I
have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
John 10:16-18
John 10 [7.] Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.
John 10 [14.] I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
John 10 [19.] Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?”
Meaning:
Jesus has called himself the good shepherd who knows his sheep and lays down his life for them (John 10:14-15). In these verses he widens the picture in two directions. He looks outward to sheep beyond Israel who will join his flock, and he looks ahead to his death and resurrection, which he will undergo by his own free choice in obedience to the Father.
- “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold”:
The “fold” is Israel, the people among whom Jesus was ministering. The “other sheep” are the Gentiles, people of every nation who would come to believe. The PIB footnote points to Isaiah, where the Lord who gathers Israel’s outcasts promises, “I will yet gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered” (Isaiah 56:8). In the same chapter God says his house “will be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).
John himself explains that Jesus would die “not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:52). After Pentecost the gospel went out to Samaritans and Gentiles, and Peter learned that “God doesn’t show favoritism” (Acts 10:34).
- “They will hear my voice”:
Jesus says, “I must bring them also.” The gathering of the nations is not an afterthought but part of the Father’s plan. And the way they will come is the same as for the sheep of Israel: “they will hear my voice.” Most of these sheep would never see Jesus in the flesh. They would hear his voice through the message of his followers. Jesus prayed for them too: “those also who believe in me through their word” (John 17:20).
- “One flock with one shepherd”:
Jesus does not speak of two flocks, a Jewish one and a Gentile one, but of one flock. Ezekiel had promised, “I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23). Paul celebrates the fulfilment: Christ “is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition” (Ephesians 2:14). In Christ “There is neither Jew nor Greek” (Galatians 3:28). The unity of the flock comes from belonging to the one Shepherd.
- “That I may take it again”:
The Father’s love rests on the Son’s willing sacrifice. Jesus will not merely die; he will rise. His death and resurrection belong together. Early in his ministry he had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The footnote points to the Servant in Isaiah who was led “As a lamb that is led to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7) and who “poured out his soul to death” (Isaiah 53:12).
- “No one takes it away from me”:
To his enemies it would look as if they had taken his life. But Jesus insists that he lays it down by himself. At his arrest he said he could ask his Father for “more than twelve legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53). On the cross he said, “It is finished,” and “gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). His death was an act of obedience and love, not defeat: “I received this commandment from my Father.”
The Significance of John 10:16-18
- Room for all nations:
The Good Shepherd’s flock is not limited by race, language or background. Every believer today who is not of Jewish descent is among the “other sheep” Jesus spoke of. This calls the church to welcome all and to carry his voice to every nation.
- Unity in Christ:
Christians are often divided, yet Jesus speaks of one flock. Our unity does not depend on uniformity but on following the same Shepherd and hearing the same voice.
- A love freely given:
No one forced Jesus to the cross. He chose it for us. Paul writes, “But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The resurrection shows that his sacrifice was accepted and that his power over death is real.
Cross-References:
Isaiah 56:8: "I will yet gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered." The promise behind the other sheep.
John 11:52: "that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad." Jesus died to gather one people.
Ephesians 2:14: "For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition" Jew and Gentile made one in Christ.
Isaiah 53:7: "As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth." The willing Servant.
Conclusion: Jesus looks beyond Israel to the other sheep he must bring, so that there will be one flock with one shepherd, and he declares that he lays down his life and takes it up again by his own authority in obedience to the Father. These verses assure us that his death was a free gift of love and that his flock is open to people of every nation who hear his voice.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible