João 10

O Pastor e o seu Rebanho

1 “Eu asseguro a vocês que aquele que não entra no aprisco das ovelhas pela porta, mas sobe por outro lugar, é ladrão e assaltante.

2 Aquele que entra pela porta é o pastor das ovelhas.

3 O porteiro abre-lhe a porta, e as ovelhas ouvem a sua voz. Ele chama as suas ovelhas pelo nome e as leva para fora.

4 Depois de conduzir para fora todas as suas ovelhas, vai adiante delas, e estas o seguem, porque conhecem a sua voz.

5 Mas nunca seguirão um estranho; na verdade, fugirão dele, porque não reconhecem a voz de estranhos”.

6 Jesus usou essa comparação, mas eles não compreenderam o que lhes estava falando.

7 Então Jesus afirmou de novo: “Digo a verdade: Eu sou a porta das ovelhas.

8 Todos os que vieram antes de mim eram ladrões e assaltantes, mas as ovelhas não os ouviram.

9 Eu sou a porta; quem entra por mim será salvo. Entrará e sairá, e encontrará pastagem.^[a]

10 O ladrão vem apenas para roubar, matar e destruir; eu vim para que tenham vida e a tenham plenamente.

11 “Eu sou o bom pastor. O bom pastor dá a sua vida pelas ovelhas.

12 O assalariado não é o pastor a quem as ovelhas pertencem. Assim, quando vê que o lobo vem, abandona as ovelhas e foge. Então o lobo ataca o rebanho e o dispersa.

13 Ele foge porque é assalariado e não se importa com as ovelhas.

14 “Eu sou o bom pastor; conheço as minhas ovelhas, e elas me conhecem,

15 assim como o Pai me conhece e eu conheço o Pai; e dou a minha vida pelas ovelhas.

16 Tenho outras ovelhas que não são deste aprisco. É necessário que eu as conduza também. Elas ouvirão a minha voz, e haverá um só rebanho e um só pastor.

17 Por isso é que meu Pai me ama, porque eu dou a minha vida para retomá-la.

18 Ninguém a tira de mim, mas eu a dou por minha espontânea vontade. Tenho autoridade para dá-la e para retomá-la. Esta ordem recebi de meu Pai”.

19 Diante dessas palavras, os judeus ficaram outra vez divididos.

20 Muitos deles diziam: “Ele está endemoninhado e enlouqueceu. Por que ouvi-lo?”

21 Mas outros diziam: “Essas palavras não são de um endemoninhado. Pode um demônio abrir os olhos dos cegos?”

A Incredulidade dos Judeus

22 Celebrava-se a festa da Dedicação, em Jerusalém. Era inverno,

23 e Jesus estava no templo, caminhando pelo Pórtico de Salomão.

24 Os judeus reuniram-se ao redor dele e perguntaram: “Até quando nos deixará em suspense? Se é você o Cristo, diga-nos abertamente”.

25 Jesus respondeu: “Eu já disse, mas vocês não creem. As obras que eu realizo em nome de meu Pai falam por mim,

26 mas vocês não creem, porque não são minhas ovelhas.

27 As minhas ovelhas ouvem a minha voz; eu as conheço, e elas me seguem.

28 Eu lhes dou a vida eterna, e elas jamais perecerão; ninguém as poderá arrancar da minha mão.

29 Meu Pai, que as deu para mim, é maior do que todos;^[b] ninguém as pode arrancar da mão de meu Pai.

30 Eu e o Pai somos um”.

31 Novamente os judeus pegaram pedras para apedrejá-lo,

32 mas Jesus lhes disse: “Eu mostrei muitas boas obras da parte do Pai. Por qual delas vocês querem me apedrejar?”

33 Responderam os judeus: “Não vamos apedrejá-lo por nenhuma boa obra, mas pela blasfêmia, porque você é um simples homem e se apresenta como Deus”.

34 Jesus lhes respondeu: “Não está escrito na Lei de vocês: ‘Eu disse: Vocês são deuses’?^[c]

35 Se ele chamou ‘deuses’ àqueles a quem veio a palavra de Deus (e a Escritura não pode ser anulada),

36 que dizer a respeito daquele a quem o Pai santificou e enviou ao mundo? Então, por que vocês me acusam de blasfêmia porque eu disse: Sou Filho de Deus?

37 Se eu não realizo as obras do meu Pai, não creiam em mim.

38 Mas, se as realizo, mesmo que não creiam em mim, creiam nas obras, para que possam saber e entender que o Pai está em mim, e eu no Pai”.

39 Outra vez tentaram prendê-lo, mas ele se livrou das mãos deles.

40 Então Jesus atravessou novamente o Jordão e foi para o lugar onde João batizava nos primeiros dias do seu ministério. Ali ficou,

41 e muita gente foi até onde ele estava, dizendo: “Embora João nunca tenha realizado um sinal milagroso, tudo o que ele disse a respeito deste homem era verdade”.

42 E ali muitos creram em Jesus.

João 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ou "ficará em segurança"
• [b]. Muitos manuscritos antigos dizem "O que meu Pai me deu é maior do que tudo."
• [c]. Sl 82.6