John 10:15

10:15 The Father and the Son share a profound intimacy, which Jesus shares with his sheep through the Holy Spirit (14:23-31; 15:1-11).

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

Joh 10:15. Καθώς, as) This is connected with the preceding verse. Often the relation of believers towards Christ is derived from the peculiar relation of Christ towards the Father: ch. Joh 14:20, “I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you;” Joh 15:10, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love; Joh 17:8; Joh 17:21, “I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me;—That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us;” Mat 11:27, “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him;” Luk 22:29, “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me;” 1Co 11:3, “The Head of every man is Christ,—and the Head of Christ is God;” 1Co 15:28, “The Son also Himself shall be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all;” Rev 3:21, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne.”—καί) and for that reason [viz. because I am the Good Shepherd]. Hence [from this act of love] it is that the sheep know the ‘goodness’ of the Shepherd.—τίθημι, I lay down) Present. The whole life of Christ was a going to death.

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

Joh 10:15 . This reciprocal knowledge is so sure and profound that it can only be compared to the mutual knowledge of the Father and the Son: καθὼς … πατέρα . He then applies to Himself what had been stated in general of all good shepherds in Joh 10:11 ; and Joh 10:16 might suitably have begun with the words “And my life I lay down for the sheep”. This statement is, however, prompted by His reference to His knowledge of the Father. He knows it is the Father’s will that He should lay down His life. See Joh 10:17-18 .

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

Loveth me, alloweth me.

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

As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father--What claim to absolute equality with the Father could exceed this? (See on Mat 11:27).

and I lay down my life for the sheep--How sublime this, immediately following the lofty claim of the preceding clause! It is the riches and the poverty of "the Word made flesh"--one glorious Person reaching at once up to the Throne and down even to the dust of death, "that we might live through Him." A candid interpretation of the words, "for the sheep," ought to go far to establish the special relation of the vicarious death of Christ to the Church.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15. As the Father knoweth me. It is unnecessary, and is not even expedient, that we should enter into those thorny questions, How is it that the Father knows his Wisdom? For Christ simply declares that, so far as he is the bond of our union with God, he is placed between Him and us; as if he had said, that it is no more possible for him to forget us, than that he should be rejected or disregarded by the Father. At the same time, he demands the duty which we mutually owe to him, because, as he employs all the power which he has received from the Father for our protection, so he wishes that we should be obedient and devoted to him, as he is wholly devoted to his Father, and refers everything to him.

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.

(15) As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father.—Better, . . . and I know the Father. Our version, by its rendering, and by the division of verses, fails to give the full meaning, and there is thus, indeed, no reason for the assertion of the mutual knowledge of the Father and the Son. But connecting the words with those of the previous verse, we have, “I am the Good Shepherd, and know those who are Mine, and those who are Mine know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father.” This deeper sense of union between the human spirit and Himself, and the wondrous likening of it to the union of Himself and the Father, is present to His mind as the close of His work on earth draws near. We find it again in Joh_14:20; Joh_15:10; Joh_17:8; Joh_17:21. It is bound up with the thought of the love which lays down His own life for them. This is repeated here and again in Joh_10:17-18.

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

15. As the Father knoweth me, even so, &c.] This rendering entirely obscures the true meaning. There should be no full stop at the end of Joh_10:14, and the sentence should run; I know Mine, and Mine know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me and I know the Father. So intimate is the relation between the Good Shepherd and His sheep that it may be compared to the relation between the Father and the Son. The same thought runs through the discourses in the latter half of the Gospel: Joh_14:20, Joh_15:10, Joh_17:8; Joh_17:10; Joh_17:18; Joh_17:21.

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.

As the Father knoweth me,.... These words, with what follow, are in connection with Joh 10:14; and the sense is, that the mutual knowledge of Christ, and his sheep, is like that which his Father and he have of each other. The Father knows Christ as his own Son, and loves him as such, in the most strong and affectionate manner; and has entrusted him with the persons, grace, and glory, of all his people:

even so know I the Father; or rather, "and I know the Father"; as he needs must, since he lay in his bosom, and still does, and knows his nature, perfections, purposes, and his whole mind and will; and loves him most ardently, which he has shown by his coming down from heaven, to do his will; and trusts in him for the accomplishment of everything he promised unto him:

and I lay down my life for the sheep; which proves him to be the good shepherd, Joh 10:11. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "for my sheep"; which were his, by the Father's gift, and for no other has he laid down his life. The Ethiopic version, as before, renders it, or rather explains it, "I lay down my life for the redemption of my sheep".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Ver. 15. I lay down my life] Yet as man he was ζωον φιλοζωον. (Aesop, Fab.) Quis vitam non vult? Who does not want life? saith Augustine; and Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo, Indeed who wishes to die, absolutely no one, saith another. And, "skin after skin," or skin upon skin, "and all that a man hath will he give for his life," saith that old deceiver, truly, Job 2:4. Yet our Saviour held not his life dear for his sheep’s safety. Because he saw we should fall sore (said that angel, John Bradford) therefore he would suffer sore. Yea, if his once suffering had not been enough, he would yet once more come again. God the Father, I am sure, saith he, if the death of his Son incarnate would not serve, would himself and the Holy Ghost also become incarnate, and die for us.

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.

As the Father knoweth me ... - See the Mat 11:27 note; also Luk 10:22 note.

I lay down my life for the sheep - That is, I give my life as an atoning sacrifice for their sins. I die in their place, to redeem them from sin, and danger, and death. See Joh 10:17-18.

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

I lay down. That is, in a short time shall lay down my life for my sheep: for all, and in a special manner for my elect. See ver. 28. (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).

By these words our Saviour openeth how he knew his sheep, and should be again known of them, even as the Father knoweth him, and he knows his Father: this mutual knowledge between the Father and Christ was joined with perfect love and delight. Thus our Saviour knoweth those that are his sheep, not only fully and distinctly, so as to call them all by their names; but so as to love them, delight in them; so as to be ready to lay down his life for their good, and eternal salvation. Christ, to show not only the sincerity, but the degrees, of his love to his people, doth often compare it to the love wherewith his Father loved him, Joh 15:9; 17:23,26. So that if we can believe that God the Father loved Christ his only begotten Son, we may also believe that both the Father and Christ love those that are truly the sheep of Christ. The love that Christ hath to his people is as true and as certain as the Father’s love to Christ, or Christ’s love to his Father; and this could be showed by no higher act than that of laying down his life, Joh 15:13. Now, saith he,

I lay down, that is, I am ready to lay down, or I shall shortly lay down, my life for the sheep: whether sheep can signify all and every person born into the world, is their concern more strictly to inquire, who are so tenacious of that point. That Christ died equally for all and every man: as also, whether upon that principle that absurdity must not follow. That Christ loved those who shall yet perish eternally, with such a love as the Father loved him, and he loved the Father.

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

15. Life for the sheep—In this verse the Saviour emerges from the figurative, except so far as the term sheep is concerned, and speaks in deep, solemn, literal words. Whilst the thief and robber would slay he would die for the sheep. He dies for them as a shepherd, slain by the wolf in rescuing the sheep, would die for the sheep. No substitutional sacrifice is here expressed; certainly no judicial substitution, by which the Saviour bears a suffering which stands in place of the penalty upon the sinner. And yet there is an alternative substitution; the sheep would die if he does not, and he dies instead of them. The blessed Saviour now speaks in solemn prophecy perhaps to the very men by whose agency the final sacrifice should be made—the slaying of the true Shepherd by the wolves. One of the Christian Fathers, who was born before the apostles died, thus testifies to the doctrine of the atonement: “Christ our Lord gave his blood for us by the will of God; and flesh for our flesh, and life for our life.” (Clemens Romanus, 1st Epistle to the Corinthians.)

For the sheep—This is no proof-text in behalf of a limited atonement. It is not because Christ died for the sheep alone that the sheep alone are mentioned; but, because the sheep are the subject of the discourse, his death for them alone needs to be mentioned. Affirming that Christ died for the sheep is not denying that he died for others besides the sheep.

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

The great offering.

Our Lord Jesus is the chief Shepherd, under whom all other spiritual pastors are called to labor for the welfare of the flock, to whom they owe their authority, and by whose example they are bidden to be guided. He is the great Shepherd, who has proved his power to deliver and to save. And he is the good Shepherd, who shrinks from no effort and from no self-denial, in order to secure the welfare of his own. What more could he do than he did, when he laid down his life lop the sheep?

I THIS OFFERING WAS DELIBERATELY PURPOSED. Nothing can be more absurd than the notion of some modern critics, who contend that the Lord Jesus never contemplated such a close to his ministry until within a short period of his betrayal, and that he accepted the martyrdom as inevitable, and in order to save his credit with his followers. The Gospel record makes it manifest that from the early days of his ministry Jesus knew how that ministry would end. In his conversations with his disciples he gave them to understand that his life of service was to be crowned by a death of sacrifice.

II THIS OFFERING WAS VOLUNTARILY RENDERED. There had been times when the life of Jesus seemed to be in danger, and on such occasions he had escaped out of his enemies" hands, for his hour was not yet come. And to the last he possessed power either to crush or to evade his foes. But when the time came for him to be offered up, he made no resistance. He set his face towards Jerusalem. He acted in a manner certain to bring on the crisis. His miracles, his teaching, and especially his denunciations of the Pharisees, were of a nature to ensure the open opposition of his bitter foes. He withheld his supernatural power when he might have saved himself. In short, he laid down his life as something precious, which nevertheless he was content and ready to part with.

III THIS OFFERING WAS VICARIOUS IN ITS MORAL IMPORT.

1. Christ died on behalf of his sheep, and in defense of them. This, which was obscurely seen by the high priest, was very present to our Lord"s own mind. He had no personal end to serve by consenting to a death of pain and ignominy. It was for the sake of his flock that the Shepherd sacrificed himself.

2. Christ died in the stead of his sheep. As a shepherd may fight with a wild beast that attacks the flock, may receive wounds of which he himself may die, and yet may slay the beast and deliver the sheep of his charge; so our Savior, by his death, delivered his spiritual flock "from the bitter pains of eternal death." Not by way of a bargain, as if suffering were something that could be transferred from one to another, as though Jesus endured an equivalent for the punishment men deserved; but by Way of substitution and moral mediation.

IV THIS OFFERING WAS REDEMPTIVE IN ITS PURPOSE. "Ye were redeemed," writes Peter, "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish." The bondage of sinful men was exchanged for liberty, their malady for health, their death for life.

V THIS OFFERING WAS ACCEPTED BY THE FATHER. Of this our Lord was confident beforehand. "Therefore doth the Father love me," he himself says in the anticipation of his sacrifice (ver. 17). It was necessary that this should be the case, that the Father should approve the offering. This language may easily be misunderstood and misrepresented, as if there were something arbitrary in the pleasure or displeasure of the Eternal. But the fact is that the Father delights in that which is in accordance with unchanging reason and righteousness. What Christ did and suffered, and the aim he set before him, was what commended itself to the mind of the God of wisdom and justice. And, indeed, it was by the Father"s will that Christ"s work was undertaken, and his acceptance of it was the ratification of his own counsels.

VI THIS OFFERING WAS EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL IN ITS RESULTS FOR MEN. In this supreme instance, benevolence was not in vain. If the Shepherd died, the flock was ransomed. And Christ "sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied. T.

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

As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father - With such a knowledge as implies an inexpressible union: and I lay down my life - Speaking of the present time. For his whole life was only a going unto death.

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

15.] The knowledge of His sheep here spoken of is more than the mere knowing by name: it is a knowledge corresponding to the Father’s knowledge of Him;—i.e. entire, perfect, all-comprehensive: and their knowledge of Him corresponds to His of the Father,—i.e. is intimate, direct, and personal: both being bound together by holy and inseparable Love. Beware of rendering [the former clause of] ver. 15 as in E. V. as an independent sentence, ‘As my Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father:’ it is merely the sequel to ver. 14, and should stand, as the Father knoweth me and I know the Father.

ὑπὲρ τ. προβ.] for those my sheep—not, for all; that, however true, is not the point brought out here: the Lord lays down His life strictly and properly, and in the depths of the Divine counsel, for those who are His sheep.

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

15. καθὼς γιν … κἀγὼ γινώσκω … We have seen on 6:57 that the constr. καθὼς … κἀγώ may be taken in two different ways. In the present passage we may either (1) place a full stop after ἐμά, and then we have a new sentence, sc. “As the Father knoweth me, so I know the Father,” the constr. being the same as that at 15:9, 20:21; or (2) we may treat καθὼς γινώσκει … τὸν πατέρα as explanatory of the preceding words, sc. “I know mine, and mine know me, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father,” the constr. then being similar to that at 6:57, 17:21. The A.V. follows (1), the R.V. adopts (2); and both are legitimate renderings of the Greek, and consistent with Johannine usage. The difficulty of (1) is that the words “As the Father knoweth me, so I know the Father,” would seem to be irrelevant to the context, unless we are to connect them with what is said in v. 17, and understand by v. 15, “As the Father knoweth me, so I know the Father, and, because I know Him and His will, I lay down my life for the sheep.”1 But this is to interpolate a thought which is not expressly stated. On the other hand, it may be objected to the rendering (2), that it suggests that the knowledge of Christ by His true disciples is comparable in degree and in kind to the knowledge that He has of the Father. No other statement in the Fourth Gospel or elsewhere claims for His disciples so intimate a knowledge of Christ as this would seem to do (the promise of 14:20 is for the future, not the present). But we have seen (on 6:57) that καθὼς … καί does not, in fact, imply a perfect or complete parallelism with what has gone before. All that is said here, if rendering (2) be adopted, as we believe it must be, is that the mutual knowledge by Christ’s sheep of their Good Shepherd, and His knowledge of them, may be compared with the mutual knowledge of the Son and the Father; it is not the perfection or intimacy of the knowledge that is in view, it is its reciprocal character. Cf. 1Co 11:3; and see further on 17:18.

Adopting rendering (2), the sequence of thought in vv. 14, 15, is plain: “I am the Good Shepherd, as is shown first by my knowledge of my sheep and theirs of me, and secondly by my readiness to lay down my life on their behalf.” These are the two principal marks of the Good Shepherd which have been noted in the preceding verses.

The mutual knowledge of the Father and the Son which is brought in here parenthetically is explicitly stated in the great declaration Mat 11:27, Luk 10:22, and is implied at 17:21 and at many other points in the Gospel. That Jesus knew God in a unique manner and in pre-eminent degree was His constant claim (see on 7:29; and cf. also 8:55, 17:25).

καὶ τὴν ψυχήν μου τίθημι κτλ. This is repeated, like a refrain, from v. 11, in the Johannine manner. See note on 3:16 for such repetitions.

For τίθημι, א*DW have δίδωμι. See the similar variant in v. 11, and the note there.

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

As the Father knoweth me. Connect these words with the previous sentence : mine own know me, even as the Father knoweth me, etc.

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