and enrich himself, and so he may compass that, he cares not how many souls perish through his neglect.

Observe, 4. The last property of the good shepherd, here mentioned, is this, That he goeth before his sheep, as the shepherd doth before his flock; namely, by a holy life and unblamable conversation: he treads out those steps before the people, which they take in their way towards heaven: And the sheep follow him, and are guided by him: He leadeth out his sheep, and goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXXXII. The Good Shepherd].

LXXXII. DISCOURSE ON THE GOOD SHEPHERD. (Jerusalem, December, A. D. 29.) dJOHN X. 1-21.

d1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to the injury of God's flock ( Eze_34:1-6, Jer_23:1-6, Zec_11:4-11). But other prophecies spoke of the true shepherding of God and his Messiah ( Psa_23:1-6, Psa_77:20, Psa_80:1, Psa_95:7, Jer_31:10, Eze_34:31, Mic_7:14, Isa_43:11). The Pharisees were fulfilling the first line of prophecies, and Jesus was fulfilling the second. The sheepfolds of the East are roofless enclosures, made of loose stone, or surrounded by thornbushes. They have but one door. Jesus, the true shepherd, came in the proper and appointed way (and was the proper and appointed Way), thus indicating his office as shepherd. A thief steals by cunning in one's absence; a robber takes by violence from one's person. The Pharisees were both. They stole the sheep in Messiah's absence, and they slew Messiah when he came. They did not come in the ways ordained of God.] 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. [Several small flocks were sometimes kept in one field. The door was fastened from the inside with sticks or bars by the porter, who remained with the sheep during the night, and opened for the shepherds in the morning. The fold is the church, Christ is the door, the sheep [468] are the disciples, and the shepherd is Christ. The porter is probably part of the drapery of the parable. If he represents anybody, it is God, who decides who shall enter through the door.] 4 When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. [In the East, sheep are not driven, but led, and each sheep has and knows its name. Disciples also are led. There is no rough road or thorny path which the feet of Jesus have not first trod. The Pharisees had put forth the beggar to be rid of him; the true shepherd puts forth to feed.] 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. [The mingled flocks are separated by the calling voices of the several shepherds. The control of the Pharisees was not of this order. The authority of the synagogues had passed into their hands, and their rule was about the same as when thieves and robbers gained possession of the sheepfold. The people were disposed to flee from them-- Mat_9:36.] 6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. [The idea of loving care was so foreign to the nature of the Pharisees that they could not comprehend the figures which clothed such a thought. The word here translated "parable" is not the word "parabole," which John never uses, but the word "paroimia," which the synoptists never use. Paroimia means, literally, "beside the way," i. e., speech not of the common or direct form, i. e., a similitude or allegory.] 7 Jesus therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. [Seeing that they did not understand the allegory, Jesus gives a twofold explanation of it found in Joh_10:7-16.] 8 All that came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. [He speaks of the past, and refers to false Messiahs.] 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture. [The door is here spoken of with [469] reference to the sheep, and hence becomes a symbol of entrance into protection and shelter, or exit to liberty and plenty.] 10 The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have i it abundantly. [Through the life of Jesus, as through a heavenly portal, men have entered upon true civilization, with its schools, colleges, railroads, telegraph, telephone, and innumerable privileges and liberties.] 11 I am the good shepherd [The relations of Christ to his people are so abounding and complex as to overburden any parable which seeks to carry them. He is not only the passive doorway to life, but also the active, energizing force which leads his people through that doorway into life]: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. [ Joh_10:11-14 set forth the perfect self-sacrifice through which the blessings of Christ have been obtained for us. The world-ruling spirit blesses itself through the sacrifice of the people; the Christ-spirit blesses the people through the sacrifice of self.] 12 He that is an hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not [shepherds were not, as a rule, owners of the sheep, but they were expected to love and care for them by reason of their office as shepherds], beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth i them [the perils of the Oriental shepherd accord with the picture here given-- Gen_13:5, Gen_14:12, Gen_31:39, Gen_31:40, Gen_32:7, Gen_32:8, Gen_37:33, Job_1:7, 1Sa_17:34, 1Sa_17:35]: 13 i he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. [He flees because he loves his wages rather than the flock.] 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me, 15 even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father [Our Lord's relationship to his flock is one of mutual knowledge and affection, and is far removed from the spirit of hire. The knowledge existing between disciple and Master springs from mutual acquaintanceship and love. Thus it is the same kind of knowledge which exists between Father and Son, though it is not of the [470] same quality, being infinitely less full and perfect]; and I lay down my life for the sheep. [The sacrifice of the good shepherd to shield his sheep has never been in vain.] 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice: and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. [Jesus was speaking to the Jews, who had been frequently spoken of in Scripture as God's flock. The other sheep were Gentiles. They are spoken of as scattered sheep, and not as flocks, because with them there was no unity. Here, as everywhere, the truth breaks through, revealing Christ as the world's Redeemer, who would break down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, and cause all true worshipers to have a common relationship to one Master.] 17 Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. [Jesus did not permit his life to be sacrificed so as to become cast away, but to be raised again as an earnest of the resurrection of all flesh.] 18 No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father. [This shows that his death was voluntary, and with the resurrection which followed, it was in full and perfect accordance with his original commission or commandment from the Father.] 19 There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words. [The word "again" refers to Joh_7:43, Joh_9:16.] 20 And many of them said, He hath a demon, and is mad; why hear ye him? [The theory that demons could produce supernatural effects ( Mat_12:24) formed a handy device for explaining away the miracles of Christ.] 21 Others said, These are not the sayings of one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? [These defenders refer to the well-remembered cure of the man born blind, and argue, as he did, that a demoniac could not work such a miracle. They fail, however, to make a positive confession of faith in Jesus.] [471]

[FFG 468-471]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Chapter 10

In chapter 10 He contrasts Himself with all those who pretended, or had pretended, to be shepherds of Israel. He develops these three points; He comes in by the door; He is the door; and He is the Shepherd of the sheep-the good Shepherd.

He comes in by the door. That is to say, He submits to all the conditions established by Him who built the house. Christ answers to all that is written of the Messiah, and takes the path of God’s will in presenting Himself to the people. It is not human energy and power awakening and attracting the passions of men; but the obedient man who bowed to Jehovah’s will, kept the lowly place of a servant, and lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, bowed in lowliness to the place in which Jehovah’s judgment had placed and viewed Israel. All the Lord’s quotations in His conflict with Satan are from Deuteronomy. Consequently He who watches over the sheep, Jehovah, acting in Israel by His Spirit and providence, and arranging all things, gives Him access to the sheep in spite of the Pharisees and priests and so many others. The elect of Israel hear His voice. Now Israel was under condemnation: He therefore brings the sheep out, but He goes before them. He leaves that ancient fold, under reproach doubtless, but going before His sheep, in obedience according to the power of God-a security to every one who believed in Him that it was the right road, a warrant for their following Him, come what might, meeting every danger and shewing them the way.

The sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. There are many other voices, but the sheep do not know them. Their safety consists, not in knowing them all, but in knowing that they are not the one voice which is life to them-the voice of Jesus. All the rest are the voices of strangers.

He is the door for the sheep. He is their authority for going out, their means of entering in. By entering in, they are saved. They go in and out. It is no longer the yoke of ordinances, which, in guarding them from those without, put them in prison. The sheep of Christ are free: their safety is in the personal care of the Shepherd; and in this liberty they feed in the good and fat pastures which His love supplies. In a word, it is no longer Judaism; it is salvation, and liberty, and food. The thief comes to make his profit on the sheep by killing them. Christ is come that they might have life, and that abundantly; that is, according to the power of this life in Jesus, the Son of God, who would soon have this life (whose power was in His Person) in resurrection beyond death.

The true Shepherd of Israel-at least of the remnant of the sheep-the door to authorise their coming out of the Jewish fold, and to admit them into the privileges of God by giving them life according to the abundance in which He was able to bestow it-He was also in special connection with the sheep thus set apart, the good Shepherd who thus gave His life for the sheep. Others would think of themselves, He of His sheep. He knew them, and they knew Him, even as the Father knew Him, and He knew the Father. Precious principle! They could have understood an earthly knowledge and interest on the part of the Messiah on earth with regard to His sheep. But the Son, although He had given His life and was in heaven, knows His own, even as the Father knew Him when He was on the earth.

Thus He laid down His life for the sheep; and He had other sheep who were not of this fold, and His death intervened for the salvation of these poor Gentiles. He would call them. Doubtless He had given His life for the Jews also-for all the sheep in general, as such (Joh 10:11). But He does not speak distinctly of the Gentiles until after He has spoken of His death. He would bring them also, and there should be but one flock (not “one fold,” there is no fold now) and one Shepherd .

Now this doctrine teaches the rejection of Israel, and the calling out of the elect among that people, presents the death of Jesus as being the effect of His love for His own, tells of His divine knowledge of His sheep when He shall be away from them, and of the call of the Gentiles. The importance of such instruction at that moment is obvious. Its importance, thank God! is not lost by the lapse of time, and is not limited to the fact of a change of dispensation. It introduces us into the substantial realities of the grace connected with the Person of Christ. But the death of Christ was more than love for His sheep. It had an intrinsic value in the Father’s eyes. “Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.” He does not say here for His sheep-it is the thing itself that is well-pleasing to the Father. We love because God has first loved us, but Jesus, the divine Son, can furnish motives for the Father’s love. In laying down His life, He glorified the Father. Death was owned to be the just penalty for sin (being at the same time annulled and he who had the power of it, 2Ti 1:10; Heb 2:14” Heb 2:14), and eternal life brought in as the fruit of redemption-life from God. Here also the rights of the Person of Christ are set forth. No man takes His life from Him: He lays it down Himself. He had this power (possessed by no other, true only of Him who had divine right) to lay it down, and power to take it again. Nevertheless, even in this, He did not depart from the path of obedience. He had received this commandment from His Father. But who would have been able to perform it save He who could say, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again”? [38] They discuss what He had been saying. There were some who only saw in Him a man beside himself, and who insulted Him. Others, moved by the power of the miracle He had performed, felt that His words had a different character from that of madness. To a certain point their consciences were reached. The Jews surround Him, and ask how long He would keep them in suspense. Jesus answers that He had already told them; and that His works bore Him testimony. He appeals to the two testimonies which we have seen brought forward in the previous chapter (8 and 9); namely, His word and His works. But He adds, they were not of His sheep. He then takes occasion, without noticing their prejudices, to add some precious truths respecting His sheep. They hear His voice; He knows them; they follow Him; He gives them eternal life; they shall never perish. On the one hand, there shall be no perishing of life as within; on the other, no one shall pluck them out of the Saviour’s hand-force from without shall not overcome the power of Him who keeps them. But there is another and an infinitely precious truth which the Lord in His love reveals to us. The Father had given us to Jesus, and He is greater than all who would seek to pluck us out of His hand. And Jesus and the Father are one. Precious teaching! in which the glory of the Person of the Son of God is identified with the safety of His sheep, with the height and depth of the love of which they are the objects. Here it is not a testimony which, as altogether divine, sets forth what man is. It is the work and the efficacious love of the Son, and at the same time that of the Father. It is not “I am”; but “I and the Father are one.” If the Son has accomplished the work, and takes care of the sheep, it was the Father who gave them to Him. The Christ may perform a divine work, and furnish a motive for the Father’s love, but it was the Father who gave it Him to do. Their love to the sheep is one, as those who bear that love are one.

Chapter 8, therefore, is the manifestation of God in testimony, and as light; chapters 9 and 10, the efficacious grace which gathers the sheep under the care of the Son, and of the Father’s love. John speaks of God when he speaks of a holy nature, and man’s responsibility-of the Father and the Son, when he speaks of grace in connection with the people of God.

Observe, that the wolf may come and catch [39] the sheep, if the shepherds are hirelings; but he cannot catch* them out of the Saviour’s hands.

At the end of the chapter, the Jews having taken up stones to stone Him, because He made Himself equal with God, the Lord does not seek to prove to them the truth of what He is, but shews that, according to their own principles and the testimony of the scriptures, they were wrong in this case. He appeals again to His own words and works, as proving that He was in the Father and the Father in Him. Again they take up stones, and Jesus definitely leaves them. It was all over with Israel.

Footnotes for John Chapter 10

38: Love and obedience are the governing principles of divine life. This is unfolded in the First Epistle of John as to ourselves. Another mark of it in the creature is dependence, and this was fully manifested in Jesus as man.

39: The words catcheth and pluck in Joh 10:12; Joh 10:28 and Joh 10:29 are the same in the original.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold. The sheepfold is a figure of the church, the door into which is Christ. The sheepfolds of the East are large enclosures, open to the sky, but walled around with reeds or stones or brick in order to afford a protection against robbers, wolves, and other beasts of prey. There is a large door at which the shepherd enters with the sheep.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues to speak to the Pharisees. This is the same part of the story which began in John 9:35.

General Information:

Jesus begins to speak in parables. (See: Parables)

Truly, truly

See how you translated this in John 1:51.

sheep pen

This is a fenced area where a shepherd keeps his sheep.

a thief and a robber

This is the use of two words with similar meanings to add emphasis. (See: Doublet)

translationWords

gate

shepherd

ewe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

1–18. “The form of the discourse in the first half of chap. 10 is remarkable. It resembles the Synoptic parables, but not exactly. The parable is a short narrative, which is kept wholly separate from the ideal facts which it signifies. But this discourse is not a narrative; and the figure and its application run side by side, and are interwoven with one another all through. It is an extended metaphor rather than a parable. If we are to give it an accurate name we should be obliged to fall back upon the wider term ‘allegory.’

This, and the parallel passage in chap. 15, are the only instances of allegory in the Gospels. They take in the Fourth Gospel the place which parables hold with the Synoptists. The Synoptists have no allegories distinct from parables. The fourth Evangelist has no parables as a special form of allegory. What are we to infer from this? The parables certainly are original and genuine. Does it follow that the allegories are not?

(1) We notice, first, that along with the change of form there is a certain change of subject. The parables generally turn round the ground conception of the kingdom of heaven. They … do not enlarge on the relation which its King bears to the separate members.… Though the royal dignity of the Son is incidentally put forward, there is nothing which expresses so closely and directly the personal relation of the Messiah to the community of believers, collectively and individually, as these two ‘allegories’ from S. John. Their form seems in an especial manner suited to their subject-matter, which is a fixed, permanent and simple relation, not a history of successive states. The form of the allegories is at least appropriate.

(2) We notice next that even with the Synoptists the use of the parable is not rigid. All do not conform precisely to the same type. There are some, like the Pharisee and Publican, the Good Samaritan, &c., which give direct patterns for action, and are not therefore parables in the same sense in which the Barren Fig-tree, the Prodigal Son, &c. are parables.… If, then, the parable admits so much deviation on the one side, may it not also on the other?

(3) Lastly, we have to notice the parallels to this particular figure of the Good Shepherd that are found in the Synoptists. These are indeed abundant. The parable of the Lost Sheep (Luk 15:4-7; Mat 18:12-13).… ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Mat 15:24).… ‘But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd’ (Mat 9:36), which when taken with Mat 11:28-29 (‘Come unto Me all ye that labour,’ &c.), gives almost an exact parallel to the Johannean allegory.” Sanday.

1–9. THE ALLEGORY OF THE DOOR OF THE FOLD

1. ἀμὴν ἀμήν. This double affirmation, peculiar to this Gospel (see on Joh 1:51), never occurs at the beginning of a discourse, but either in continuation, to introduce some deep truth, or in reply. This verse is no exception. There is no break between the chapters, which should perhaps have been divided at Joh 9:34 or 38 rather than here. The scene continues uninterrupted from Joh 9:35 to Joh 10:21, where we have a reference to the healing of the blind man. Moreover Joh 10:6 seems to point back to Joh 9:41; their not understanding the allegory was evidence of self-complacent blindness. This chapter, therefore, although it contains a fresh subject, is connected with the incidents in chap. 9 and grows out of them. The connexion seems to be that the Pharisees by their conduct to the man had proved themselves bad shepherds; but he has found the Good Shepherd: they had cast him out of doors; but he has found the Door: they had put him forth to drive him away; the Good Shepherd puts His sheep forth to lead them. We are not told where these words are spoken; so that it is impossible to say whether it is probable that a sheepfold with the shepherds and their flocks was in sight. There is nothing against the supposition. Be this as it may, Jesus, who has already appropriated the types of the Brazen Serpent, the Manna, the Rock, and the Pillar of Fire (Joh 3:14, Joh 6:50, Joh 7:37, Joh 8:12) here appropriates the type of the Shepherd (Psalms 23; Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 11).

διὰ τῆς θύρας. Oriental sheepfolds are commonly walled or palisaded, with one door or gate. Into one of these enclosures several shepherds drive their flocks, leaving them in charge of an under-shepherd or porter, who fastens the door securely inside, and remains with the sheep all night. In the morning the shepherds come to the door, the porter opens to them, and each calls away his own sheep.

τ. αὐλὴν τ. πρ. The fold of the sheep. Comp. ἡ θύρα τ. πρ. (Joh 10:7).

ἀλλαχόθεν. Literally, from another quarter; here only in N.T.

ἐκεῖνος. S. John’s characteristic use: comp. Joh 1:18; Joh 1:33, Joh 5:11; Joh 5:39, Joh 6:57, Joh 9:37, Joh 12:48, Joh 14:12; Joh 14:21; Joh 14:26, Joh 15:26.

κλέπτης … λῃστής. Everywhere in this Gospel (Joh 10:8; Joh 10:10, Joh 12:6, Joh 18:40) and in 2Co 11:26 κλέπτης is rightly rendered ‘thief’ and λῃστής ‘robber’ in A.V. But elsewhere (Mat 21:13; Mat 26:55; Mat 27:38, &c. &c.) λῃστής is translated ‘thief.’ The λῃστής is a brigand, more formidable than the κλέπτης: the one uses violence and is sometimes chivalrous, the other employs cunning, and is always mean.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verily, verily [αμην, αμην] . The formula never begins anything quite new, but connects what follows with what precedes. This discourse grows out of the assumption of the Pharisees to be the only authoritative guides of the people (ix. 24, 29). They have already been described as blind and sinful.

Sheepfold [αυλην των προβατων] . Literally, fold of the sheep. So Rev., better, because the two ideas of the flock and the fold are treated distinctly. Compare ver. 16.

Some other way [αλλαχοθεν] . Literally, from some other quarter. The thief does not, like the shepherd, come from some well - known direction, as from his dwelling or from the pasture, but from an unknown quarter and by a road of his own. This from is significant, because, in the previous discourses, Jesus has laid great stress on the source from which He proceeded, and has made the difference in character between Himself and His opposers turn upon difference of origin. See Joh 8:23, 42, 44. In the latter part of this chapter He brings out the same thought (vv. 30, 32, 33, 36). Thief - robber [κλεπτης - ληστης] . For the distinction see on Mr 11:17. There is a climax in the order of the words; one who will gain his end by craft, and, if that will not suffice, by violence.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.