Bible Study series: John 10:7-21. Will we submit to him like sheep and follow him?
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For the Greek text, click here:
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In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 10:7-10
7 Then Jesus again said: “I tell you the firm truth: I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came ahead of me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came so that they may have life and have it in abundance. 11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired man is not a shepherd, and the sheep do not belong to him. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees—then he catches and scatters them—13 because he is a hired man and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me. 15 Just as the Father knows me, I also know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 Further, I have other sheep which are not of this sheep pen. I must lead them, and they will hear my voice and will become one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life, in order that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I have received this commandment from my Father.”
19 Again there was a division among the Jews, because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others were saying, “These words are not of a demonized man. A demon can in no way open the eyes of the blind, can he?” (John 10:7-21)
Comments:
7:
“I tell you the firm truth”: please see v. 1 for more comments. Jesus intends to drive home the point and add some important proverbs or figures of speech.
“door”: please v. 2 for more information. In v. 8 he will say that anyone who enters through it will be saved.
This is the third of seven “I am” statements: I am door / gate. In Exod. 3:14, in the Septuagint (pronounced sep-TOO-ah-gent, a third to second century BC translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek), the Greek reads: “the LORD says, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” (egō eimi, pronounced eh-goh ay-mee) is used in the phrasing (along with ho ōn). This is high Christology.
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JESUS’ SEVEN “I AM” SAYINGS IN JOHN |
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| 1 | I Am the Bread of Life (6:35, 48) and Living Bread (6:51) |
| 2 | I Am the Light of the World (8:12) |
| 3 | I Am the Gate (10:7, 9) |
| 4 | I Am the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14) |
| 5 | I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25) |
| 6 | I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6) |
| 7 | I am the True Vine (15:1, 5) |
| BTSB, p. 2163, slightly edited | |
Or Jesus may refer to the “I am he” passages in Is. 40-55, as he did at John 8:24. Here is a list (all NIV and emphasis added):
Who has done this and carried it through,
calling forth the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord—with the first of them
and with the last—I am he.” (Is. 41:4)
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord,
and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it?” (Is. 43:10-13, see v. 25)
Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Is. 46:4)
“Listen to me, Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called:
I am he;
I am the first and I am the last.
13 My own hand laid the foundations of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
they all stand up together. (Is. 48:12-13)
12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
human beings who are but grass,
13 that you forget the Lord your Maker,
who stretches out the heavens
and who lays the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction? (Is. 51:12-13)
This is high Christology.
8:
There is a little manuscript dispute, but let’s not trouble ourselves about it. There are many false shepherds, who are thieves and robbers. They are up to no good and will steal, kill and destroy (v. 10). See v. 1 for a few more ideas on what thieves and robbers do.
Jesus said “all who came before me.” To whom does that refer? Klink: “While this need not include as ‘thieves and robbers’ the faithful OT prophets, since they were true heralds of Christ, even ‘shepherding’ of Moses and the other OT prophets were insufficient in and of itself; they were temporary shepherds who shepherded through a veil which is only removed in the presence of the true shepherd (2 Cor. 3:7-18). The ‘exclusiveness and absoluteness’ of Christ not only supplements previous shepherding but fulfills it” (comment on v. 8). I’m not clear that “all” is so absolute, and since Jesus was talking to the religious establishment (Pharisees), he may be making a firm statement simply against them.
9:
It is hard to imagine a clearer way, within a metaphor, to express Jesus’s exclusive claim on salvation. He will repeat this again in John 14:6. See the table under v. 7.
The verb is sōzō: Since the theology of salvation (soteriology) is so critical for our lives, let’s look more closely at the noun salvation, which is sōtēria (pronounced soh-tay-ree-ah and used 46 times) and at the verb sōzō (pronounced soh-zoh and used 106 times)
The verb sōzō means “save, rescue, heal” in a variety of contexts, but mostly it is used of saving the soul. BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and it says that the verb means, depending on the context: (1) “to preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions, save, keep from harm, preserve,” and the sub-definitions under no. 1 are as follows: save from death; bring out safely; save from disease; keep, preserve in good condition; thrive, prosper, get on well; (2) “to save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction, save or preserve from ‘eternal’ death … “bring Messianic salvation, bring to salvation,” and in the passive it means “be saved, attain salvation”; (3) some passages in the NT say we fit under the first and second definition at the same time (Mark 8:5; Luke 9:24; Rom. 9:27; 1 Cor. 3:15).
As I will note throughout this commentary, the noun salvation and the verb save go a lot farther than just preparing the soul to go on to heaven. Together, they have additional benefits: keeping and preserving and rescuing from harm and dangers; saving or freeing from diseases and demonic oppression; and saving or rescuing from sin dominating us; ushering into heaven and rescuing us from final judgment. What is our response to the gift of salvation? You are grateful and then you are moved to act. When you help or rescue one man from homelessness or an orphan from his oppression, you have moved one giant step towards salvation of his soul. Sometimes feeding a hungry man and giving clothes to the naked or taking him to a medical clinic come before saving his soul.
All of it is a package called salvation and being saved.
What Is the Work of Salvation?
How Do We Respond to God’s Salvation?
I love the idea of the sheep going in and out of the door—Jesus—and finding pasture. Recall Ps. 23, quoted above, under v. 2. Salvation brings rest to the soul.
10:
This a very famous verse among Renewalists. They look for satanic attacks that steal their abundance, kill their rest and pasture, and inflict a general destruction on their abundant life. However, the context is bad religious leaders—the Pharisees, in this case—whose lack of perspective put a healed man on trial in the previous chapter. They are the worthless shepherds who climb over by another way. Today, they can come in the form of all bad human shepherds or false teachers.
Nonetheless, I believe it can be expanded, pastorally, to encompass satanic attacks. A pastor (that is, a true under-shepherd, genuinely serving under the Good Shepherd) should proclaim to his congregation—his flock—that Satan intends to steal, kill and destroy.
“life”: this is more than mere existence. This is life of the next age, that age, which has broken into this age or right now. In other words, eternal life happens now, but we must be careful not to believe that everything in the new age, in everlasting life, is happening now. This is called over-realized eschatology (study of ends times and new ages). Not every new-age blessing becomes realized or accomplished right now. But let’s not remain negative. We get some benefits of the next age or new age right now. We get some benefits of eternal life, right now.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Let’s look at life by the book—by the prominent Greek lexicon.
It is the noun zoē (pronounced zoh-ay, and girls are named after it, e.g. Zoey). BDAG says that it has two senses, depending on the context: a physical life (e.g. life and breath) and a transcendent life. By physical life the editors mean the period from birth to death, human activity, a way or manner of living, a period of usefulness, earning a living. By transcendent life the lexicographers mean these four elements: first, God himself is life and offers us everlasting life. Second, Christ is life, who received life from God, and now we can receive life from Christ. Third, it is new life of holiness and righteousness and grace. God’s life filling us through Christ changes our behavior. Fourth, zoē means life in the age to come, or eschatological life. So our new life now will continue into the next age, which God fully and finally ushers in when Christ returns. We will never experience mere existence or death, but we will be fully and eternally alive in God.
Clearly, John means the fourth definition.
After listing really evil dictators of the twentieth century, who had ambitions to create heaven on earth, Carson refers to another commentator (Roy Clements) “Jesus is right. It is not the Christian doctrine of heaven that is the myth, but the humanist dream of utopia” (comment on vv. 9-10). Exactly. Excellent.
11:
Jesus uses the present tense (“lays down his life”). Mounce says that the present tense “suggests that Jesus is speaking primarily of his entire life (not simply his death) as sacrificial. The incarnation in its entirety was an act of unbelievable condescension. The eternal Son laid down his life by becoming a man and living among us. Because he was a good shepherd, his life and death as the ideal leader of the flock is a model beautiful to behold” (comments on v. 11).
Jesus uses another figure of speech. He was the shepherd in v. 3, but here he uses the deeper egō eimi. See the table under v. 7.
So what does a shepherd do? He does the opposite of the thief and robber. The OT is filled with references to shepherds. Let’s begin with Ps. 23:1-4:
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. (Ps. 23:1-4, NIV)
So a good shepherd feeds, leads and helps the sheep. Sometimes the sheep has to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but the shepherd’s rod and staff comforts and keeps him safe. Jesus will give you life and abundant life (v. 10).
In the next passage, God himself will tend to his sheep. Look at the wonderful things he will do for them, now through his Son, the Good Shepherd:
14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. (Ezek. 34:14-16, NIV)
I like the binding up of the injured. As for destroying the strong, some ancient versions say, “watch over,” so we have a manuscript dispute. Let’s focus on the positive.
Jesus is the Savior-Shepherd. He is such a good shepherd that he lays down his life for the sheep.
This is a verse which theologians who believe in limited atonement (Christ died for the elect only and not everyone). However, it is never a good idea to “limit” his atonement by indirect reasoning.
Example: (a) people can never resist his grace for salvation; (b) not all people are saved; (c) therefore his grace for salvation is not offered to everyone; and (d) therefore his salvation done on the cross (atonement) is limited to the elect or those who were called by grace; (e) and therefore, finally, the atonement is limited to the elect. Convoluted and indirect.
It is better to look directly at verses covering Christ’s atoning death on the cross—and he died for all. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2, NIV, emphasis added). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding off his blood—to be received by faith (Rom. 3:23-25, NIV, emphasis added). This effects of redemption and atonement are received by faith. Therefore, the door is open to anyone and everyone—all—who have faith to receive his grace, which leads to redemption and the atonement being applied to anyone and everyone—all—who have faith! The initiative begins with God, and our faith responds to his freely offered grace—offered to anyone and everyone—all. His grace is efficacious or effective to the everyone who believes or has faith, and Christ’s sacrifice of atonement is received by faith.
The cross changes everything. As I read things, the call of the gospel goes to all, but some won’t respond in faith, but many will. Grace is resistible.
Jesus is about to announce that he has sheep who are not part of the current sheep pen, so this opens the atonement to future people. The number is potentially limitless.
Most importantly, this verse supports substitutionary atonement. Jesus took our place on the cross. He was our substitute.
12-13:
The hired man does not care about the sheep as deeply as the shepherd does. He is a wage earner; he is not invested as deeply in the business as the shepherd it. The sheep do not recognize his voice. When the wolf comes—another expression for a thief or a robber—the hired man runs away. Then the wolf has easy pickings.
Clearly the Pharisees, as a collective, are the hired man, though Bruce seems to see him as a generic guardian (comment on vv. 10-13). Carson says he may embody religious leaders who performed their duty well enough in normal times, but only when they are paid (comment on vv. 12-13).
“In the economy of God, the door is not an inanimate object or mere periphery; the door is the access point to God and therefore entirely under his control. Never before has one person been a door and a shepherd, but never before had the Word became flesh (1:14)” (Klink, comment on v. 11).
14-16:
In v. 16 it is implied that the new sheep “will become one flock (under) one shepherd.”
Jesus contrasts the good shepherd with the hired man. He recognized his own (sheep) and his own (sheep) recognize the good shepherd.
The equal intimacy of knowledge between the Father and the Son is deep and amazing.
Once again, Jesus proclaims that he will lay down his life for the sheep. See v. 11 for more comments about substitutionary atonement.
Jesus looks to the future and predicts more sheep who will enter through the door, and they will hear his voice, just like the current sheep do. They will be united, living in unity, as one flock, with one shepherd. He is referring to Gentiles (non-Jews). It is good to know that we too are included in this flock, even though we live two thousand years later.
Bruce:
These words of Jesus, then, point to the Gentile mission and to the formation of the community, comprising believing Jews and believing Gentiles, in which there is ‘neither Jew nor Greek’ (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11). The Jewish ‘sheep’ had to be led out of the ‘fold’ … before they could be united with the ‘other sheep’ to form one new flock …. What was to hold this enlarged flock together and supply the necessary protection from external enemies? Not enclosing walls but the person and power of the shepherd. The unity and safety of the people of Christ depend on their proximity to him … The walls have either been so comprehensive as to enclose a number of wolves along with the sheep (with disastrous consequences for the sheep), or they have been so restrictive as to exclude more sheep than they enclose. (comment on vv. 14-16)
Here is how the apostolic community carried out this unity between converted Jews and converted Gentiles:
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:26-29, NIV)
Two groups in the next excerpt are Jews and Gentiles:
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Eph. 2:11-22, NIV)
17:
Jesus lays it down, and the Father loves his obedience. Never forget that when you walk in obedience, the Father smiles on you. Please don’t believe that if you are disobedient, he hates you. He still loves you, but he will nudge you along to become obedient. Jesus proclaims that he takes his life back up again, referring to the resurrection. “Just as God is not merely one person but three persons, so also the role of shepherd is uniquely and necessarily shared by both the Father and the Son. And just as the cross is historically the epitome of death, so it is at the same time also the source of life—not only for Jews but also (and mysteriously) for the gentiles” (Klink, comment on v. 17).
18:
It is important to know that not the Roman or Jewish authorities had the power to take Jesus’s life from him. He lays it down voluntarily. I recall these verses. Peter just cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear.
52 At that moment, Jesus said to him, “Return your sword to its place! For all taking the sword, by the sword will they perish!” 53 Or do you think that I am not able to call on my Father, and he will put at my disposal, now, more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:52-53)
Jesus had so much authority that he could call on his Father to send angels to stop the whole arrest. But the Father and the Son had a bigger plan.
Further, Jesus explains that his authority is derived from the Father.
“authority”: it is the noun exousia (pronounced ex-oo-see-ah), and it means, depending on the context: “right to act,” “freedom of choice,” “power, capability, might, power, authority, absolute power”; “power or authority exercised by rulers by virtue of their offices; official power; domain or jurisdiction, spiritual powers.”
The difference between authority and power is parallel to a policeman’s badge and his gun. The badge symbolizes his right to exercise his power through his gun, if necessary. The gun backs up his authority with power. But the distinction should not be pressed too hard, because exousia can also mean “power.”
“commandment”: In this case it seems this word is a synonym for “authority.” Long ago, in eternity past, the Father and Son and the Spirit held a council and reached the decision that the creation of humanity was worth the risk. They knew that humanity would rebel, but they also decreed that the Son would redeem them. The Father and Son loved the whole world, despite their rebellion. This is what is meant by receiving the commandment of the Father.
“For this shepherd will not carry a wooden staff but a wooden cross. And the food and drink these sheep receive from this shepherd is not found in the field and steam but in his body and blood. That is why Jesus, the Good Shepherd speaks of his shepherding so strongly. For Jesus is fulfilling what God promised long ago that ‘I will save my flock’ (Ezek. 34:22). And this salvation is made possible at the cross” (Klink, comment on v. 18).
19-21:
The Jews here go beyond the Pharisees to include the Jerusalem establishment, the religious leaders. (Klink believes these are ordinary Jews.) So they were divided, just as they were in John 9:16. Deut. 13:1-5 says that a prophet could perform signs, but he may lead people astray. Some of the establishment believed he may be a prophet like that. Jesus withstood many criticisms. How about us?
“words”: in v. 19 the noun logos is used (pronounced log-goss). In the plural logoi (pronounced lo-goi). The noun is rich in meaning. It is used 330 times in the NT. The noun is rich and full of meaning. It always has built into it rationality and reason. It has spawned all sorts of English words that end in –log-, like theology or biology, or have the log– stem in them, like logic.
Though certain Renewalists may not like to hear it, there is a rational side to the Word of God, and a moment’s thought proves it. The words you’re reading right now are placed in meaningful and logical and rational order. The Bible is also written in that way. If it weren’t, then it would be nonsense and confusing, and we couldn’t understand the gibberish. (Even your prophecies have to make logical and rational sense on some level!) Your Bible studies and Sunday morning sermons have to make sense, also. Matthew’s Gospel has logic and rational argumentation built into it. People need to be ministered to in this way. God gave us minds and brains and expects us to use them. Your preaching cannot always be flashy and shrieky and so outlandishly entertaining that people are not fed in the long term. Movements like that don’t last over the years without the Word. I have observed this from firsthand experience in certain sectors of the Renewal Movement.
People have the deepest need to receive solid teaching. Never become so outlandishly supernatural and entertaining that you neglect the reasonable and rational and logical side of preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible.
On the other side of the word logos, people get so intellectual that they build up an exclusive Christian caste of intelligentsia that believe they alone can teach and understand the Word. Not true.
Bottom line: Just study Scripture with Bible helps and walk in the Spirit, as they did in Acts. Combining Word and Spirit is the balanced life.
GrowApp for John 10:7-21
1. Jesus is the good shepherd. You are a sheep. He laid down his own his life for you. What does his sacrificial love mean to you?
RELATED
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12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
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