John 10

Introduction

John 10 flows directly from chapter 9: Jesus turns from the healed man to the Pharisees who expelled him and delivers the Good Shepherd discourse — a sustained metaphor that implicitly indicts the religious leaders as hireling shepherds while presenting himself as the true shepherd whose sheep know his voice. The chapter then moves to the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah, winter) for a final confrontation in which Jesus makes his most direct claim to unity with the Father — "I and the Father are one" — and barely escapes another attempted stoning.

The OT background is rich: Ezekiel 34 is perhaps the most important single passage, where God condemns Israel's shepherds for exploiting rather than protecting the flock and promises to come himself as shepherd. When Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, he is claiming to fulfill what God promised in Ezekiel — which is to say, claiming to act as God acts. Psalm 23 and Zechariah 13:7 also resonate throughout.

The Gate and the Shepherd (vv. 1–10)

Notes

The word translated "illustration" or "figure of speech" in v. 6 is παροιμία, which in John's usage is closer to "riddle" or "dark saying" than a simple parable. It is not the Synoptic παραβολή. The hearers do not understand — which prompts Jesus to explain.

Jesus identifies himself as both the gate (θύρα), vv. 7, 9) and later as the shepherd (ποιμήν), v. 11). This dual role is not contradictory: in the ancient sheepfold, the shepherd would often sleep across the opening of the pen, literally becoming the gate with his body. His presence is the access point and the protection.

"Saved" in v. 9 — σωθήσεται — is John's only use of the verb σῴζω in this active salvific sense. Coming in and going out and finding pasture describes a life of freedom and provision under the shepherd's care, echoing Psalm 23:1-3.

The contrast in v. 10 is absolute: the thief comes to steal (κλέπτω), kill (θύω), and destroy (ἀπόλλυμι). Jesus comes ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχωσιν καὶ περισσὸν ἔχωσιν — "so that they may have life and have it in abundance." περισσόν (perissom) means "more than enough, beyond measure, superabundant" — the same quality as the 120–180 gallons of wine at Cana. The life Jesus gives is not minimal survival but overflow.

The Good Shepherd (vv. 11–21)

Notes

The word for "good" in "good shepherd" is καλός, which in Greek means not merely morally good but beautiful, noble, worthy — the shepherd who is excellent in what a shepherd should be. ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός — "the noble shepherd," "the true shepherd," "the shepherd par excellence."

The central act of this shepherd is τίθησιν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων — "he lays down his soul/life on behalf of the sheep." ψυχή (psychē) is the whole self, the life-breath. The preposition ὑπέρ (hyper, "on behalf of") is the NT's standard word for substitutionary action — acting in the place of another for their benefit. The cross is anticipated here precisely.

The contrast with the μισθωτός, the hired hand, is diagnostic: the hired hand does not own the sheep. When the wolf comes, he calculates the risk-reward and flees. His relationship to the flock is transactional; the shepherd's is covenantal. Many readers throughout history have seen in the "hired hands" a reference to the religious leaders who just expelled a healed man from the community rather than rejoicing with him.

"Other sheep not of this fold" (v. 16) — ἄλλα πρόβατα ἃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς αὐλῆς ταύτης — this almost certainly refers to Gentiles, those outside Israel who will also come to hear Jesus' voice. The singular result — "one flock, one shepherd" — is the eschatological gathering of all God's people under one shepherd, fulfilling Ezekiel 34:23 and Ezekiel 37:24.

The authority language in vv. 17–18 is striking: ἐξουσία — "authority, right" — to lay down his life and to take it up again. Jesus' death is not victimhood but self-donation. No one seizes it from him; he gives it. This is the absolute sovereignty of the shepherd over his own life — and the cross will be his act of will, not his opponents' triumph.

Hanukkah: "I and the Father Are One" (vv. 22–30)

Notes

The Feast of Dedication — τὰ Ἐγκαίνια, "the Renewal/Rededication" — is Hanukkah, the eight-day festival celebrating the Maccabean recapture and rededication of the temple (164 BC) after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. The irony is quietly powerful: at the feast celebrating the purification of the temple, Jesus is in the temple — and is himself the true temple (John 2:21).

The demand "tell us plainly" (παρρησίᾳ) — "openly, boldly, without ambiguity" — implies Jesus has been evasive. Jesus responds that he has told them and shown them through his works. The real problem is not lack of information but lack of belonging: "you do not believe because you are not of my sheep." Hearing and following are the marks of the sheep; these leaders have neither.

The security of the sheep is expressed in two overlapping statements: no one can snatch them from Jesus' hand; no one can snatch them from the Father's hand. The two hands turn out to be, in some sense, one — because Jesus and the Father are one. ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν — "I and the Father are one." The neuter ἕν (hen, "one thing") rather than the masculine εἷς (heis, "one person") is significant: it is not claiming that Jesus and the Father are the same person but that they are one in essence, will, and action. This is the closest John comes to the later language of Nicaea — and it is enough to trigger another stoning.

Attempted Stoning and the Psalm 82 Defense (vv. 31–39)

Notes

The leaders' charge in v. 33 is legally precise: βλασφημίαν — blasphemy — specifically because "you, being a human, make yourself God." They are not misunderstanding him; they are understanding him correctly and responding under Levitical law (Leviticus 24:16). Their error is not in the logic but in the conclusion: he is who he claims to be.

Jesus' response cites Psalm 82:6 — "I said, you are gods" — applied in the psalm to human judges who bear the divine name in their capacity as God's agents. The argument is a fortiori: if human judges entrusted with God's word can be called "gods" without blasphemy, how much more can the one whom the Father ἡγίασεν — "consecrated/set apart/sanctified" — and sent into the world claim to be the Son of God?

The argument is sometimes misread as Jesus backing down from his claim. He is not. He is using the standard rabbinic technique of arguing from lesser to greater. If the lesser is true (humans called gods), the greater must also be permissible (God's consecrated Son claiming to be Son of God). The climax in v. 38 returns to the mutual indwelling: "the Father is in me and I am in the Father" — a more intimate formulation than "one," and one that will be developed fully in the farewell discourses.

Withdrawal and Belief (vv. 40–42)

Notes

Jesus retreats to the place of his baptism — across the Jordan — the beginning point of his public ministry. The contrast with Jerusalem is deliberate: in Jerusalem, the center of religious power, there is rejection and attempted stoning; across the Jordan, in what might be considered the margins, many believe. The testimony of John the Baptist — who performed no sign but spoke truly — proves sufficient for them. σημεῖον μὲν οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδέν — "no sign at all he performed" — but his word about Jesus was true, and truth without signs is enough to produce faith. This quiet ending after the intensity of chapters 7–10 is a deliberate breathing space before the hour approaches.