John 10

John 10:1

Then said they to him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered - Showing the perverseness of their question; and teaching that they ought first to know the Son, if they would know the Father. Where the Father is - he shows, John 8:23. Meantime he plainly intimates that the Father and he were distinct persons, as they were two witnesses; and yet one in essence, as the knowledge of him includes the knowledge of the Father.

John 10:5

Ye are - Again he passes over their interruption, and proves what he advanced, John 8:21. Of them that are beneath - From the earth. I am of them that are above - Here he directly shows whence he came, even from heaven, and whither he goes.

John 10:6

If ye believe not that I AM - Here (as in John 8:58) our Lord claims the Divine name, I AM, Exodus 3:14. But the Jews, as if he had stopped short, and not finished the sentence, answered, Who art thou?

John 10:7

Even what I say to you from the beginning - The same which I say to you, as it were in one discourse, with one even tenor from the time I first spake to you.

John 10:8

I have many things to say and to judge of you - I have much to say concerning your inexcusable unbelief: but he that sent me is true - Whether ye believe or no. And I speak the things which I have heard from him - I deliver truly what he hath given me in charge.

John 10:9

They understood not - That by him that sent him he meant God the Father. Therefore in John 8:28,29 he speaks plainly of the Father, and again claims the Divine name, I AM.

John 10:10

When ye shall have lifted up - On the cross, ye shall know - And so many of them did, that I AM - God over all; and that I do nothing of myself - Being one with the Father.

John 10:11

The Father hath not left me alone - Never from the moment I came into the world.

John 10:14

The truth - Written in your hearts by the Spirit of God, shall make you free - From guilt, sin, misery, Satan.

John 10:15

They - The other Jews that were by, (not those that believed,) as appears by the whole tenor of the conversation. We were never enslaved to any man - A bold, notorious untruth. At that very time they were enslaved to the Romans.

John 10:16

Jesus answered - Each branch of their objection, first concerning freedom, then concerning their being Abraham’s offspring, John 8:37, &c. He that committeth sin, is, in fact, the slave of sin.

John 10:17

And the slave abideth not in the house - All sinners shall be cast out of God’s house, as the slave was out of Abraham’s: but I, the Son, abide therein for ever.

John 10:18

If I therefore make you free, ye - shall partake of the same privilege: being made free from all guilt and sin, ye shall abide in the house of God for ever.

John 10:19

I know that ye are Abraham’s offspring - As to the other branch of your objection, I know that, ye are Abraham’s offspring, after the flesh; but not in a spiritual sense. Ye are not followers of the faith of Abraham: my word hath no place in your hearts.

John 10:23

Ye do the deeds of your father - He is not named yet. But when they presumed to call God their Father, then he is expressly called the devil, John 8:44.

John 10:24

I proceeded forth - As God, and come - As Christ.

John 10:25

Ye cannot - Such is your stubbornness and pride, hear - Receive, obey my word. Not being desirous to do my will, ye cannot understand my doctrine, John 7:17.

John 10:26

He was a murderer - In inclination, from the beginning - Of his becoming a devil; and abode not in the truth - Commencing murderer and liar at the same time. And certainly he was a killer of men (as the Greek word properly signifies) from the beginning of the world: for from the very creation he designed and contrived the ruin of men. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own - For he is the proper parent, and, as it were, creator of it. See the origin not only of lies, but of evil in general!

John 10:27

Because I speak the truth - Which liars hate.

John 10:28

Which of you convicteth me of sin? - And is not my life as unreprovable as my doctrine? Does not my whole behaviour confirm the truth of what I teach?

John 10:29

He that is of God - That either loves or fears him, heareth - With joy and reverence, God’s words - Which I preach.

John 10:30

Say we not well - Have we not just cause to say, Thou art, a Samaritan - An enemy to our Church and nation; and hast a devil? - Art possessed by a proud and lying spirit?

John 10:31

I honour my Father - I seek his honour only.

John 10:32

I seek not my own glory - That is, as I am the Messiah, I consult not my own glory. I need not. For my Father consulteth it, and will pass sentence on you accordingly.

John 10:33

If a man keep my word - So will my Father consult my glory. We keep his doctrine by believing, his promises by hoping, his command by obeying. He shall never see death - That is, death eternal. He shall live for ever. Hereby he proves that he was no Samaritan; for the Samaritans in general were Sadducees.

John 10:36

If I honour myself - Referring to their words, Whom makest thou thyself?

John 10:38

He saw it - By faith in types, figures, and promises; as particularly in Melchisedec; in the appearance of Jehovah to him in the plains of Mamre, Genesis 18:1; and in the promise that in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Possibly he had likewise a peculiar revelation either of Christ’s first or second coming.

John 10:39

Thou art not yet fifty years old - At the most. Perhaps the gravity of our Lord’s countenance, together with his afflictions and labours, might make him appear older than he really was. Hast thou seen Abraham - Which they justly supposed must have been, if Abraham had seen him.

John 10:40

Before Abraham was I AM - Even from everlasting to everlasting. This is a direct answer to the objection of the Jews, and shows how much greater he was than Abraham.

John 10:41

Then they took up stones - To stone him as a blasphemer; but Jesus concealed himself - Probably by becoming invisible; and so passed on - With the same ease as if none had been there.