John 10

The Shepherd and the Flock

1 "What I'm about to tell you is true. What if someone does not enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs in another way? That person is a thief and a robber.

2 The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him. The sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 When he has brought all of his own sheep out, he goes on ahead of them. His sheep follow him because they know his voice.

5 But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him. They don't recognize a stranger's voice."

6 Jesus used this story. But the Jews who were there didn't understand what he was telling them.

7 So Jesus said again, "What I'm about to tell you is true. I am like a gate for the sheep.

8 All those who ever came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

9 I'm like a gate. Anyone who enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out. And he will find plenty of food.

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way.

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

12 The hired man is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when the hired man sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

13 The man runs away because he is a hired man. He does not care about the sheep.

14 "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

15 They know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I give my life for the sheep.

16 "I have other sheep that do not belong to this sheep pen. I must bring them in too. They also will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

17 "The reason my Father loves me is that I give up my life. But I will take it back again.

18 No one takes it from me. I give it up myself. I have the authority to give it up. And I have the authority to take it back again. I received this command from my Father."

19 After Jesus spoke these words, the Jews again could not agree with each other.

20 Many of them said, "He is controlled by a demon. He has gone crazy! Why should we listen to him?"

21 But others said, "A person controlled by a demon does not say things like this. Can a demon open the eyes of someone who is blind?"

The Jews Do Not Believe

22 Then came the Feast of Hanukkah at Jerusalem. It was winter.

23 Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Porch.

24 The Jews gathered around him. They said, "How long will you keep us waiting? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."

25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you. But you do not believe. The kinds of things I do in my Father's name speak for me.

26 But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep.

27 "My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never die. No one can steal them out of my hand.

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than anyone. No one can steal them out of my Father's hand.

30 I and the Father are one."

31 Again the Jews picked up stones to kill him.

32 But Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many miracles from the Father. Which one of these are you throwing stones at me for?"

33 "We are not throwing stones at you for any of these," replied the Jews. "We are stoning you for saying a very evil thing. You are only a man. But you claim to be God."

34 Jesus answered them, "Didn't God say in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'?(Psalm 82:6)

35 We know that Scripture is always true. God spoke to some people and called them 'gods.'

36 If that is true, what about the One the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why do you charge me with saying a very evil thing? Is it because I said, 'I am God's Son'?

37 "Don't believe me unless I do what my Father does.

38 But what if I do it? Even if you don't believe me, believe the miracles. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

39 Again they tried to arrest him. But he escaped from them.

40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan River. He went to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed.

41 Many people came to him. They said, "John never did a miraculous sign. But everything he said about this man was true."

42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

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.