X. [(2) JESUS IS TRUTH, LIGHT, AND LOVE (_cont._). (_c_) _Jesus is Love_ (John 10:1). (_α_) The Good Shepherd, who giveth His life for the sheep (John 10:1). (_β_) The discourse at the Feast of the Dedication (John 10:22). The true sheep hear the Shepherd’s voice (John 10:22). The charge of... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU. — This formula is not used at the beginning of a fresh discourse, but is, in every case, the solemn introduction of some development of our Lord’s deeper teaching. (Comp. Note on John 1:51.) We are not, then, to regard this chapter as a new subject, but as part of the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE THAT ENTERETH IN BY THE DOOR. — See Notes on John 10:7. IS THE SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP. — Better, _is a shepherd of the sheep._ The word here (comp. John 10:12) simply characterises him that entereth by the door as a shepherd, in opposition to the robber who climbeth over the fence. (2) John 1... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HIM THE PORTER OPENETH. — The word “porter” is not, perhaps, misleading to many, but for the sake of the possible few, it may be noted that _door-keeper_ is what is here meant. There is no further interpretation of what, in the spiritual fold, corresponds to the office of the porter, whereas the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE PUTTETH FORTH HIS OWN SHEEP. — The majority of the better MSS. add the word “all.” The tense is past. We should read, therefore, _when he has put forth all his own sheep._ The addition is important as marking the care of the shepherd to count his flock and see that none is missing. The w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND A STRANGER WILL THEY NOT FOLLOW. — The “ stranger” is any one other than their own shepherd, and the term is not to be limited to the “thief” and “robber” of John 10:1. The thought is of the flock following the shepherd to the pasture. On the road they would meet other persons whom they would no... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS PARABLE SPAKE JESUS UNTO THEM. — Better, _this allegory spake Jesus unto them._ The word rendered “parable” is the wider word (παροιμία,_ paroimia_) which includes every kind of figurative and proverbial teaching, every kind of speech, as the etymology reminds us, which departs from the usual c... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID JESUS UNTO THEM AGAIN. — Better, _Therefore said Jesus again,_ the words “unto them” being of uncertain authority. He says what follows because they did not understand what He had said before. It is not that a new allegory begins at this place. He spake in the beginning of the door and of... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THAT EVER CAME BEFORE ME ARE THIEVES AND ROBBERS. — Comp. Note on John 10:1. The Sinaitic MS. and several of the early versions read this verse without the words translated “before Me,” but the balance of authority is strongly in their favour; and the fact of their being hard to understand, or h... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ME IF ANY MAN ENTER IN. — He returns to the thought of the door, through which every true shepherd must himself enter the fold. The thought is parallel to that of the “strait gate” and “narrow way,” in Matthew 7:13, and with St. Paul’s thought in Romans 5:2, and Ephesians 2:18. No one can really... [ Continue Reading ]
THE THIEF COMETH NOT, BUT FOR TO STEAL. — Comp. Notes on John 10:1; John 10:8. The description of the thief is opposed to that of the shepherd, who constantly goes in and out and finds pasture. His visits are but rare, and when he comes it is but for his own selfish purposes, and for the ruin of the... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. — The central point of the allegory has now passed from the “Door,” through the last verse as the connecting-link, to the “Good Shepherd.” If we think that the whole discourse was suggested by a scene actually occurring (comp. Note on John 10:1), then the prominence of an act... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE THAT IS AN HIRELING. — The Greek word occurs again in the New Testament only in the next verse and in Mark 1:20. It implies a lower position than the household servant, and is more nearly what we should call the tramp-labourer. The thought follows from that of the good shepherd who in the tim... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIRELING FLEETH. — These words are again an addition to the text, and should he omitted with the great majority of the best authorities. If we omit them this verse must be immediately connected with that which precedes, the last clause of which is a parenthesis — “But he that is an hireling, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND KNOW MY SHEEP, AND AM KNOWN OF MINE. — Better, _and know those who are Mine, and those who are Mine know Me._ The thought of the Good Shepherd is repeated to show that it expresses the closest communion between the shepherd and the sheep. It is not simply that the sheep know the Shepherd’s voice... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE FATHER KNOWETH ME, EVEN SO KNOW I THE FATHER. — Better,... _and I know the Father._ Our version, by its rendering, and by the division of verses, fails to give the full meaning, and there is thus, indeed, no reason for the assertion of the mutual knowledge of the Father and the Son. But conne... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OTHER SHEEP I HAVE, WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD. — The words recall to the mind a question which the Jews had asked at this very feast, “Will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?” (John 7:35). They asked it in the bitterness of scorn. He asserts that among the Gent... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE DOTH MY FATHER LOVE ME ... For the meaning of this difficult verse, comp. Notes on John 5:17 _et seq.,_ and on Philippians 2:8. The thought is that in the relation between the Father and the human nature of Christ, the reason of the Father’s love is based upon the self-devotion of the Son.... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN TAKETH IT FROM ME. — It is better to leave the words in the greater width of the Greek, _No one taketh it from Me,_ for it may be, indeed, that even the Father is included in the thought. The laying down of the life is absolutely self-determined, and therefore it is the reason of the Father’s... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS A DIVISION THEREFORE AGAIN... — The words carry us back to those of John 9:16, where a like division was noted. AMONG THE JEWS. — The Pharisees are mentioned before, and they are the persons who have been present all through this discourse. (Comp. John 9:40.) The wider word is here, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH A DEVIL, AND IS MAD. — Comp. Note on John 8:48. The words “and is mad” are explanatory of the possession by a demon.... [ Continue Reading ]
OTHERS SAID, THESE ARE NOT THE WORDS OF HIM THAT HATH A DEVIL. — We trace here again the presence of the better party among the Sanhedrin, which we found before (John 9:16). “His words,” they would say, “are words of calm teaching. The possession by a demon disorders, frenzies, makes the slave of ma... [ Continue Reading ]
Between the last verse and this there is an interval of time which may be roughly taken as two months. Wieseler has calculated that the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles was on October 19, and the Feast of the Dedication on December 20. (See _Chron. Synops.,_ Eng. Trans., p. 435; and comp. Note o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JESUS WALKED IN THE TEMPLE... — Better, _and Jesus was walking._ The scene is remembered and pictured as it took place. IN SOLOMON’S PORCH. — The place is mentioned again in Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12. It was rather a cloister _or_ arcade than what we usually call a porch. It is said to have been on t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME THE JEWS ROUND ABOUT HIM. — The words mean literally, they _encircled Him._ It is again the impression of one who saw what he records. He remembers how they stood in a circle round our Lord, and watched Him with eager eyes as they asked their question. HOW LONG DOST THOU MAKE US TO DOUBT?... [ Continue Reading ]
I TOLD YOU, AND YE BELIEVED NOT. — Better, _and ye believe not,_ as all the best MSS. Here, as in John 8:25, where a similar direct question was put to Him, the answer is indirect. It could not be otherwise. Their misconception of the Messianic work had made the very word Messiah an impossible one f... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT YE BELIEVE NOT. — Comp. Notes on John 10:5; John 10:14; John 10:16. AS I SAID UNTO YOU. — These words are not found in the Sinaitic or Vatican MSS., and are omitted by the best modern editors. They are not, however, without considerable authority, and the fact of their difficulty may have led to... [ Continue Reading ]
The reference to those who believe not because they were not of His sheep, introduces the contrast between them and those who were, and the position of the true members of the flock is expanded in this pair of parallel clauses. One member of each pair refers to the act or state of the sheep; and the... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FATHER, WHICH GAVE THEM ME (better, _hath given them Me_)_,_ IS GREATER THAN ALL. — For the thought that they are given by the Father, comp. Note on John 6:37. Here our version has rightly made no limiting addition to “all” (comp. last verse). In the width of the word, which extends to every crea... [ Continue Reading ]
I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE. — The last clause of John 10:29 is identical with the last clause of John 10:28 if we identify “Father’s” with “My.” This our Lord now formally does. The last verses have told of power greater than all, and these words are an assertion that in the infinity of All-mighty Powe... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE JEWS TOOK UP STONES AGAIN. — Better, _The Jews therefore_... Their action follows as an effect caused by His words. The word “again” reminds us that they had done this two months before, at the Feast of Tabernacles (8:59). The words for “took up” are not the same. There the sense is, “they... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS ANSWERED THEM — _i.e.,_ answered the thought which He read in their hearts, and the intention which was expressed by their act. MANY GOOD WORKS HAVE I SHEWED YOU FROM MY FATHER. — For the idea of “good” expressed here, comp. Note on John 10:14. We have no better word in English; but “excellent... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEWS ANSWERED HIM. — Comp for the thoughts of this verse Notes on John 10:30 and on John 5:18. FOR A GOOD WORK... BUT FOR BLASPHEMY. — The word rendered “for” is not the causal “on account of,” which we have in the last verse, but “concerning,” the technical form for an indictment. For the Mosa... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT NOT WRITTEN IN YOUR LAW? — Comp. Note on John 8:17. The passage here quoted is in Psalms 82:6, but the term “Law” is here used in a wide sense for the whole of the Old Testament. There are other examples of this usage in John 7:49; John 12:34; John 15:25; Romans 3:19; 1 Corinthians 14:21. I SA... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE CALLED THEM GODS. — The argument is another example of Hillel’s famous _First Canon of Interpretation_ — that the greater may be inferred from the less. The pronoun “he” (_He_) refers probably to God (see Note on John 10:34, Acts 20:13, where a compound form of it is rightly rendered “for so h... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I DO NOT THE WORKS OF MY FATHER. — He has met the charge of blasphemy on technical grounds. In this and the following verse He advances from that defence to the ultimate test. Whether He is a blasphemer or not depends upon whether He represents God or not, and to prove this He appeals again to th... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF I DO, THOUGH YE BELIEVE NOT ME, BELIEVE THE WORKS. — A higher faith would have believed Him. Had they truly known their own spiritual needs, and truly known the meaning of that great truth He had taught, they would have found in Him the true satisfaction of the mind’s cravings, and the facult... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THEY SOUGHT AGAIN TO TAKE HIM. — He has removed all ground for the charge of blasphemy, and they have abandoned the attempt to stone Him, though He here repeats the very truth which led to that attempt before (John 10:30). The word “again” refers to previous attempts to take Him (John 7:30... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WENT AWAY AGAIN BEYOND JORDAN. — Comp. Note on John 1:28. In Matthew 19:1 we have the fuller expression, “the coasts of Judæa beyond Jordan,” referring to the same locality. The whole of Judæa proper was Cis-Jordanic, and the “Judah upon Jordan” (Joshua 19:34) was the boundary “toward the sun-ri... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MANY RESORTED UNTO HIM. — It is one of the key-notes of this Gospel, struck in its opening words (see Note on John 1:5), and recurring at frequent intervals, that in the midst of even the deepest darkness the light is never absent. In contrast with the rejection at Jerusalem there is the recepti... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MANY BELIEVED ON HIM THERE. — The word “there” is, in the best texts, in a position of emphasis. “And _there_ many believed on Him.” It marks the contrast between the rejection in Jerusalem and the reception at Bethania.... [ Continue Reading ]