# John 10 📖: The Good Shepherd [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-John Overview]] | [[John 09]] | [[John 11]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Good Shepherd and His Sheep **Principle**: Jesus is the only Way and Sustainer. [[#Verse 01.]] “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. [[#Verse 02.]] The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. [[#Verse 03.]] The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. [[#Verse 04.]] When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. [[#Verse 05.]] They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.” [[#Verse 06.]] Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. [[#Verse 07.]] So Jesus said again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. [[#Verse 08.]] All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. [[#Verse 09.]] I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. [[#Verse 10.]] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. [[#Verse 11.]] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [[#Verse 12.]] The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. [[#Verse 13.]] Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away. [[#Verse 14.]] “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— [[#Verse 15.]] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. [[#Verse 16.]] I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd. [[#Verse 17.]] This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again. [[#Verse 18.]] No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.” [[#Verse 19.]] Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words. [[#Verse 20.]] Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?” [[#Verse 21.]] Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?” ### Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God **Principle**: Jesus is God. [[#Verse 22.]] Then came the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem. [[#Verse 23.]] It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Portico. [[# Verse 23.]] He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade.  [[#Verse 24.]] The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” [[#Verse 25.]] Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father’s name testify about me. [[#Verse 26.]] But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. [[#Verse 27.]] My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [[#Verse 28.]] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. [[#Verse 29.]] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. [[#Verse 30.]] The Father and I are one.” ### Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus **Principle**: Jesus proves Himself. [[#Verse 31.]] The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death. [[#Verse 32.]] Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” [[#Verse 33.]] The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy because you, a man, are claiming to be God.” [[#Verse 34.]] Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘’? [[#Verse 35.]] If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), [[#Verse 36.]] do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? [[#Verse 37.]] If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. [[#Verse 38.]] But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” [[#Verse 39.]] Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches. [[#Verse 40.]] Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there. [[#Verse 41.]] Many came to him and began to say, “John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!” [[#Verse 42.]] And many believed in Jesus there. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ###### Verse 41. ###### Verse 42. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Sheepfolds were often stone enclosures with a single opening, and shepherds sometimes slept across the entrance, becoming the door (10:7). 2. Shepherds in the Middle East led their sheep from the front and called them by name (10:3-4). 3. The Feast of Dedication (10:22) is Hanukkah, which celebrates the rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in 164 BC. 4. Jesus walked in Solomon's Portico (10:23), a covered colonnade on the east side of the temple courts where the early church later gathered (Acts 5:12). 5. Ezekiel 34 condemns Israel's selfish shepherds and promises that God Himself will shepherd His people. 6. In "I and the Father are one" (10:30), the word "one" is neuter in Greek, pointing to a unity of nature and purpose, not one person. 7. Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, "You are gods" (10:34), arguing from the lesser to the greater. 8. The Greek word for "good" in "good shepherd" (*kalos*) can also mean noble or beautiful. 9. Most interpreters understand the "other sheep" (10:16) as Gentiles who would be brought into one flock. 10. Jesus withdrew across the Jordan to where John had first baptized, and many believed there (10:40-42). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep and takes it back up again (10:11, 17-18). He is the great Shepherd who holds His people securely (10:28; Hebrews 13:20). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jesus says His sheep know His voice and follow Him (10:4, 27). How do we learn to recognize the voice of the Shepherd? 2. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give abundant life (10:10). What does abundant life look like? 3. Jesus says no one can snatch His sheep out of His hand or the Father's (10:28-29). How does that promise encourage you? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 9: Jesus is the door, and whoever enters through Him will be saved. - 📖 verse 10: The thief comes to steal and destroy, but Jesus came to give life in abundance. - 📖 verse 11: The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. - 📖 verses 27-28: His sheep hear His voice, receive eternal life, and no one can snatch them from His hand. - 📖 verse 30: Jesus and the Father are one. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[Psalm 23|Psalm 23]] - The Lord is my shepherd. - 🔗 [[Ezekiel 34#Verse 11.|Ezekiel 34:11-16]] - God Himself will search for and shepherd His sheep. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 13#Verse 20.|Hebrews 13:20]] - Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep. - 🔗 [[1 Peter 02#Verse 25.|1 Peter 2:25]] - The Shepherd and Guardian of our souls. - 🔗 [[Romans 08#Verse 38.|Romans 8:38-39]] - Nothing can separate us from God's love. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[John 10 - SOAP|The Lord Has Come To Give Life]] 📝 SOAP: [[John 10- SOAP|Our King Leads Us]] --- ## 📂 Internal Notes