| John 10 | |
|---|---|
_recto_Matt_25%2c_8-10%3b_John_10%2c_8-14.jpg) Fragments ofPapyrus 44 (6th/7th-century) containing Matthew 25:8-10; John 10:8-14.Metropolitan Museum of Art 14.1.527, New York City | |
| Book | Gospel of John |
| Category | Gospel |
| Christian Bible part | New Testament |
| Order in the Christian part | 4 |
John 10 is the tenth chapter of theGospel of John in theNew Testament of theChristianBible. The author of the book containing this chapter isanonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed thatJohn composed thisGospel.[1] This chapter recordsJesus' description of himself as the "door of the sheep" and the "Good Shepherd", and contains the only mention ofHanukkah, "the Feast of Dedication", in theNew Testament.[2]
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The original text was written inKoine Greek.This chapter is divided into 42 verses. Some earlymanuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
Events recorded in this chapter refer to the following locations:
In verses1–5, Jesus uses a parable,[6] illustration[7] or "figure of speech"[8] regarding the manner in which a true shepherd enters his sheepfold, through the door or the gate, unlike the manner of athief or a stranger. H. W. Watkins notes that "the word rendered 'parable' (in verse 6) is the wider word (Greek:παροιμία,paroimia) which includes every kind of figurative and proverbial teaching, every kind of speech ... which departs from the usual course (Greek:οἶμος,oimos)". The word παραβολα (parabola) is not used in John's Gospel.[9]
Jesus begins:
ThePharisees are not mentioned in the Greek text (λεγω υμιν,[11]legō humin, "I speak to you") but they are mentioned in theNew International Version (NIV) in continuity withJohn 9:40, where "some Pharisees" had spoken with Jesus. The NIV and theJerusalem Bible also confirm in verse 6 that the Pharisees are the group Jesus is addressing.[12][13] German Protestant theologianHeinrich Meyer argues that these verses continue from chapter 9 "without the slightest indication of a change having taken place", and that ideally the chapter break would have been inserted at John 9:35.[14]Henry Alford likewise connects thispericope withJohn 9:35-41.[15]
In this illustration, the true shepherd "enters the sheepfold by the door" and "calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (Greek:ἐξάγει αὐτά)" (John 10:1,3). The alternative way in, taken by the thief or stranger, is to "climb up some other way", i.e. to climb over the wall of the sheepfold.[16] The narrative is introduced "very truly" or "most assuredly".[17] Jesus' audience ("they", verse 6) did not understand what he was saying, and did not understand that he was applying the reference to thieves and robbers (verse 1) to themselves.[13]
In its reference to the shepherd leading the flock out of the sheepfold, verse 3 has theonly occurrence in the New Testament of the word ἐξάγει (exagei).[18] TheEthiopic version adds "and loves them" to verse 3.[19]
In verse 7, Jesus "feels compelled" to start again (πάλιν,palin).[14] He describes himself here and in verse 9 as "the door of the sheep",[20] and in10:11 and10:14 as "thegood shepherd". The word inGreek:θύρα is translated as "door" in theKing James Version and theAmerican Standard Version, but as "gate" in theNew Revised Standard Version, theCommon English Bible and other translations.[21] In verse 7, theTextus Receptus adds that Jesus saidto them (Greek:αὐτοῖς) but this addition is generally agreed to be "of doubtful authority".[22]
These verses contain a new figure of speech which builds on the reference to a "stranger" in verse 5, here highlighting the unreliability of the hired hand who runs away.[24]
This verse further reiterates the continuity between this chapter and the dialogue following thehealing of the man born blind in John 9.[14]
Verse 22 refers toHanukkah:
The feast (Greek:τὰ ἐγκαίνια,ta egkainia) recalls theMaccabean purification and re-dedication of the Temple,1 Maccabees 4:36–51. The narrative moves forward from theFeast of Tabernacles, when the events and teaching fromJohn 7:14 to10:21 appear to take place.[27] During the intervening two months, there is no account of whether Jesus remained in Jerusalem or not. InJohn 7:40 we read that Jesus "went away again beyond the Jordan". Meyer identifies a number of commentators who have suggested that there was an additional "journey toGalilee orPeraea" before the feast of dedication, although he himself considers that these suggestions are "dictated byharmonistic presuppositions and clumsy combinations, ... and not by the requirements ofexegesis".[14]
Jesus walked in the temple, inSolomon’s porch or colonnade,[28] a gathering place used by the early church (seeActs 3:11 and5:12) located on the eastern side of the temple.[29]
The chapter ends with Jesus evading Jewish attempts to stone him (John 10:31,39) and then leaving Jerusalem (John 10:40) and traveling "beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first" (Perea).Matthew 19:1 andMark 10:1 similarly record that Jesus traveled "to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan", but in thesynoptic tradition He had previously been inCapernaum rather than Jerusalem. Perea was a region where many people "came to the decision that He was the Messiah" (John 10:42 in theLiving Bible translation).
| Preceded by John 9 | Chapters of the Bible Gospel of John | Succeeded by John 11 |