Juan 10

1 En verdad, en verdad os digo: el que no entra por la puerta en el redil de las ovejas, sino que sube por otra parte, ése es ladrón y salteador.

2 Pero el que entra por la puerta, es el pastor de las ovejas.

3 A éste le abre el portero, y las ovejas oyen su voz; llama a sus ovejas por nombre y las conduce afuera.

4 Cuando saca todas las suyas, va delante de ellas, y las ovejas lo siguen porque conocen su voz.

5 Pero a un desconocido no seguirán, sino que huirán de él, porque no conocen la voz de los extraños.

6 Jesús les habló por medio de esta alegoría, pero ellos no entendieron qué era lo que les decía.

7 Entonces Jesús les dijo de nuevo: En verdad, en verdad os digo: yo soy la puerta de las ovejas.

8 Todos los que vinieron antes de mí son ladrones y salteadores, pero las ovejas no les hicieron caso.

9 Yo soy la puerta; si alguno entra por mí, será salvo; y entrará y saldrá y hallará pasto.

10 El ladrón sólo viene para robar y matar y destruir; yo he venido para que tengan vida, y para que la tengan en abundancia.

11 Yo soy el buen pastor; el buen pastor da su vida por las ovejas.

12 Pero el que es un asalariado y no un pastor, que no es el dueño de las ovejas, ve venir al lobo, y abandona las ovejas y huye, y el lobo las arrebata y las dispersa.

13 El huye porque sólo trabaja por el pago y no le importan las ovejas.

14 Yo soy el buen pastor, y conozco mis ovejas y las mías me conocen,

15 de igual manera que el Padre me conoce y yo conozco al Padre, y doy mi vida por las ovejas.

16 Tengo otras ovejas que no son de este redil; a ésas también me es necesario traerlas, y oirán mi voz, y serán un rebaño con un solo pastor.

17 Por eso el Padre me ama, porque yo doy mi vida para tomarla de nuevo.

18 Nadie me la quita, sino que yo la doy de mi propia voluntad. Tengo autoridad para darla, y tengo autoridad para tomarla de nuevo. Este mandamiento recibí de mi Padre.

19 Se volvió a suscitar una división entre los judíos por estas palabras.

20 Y muchos de ellos decían: Tiene un demonio y está loco. ¿Por qué le hacéis caso?

21 Otros decían: Estas no son palabras de un endemoniado. ¿Puede acaso un demonio abrir los ojos de los ciegos?

22 En esos días se celebraba en Jerusalén la fiesta de la Dedicación.

23 Era invierno, y Jesús andaba por el templo, en el pórtico de Salomón.

24 Entonces los judíos le rodearon, y le decían: ¿Hasta cuándo nos vas a tener en suspenso? Si tú eres el Cristo, dínoslo claramente.

25 Jesús les respondió: Os lo he dicho, y no creéis; las obras que yo hago en el nombre de mi Padre, éstas dan testimonio de mí.

26 Pero vosotros no creéis porque no sois de mis ovejas.

27 Mis ovejas oyen mi voz, y yo las conozco y me siguen;

28 y yo les doy vida eterna y jamás perecerán, y nadie las arrebatará de mi mano.

29 Mi Padre que me las dio es mayor que todos, y nadie las puede arrebatar de la mano del Padre.

30 Yo y el Padre somos uno.

31 Los judíos volvieron a tomar piedras para apedrearle.

32 Jesús les dijo: Os he mostrado muchas obras buenas que son del Padre. ¿Por cuál de ellas me apedreáis?

33 Los judíos le contestaron: No te apedreamos por ninguna obra buena, sino por blasfemia; y porque tú, siendo hombre, te haces Dios.

34 Jesús les respondió: ¿No está escrito en vuestra ley: "YO DIJE: SOIS DIOSES"?

35 Si a aquellos, a quienes vino la palabra de Dios, los llamó dioses (y la Escritura no se puede violar),

36 ¿a quien el Padre santificó y envió al mundo, vosotros decís: "Blasfemas", porque dije: "Yo soy el Hijo de Dios"?

37 Si no hago las obras de mi Padre, no me creáis;

38 pero si las hago, aunque a mí no me creáis, creed las obras; para que sepáis y entendáis que el Padre está en mí y yo en el Padre.

39 Por eso procuraban otra vez prenderle, pero se les escapó de entre las manos.

40 Se fue de nuevo al otro lado del Jordán, al lugar donde primero había estado bautizando Juan, y se quedó allí.

41 Y muchos vinieron a El y decían: Aunque Juan no hizo ninguna señal, sin embargo, todo lo que Juan dijo de éste era verdad.

42 Y muchos creyeron en El allí.

Juan 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.