SECOND CYCLE: CHAPTS. 9 AND 10. The consequences of the first point of departure, the healing of the impotent man, chap. 5, are exhausted. A new miracle produces a renewed breaking out of hatred among the Jews and calls forth a new phase of the conflict. Nevertheless, one feels that the worst of th... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Verily, verily, I say unto you that he who does not enter by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber;_ 2 _but he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep._ 3. _To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls hi... [ Continue Reading ]
SECOND SECTION: 10:1-21. THE FIRST DISCOURSE. The following discourse includes three parables: that of the _shepherd_ (John 10:1-6), that of the _gate_ (John 10:7-10), and that of the _good shepherd_ (John 10:11-18); the section closes with an historical conclusion (John 10:19-21). This discourse is... [ Continue Reading ]
SECOND PART: THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNBELIEF IN ISRAEL. 5:1- 12:50. UP to this point, decided faith and unbelief have been only exceptional phenomena; the masses have remained in a state of passive indifference or of purely outward admiration. From this time, the situation assumes a more determinate ch... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 6. “ _Jesus spoke this similitude to them; but they did not understand what that meant which he spoke to them._ ” The word, παροιμία, _similitude_, properly designates a by-path, hence an enigmatical discourse. It is sometimes used in the translation of the LXX. to render _maschal;_ it is take... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus therefore spoke to them again, saying, Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep._ 8. _All those who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them._ 9. _I am the door: if any one enters in by me, he shall be saved; and he shall go in and go out... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 10. From the idea of pasture Jesus deduces that of _life;_ He even adds to this that _of superabundance, of superfluity._ By this He certainly does not designate, as _Chrysostom_ thought, something more excellent than life, glory, for example; but He means to say that the spiritual pasturage wi... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep._ 12. _But the hireling, who is not a shepherd and to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock._ 13. _But the hireling flees because... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 13. The Alexandrian authorities reject the first words: “ _but the hireling flees._ ” In that case, the _because_ which follows, refers not to the last two propositions of John 10:12, but to the one which precedes them: _he flees._ After having thus described the cowardly guardians, Jesus retur... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _As for me, I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and I am known by my sheep;_ 15 _as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I give my life for the sheep._ 16. _And I have other sheep which are not of this fold; these also I must bring; and they shall hear my voice; and there shall... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Therefore does my Father love me: because I give my life that I may take it again;_ 18 _no one takes it away from me, but I give it of myself; I have power to give, and I have power to take it again: this commandment I received of my Father._ ” Διὰ τοῦτο, _for this reason_, refers ordinarily in J... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _There was therefore again a division among the Jews because of these discoursings._ 20. _Many of them said, He is possessed of a demon, and is mad; why do you listen to him?_ 21. _Others said, These are not the discoursings of one possessed; can a demon open the eyes of the blind?_ ” Always the s... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 22-32. 1. The argument presented by Godet, as against Meyer, Weiss and others, seems satisfactory as showing that Jesus probably left Jerusalem and its neighborhood during the two months which intervened between the Feast of Tabernacles and that of the D... [ Continue Reading ]
THIRD SECTION: 10:22-42. THE SECOND DISCOURSE. In chap. John 7:19-24, we have seen Jesus return, in a discourse pronounced at the feast of Tabernacles, to the fact of the healing of the impotent man (chap. 5), and thus finish His justification of Himself which was begun at Jerusalem several months b... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Now they were celebrating the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem;it was winter._ 23. _And Jesus was walking about in the temple, in_ _Solomon's porch._ 24. _The Jews therefore surrounded him; and they said to him, How long wilt thou hold our minds in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us pl... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe; the works which I do in my Father's name, these works bear witness of me._ 26. _But, as for you, you do not believe; for you are not of my sheep, as I said to you._ ” The position of Jesus with relation to the Jews had never been so critical... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _My sheep hear my voice, and I know them; and they follow me_ 28 _and I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand._ ” _ Luthardt_ has divided the six clauses of these verses into two groups of three: on one side, the faith of the believer, h... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand;_ 30 _I and the Father are one._ ” We might be tempted to find, with _Luthardt_, a strict syllogism in the thoughts expressed in John 10:29-30. Major: My Father is greater than all ... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 31. “ _The Jews therefore brought stones again to stone him._ ” Οὖν, _therefore_, by reason of the blasphemy (John 10:30); comp. John 10:33. _Weiss_ claims that, even understanding the words of John 10:30 in the sense which he gives to them, the Jews may have found therein a blasphemy. But, tak... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus answered them: I have shown you many good works by the power of my Father; for which of these works do you stone me?_ 33. _The Jews answered him it is not for a good work that we stone thee, but for blasphemy, and because, being a man, thou makest thyself God._ ” This time Jesus does not wi... [ Continue Reading ]
III. SECOND ADDRESS: JOHN 10:32-39. The reply of Jesus treats of two subjects: 1. That of the _blasphemy_ which is imputed to Him (John 10:32-36); 2. That of His _relation_ to God which is contested (John 10:37-39).... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 33-42. 1. There can be no doubt that the Jews understood Jesus as claiming to be God. John 10:33 clearly proves this. The words of the following verses are to be explained, accordingly, in view of this fact. 2. There are two parts in the answer of Jesus:... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law I said ye are gods?_ 35. _If it called them gods to whom the word of God was addressed, and the Scripture cannot be broken_, 36 _do you say of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest! because I said, I am the... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not;_ 38 _but if I do them, though you believe not me, believe my works, to the end that you may know and may understand that my Father is in me and I am in him._ ” There is much of gentleness in the manner in which Jesus here expresses Himself and r... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 39. “ _They sought therefore again to take him; but he went forth out of their hands._ ” Perhaps this softened form in which Jesus had just repeated the affirmation of His divinity had had the effect of calming somewhat the irritation of His hearers; they abandon the purpose of immediately sto... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And he went away again beyond the Jordan, into the place where John had baptized at the beginning;and he abode there._ 41. _And many came to him, and they said: John did no miracle; but all that John said of this man was true._ 42. _And many believed on him there._ ” As we have already said, the... [ Continue Reading ]