CHAPTER X. THE GOOD SHEPHERD (John 10:1-21) This discourse undoubtedly immediately followed, and sprang out of the conflict with the Jews related in the preceding chapter. As Alford says: "The more we carefully study this wonderful Gospel, the more we shall see that the idea of this close connectio... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT ENTERETH BY THE DOOR. The one who comes in by the door is the shepherd. The figure is very plain to those familiar with Eastern sheepfolds. The door is for the shepherd and the sheep, while those who get in otherwise are robbers who seek to prey upon the sheep.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HIM THE PORTER OPENETH. The gatekeeper, whose business it is to guard the entrance. This servant was furnished with arms to fight off intruders, but the shepherd he would let in. There has been much speculation what Christ signified by the _porter._ The sheepfold is the church, he is the door by... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE. "As we ate and looked, almost spellbound, the silent hillsides around us were in. moment filled with sounds and life. The shepherds led their flocks forth from the gates of the city. They were in full view and we watched and listened to them with no lit... [ Continue Reading ]
AND. STRANGER THEY WILL NOT FOLLOW. The sheep refuse to follow. strange voice.. traveler once said to. Palestine shepherd that it was the dress of the master that the sheep knew and not his voice. The shepherd asserted that it was the voice, and to settle the point, he and the traveler changed dres... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS PARABLE SPAKE JESUS UNTO THEM. The Greek word rendered here "parable," is not so rendered elsewhere. The above figure is not. parable in the same sense as the term is used elsewhere. There is not. true parable in the whole gospel of John. This is rather. simile. Christ's hearers could not unde... [ Continue Reading ]
AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP. Verses 1-5, speak of shepherds in general. These shepherds enter into the fold and go out by the same door as the sheep. Christ is that door; _the Door of the sheep,_ the one door for all, both sheep and shepherds, into the fold, into the company of God's people, into the... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THAT EVER CAME BEFORE ME ARE THIEVES AND ROBBERS. This passage has caused much difference of opinion. Alford holds that Satan came before Christ in Eden to sway our race, and that the language refers to Satan and his followers. Abbott holds that the idea is, "All who came, not entering through t... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ME, IF ANY MAN ENTER IN, HE SHALL BE SAVED. Christ is at once the door, the shepherd and the pasture. His pasture is the bread of life and the water of life. They who enter by him, in the way he has appointed, are saved, and shall never be lost if they continue to hear his voice.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE THIEF COMETH NOT, BUT TO STEAL. All those who enter otherwise than by the door, wish to prey upon the flock. Their object is not to save the lives of the flock, but to destroy them. Christ came to give life, and to give it an abundant development. False religion robs men; true religion blesses... [ Continue Reading ]
AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. This title, applied to Jehovah in Psalm 23 and in Ezekiel 34:12, Christ here applies to himself. The mark of the good shepherd is _that he giveth his life for his sheep._ In that unsettled country the shepherd had often to defend his flock. Dr. Thompson says: "The faithful she... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE HIRELING.... LEAVETH HIS SHEEP AND FLEETH. It is not the bare fact of. man receiving pay that makes him. hireling. "The laborer is worthy of his hire." He is. hireling who would not work were it not for this hire. Such hirelings, who are moved by self-interest alone, will abandon the flock... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIRELING FLEETH, BECAUSE HE IS AN HIRELING. Because he cares for his hire, but not for the sheep. He is bound to them, not by love, but by self-interest. When the yellow fever struck Memphis the hireling shepherds fled to the North.... [ Continue Reading ]
AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The Lord does not say that he is the only shepherd. God had in times past sent other shepherds to lead the flock of Israel who had led it to the best of their ability, though imperfectly, but he is distinguished from them as the Good Shepherd. He is the "True Vine" (15:1); the... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE FATHER KNOWETH ME. As the Father knew the Son and the Son the Father, so is there. tender bond between the sheep of Christ and the Good Shepherd. For them he was then giving and would give his life.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE ALSO OTHER SHEEP, NOT OF THIS FOLD. Not Jews, of whom all his followers then were, but Gentiles who would soon be called to him. These would hear his voice, enter through the door, into the same fold as the Jewish Christians, so that there would be "one fold and one shepherd." There is only on... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE DOTH MY FATHER LOVE ME. The ground of the Father's love was that Christ had given himself for man. The Father loves those of us best who are most like Christ in this respect.... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY IT DOWN OF MYSELF. His life. He gave himself for man of his free will. He laid down his life on the cross; he took it again when he rose from the dead. The plots of men would have been of no avail had he not consented. Indeed his whole life from the time his ministry began was. laying of it dow... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS. DIVISION, THEREFORE, AGAIN AMONG THE JEWS. In John 7:43, the division was among the multitude; in 9:16, among the Pharisees; now among "the Jews," or ruling body. Some were wonderfully impressed by his miracles and teachings, while others were obstinately blind. We can hardly wonder at t... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY SAID, HE HATH. DEVIL AND IS MAD. It was. common belief among the Jews that the agency of demons could produce supernatural effects. See Matthew 12:24. It was. very convenient way, therefore, of explaining the miraculous power of Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE NOT THE WORDS OF HIM THAT HATH. DEVIL (DEMON). No person under demoniac influence had ever taught like Christ, and hence the better sort assert that his teachings disprove the charge. Besides it had never been known that. demon could open the eyes of the blind. There had been. display of.... [ Continue Reading ]
END OF THREE MONTHS' MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM (JOHN 10:22-42) An interval of more than two months passed between the time of the healing of the man born blind and the feast of Dedication, the date of the controversy recorded in the remainder of this chapter. Some have held that in the interval the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]
WAKED IN SOLOMON'S PORCH. A long, covered colonnade, or veranda, with the roof resting on pillars. It is generally supposed to have been in the southeast part of the temple inclosure, overlooking the valley of the Kedron. Josephus describes it as. stadium, or furlong, in length, and as having three... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME THE JEWS ABOUT HIM. Jesus was in. place of public resort and an opportunity was afforded for. decisive interview. They were determined to bring matters to. focus and hence came and surrounded him. It must be remembered that these were men of official station. HOW LONG DOST THOU KEEP US I... [ Continue Reading ]
TOLD YOU, AND YE BELIEVED NOT. He had told them repeatedly (5:19; 8:36, 56, 58), not as plainly, it is true, as he told the Samaritan woman (4:26) and the man blind from birth (9:37), but more plainly than he ever told his disciples before the confession of Peter (Matthew 16:16). He knew what was i... [ Continue Reading ]
YE BELIEVE NOT, BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP. The reason of their unbelief was not the lack of proof, but the lack within themselves. He means, in substance, until my teachings and examples attract you so that you will follow me like my sheep, ye will not believe, for you cannot be convinced by p... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE. I have omitted any special study of the phrase "eternal life" hitherto, although it has several times occurred in John. It occurs forty-four times in the New Testament, and of these occurrences seventeen are in the Fourth Gospel and six in the First Epistle of John, maki... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN, ETC. It has been held that these verses teach the doctrine of the "final perseverance of the saints," or "once in grace always in grace." They rather teach that Christ watches over his sheep as. good shepherd; the sheep hear his voice; none that continue to hear his voice will ever perish,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FATHER ARE ONE. Not _my,_ but the Father. Nor does he affirm that the Son and the Father are one, but here, in the presence of these Jews, he makes the statement that he and the Father are one, one in essence, one in purpose, and one in person, for he uses the plural verb. Since there is. u... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE JEWS TOOK UP STONES AGAIN TO STONE HIM. The word "again" carries us back to chapter 8:52. These high ecclesiasts held that he had just been guilty of blasphemy in asserting that he and the Father are one, the penalty of which was stoning, and they proposed to inflict it without. trial. The... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY GOOD WORKS... FOR WHICH OF THOSE WORKS DO YOU STONE ME? In chapter 8:46 he had asked: Which of you convinceth me of sin? Now he calls for the specifications of the crime for which they have sentenced him.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BLASPHEMY... THOU MAKEST THYSELF GOD. They reply that they would stone him for blasphemy in that he made himself divine. This charge was often made against him. When he said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," or spoke of God as his Father, or said that he and the Father were one, or when on trial be... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT NOT WRITTEN... SAID YE ARE GODS. The quotation is from Ps. 82, which contains. reproof of unjust judges: "I have said that ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High, but ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes." The argument of Christ is: If in your law judges a... [ Continue Reading ]
IF. DO NOT THE WORKS OF MY FATHER, BELIEVE ME NOT. The passage just quoted from their law showed that those who did the work assigned to them by God were recognized, as in some sense, partakers of the divine nature. Christ, therefore, points to his own works as. test. If he does the works of the Fa... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SOUGHT AGAIN TO TAKE HIM. Not to stone him, for their passion had cooled, but to arrest him. His escape was not probably due to miracle, but with many friends among the throng, he could readily withdraw through their aid. "They dared not stone him, but as he was alone and defenseless in their m... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT BEYOND JORDAN.. WHERE JOHN AT FIRST BAPTIZED. For the time the Lord retired before the threatening storm. His "hour had not yet come," and would not until the Passover, three months in the future. In this region, where John had done his work of preparation so thoroughly,. more friendly recepti... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY RESORTED TO HIM. This Perean ministry was fruitful for "many believed on him," this being due to the fact that "all things John spake of this man were true." What were the incidents of this last stay, or the exact length of its continuance, we cannot certainly know. We see, however, that it w... [ Continue Reading ]