The Good Shepherd, Part 1

For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth...Eph 5:9

The Good Shepherd, Part 1

Perhaps one of the most beautiful New Testament passages that sums up all the scheme of redemption and man’s relationship to God is found in 1 Peter 2:25, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” Yet one cannot come to a full appreciation for such a passage without understanding the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 10:11, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” It is that designation that, in a nut shell, so describes His love, His labor, and His legacy.

In studying what the Bible teaches concerning the Good Shepherd, the text of Scripture most often referenced is John 10:1-30. There, it is by the words of Jesus that one comes to fully understand the role Jesus plays as the Good Shepherd and His disciples as His sheep.

In order to obtain a full understanding of John chapter 10, one must necessarily be acquainted with the context of the passage. In the previous chapter, Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. Upon receiving his sight, the man’s neighbors marveled and took the man to the Pharisees, who began to question him concerning the miracle and He who had worked it. Though the man’s parents feared to answer any questions concerning him, the man whose sight had been restored boldly affirmed that Jesus must be a prophet and the miracle was accomplished by the hand of God. The Pharisees then cast the man out of the Synagogue. Upon hearing what had happened, Jesus went to the man and revealed Himself to the man, who then believed and worshipped Him.

Jesus then stated, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” To this the Pharisees responded, “Are we blind also.” Jesus then stated, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”

It is in this atmosphere of hostility from the Pharisees that Jesus begins His discourse on the Good Shepherd. It is in this context that one must examine John chapter 10 in order to fully understand the meaning and significance of Jesus’ words. In John 10:1-30, there are seven discernable points to notice in this discourse.

The Discernment, v. 1-6

In this first point, Jesus shows how to discern between the shepherd of the sheep and the thief. Herein the allegory presented is of the people being the sheep, Jesus the shepherd of the sheep and the Pharisees the thieves.

In this passage, one may notice that Jesus refers to sheep. These sheep are the Jews, the multitudes that were scattered throughout the regions of Palestine and were descendents of the nation of Israel living under the Law of Moses. It was earlier, during Jesus’ third tour in Galilee, that He looked upon the multitudes and had compassion on them, “because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matt 9:36). It was also during that time that Jesus commissioned the twelve telling them to go only to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 10:6).

One of the first discernments that Jesus gives in John 10:1-6 is that of the sheep. In verses 3-4, Jesus refers to the sheep as “his own”, in other words belonging to the shepherd. From this one may infer that there are many sheep, but not all sheep belong to the shepherd. According to the words of Jesus, His sheep are those (1) to whom the shepherd calleth by name, (2) who hear His voice, (3) who are able to discern His voice from the voice of strangers, and (4) who follow Him and not strangers.

Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Those who follow after the traditions and doctrines of man, follow strangers and not the Good Shepherd. Furthermore, understanding the shepherding of God, as illustrated in Psalm 23, He leads his sheep in the paths of righteousness, not divisiveness.

The second discernment that is observed in John 10 is between the shepherd of the sheep and the thieves. The difference between them in this section is their presentation. Jesus said that the shepherd “entereth in by the door” (v. 2), but the thief “climbeth up some other way.”

(continued on page 12)