John 10

John 10:1

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

(a) Truly, I say to you. Jesus is speaking to some Pharisees (John 9:40).

Jesus has just performed an extraordinary miracle by healing a man who had been blind from birth (John 9). The miracle creates such a stir that the Pharisees launch an investigation. The evidence stands before them, yet they refuse to acknowledge the miracle or accept that Jesus has come from God. They even threaten to excommunicate anyone who challenges their narrative.

When the healed man refuses to support their lies, the Pharisees insult him and expel him from the synagogue. In response, Jesus steps forward. He confronts the false shepherds of Israel with a parable that reveals himself as the true and Good Shepherd. In this parable, Jesus reveals how to identify the true Shepherd. He promises that anyone who believes in him, the Good Shepherd, will have abundant life.

(b) The fold of the sheep. A sheepfold was a walled courtyard where sheep were kept safe at night. Several flocks could be housed in the same communal fold. At night, a guard would stand watch. The only way a thief could steal a sheep was by climbing over the wall.

(c) A thief and a robber. The thieves and robbers represent the false messiahs and religious leaders who came before Jesus and sought to enrich themselves by exploiting God’s people (John 10:8). In a modern context, a thief or a robber is any false prophet or false teacher who deceives and fleeces the sheep. “In their greed, they will exploit you with false words” (2 Pet. 2:3). Such people want your attention, your approval, and your money. They have no desire to help you grow in grace. To them, you are merely a resource to be exploited.

A thief (kleptēs) steals by stealth, while a robber (lēstēs) steals by force. A robber is a violent thief or brigand—such as those who ambushed the traveler on the road to Jericho (Luke 10:30) or who menaced Paul in his travels (2 Cor. 11:26). Two brigands were crucified alongside Christ (Matt. 27:38), and Barabbas was also a brigand (John 18:40).

John 10:2–3

“But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

(a) Enters by the door. The true shepherd enters through the guarded door because the doorkeeper knows him.

(b) Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).

(c) The doorkeeper. Some say the doorkeeper represents John the Baptist. John opened the door or prepared the way for the coming of Jesus, the Good Shepherd (John 1:23).

(d) The sheep. The sheep in the fold refer to Israel. Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). Later, Jesus will call his sheep from other sheep folds (i.e., the Gentiles; see verse 16).

(e) His own sheep by name. Jesus calls us by name. When the Lord met Saul on the road to Damascus, he addressed him personally (Acts 9:4). Even the worst sinner is known to the Lord, and through the gospel, he calls each one to turn to him and be saved (Is. 45:22).

(f) Leads them out. Just as a shepherd leads his sheep out of the sheepfold into the fields, Jesus leads us out into the wide spaces of God’s grace.

John 10:4–5

“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

(a) He goes ahead of them. The Good Shepherd does not drive his sheep from behind, but he leads them from the front (Ps. 31:3, Is. 58:11). This is a further reference to the Lord himself. “For the Lamb … will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of the water of life” (Rev. 7:17). We can trust the Good Shepherd to lead and guide us along his paths of righteousness (Ps. 23:3).

(b) They know his voice. Believers recognize the Shepherd’s voice because his Spirit dwells within us (Rom. 8:9). When the truth we hear resonates with the Truth within, we are filled with peace.

(c) Strangers. The original adjective allotrios means “other,” “different,” or “not one’s own.” A stranger is a false prophet or false teacher who is not part of God’s family.

(d) They do not know the voice of strangers. When a false teacher preaches another gospel that is contrary to the good news of Christ, it unsettles our spirits. The lack of peace within warns us to be wary of what we are hearing.

John 10:6

This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which he had been saying to them.

(a) Figure of speech. The original noun paroimia is sometimes translated as “proverb” (2 Pet. 2:22) or “figurative language” (John 16:25). Unlike the other Gospel writers, John never uses the word parable (parabolē). Yet, the story of the Good Shepherd contains all the defining characteristics of a parable—characters, a plot, and a point.

(b) They did not understand. The Pharisees did not realize that Jesus was talking about them and their religion. They were the thieves and robbers who misled and exploited the sheep of Israel. They failed to receive Jesus as the Messiah, and they mistreated those who did (e.g., John 9:34, 12:42).

John 10:7

So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

The door. Since the Pharisees did not understand his story, Jesus changes direction. He is no longer the shepherd leading the sheep out; now he is the door through which the sheep enter. Metaphorically, Jesus is the door or gateway to salvation (verse 9) and life (verse 10). He is the One through whom we come to the Father (John 14:6).

Jesus said the door or gate to salvation is narrow and that many would try to enter and not be able (Luke 13:24). The narrow gate is hard to enter because people are slow to believe the good news. Instead of trusting in Jesus the Door, they try to force their way in through closed doors of dead works. They rely on their own righteousness rather than resting in the finished work of the Lord.

In the Old Testament story of the Exodus, the children of Israel were protected from death by the lambs’ blood painted on their doorposts (Ex. 12:13, 23). What was foreshadowed in the old is fulfilled in the new. In the new covenant, we are protected from death by the Lamb who is the Door.

Further reading: “Why is the narrow gate hard to enter?”

John 10:8

“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

(a) All who came before me. Jesus isn’t referring to the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets. Instead, he’s talking about false messiahs and corrupt leaders who did not have God’s heart for Israel.

(b) Thieves and robbers. Israel’s political and religious leaders were self-serving lovers of money (Luke 16:14). They used their positions to enrich themselves and turned the temple courtyard into a “den of robbers” (Matt. 21:13).

(c) The sheep did not hear them because they were strangers (John 10:5). The godly men and women of Israel paid no attention to false messiahs and corrupt priests.

John 10:9

“I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

(a) The door. Jesus is the gateway to salvation.

(b) If anyone enters through me. We enter the kingdom of God by putting our faith in Christ, the door (John 3:16).

(c) Saved. The original verb sōzō means “to deliver, protect, and make whole.” In this context, it refers to being rescued from sin, death, and the slavery of this present age (Matt. 1:21, Gal. 1:4, Jas. 5:20). The Lord saves us from our enemies of sin and death (2 Sam. 22:4, Ps. 116:8, Luke 1:71).

(d) Go in and out. The believer is protected within the fold and well fed in the pasture.

“Going in and out” speaks of the freedom that Jesus brings (John 8:36). Under the law of sin and death, we were bound, but in Christ, we are free (Gal. 5:1). The freedom to choose whether we will walk in the old ways of the flesh or in the new way of the spirit is one of the greatest blessings of the new creation.

(e) Pasture. The Good Shepherd leads us to green pastures (Ps. 23:2). He nourishes our souls and satisfies our deepest longings. Whoever comes to him will never go hungry (John 6:35).

John 10:10

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

(a) The thief refers to the false teachers and religious leaders of Israel (see verse 8). Although Satan is a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, here Jesus is speaking of the corrupt law teachers and Pharisees who devoured widows’ houses and threatened to expel anyone who followed him (Matt. 23:14, John 9:22).

(b) Kill and destroy. The test of any teacher or leader is whether they impart life or death. A true teacher releases the life of God by revealing Jesus, who is the Life. In contrast, a false teacher perpetuates the death-dealing lies of the devil.

(c) I came that they may have life. Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but to give life to the dead (John 3:15–16, 5:24). He came to give us what we did not have—newness of life (Rom. 6:4–5). When we preach the gospel, we proclaim the new life that Jesus offers to all (Acts 5:20).

(d) Life. Jesus does not just give us more life; he gives us a new kind of life, the eternal life of God (Eph. 4:18). This new life is centered on Christ and his indwelling Spirit.

See entry for New Life.

(e) Abundantly. The original adjective, perissos, means “surpassing” or “superabound.” Jesus is describing divine life that far surpasses what we know. It is not the wasted life of lack and longing, but the “much more” life of God (Rom. 8:32, Php. 4:19).

John 10:11

“I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

(a) The Good Shepherd. Jesus returns to the shepherd imagery. He is the True Shepherd who calls his sheep by name (John 10:3), the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for them (John 10:11), the Great Shepherd who was raised from the dead (Heb. 13:20), and the Chief or King Shepherd who is coming again (1 Pet. 5:4).

(b) Shepherd. A shepherd is a keeper of the sheep. Jesus not only saves you (John 10:9) but also keeps you (1 John 5:18, Jude 1:24), now and forever (Heb. 7:25).

John 10:12–13

“He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

(a) A hired hand works for wages and has no great love for the sheep. Since he does not own the sheep, he does not care if they are lost.

(b) The owner of the sheep. Jesus is the Owner of the sheep because he purchased us with his blood (Acts 20:28, 1 Cor. 6:20). Because he paid such a high price for you, you can be sure that the Shepherd of your soul will never leave you nor forsake you in times of trouble.

John 10:14–15

“I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

(a) The Good Shepherd; see verse 11.

(b) I know my own. Jesus knows us and he calls us by name (John 10:3). He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us as well as he knows his own Father.

(c) My own know me. Many know about Jesus, but the believer knows him as Lord and Shepherd. This revelation comes from the Holy Spirit, for no one can truly confess Jesus as Lord apart from him (1 Cor. 12:3).

(d) I lay down my life for the sheep. Since Jesus was not of Adam’s fallen line, he was not subject to the law of sin and death. Sin couldn’t touch him, and death couldn’t take him. The only way Jesus could go to the cross and die on our behalf was if he chose to do so. When the Good Shepherd laid down his life for us, it was the greatest act of love the world had ever seen.

John 10:16

“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

(a) Other sheep. The Gentiles.

The Jews expected the Messiah to be the Shepherd of Israel (Eze. 34:11–15, Matt. 2:6), and this was indeed the focus of Jesus’ early ministry (Matt. 10:6, 15:24). Yet his larger purpose was to call his sheep from every nation (Matt. 25:32). This global mission began when he commissioned the apostles to carry the good news to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:18, Acts 1:8).

(b) Not of this fold. Not of Israel.

(c) They will become one flock. In the new creation, there is not a Jewish flock and a Gentile flock. There is only one flock, one faith, and one body, for we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28, Eph. 2:15, Col. 3:11).

The Parable of the Good Shepherd warns us to beware of those who draw people to themselves rather than to Christ. It reveals that Jesus alone is the true and Good Shepherd who laid down his life for us. Only in him do we find the way to true and lasting life.

John 10:17

“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.

(a) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.

(b) The Father loves Me. The God that Jesus revealed is a loving Father (John 14:21, 23, 15:9, 16:27, 17:26), who loves us as much as he loves his Son (John 17:23).

(c) I lay down My life. Since Jesus was not of Adam’s fallen line, he was not subject to the law of sin and death. Sin couldn’t touch him and death couldn’t take him. The only way Jesus could go to the cross and die on our behalf was if he chose to.

John 10:18

“No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

I lay it down. On several occasions people plotted or tried to murder Jesus (Matt. 26:59, Mark 14:55, Luke 4:30, 22:2, John 5:18, 7:19, 25). But none succeeded. Jesus would freely lay down his life for all. No one would take it from him.

John 10:23

it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

The portico of Solomon was a porch that ran along the eastern wall of the temple precinct. Jesus probably walked there in winter because it was covered. Later, the early church would meet there (Acts 3:11, 5:12).

John 10:25

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.

(a) My Father; see entry for John 4:21.

(b) You do not believe. Some of the Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Christ (see previous verse).

(c) In My Father’s name. Jesus shows us how to live in total dependence on the Father (see entry for John 5:19).

John 10:26

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.

(a) You do not believe. The Jews heard the Lord’s testimony (see previous verse), but they did not believe it. They did not believe he was the Christ.

This verse is not saying that God only saves some people or that only sheep can believe. God loves the whole world (John 3:16). He is not willing that any perish but desires all to come to repentance and be saved (2 Pet. 3:9, 1 Tim. 2:4). Whoever believes or calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (John 3:16, Rom. 10:13).

(b) My sheep. “You are not my people. You don’t follow me” (see next verse).

John 10:27

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

(a) My sheep. We are not his sheep because we go to church and act like Jesus. We are his sheep if we have been born of the Spirit. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him” (Rom. 8:9).

(b) I know them. Jesus knows his own. On that day Jesus will say, “This one is mine and I know them. They have heard my voice and responded.”

John 10:28

and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

(a) I give eternal life to them. “To give us eternal life” is the answer to the question, why did Jesus come (John 3:16, Rom 6:4, 1 Tim. 1:16).

Jesus did not come principally to free us from sin or to give us a new nature. He came to give us a new life which includes those other things. “I have come that they may have (zoe) life” (John 10:10). When we preach the gospel, we are telling people about the new life that Jesus offers to all (Acts 5:20). See entry for New Life.

(b) Eternal life is living forever in union with Jesus; see entry for John 3:15.

(c) They will never perish. We are not born immortal (Rom. 2:6–8, Eph. 2:1). Eternal life is a gift we receive when come to Christ (John 3:15). The moment you put your faith in Christ you crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). Whoever believes in Christ has eternal life and shall not perish (John 3:16).

(d) My hand. Jesus holds you and he will never let you go.

John 10:29

“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

(a) My Father; see entry for John 4:21.

(b) The Father’s hand. In Christ, you are a son forever (John 8:35). Your heavenly Father will never abandon you (Heb. 13:5), never forget you (Is. 49:15). As an heir of God, your future is eternally secure and wonderfully blessed (Rom. 8:17, Gal. 4:7).

John 10:30

“I and the Father are one.”

I and the Father are one. God the Father and the Son are exactly alike (Heb. 1:3).

What is God like? He is like Jesus. If you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).This similarity makes it easy for us to dismiss the silly caricatures of manmade religion. Since Jesus is not a semi-deaf sky-Santa, then neither is God. And since Jesus is not a terrifying punisher, neither is God. Your heavenly Father is exactly like Jesus.

Some imagine God is a bookkeeper recording all your sins. But God is not like that because Jesus is not like that. Jesus didn’t shame sinners. He loved them and had dinner with them and introduced them to his Father.

Some think that God is a passive and ineffectual sovereign who lets the universe run on auto-pilot. But God is not like that because Jesus is not like that. Jesus’ desire was to see the Father’s will done on earth as it is in heaven. This is why he healed the sick and raised the dead.

Some think your sins put you in danger of an angry God. But God is not like that because Jesus is not like that. Jesus is a friend of sinners.

Some imagine that God gives us law while Jesus gives us grace. But the good news declares that Jesus is the embodiment of the Father’s grace. Jesus is fantastically gracious, but he is no more gracious than God himself. They are the dynamic duo of graciousness. There is no good God-bad God routine. There is just grace upon grace radiating from the throne of grace.

John 10:34

Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I SAID, YOU ARE GODS’?

Written in your Law. Jesus is quoting Psalm. 82:6. The Psalms do not form part of the Law of Moses or the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Jesus is referring to the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament. For similar examples, see John 12:34, 15:25, and 1 Cor. 14:21.

Further reading: “What is the Law in the Bible?“

John 10:35

“If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

(a) The word of God in this context is the Old Testament (see previous verse). To be precise, it is Psalm 82:6.

The word of God is the means by which God reveals himself and his will. In the old covenant, God communicated his will to Israel through the law, prophecies, and psalms. In the new covenant, the Word of God has its clearest expression through the revelation of Jesus (Rev. 19:13). See entry for Word of God.

(b) Scripture cannot be broken. In other words, “Don’t try and wriggle your way out of this by changing scripture.”

John 10:36

do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

(a) The Father; see entry for John 4:21.

(b) Sent into the world. On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had come or been sent from heaven. See entry for John 6:38.

(c) The Son of God. Most of the time Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man (see entry for Matt. 8:20). But on a few occasions he acknowledged that he was the Son of God (John 3:18, 5:25, 11:4, Rev. 2:18).

John 10:40

And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there.

(a) The place. When Jesus’ life was threatened in Jerusalem, he went to the place he had been water baptized. John baptized people at Bethabara, which was also known as Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan (John 1:28). This place should not be confused with the Bethany of Martha and Mary which was near Jerusalem.

(b) Baptizing. The original word implies total immersion. See entry for Baptism.

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2 comments

  1. A K has taken the place of the L in steal in rhe John 10:10 comment,… Sorry couldn’t ovelook it, but what I really want to emphesiszehe is that your work is wonderful and soooo to the Point! Thank you!

    Reply

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