John 10

1 amen amen dico vobis qui non intrat per ostium in ovile ovium sed ascendit aliunde ille fur est et latro

2 qui autem intrat per ostium pastor est ovium

3 huic ostiarius aperit et oves vocem eius audiunt et proprias oves vocat nominatim et educit eas

4 et cum proprias oves emiserit ante eas vadit et oves illum sequuntur quia sciunt vocem eius

5 alienum autem non sequuntur sed fugient ab eo quia non noverunt vocem alienorum

6 hoc proverbium dixit eis Iesus illi autem non cognoverunt quid loqueretur eis

7 dixit ergo eis iterum Iesus amen amen dico vobis quia ego sum ostium ovium

8 omnes quotquot venerunt fures sunt et latrones sed non audierunt eos oves

9 ego sum ostium per me si quis introierit salvabitur et ingredietur et egredietur et pascua inveniet

10 fur non venit nisi ut furetur et mactet et perdat ego veni ut vitam habeant et abundantius habeant

11 ego sum pastor bonus bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus

12 mercennarius et qui non est pastor cuius non sunt oves propriae videt lupum venientem et dimittit oves et fugit et lupus rapit et dispergit oves

13 mercennarius autem fugit quia mercennarius est et non pertinet ad eum de ovibus

14 ego sum pastor bonus et cognosco meas et cognoscunt me meae

15 sicut novit me Pater et ego agnosco Patrem et animam meam pono pro ovibus

16 et alias oves habeo quae non sunt ex hoc ovili et illas oportet me adducere et vocem meam audient et fiet unum ovile unus pastor

17 propterea me Pater diligit quia ego pono animam meam ut iterum sumam eam

18 nemo tollit eam a me sed ego pono eam a me ipso potestatem habeo ponendi eam et potestatem habeo iterum sumendi eam hoc mandatum accepi a Patre meo

19 dissensio iterum facta est inter Iudaeos propter sermones hos

20 dicebant autem multi ex ipsis daemonium habet et insanit quid eum auditis

21 alii dicebant haec verba non sunt daemonium habentis numquid daemonium potest caecorum oculos aperire

22 facta sunt autem encenia in Hierosolymis et hiemps erat

23 et ambulabat Iesus in templo in porticu Salomonis

24 circumdederunt ergo eum Iudaei et dicebant ei quousque animam nostram tollis si tu es Christus dic nobis palam

25 respondit eis Iesus loquor vobis et non creditis opera quae ego facio in nomine Patris mei haec testimonium perhibent de me

26 sed vos non creditis quia non estis ex ovibus meis

27 oves meae vocem meam audiunt et ego cognosco eas et sequuntur me

28 et ego vitam aeternam do eis et non peribunt in aeternum et non rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea

29 Pater meus quod dedit mihi maius omnibus est et nemo potest rapere de manu Patris mei

30 ego et Pater unum sumus

31 sustulerunt lapides Iudaei ut lapidarent eum

32 respondit eis Iesus multa opera bona ostendi vobis ex Patre meo propter quod eorum opus me lapidatis

33 responderunt ei Iudaei de bono opere non lapidamus te sed de blasphemia et quia tu homo cum sis facis te ipsum Deum

34 respondit eis Iesus nonne scriptum est in lege vestra quia ego dixi dii estis

35 si illos dixit deos ad quos sermo Dei factus est et non potest solvi scriptura

36 quem Pater sanctificavit et misit in mundum vos dicitis quia blasphemas quia dixi Filius Dei sum

37 si non facio opera Patris mei nolite credere mihi

38 si autem facio et si mihi non vultis credere operibus credite ut cognoscatis et credatis quia in me est Pater et ego in Patre

39 quaerebant ergo eum prendere et exivit de manibus eorum

40 et abiit iterum trans Iordanen in eum locum ubi erat Iohannes baptizans primum et mansit illic

41 et multi venerunt ad eum et dicebant quia Iohannes quidem signum fecit nullum

42 omnia autem quaecumque dixit Iohannes de hoc vera erant et multi crediderunt in eum

John 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

The parable of the good shepherd. (1-5) Christ the Door. (6-9) Christ the good Shepherd. (10-18) The Jews' opinion concerning Jesus. (19-21) His discourse at the feast of dedication. (22-30) The Jews attempt to stone Jesus. (31-38) He departs from Jerusalem. (39-42)

Verses 1-5 Here is a parable or similitude, taken from the customs of the East, in the management of sheep. Men, as creatures depending on their Creator, are called the sheep of his pasture. The church of God in the world is as a sheep-fold, exposed to deceivers and persecutors. The great Shepherd of the sheep knows all that are his, guards them by his providence, guides them by his Spirit and word, and goes before them, as the Eastern shepherds went before their sheep, to set them in the way of his steps. Ministers must serve the sheep in their spiritual concerns. The Spirit of Christ will set before them an open door. The sheep of Christ will observe their Shepherd, and be cautious and shy of strangers, who would draw them from faith in him to fancies about him.

Verses 6-9 Many who hear the word of Christ, do not understand it, because they will not. But we shall find one scripture expounding another, and the blessed Spirit making known the blessed Jesus. Christ is the Door. And what greater security has the church of God than that the Lord Jesus is between it and all its enemies? He is a door open for passage and communication. Here are 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. Also, we have precious promises to those that observe this direction. Christ has all that care of his church, and every believer, which a good shepherd has of his flock; and he expects the church, and every believer, to wait on him, and to keep in his pasture.

Verses 10-18 Christ is a good Shepherd; many who were not thieves, yet were careless in their duty, and by their neglect the flock was much hurt. Bad principles are the root of bad practices. The Lord Jesus knows whom he has chosen, and is sure of them; they also know whom they have trusted, and are sure of Him. See here the grace of Christ; since none could demand his life of him, he laid it down of himself for our redemption. He offered himself to be the Saviour; Lo, I come. And the necessity of our case calling for it, he offered himself for the Sacrifice. He was both the offerer and the offering, so that his laying down his life was his offering up himself. From hence it is plain, that he died in the place and stead of men; to obtain their being set free from the punishment of sin, to obtain the pardon of their sin; and that his death should obtain that pardon. Our Lord laid not his life down for his doctrine, but for his sheep.

Verses 19-21 Satan ruins many, by putting them out of conceit with the word and ordinances. Men would not be laughed out of their necessary food, yet suffer themselves thus to be laughed out of what is far more necessary. If our zeal and earnestness in the cause of Christ, especially in the blessed work of bringing his sheep into his fold, bring upon us evil names, let us not heed it, but remember our Master was thus reproached before us.

Verses 22-30 All who have any thing to say to Christ, may find him in the temple. Christ would make us to believe; we make ourselves doubt. The Jews understood his meaning, but could not form his words into a full charge against him. He described the gracious disposition and happy state of his sheep; they heard and believed his word, followed him as his faithful disciples, and none of them should perish; for the Son and the Father were one. Thus he was able to defend his sheep against all their enemies, which proves that he claimed Divine power and perfection equally with the Father.

Verses 31-38 Christ's works of power and mercy proclaim him to be over all, God blessed for evermore, that all may know and believe He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. Whom the Father sends, he sanctifies. The holy God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as he makes holy. The Father was in the Son, so that by Divine power he wrought his miracles; the Son was so in the Father, that he knew the whole of His mind. This we cannot by searching find out to perfection, but we may know and believe these declarations of Christ.

Verses 39-42 No weapon formed against our Lord Jesus shall prosper. He escaped, not because he was afraid to suffer, but because his hour was not come. And He who knew how to deliver himself, knows how to deliver the godly our of their temptations, and to make a way for them to escape. Persecutors may drive Christ and his gospel our of their own city or country, but they cannot drive him or it out of the world. When we know Christ by faith in our hearts, we find all that the Scripture saith of him is true.