John 10
MCGARJohn 10:1-21
(Jerusalem, December, A. D. 29.) J 1-21. [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section] [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to the injury of God’s flock . But other prophecies spoke of the true shepherding of God and his Messiah . The Pharisees were fulfilling the first line of prophecies, and Jesus was fulfilling the second. The sheepfolds of the East are roofless enclosures, made of loose stone, or surrounded by thornbushes. They have but one door.
Jesus, the true shepherd, came in the proper and appointed way (and was the proper and appointed Way), thus indicating his office as shepherd. A thief steals by cunning in one’s absence; a robber takes by violence from one’s person.
The Pharisees were both. They stole the sheep in Messiah’s absence, and they slew Messiah when he came. They did not come in the ways ordained of God.] [Several small flocks were sometimes kept in one field. The door was fastened from the inside with sticks or bars by the porter, who remained with the sheep during the night, and opened for the shepherds in the morning. The fold is the church, Christ is the door, the sheep [468] are the disciples, and the shepherd is Christ. The porter is probably part of the drapery of the parable. If he represents anybody, it is God, who decides who shall enter through the door.] [In the East, sheep are not driven, but led, and each sheep has and knows its name. Disciples also are led.
There is no rough road or thorny path which the feet of Jesus have not first trod. The Pharisees had put forth the beggar to be rid of him; the true shepherd puts forth to feed.] [The mingled flocks are separated by the calling voices of the several shepherds. The control of the Pharisees was not of this order. The authority of the synagogues had passed into their hands, and their rule was about the same as when thieves and robbers gained possession of the sheepfold. The people were disposed to flee from them– .] [The idea of loving care was so foreign to the nature of the Pharisees that they could not comprehend the figures which clothed such a thought. The word here translated “parable” is not the word "" which John never uses, but the word "" which the synoptists never use. means, literally, “beside the way,” speech not of the common or direct form, a similitude or allegory.] [Seeing that they did not understand the allegory, Jesus gives a twofold explanation of it found in .] [He speaks of the past, and refers to false Messiahs.] [The door is here spoken of with [469] reference to the and hence becomes a symbol of entrance into protection and shelter, or exit to liberty and plenty.] [Through the life of Jesus, as through a heavenly portal, men have entered upon true civilization, with its schools, colleges, railroads, telegraph, telephone, and innumerable privileges and liberties.] [The relations of Christ to his people are so abounding and complex as to overburden any parable which seeks to carry them.
He is not only the passive doorway to life, but also the active, energizing force which leads his people through that doorway into life] [ set forth the perfect self-sacrifice through which the blessings of Christ have been obtained for us. The world-ruling spirit blesses itself through the sacrifice of the people; the Christ-spirit blesses the people through the sacrifice of self.] [shepherds were not, as a rule, owners of the sheep, but they were expected to love and care for them by reason of their office as shepherds] [the perils of the Oriental shepherd accord with the picture here given– , , , , , , , , , ] [He flees because he loves his wages rather than the flock.] [Our Lord’s relationship to his flock is one of mutual knowledge and affection, and is far removed from the spirit of hire.
The knowledge existing between disciple and Master springs from mutual acquaintanceship and love. Thus it is the same of knowledge which exists between Father and Son, though it is not of the [470] same being infinitely less full and perfect] [The sacrifice of the good shepherd to shield his sheep has never been in vain.] [Jesus was speaking to the Jews, who had been frequently spoken of in Scripture as God’s flock. The other sheep were Gentiles. They are spoken of as scattered sheep, and not as flocks, because with them there was no unity. Here, as everywhere, the truth breaks through, revealing Christ as the world’s Redeemer, who would break down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, and cause all true worshipers to have a common relationship to one Master.] [Jesus did not permit his life to be sacrificed so as to become cast away, but to be raised again as an earnest of the resurrection of all flesh.] [This shows that his death was voluntary, and with the resurrection which followed, it was in full and perfect accordance with his original commission or commandment from the Father.] [The word “again” refers to , .] [The theory that demons could produce supernatural effects formed a handy device for explaining away the miracles of Christ.] [These defenders refer to the well-remembered cure of the man born blind, and argue, as he did, that a demoniac could not work such a miracle. They fail, however, to make a positive confession of faith in Jesus.] [471] [FFG 468-471]
John 10:22-42
(Jerusalem and beyond Jordan.) J 22-42. [The feast of dedication was one of eight days’ duration and began upon the 25th Chisleu, which, according to the calculation of M. Chevannes, fell upon the nineteenth or twentieth of December, A. D. 29. The feast was kept in honor of the renovation and purification of the temple in the year B. C. 164, after it had been desecrated by the Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes (I. Macc. i. 20-60; iv. 36-59; II. Macc. x. 1-8; Jos. Ant. xii. 7. 6, 7).
As this feast was commemorative of national deliverance, the rulers considered it an opportune time to tempt Jesus to declare himself to be the Messiah, or coming Deliverer from the present Roman oppression. We are told that it was winter, that we may understand why Jesus walked under cover in Solomon’s porch. This was a colonnade on the east side of the temple court, the name probably being derived from the wall against which it was built, which Josephus tells us was the work of Solomon–Jos. Ant. xx. 9. 7. [484] [as if to detain him until he answered] [The previous conduct and temper of the questioners, together with the context (which includes an attempt to stone, followed by an effort to arrest), shows that this question was asked for the purpose of committing Jesus to an open declaration which might be used as an accusation against him.] [Jesus was the Christ of the Old Testament, but not the Christ of Pharisaic hopes. Had he assumed to himself in their presence the of Christ, it would have led them to false expectations. By his declarations and works Jesus had repeatedly published and proved to all his claims to be the true Messiah.
He had, at the feast of tabernacles, set himself forth as the Good Shepherd, and on other occasions as the Son of God, etc. . Had they understood or received the Old Testament ideal of the Messiah, they could not have failed to understand his claims.] [Failure to be Christ’s sheep was not the cause, but the evidence of their unbelief.] [The thought here is similar to to that set forth on , ; but both passages must be interpreted in the light of .
We can not be taken from God against our will; but our will being free, we may choose to leave him. We can not be [485] protected against ourselves in spite of ourselves. If that were so, no one could be lost.] [This assertion as to the unity of power residing in the hand brings forward the idea of the general unity which subsists between the Father and the Son. This unity Jesus asserts fully, without limitation or restriction; the unity of interest, design, and essence are all included. It is the advance from an assertion of special unity to an assertion of general unity.] [They prepared to act on , and a precedent as to it found at ; though the right to stone for blasphemy was now abrogated by the Roman dominion. The repairs and enlargements then going on in the temple no doubt supplied an abundance of missiles.
The word “again” refers back to .] [Jesus, conscious that he was living the divine life, endeavored to arouse the Jews to a consciousness of that life by asking them to point out what part of it offended them. It was a demand that his claim to be divine be tested and judged by his But the Jews insisted upon judging him by his without in any way taking his life into account.
Jesus urged that a divine claim was made good by a divine life, but they replied that a divine claim issuing from a human body was blasphemy.] [ . The whole Old Testament not infrequently is thus designated as the “law”] [Since the civil rulers of a land are ordained of God , they were regarded as God’s delegates or ministers, and as such the inspired Psalmist addresses them, calling them gods. Compare also . If it was not blasphemy to call those gods who so remotely represented the Deity, how much less did Christ blaspheme in taking unto himself a title to which he had a better right than they, even in the subordinate sense of being a mere messenger. The expression “word of God” is equivalent to “commission from God.” Compare , where John was commissioned. The Jews regarded the Scripture as final authority.
Jesus asserted this view by stating that the Scripture could not be broken; that is, could not be undone or set aside. We may regard Jesus as here ratifying their view, since he elsewhere concurred in it–see .] [Having set aside their false judgment which was based upon his mere words, Jesus again bids them to consider his works or manner of life.] [The calm reasoning of Jesus cooled their violence, and so far changed their evil designs that they now sought to arrest him that they might bring him before the Sanhedrin.
The word “again” refers back to , , .] [The word “again” either refers to , or else it refers to some former escape beyond the Jordan not recorded by John, but by one of the other evangelists. The supplementary nature of John’s Gospel makes this latter view somewhat plausible.] [John at first baptized “in the wilderness of Judæa” and afterwards at Bethany and Ænon. The presence of Jesus in this place recalled to the [487] minds of the people the work of the Baptist and his testimony concerning Jesus. They had held John to be a prophet, yet when they searched for his credentials as a prophet, they found them inextricably intertwined with the claims of Jesus. John had failed to prove himself a prophet by miracles and signs–the accustomed credentials. But he had done so by his predictions which had come true, and all of these predictions related to Jesus.] [The word “there” stands in contrast to Jerusalem, which rejected Jesus.] [FFG 484-488]