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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
J O H N.
CHAP. X.
In this chapter we have,
I. Christ’s parabolical discourse concerning himself as the door of the
sheepfold, and the shepherd of the sheep,
II. The various sentiments of people upon it,
III. The dispute Christ had with the Jews in the temple at the feast
of dedication,
IV. His departure into the country thereupon,
| The Good Shepherd. |
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1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the
door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same
is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the
sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and
he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before
them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him:
for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not
what things they were which he spake unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the
sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life
for the sheep.
12 But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own
the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep,
and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth
not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I
lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall
be one fold, and one shepherd.
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my
life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father.
It is not certain whether this discourse was at the feast of
dedication in the winter (spoken of
v. 22),
which may be taken as the date, not only of what follows, but of what
goes before (that which countenances this is, that Christ, in his
discourse there, carries on the metaphor of the sheep,
whence it seems that that discourse and this were at the same time); or
whether this was a continuation of his parley with the Pharisees, in
the close of the foregoing chapter. The Pharisees supported themselves
in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were the
pastors of the church, and that Jesus, having no commission from
them, was an intruder and an impostor, and therefore the people were
bound in duty to stick to then, against him. In
opposition to this, Christ here describes who were the false shepherds,
and who the true, leaving them to infer what they were.
I. Here is the parable or similitude proposed
(v. 1-5);
it is borrowed from the custom of that country, in the management of
their sheep. Similitudes, used for the illustration of divine truths,
should be taken from those things that are most familiar and common,
that the things of God be not clouded by that which should clear them.
The preface to this discourse is solemn: Verily, verily, I say unto
you,–Amen, amen. This vehement asseveration intimates the
certainty and weight of what he said; we find amen doubled in
the church’s praises and prayers,
Ps. xli. 13; lxxii. 19; lxxxix. 52.
If we would have our amens accepted in heaven, let Christ’s
amens be prevailing on earth; his repeated amens.
1. In the parable we have,
(1.) The evidence of a thief and robber, that comes to do mischief to
the flock, and damage to the owner,
v. 1.
He enters not by the door, as having no lawful cause of entry,
but climbs up some other way, at a window, or some breach in the
wall. How industrious are wicked people to do mischief! What plots will
they lay, what pains will they take, what hazards will they run, in
their wicked pursuits! This should shame us out of our slothfulness
and cowardice in the service of God.
(2.) The character that distinguishes the rightful owner, who has a
property in the sheep, and a care for them: He enters in by the
door, as one having authority
(v. 2),
and he comes to do them some good office or other, to bind up that
which is broken, and strengthen that which is sick,
Ezek. xxxiv. 16.
Sheep need man’s care, and, in return for it, are serviceable to man
(1 Cor. ix. 7);
they clothe and feed those by whom they are coted and fed.
(3.) The ready entrance that the shepherd finds: To him the porter
openeth,
v. 3.
Anciently they had their sheepfolds within the outer gates of their
houses, for the greater safety of their flocks, so that none could come
to them the right way, but such as the porter opened to or the master
of the house gave the keys to.
(4.) The care he takes and the provision he makes for his sheep. The
sheep hear his voice, when he speaks familiarly to them, when
they come into the fold, as men now do to their dogs and horses; and,
which is more, he calls his own sheep by name, so exact is the
notice he takes of them, the account he keeps of them; and he leads
them our from the fold to the green pastures; and
(v. 4, 5)
when he turns them out to graze he does not drive them, but
(such was the custom in those times) he goes before them, to prevent
any mischief or danger that might meet them, and they, being used to
it, follow him, and are safe.
(5.) The strange attendance of the sheep upon the shepherd: They
know his voice, so as to discern his mind by it, and to distinguish
it from that of a stranger (for the ox knows his owner,
Isa. i. 3),
and a stranger will they not follow, but, as suspecting some ill
design, will flee from him, not knowing his voice, but that it
is not the voice of their own shepherd. This is the parable; we have
the key to it,
You my flock are men, and I am your God.
2. Let us observe from this parable,
(1.) That good men are fitly compared to sheep. Men, as creatures
depending on their Creator, are called the sheep of his pasture.
Good men, as new creatures, have the good qualities of sheep,
harmless and inoffensive as sheep; meek and quiet,
without noise; patient as sheep under the hand both of the
shearer and of the butcher; useful and profitable, tame and
tractable, to the shepherd, and sociable one with another, and
much used in sacrifices.
(2.) The church of God in the world is a sheepfold, into which
the children of God that were scattered abroad are gathered
together
(ch. xi. 52),
and in which they are united and incorporated; it is a good fold,
See
This fold is well fortified, for God himself is as a wall of fire
about it,
Zech. ii. 5.
(3.) This sheepfold lies much exposed to thieves and robbers; crafty
seducers that debauch and deceive, and cruel persecutors that destroy
and devour; grievous wolves
(Acts xx. 29);
thieves that would steal Christ’s sheep from him, to sacrifice them to
devils, or steal their food from them, that they might perish for lack
of it; wolves in sheep’s clothing,
(4.) The great Shepherd of the sheep takes wonderful care of the flock
and of all that belong to it. God is the great Shepherd,
He knows those that are his calls them by name, marks them for himself,
leads them out to fat pastures, makes them both feed and rest there,
speaks comfortably to them, guards them by his providence, guides them
by his Spirit and word, and goes before them, to set them in the way
of his steps.
(5.) The under-shepherds, who are entrusted to feed the flock of God,
ought to be careful and faithful in the discharge of that trust;
magistrates must defend them, and protect and advance all their secular
interests; ministers must serve them in their spiritual interests, must
feed their souls with the word of God faithfully opened and
applied, and with gospel ordinances duly administered, taking the
oversight of them. They must enter by the door of a regular
ordination, and to such the porter will open; the Spirit of
Christ will set before them an open door, give them authority in
the church, and assurance in their own bosoms. They must know the
members of their flocks by name, and watch over them; must lead them
into the pastures of public ordinances, preside among them, be their
mouth to God and God’s to them; and in their conversation must be
examples to the believers.
(6.) Those who are truly the sheep of Christ will be very observant of
their Shepherd, and very cautious and shy of strangers.
[1.] They follow their Shepherd, for they know his voice,
having both a discerning ear, and an obedient heart.
[2.] They flee from a stranger, and dread following him, because
they know not his voice. It is dangerous following those in whom we
discern not the voice of Christ, and who would draw us from
faith in him to fancies concerning him. And those who
have experienced the power and efficacy of divine truths upon their
souls, and have the savour and relish of them, have a wonderful
sagacity to discover Satan’s wiles, and to discern between good and
evil.
II. The Jew’s ignorance of the drift and meaning of this discourse
(v. 6):
Jesus spoke this parable to them, this figurative, but wise,
elegant, and instructive discourse, but they understood not what the
things were which he spoke unto them, were not aware whom he meant
by the thieves and robbers and whom by the good Shepherd.
It is the sin and shame of many who hear the word of Christ that they
do not understand it, and they do not because they will not, and
because they will mis-understand it. They have no acquaintance
with, nor taste of, the things themselves, and therefore do not
understand the parables and comparisons with which they are
illustrated. The Pharisees had a great conceit of their own knowledge,
and could not bear that it should be questioned, and yet they had not
sense enough to understand the things that Jesus spoke of; they
were above their capacity. Frequently the greatest pretenders to
knowledge are most ignorant in the things of God.
III. Christ’s explication of this parable, opening the particulars of
it fully. Whatever difficulties there may be in the sayings of the Lord
Jesus, we shall find him ready to explain himself, if we be but willing
to understand him. We shall find one scripture expounding another, and
the blessed Spirit interpreter to the blessed Jesus.
Christ, in the parable, had distinguished the shepherd from the robber
by this, that he enters in by the door. Now, in the explication
of the parable, he makes himself to be both the door by which
the shepherd enters and the shepherd that enters in by the door. Though
it may be a solecism in rhetoric to make the same person to be both the
door and the shepherd, it is no solecism in divinity to
make Christ to have his authority from himself, as he has life in
himself; and himself to enter by his own blood, as the
door, into the holy place.
1. Christ is the door. This he saith to those who pretended to
seek for righteousness, but, like the Sodomites, wearied
themselves to find the door, where it was not to be found. He saith
it to the Jews, who would be thought God’s only sheep, and to the
Pharisees, who would be thought their only shepherds: I am the
door of the sheepfold; the door of the church.
(1.) In general,
[1.] He is as a door shut, to keep out thieves and robbers, and
such as are not fit to be admitted. The shutting of the door is the
securing of the house; and what greater security has the church of God
than the interposal of the Lord Jesus, and his wisdom, power, and
goodness, betwixt it and all its enemies?
[2.] He is as a door open for passage and communication.
First, By Christ, as the door, we have our first admission into
the flock of God,
Secondly, We go in and out in a religious conversation, assisted
by him, accepted in him; walking up and down in his name,
Thirdly, By him God comes to his church, visits it, and
communicates himself to it. Fourthly, By him, as the door, the
sheep are at last admitted into the heavenly kingdom,
(2.) More particularly,
[1.] Christ is the door of the shepherds, so that none who come
not in by him are to be accounted pastors, but (according to the
rule laid down,
v. 1)
thieves and robbers (though they pretended to be
shepherds); but the sheep did not hear them. This refers
to all those that had the character of shepherds in Israel,
whether magistrates or ministers, that exercised their office without
any regard to the Messiah, or any other expectations of him than what
were suggested by their own carnal interest. Observe, First, The
character given of them: they are thieves and robbers
(v. 8);
all that went before him, not in time, many of them were
faithful shepherds, but all that anticipated his commission, and
went before he sent them
that assumed a precedency and superiority above him, as the antichrist
is said to exalt himself,
2 Thess. ii. 4.
“The scribes, and Pharisees, and chief priests, all, even as many as
have come before me, that have endeavoured to forestal my interest,
and to prevent my gaining any room in the minds of people, by
prepossessing them with prejudices against me, they are thieves and
robbers, and steal those hearts which they have no title to,
defrauding the right owner of his property.” They condemned our Saviour
as a thief and a robber, because he did not come in by them as the
door, nor take out a license from them; but he shows that they ought to
have received their commission from him, to have been admitted by him,
and to have come after him, and because they did not, but stepped
before him, they were thieves and robbers. They would not
come in as his disciples, and therefore were condemned as usurpers, and
their pretended commissions vacated and superseded. Note, Rivals with
Christ are robbers of his church, however they pretend to be
shepherds, nay, shepherds of shepherds. Secondly, The
care taken to preserve the sheep from them: But the sheep did not
hear them. Those that had a true savour of piety, that were
spiritual and heavenly, and sincerely devoted to God and godliness,
could by no means approve of the traditions of the elders, nor relish
their formalities. Christ’s disciples, without any particular
instructions from their Master, made no conscience of eating with
unwashen hands, or plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath day; for
nothing is more opposite to true Christianity than Pharisaism is, nor
any thing more disrelishing to a soul truly devout than their
hypocritical devotions.
[2.] Christ is the door of the sheep
(v. 9):
By me (di emou—through me as the door)
if any man enter into the sheepfold, as one of the flock, he
shall be saved; shall not only by safe from thieves and robbers,
but he shall be happy, he shall go in and out. Here are,
First, Plain directions how to come into the fold: we must come
in by Jesus Christ as the door. By faith in him, as the great
Mediator between God and man, we come into covenant and communion with
God. There is no entering into God’s church but by coming into Christ’s
church; nor are any looked upon as members of the kingdom of God among
men but those that are willing to submit to the grace and government of
the Redeemer. We must now enter by the door of faith
(Acts xiv. 27),
since the door of innocency is shut against us, and that
pass become unpassable,
Secondly, Precious promises to those who observe this direction.
1. They shall be saved hereafter; this is the privilege of
their home. These sheep shall be saved from being distrained and
impounded by divine justice for trespass done, satisfaction being made
for the damage by their great Shepherd, saved from being a prey to the
roaring lion; they shall be for ever happy.
2. In the mean time they shall go in and out and find pasture;
this is the privilege of their way. They shall have their
conversation in the world by the grace of Christ, shall be in his fold
as a man at his own house, where he has free ingress, egress,
and regress. True believers are at home in Christ; when
they go out, they are not shut out as strangers, but have
liberty to come in again; when they come in, they are not shut
in as trespassers, but have liberty to go out. They go out to the
field in the morning, they come into the fold at night; and in both the
Shepherd leads and keeps them, and they find pasture in both:
grass in the field, fodder in the fold. In public, in private, they
have the word of God to converse with, by which their spiritual life is
supported and nourished, and out of which their gracious desires are
satisfied; they are replenished with the goodness of God’s house.
2. Christ is the shepherd,
v. 11,
&c. He was prophesied of under the Old Testament as a shepherd,
Isa. xl. 11;
Ezek. xxxiv. 23; xxxvii. 24; Zech. xiii. 7.
In the New Testament he is spoken of as the great Shepherd
the chief Shepherd
(1 Pet. v. 4),
the Shepherd and bishop of our souls,
1 Pet. ii. 25.
God, our great owner, the sheep of whose pasture we are by creation,
has constituted his Son Jesus to be our shepherd; and here again
and again he owns the relation. He has all that care of his church, and
every believer, that a good shepherd has of his flock; and expects all
that attendance and observance from the church, and every believer,
which the shepherds in those countries had from their flocks.
(1.) Christ is a shepherd, and not as the thief, not as those
that came not in by the door. Observe,
[1.] The mischievous design of the thief
(v. 10):
The thief cometh not with any good intent, but to steal, and
to kill, and to destroy. First, Those whom they steal, whose
hearts and affections they steal from Christ and his pastures, they
kill and destroy spiritually; for the heresies they
privily bring in are damnable. Deceivers of souls are
murderers of souls. Those that steal away the scripture by keeping it
in an unknown tongue, that steal away the sacraments by maiming them
and altering the property of them, that steal away Christ’s ordinances
to put their own inventions in the room of them, they kill and
destroy; ignorance and idolatry are destructive things.
Secondly, Those whom they cannot steal, whom they can
neither lead, drive, nor carry away, from the flock of Christ, they aim
by persecutions and massacres to kill and destroy corporally. He
that will not suffer himself to be robbed is in danger of being
slain.
[2.] The gracious design of the shepherd; he is come,
First, To give life to the sheep. In opposition to the
design of the thief, which is to kill and destroy (which was the
design of the scribes and Pharisees) Christ saith, I
am come among men,
1. That they might have life. He came to put life into the
flock, the church in general, which had seemed rather like a valley
full of dry bones than like a pasture covered over with flocks. Christ
came to vindicate divine truths, to purify divine ordinances, to
redress grievances, and to revive dying zeal, to seek those of
his flock that were lost, to bind up that which was
broken
and this to his church is as life from the dead. He came to
give life to particular believers. Life is inclusive of all
good, and stands in opposition to the death threatened
(Gen. ii. 17);
that we might have life, as a criminal has when he is pardoned,
as a sick man when he is cured, a dead man when he is raised; that we
might be justified, sanctified, and at last glorified.
2. That they might have it more abundantly, kai perisson
echosin. As we read it, it is comparative, that they
might have a life more abundant than that which was lost and
forfeited by sin, more abundant than that which was promised by the law
of Moses, length of days in Canaan, more abundant than could have been
expected or than we are able to ask or think. But it may be
construed without a note of comparison, that they might have
abundance, or might have it abundantly. Christ came to give
life and perisson ti—something more, something
better, life with advantage; that in Christ we might not only
live, but live comfortably, live plentifully, live and rejoice. Life in
abundance is eternal life, life without death or fear of death,
life and much more.
Secondly, To give his life for the sheep, and this that
he might give life to them
(v. 11):
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
1. It is the property of every good shepherd to hazard and expose his
life for the sheep. Jacob did so, when he would go through such a
fatigue to attend them,
So did David, when he slew the lion and the bear. Such a
shepherd of souls was St. Paul, who would gladly spend, and be
spent, for their service, and counted not his life dear to
him, in comparison with their salvation. But,
2. It was the prerogative of the great Shepherd to give his life to
purchase his flock
(Acts xx. 28),
to satisfy for their trespass, and to shed his blood to wash and
cleanse them.
(2.) Christ is a good shepherd, and not as a hireling. There
were many that were not thieves, aiming to kill and destroy the sheep,
but passed for shepherds, yet were very careless in the discharge of
their duty, and through their neglect the flock was greatly damaged;
foolish shepherds, idle shepherds,
Zech. xi. 15, 17.
In opposition to these,
[1.] Christ here calls himself the good shepherd
(v. 11),
and again
(v. 14)
ho poimen ho kalos—that shepherd, that good
Shepherd, whom God had promised. Note, Jesus Christ is the best of
shepherds, the best in the world to take the over-sight of souls, none
so skilful, so faithful, so tender, as he, no such feeder and leader,
no such protector and healer of souls as he.
[2.] He proves himself so, in opposition to all hirelings,
Where observe,
First, The carelessness of the unfaithful shepherd described
(v. 12, 13);
he that is a hireling, that is employed as a servant and is paid for
his pains, whose own the sheep are not, who has neither profit
nor loss by them, sees the wolf coming, or some other danger
threatening, and leaves the sheep to the wolf, for in truth he
careth not for them. Here is plain reference to that of the
idol-shepherd,
Evil shepherds, magistrates and ministers, are here described both by
their bad principles and their bad practices.
a. Their bad principles, the root of their bad practices.
What makes those that have the charge of souls in trying times to
betray their trust, and in quiet times not to mind it? What makes them
false, and trifling, and self-seeking? It is because they are
hirelings, and care not for the sheep. That is,
(a.) The wealth of the world is the chief of their good; it is
because they are hirelings. They undertook the shepherds’
office, as a trade to live and grow rich by, not as an opportunity of
serving Christ and doing good. It is the love of money, and of their
own bellies, that carries them on in it. Not that those are hirelings
who, while they serve at the altar, live, and live comfortably,
upon the altar. The labourer is worthy of his meat; and a
scandalous maintenance will soon make a scandalous ministry. But those
are hirelings that love the wages more than the work, and set
their hearts upon that, as the hireling is said to do,
See
Isa. lvi. 11; Mic. iii. 5, 11.
(b.) The work of their place is the least of their care. They
value not the sheep, are unconcerned in the souls of others;
their business is to be their brothers’ lords, not their brothers’
keepers or helpers; they seek their own things, and do not, like
Timothy, naturally care for the state of souls. What can be
expected but that they will flee when the wolf comes. He
careth not for the sheep, for he is one whose own the sheep
are not. In one respect we may say of the best of the
under-shepherds that the sheep are not their own, they have not
dominion over them not property in them (feed my sheep and my
lambs, saith Christ); but in respect of dearness and affection they
should be their own. Paul looked upon those as his own
whom he called his dearly beloved and longed for. Those who do
not cordially espouse the church’s interests, and make them their own,
will not long be faithful to them.
b. Their bad practices, the effect of these bad
principles,
See here,
(a.) How basely the hireling deserts his post; when he sees
the wolf coming, though then there is most need of him, he
leaves the sheep and flees. Note, Those who mind their safety
more than their duty are an easy prey to Satan’s temptations.
(b.) How fatal the consequences are! the hireling fancies the
sheep may look to themselves, but it does not prove so: the wolf
catches them, and scatters the sheep, and woeful havoc is
made of the flock, which will all be charged upon the treacherous
shepherd. The blood of perishing souls is required at the hand of the
careless watchmen.
Secondly, See here the grace and tenderness of the good Shepherd
set over against the former, as it was in the prophecy
&c.): I am the good Shepherd. It is matter of comfort to the
church, and all her friends, that, however she may be damaged and
endangered by the treachery and mismanagement of her under-officers,
the Lord Jesus is, and will be, as he ever has been, the good
Shepherd. Here are two great instances of the shepherd’s
goodness.
a. His acquainting himself with his flock, with all that
belong or in any wise appertain to his flock, which are of two sorts,
both known to him:–
(a.) He is acquainted with all that are now of his flock
(v. 14, 15),
as the good Shepherd
(v. 3, 4):
I know my sheep and am known of mine. Note, There is a mutual
acquaintance between Christ and true believers; they know one another
very well, and knowledge notes affection.
[a.] Christ knows his sheep. He knows with a
distinguishing eye who are his sheep, and who are not; he knows
the sheep under their many infirmities, and the goats under their most
plausible disguises. He knows with a favourable eye those that
in truth are his own sheep; he takes cognizance of their state,
concerns himself for them, has a tender and affectionate regard to
them, and is continually mindful of them in the intercession he ever
lives to make within the veil; he visits them graciously by his Spirit,
and has communion with them; he knows them, that is, he approves
and accepts of them, as
Exod. xxxiii. 17.
[b.] He is known of them. He observes them with an eye of
favour, and they observe him with an eye of faith. Christ’s knowing his
sheep is put before their knowing him, for he knew and loved us first
and it is not so much our knowing him as our being known of him that is
our happiness,
Yet it is the character of Christ’s sheep that they know him;
know him from all pretenders and intruders; they know his mind, know
his voice, know by experience the power of his death. Christ speaks
here as if he gloried in being known by his sheep, and thought their
respect an honour to him. Upon this occasion Christ mentions
(v. 15)
the mutual acquaintance between his Father and himself: As the
Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. Now this may be
considered, either, First, As the ground of that intimate
acquaintance and relation which subsist between Christ and believers.
The covenant of grace, which is the bond of this relation, is founded
in the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, which, we
may be sure, stands firm; for the Father and the Son understood one
another perfectly well in that matter, and there could be no mistake,
which might leave the matter at any uncertainty, or bring it into any
hazard. The Lord Jesus knows whom he hath chosen, and is sure of
them
(ch. xiii. 18),
and they also know whom they have trusted, and are sure of him
(2 Tim. i. 12),
and the ground of both is the perfect knowledge which the Father and
the Son had of one another’s mind, when the counsel of peace was
between them both. Or, Secondly, As an apt similitude,
illustrating the intimacy that is between Christ and believers. It may
be connected with the foregoing words, thus: I know my sheep, and am
known of mine, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father;
compare
1. As the Father knew the Son, and loved him, and owned him in his
sufferings, when he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, so
Christ knows his sheep, and has a watchful tender eye upon them, will
be with them when they are left alone, as his Father was with
him.
2. As the Son knew the Father, loved and obeyed him, and always did
those things that pleased him, confiding in him as his God even when he
seemed to forsake him, so believers know Christ with an obediential
fiducial regard.
(b.) He is acquainted with those that are hereafter to be of
this flock
(v. 16):
Other sheep I have, have a right to and an interest in, which
are not of this fold, of the Jewish church; them also I must
bring. Observe,
[a.] The eye that Christ had to the poor Gentiles. He had
sometimes intimated his special concern for the lost sheep of the
house of Israel; to them indeed his personal ministry was confined;
but, saith he, I have other sheep. Those who in process of time
should believe in Christ, and be brought into obedience to him from
among the Gentiles, are here called sheep, and he is said to
have them, though as yet they were uncalled, and many of them
unborn, because they were chosen of God, and given to Christ in
the counsels of divine love from eternity. Christ has a right, by
virtue of the Father’s donation and his own purchase, to many a soul of
which he has not yet the possession; thus he had much people in
Corinth, when as yet it lay in wickedness,
“Those other sheep I have,” saith Christ, “I have them on my
heart, have them in my eye, am as sure to have them as if I had them
already.” Now Christ speaks of those other sheep, First, To take
off the contempt that was put upon him, as having few followers,
as having but a little flock, and therefore, if a good
shepherd, yet a poor shepherd: “But,” saith he, “I have more
sheep than you see.” Secondly, To take down the pride and
vain-glory of the Jews, who thought the Messiah must gather all his
sheep from among them. “No,” saith Christ, “I have others whom I will
set with the lambs of my flock, though you disdain to set them with the
dogs of your flock.”
[b.] The purposes and resolves of his grace concerning them:
“Them also I must bring, bring home to God, bring into the
church, and, in order to this, bring off from their vain conversation,
bring them back from their wanderings, as that lost sheep,”
But why must he bring them? What was the necessity?
First, The necessity of their case required it: “I
must bring, or they must be left to wander endlessly, for, like
sheep, they will never come back of themselves, and no other can or
will bring them.” Secondly, The necessity of his own
engagements required it; he must bring them, or he would not be
faithful to his trust, and true to his undertaking. “They are my
own, bought and paid for, and therefore I must not neglect
them nor leave them to perish.” He must in honour bring
those with whom he was entrusted.
[c.] The happy effect and consequence of this, in two
things:–First, “They shall hear my voice. Not only my voice
shall be heard among them (whereas they have not heard, and
therefore could not believe, now the sound of the gospel shall
go to the ends of the earth), but it shall be heard by
them; I will speak, and give to them to hear.” Faith comes by
hearing, and our diligent observance of the voice of Christ is both a
means and an evidence of our being brought to Christ, and to God by
him. Secondly, There shall be one fold and one shepherd. As
there is one shepherd, so there shall be one fold. Both Jews and
Gentiles, upon their turning to the faith of Christ, shall be
incorporated in one church, be joint and equal sharers in the
privileges of it, without distinction. Being united to Christ, they
shall unite in him; two sticks shall become one in the hand of the
Lord. Note, One shepherd makes one fold; one Christ makes one church.
As the church is one in its constitution, subject to one head, animated
by one Spirit, and guided by one rule, so the members of it ought to be
one in love and affection,
b. Christ’s offering up himself for his sheep is another
proof of his being a good shepherd, and in this he yet more
commended his love,
v. 15, 17, 18.
(a.) He declares his purpose of dying for his flock
(v. 15):
I lay down my life for the sheep. He not only ventured his life
for them (in such a case, the hope of saving it might balance
the fear of losing it), but he actually deposited it, and
submitted to a necessity of dying for our redemption;
tithemi—I put it as a pawn or pledge; as
purchase-money paid down. Sheep appointed for the slaughter, ready to
be sacrificed, were ransomed with the blood of the shepherd. He laid
down his life, hyper ton probaton, not only for the good
of the sheep, but in their stead. Thousands of sheep had been
offered in sacrifice for their shepherds, as sin-offerings, but here,
by a surprising reverse, the shepherd is sacrificed for the sheep. When
David, the shepherd of Israel, was himself guilty, and the destroying
angel drew his sword against the flock for his sake, with good reason
did he plead, These sheep, what evil have they done? Let thy hand be
against me,
2 Sam. xxiv. 17.
But the Son of David was sinless and spotless; and his sheep, what evil
have they not done? Yet he saith, Let thine hand be against me.
Christ here seems to refer to that prophecy,
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd; and, though the smiting of
the shepherd be for the present the scattering of the flock, it
is in order to the gathering of them in.
(b.) He takes off the offence of the cross, which to many is a
stone of stumbling, by four considerations:–
[a.] That his laying down his life for the sheep was the
condition, the performance of which entitled him to the honours and
powers of his exalted state
(v. 17):
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.
Upon these terms I am, as Mediator, to expect my Father’s acceptance
and approbation, and the glory designed me–that I become a sacrifice
for the chosen remnant.” Not but that, as the Son of God, he was
beloved of his Father from eternity, but as God-man, as
Immanuel, he was therefore beloved of the Father because
he undertook to die for the sheep; therefore God’s soul
delighted in him as his elect because herein he was his faithful
servant
(Isa. xlii. 1);
therefore he said, This is my beloved Son. What an instance is
this of God’s love to man, that he loved his Son the more for loving
us! See what a value Christ puts upon his Father’s love, that, to
recommend himself to that, he would lay down his life for the sheep.
Did he think God’s love recompence sufficient for all his services and
sufferings, and shall we think it too little for ours, and court the
smiles of the world to make it up? Therefore doth my Father love
me, that is, me, and all that by faith become one with me; me, and
the mystical body, because I lay down my life.
[b.] That his laying down his life was in order to his resuming
it: I lay down my life, that I may receive it again. First, This
was the effect of his Father’s love, and the first step of his
exaltation, the fruit of that love. Because he was God’s holy
one, he must not see corruption,
Ps. xvi. 10.
God loved him too well to leave him in the grave. Secondly, This
he had in his eye, in laying down his life, that he might have an
opportunity of declaring himself to be the Son of God with power by his
resurrection,
By a divine stratagem (like that before Ai,
he yielded to death, as if he were smitten before it, that he might the
more gloriously conquer death, and triumph over the grave. He laid down
a vilified body, that he might assume a glorified one,
fit to ascend to the world of spirits; laid down a life adapted to this
world, but assumed one adapted to the other, like a corn of wheat,
[c.] That he was perfectly voluntary in his sufferings and death
(v. 18):
“No one doth or can force my life from me against my will, but I freely
lay it down of myself, I deliver it as my own act and deed, for
I have (which no man has) power to lay it down, and to take
it again.“
1st, See here the power of Christ, as the Lord of life,
particularly of his own life, which he had in himself.
1. He had power to keep his life against all the world, so that
it could not be wrested from him without his own consent. Though
Christ’s life seemed to be taken by storm, yet really it was
surrendered, otherwise it had been impregnable, and never taken. The
Lord Jesus did not fall into the hands of his persecutors because he
could not avoid it, but threw himself into their hands because his hour
was come. No man taketh my life from me. This was such a
challenge as was never given by the most daring hero.
2. He had power to lay down his life.
(1.) He had ability to do it. He could, when he pleased, slip the knot
of union between soul and body, and, without any act of violence done
to himself, could disengage them from each other: having voluntarily
taken up a body, he could voluntarily lay it down again, which
appeared when he cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
(2.) He had authority to do it, exousian. Though we could
find instruments of cruelty, wherewith to make an end of our own lives,
yet Id possumus quod jure possumus–we can do that, and that only,
which we can do lawfully. We are not at liberty to do it; but
Christ had a sovereign authority to dispose of his own life as he
pleased. He was no debtor (as we are) either to life or death, but
perfectly sui juris.
3. He had power to take it again; we have not. Our life, once
laid down, is as water spilt upon the ground; but Christ, when
he laid down his life, still had it within reach, within call, and
could resume it. Parting with it by a voluntary conveyance, he might
limit the surrender at pleasure, and he did it with a power of
revocation, which was necessary to preserve the intentions of the
surrender.
2ndly, See here the grace of Christ; since none could demand his
life of him by law, or extort it by force, he laid it down of
himself, for our redemption. He offered himself to be the Saviour:
Lo, I come; and then, the necessity of our case calling for it,
he offered himself to be a sacrifice: Here am I, let these go their
way; by which will we are sanctified,
Heb. x. 10.
He was both the offerer and the offering, so that his laying down
his life was his offering up himself.
| Sentiments Concerning Christ. |
|
|
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for
these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear
ye him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a
devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
We have here an account of the people’s different sentiments concerning
Christ, on occasion of the foregoing discourse; there was a division, a
schism, among them; they differed in their opinions, which threw
them into heats and parties. Such a ferment as this they had been in
before
and where there has once been a division again. Rents are sooner made
than made up or mended. This division was occasioned by the sayings of
Christ, which, one would think, should rather have united them all in
him as their centre; but they set them at variance, as Christ foresaw,
But it is better that men should be divided about the doctrine
of Christ than united in the service of sin,
See what the debate was in particular.
I. Some upon this occasion spoke ill of Christ and of his sayings,
either openly in the face of the assembly, for his enemies were very
impudent, or privately among themselves. They said, He has a devil,
and is mad, why do you hear him?
1. They reproach him as a demoniac. The worst of characters is put upon
the best of men. He is a distracted man, he raves and is delirious, and
no more to be heard than the rambles of a man in bedlam. Thus still, if
a man preaches seriously and pressingly of another world, he shall be
said to talk like an enthusiast; and his conduct shall be imputed to
fancy, a heated brain, and a crazed imagination.
2. They ridicule his hearers: “Why hear you him? Why do you so
far encourage him as to take notice of what he says?” Note, Satan ruins
many by putting them out of conceit with the word and ordinances, and
representing it as a weak and silly thing to attend upon them. Men
would not thus be laughed out of their necessary food, and yet suffer
themselves to be laughed out of what is more necessary. Those that hear
Christ, and mix faith with what they hear, will soon be able to give a
good account why they hear him.
II. Others stood up in defence of him and his discourse, and, though
the stream ran strong, dared to swim against it; and, though perhaps
they did not believe on him as the Messiah, they could not bear to hear
him thus abused. If they could say no more of him, this they would
maintain, that he was a man in his wits, that he had not a devil, that
he was neither senseless nor graceless. The absurd and most
unreasonable reproaches, that have sometimes been cast upon Christ and
his gospel, have excited those to appear for him and it who otherwise
had no great affection to either. Two things they plead:–
1. The excellency of his doctrine: “These are not the words of him
that hath a devil; they are not idle words; distracted men are not
used to talk at this rate. These are not the words of one that is
either violently possessed with a devil or voluntarily in league with
the devil.” Christianity, if it be not the true religion, is certainly
the greatest cheat that ever was put upon the world; and, if so, it
must be of the devil, who is the father of all lies: but it is certain
that the doctrine of Christ is no doctrine of devils, for it is
levelled directly against the devil’s kingdom, and Satan is too subtle
to be divided against himself. So much of holiness there is in the
words of Christ that we may conclude they are not the words of one
that has a devil, and therefore are the words of one that was sent
of God; are not from hell, and therefore must be from heaven.
2. The power of his miracles: Can a devil, that is, a man that
has a devil, open the eyes of the blind? Neither mad men nor bad
men can work miracles. Devils are not such lords of the power of nature
as to be able to work such miracles; nor are they such friends to
mankind as to be willing to work them if they were able. The devil will
sooner put out men’s eyes than open them. Therefore Jesus had not a
devil.
| Christ’s Conference with the Jews. |
|
|
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it
was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How
long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the
works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I
said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no
man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from
my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee
not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said,
Ye are gods?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and
the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent
into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of
God?
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works:
that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I
in him.
We have here another rencounter between Christ and the Jews in the
temple, in which it is hard to say which is more strange, the gracious
words that came out of his mouth or the spiteful ones that came out of
theirs.
I. We have here the time when this conference was: It was at the
feast of dedication, and it was winter, a feast that was annually
observed by consent, in remembrance of the dedication of a new altar
and the purging of the temple, by Judas Maccabæus, after the temple
had been profaned and the altar defiled; we have the story of it at
large in the history of the Maccabees (lib. 1, cap. 4); we have the
prophecy of it,
See more of the feast,
2 Mac. i. 18.
The return of their liberty was to them as life from the dead, and, in
remembrance of it, they kept an annual feast on the twenty-fifth day of
the month Cisleu, about the beginning of December, and
seven days after. The celebrating of it was not confined to Jerusalem,
as that of the divine feasts was, but every one observed it in his own
place, not as a holy time (it is only a divine institution that
can sanctify a day), but as a good time, as the days of Purim,
Christ forecasted to be now at Jerusalem, not in honour of the feast,
which did not require his attendance there, but that he might improve
those eight days of vacation for good purposes.
II. The place where it was
(v. 23):
Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch; so called
(Acts iii. 11),
not because built by Solomon, but because built in the same place with
that which had borne his name in the first temple, and the name was
kept up for the greater reputation of it. Here Christ walked, to
observe the proceedings of the great sanhedrim that sat here
he walked, ready to give audience to any that should apply to
him, and to offer them his services. He walked, as it should seem, for
some time alone, as one neglected; walked pensive, in the
foresight of the ruin of the temple. Those that have any thing to say
to Christ may find him in the temple and walk with him there.
III. The conference itself, in which observe,
1. A weighty question put to him by the Jews,
They came round about him, to tease him; he was waiting for an
opportunity to do them a kindness, and they took the opportunity to do
him a mischief. Ill-will for good-will is no rare and uncommon return.
He could not enjoy himself, no, not in the temple, his Father’s house,
without disturbance. They came about him, as it were, to lay siege to
him: encompassed him about like bees. They came about him as if
they had a joint and unanimous desire to be satisfied; came as one man,
pretending an impartial and importunate enquiry after truth, but
intending a general assault upon our Lord Jesus; and they seemed to
speak the sense of their nation, as if they were the mouth of all the
Jews: How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ
tell us.
(1.) They quarrel with him, as if he had unfairly held them in suspense
hitherto. Ten psychen hemon aireis—How long dost thou
steal away our hearts? Or, take away our souls? So some read
it; basely intimating that what share he had of the people’s love and
respect he did not obtain fairly, but by indirect methods, as Absalom
stole the hearts of the men of Israel; and as seducers deceive the
hearts of the simple, and so draw away disciples after
them,
Rom. xvi. 18; Acts xx. 30.
But most interpreters understand it as we do: “How long dost thou
keep us in suspense? How long are we kept debating whether thou be
the Christ or no, and not able to determine the question?” Now,
[1.] It was the effect of their infidelity, and powerful prejudices,
that after our Lord Jesus had so fully proved himself to be the Christ
they were still in doubt concerning it; this they willingly hesitated
about, when they might easily have been satisfied. The struggle was
between their convictions, which told them he was Christ, and their
corruptions, which said, No, because he was not such a Christ as they
expected. Those who choose to be sceptics may, if they please, hold
the balance so that the most cogent arguments may not weigh down the
most trifling objections, but scales may still hang even.
[2.] It was an instance of their impudence and presumption that they
laid the blame of their doubting upon Christ himself, as if he made
them to doubt by inconsistency with himself, whereas in truth they
made themselves doubt by indulging their prejudices. If Wisdom’s
sayings appear doubtful, the fault is not in the object, but in the
eye; they are all plain to him that understands. Christ would
make us to believe; we make ourselves to doubt.
(2.) They challenge him to give a direct and categorical answer whether
he was the Messiah or no: “If thou be the Christ, as many
believe thou art, tell us plainly, not by parables, as, I am
the light of the world, and the good
Shepherd, and the like, but totidem verbis–in so many words,
either that thou art the Christ, or, as John Baptist, that thou art
not,”
Now this pressing query of theirs was seemingly good; they
pretended to be desirous to know the truth, as if they were ready to
embrace it; but it was really bad, and put with an ill design;
for, if he should tell them plainly that he was the Christ, there
needed no more to make him obnoxious to the jealousy and severity of
the Roman government. Every one knew the Messiah was to be a king, and
therefore whoever pretended to be the Messiah would be prosecuted as a
traitor, which was the thing they would have been at; for, let him tell
them ever so plainly that he was the Christ, they would have this to
say presently, Thou bearest witness of thyself, as they had
said,
2. Christ’s answer to this question, in which,
(1.) He justifies himself as not at all accessary to their infidelity
and skepticism, referring them,
[1.] To what he had said: I have told you. He had told them that
he was the Son of God, the Son of man, that he had life in himself,
that he had authority to execute judgment, &c. And is not this
the Christ then? These things he had told them, and they believed not;
why then should they be told them again, merely to gratify their
curiosity? You believed not. They pretended that they only
doubted, but Christ tells them that they did not believe. Skepticism in
religion is no better than downright infidelity. It is now for us to
teach God how he should teach us, nor prescribe to him how plainly he
should tell us his mind, but to be thankful for divine revelation as we
have it. If we do not believe this, neither should we be persuaded if
it were ever so much adapted to our humour.
[2.] He refers them to his works, to the example of his life, which was
not only perfectly pure, but highly beneficent, and of a piece with his
doctrine; and especially to his miracles, which he wrought for the
confirmation of his doctrine. It was certain that no man could do
those miracles except God were with him, and God would not be with him
to attest a forgery.
(2.) He condemns them for their obstinate unbelief, notwithstanding all
the most plain and powerful arguments used to convince them: “You
believed not; and again, You believed not. You still are
what you always were, obstinate in your unbelief.” But the reason he
gives is very surprising: “You believed not, because you are not of
my sheep: you believe not in me, because you belong not to me.”
[1.] “You are not disposed to be my followers, are not of a tractable
teachable temper, have no inclination to receive the doctrine and law
of the Messiah; you will not herd yourselves with my sheep, will not
come and see, come and hear my voice.” Rooted antipathies to the gospel
of Christ are the bonds of iniquity and infidelity.
[2.] “You are not designed to be my followers; you are not of
those that were given me by my Father, to be brought to grace and
glory. You are not of the number of the elect; and your unbelief, if
you persist in it, will be a certain evidence that you are not.” Note,
Those to whom God never gives the grace of faith were never designed
for heaven and happiness. What Solomon saith of immorality is true of
infidelity, It is a deep ditch, and he that is abhorred of the Lord
shall fall therein,
Prov. xxii. 14.
Non esse electum, non est causa incredulitatis propriè dicta,
sed causa per accidens. Fides autem est donum Dei et effectus
prædestinationis–The not being included among the elect is not
the proper cause of infidelity, but merely the accidental
cause. But faith is the gift of God, and the effect of
predestination. So Jansenius distinguishes well here.
(3.) He takes this occasion to describe both the gracious disposition
and the happy state of those that are his sheep; for such there are,
though they be not.
[1.] To convince them that they were not his sheep, he tells them what
were the characters of his sheep. First, They hear his
voice
(v. 27),
for they know it to be his
(v. 4),
and he has undertaken that they shall hear it,
They discern it, It is the voice of my beloved,
Cant. ii. 8.
They delight in it, are in their element when they are sitting at his
feet to hear his word. They do according to it, and make his word their
rule. Christ will not account those his sheep that are deaf to his
calls, deaf to his charms,
Secondly, They follow him; they submit to his guidance by
a willing obedience to all his commands, and a cheerful conformity to
his spirit and pattern. The word of command has always been, Follow
me. We must eye him as our leader and captain, and tread in his
steps, and walk as he walked–follow the prescriptions of his word,
the intimations of his providence, and the directions of his
Spirit–follow the Lamb (the dux gregis–the leader of the
flock) whithersoever he goes. In vain do we hear his
voice if we do not follow him.
[2.] To convince them that it was their great unhappiness and misery
not to be of Christ’s sheep, he here describes the blessed state and
case of those that are, which would likewise serve for the support and
comfort of his poor despised followers, and keep them from envying the
power and grandeur of those that were not of his sheep.
First, Our Lord Jesus takes cognizance of his sheep: They
hear my voice, and I know them. He distinguishes them
from others
has a particular regard to every individual
(Ps. xxxiv. 6);
he knows their wants and desires, knows their souls in adversity, where
to find them, and what to do for them. He knows others afar off, but
knows them near at hand.
Secondly, He has provided a happiness for them, suited to them:
I give unto them eternal life,
v. 28.
1. The estate settled upon them is rich and valuable; it is life,
eternal life. Man has a living soul; therefore the happiness provided
is life, suited to his nature. Man has an immortal soul: therefore the
happiness provided is eternal life, running parallel with his duration.
Life eternal is the felicity and chief good of a soul
immortal.
2. The manner of conveyance is free: I give it to them; it is
not bargained and sold upon a valuable consideration, but given by the
free grace of Jesus Christ. The donor has power to give it. He who is
the fountain of life, and Father of eternity, has authorized Christ to
give eternal life,
Not I will give it, but I do give it; it is a present
gift. He gives the assurance of it, the pledge and earnest of it, the
first-fruits and foretastes of it, that spiritual life which is
eternal life begun, heaven in the seed, in the bud, in the
embryo.
Thirdly, He has undertaken for their security and preservation
to this happiness.
a. They shall be saved from everlasting perdition. They shall
by no means perish for ever; so the words are. As there is an
eternal life, so there is an eternal destruction; the soul not
annihilated, but ruined; its being continued, but its
comfort and happiness irrecoverably lost. All believers are saved from
this; whatever cross they may come under, they shall not come into
condemnation. A man is never undone till he is in hell, and they
shall not go down to that. Shepherds that have large flocks often lose
some of the sheep and suffer them to perish; but Christ has engaged
that none of his sheep shall perish, not one.
b. They cannot be kept from their everlasting happiness;
it is in reserve, but he that gives it to them will preserve them to
it.
(a.) His own power is engaged for them: Neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. A mighty contest is here supposed about
these sheep. The Shepherd is so careful of their welfare that he has
them not only within his fold, and under his eye, but in his
hand, interested in his special love and taken under his special
protection (all his saints are in thy hand,
Deut. xxxiii. 3);
yet their enemies are so daring that they attempt to pluck them out of
his hand–his whose own they are, whose care they
are; but they cannot, they shall not, do it. Note, Those are safe who
are in the hands of the Lord Jesus. The saints are preserved in
Christ Jesus: and their salvation is not in their own keeping, but
in the keeping of a Mediator. The Pharisees and rulers did all they
could to frighten the disciples of Christ from following him, reproving
and threatening them, but Christ saith that they shall not prevail.
(b.) His Father’s power is likewise engaged for their
preservation,
He now appeared in weakness, and, lest his security should therefore be
thought insufficient, he brings in his Father as a further
security. Observe,
[a.] The power of the Father: My Father is greater than
all; greater than all the other friends of the church, all
the other shepherds, magistrates or ministers, and able to do that for
them which they cannot do. Those shepherds slumber and sleep, and it
will be easy to pluck the sheep out of their hands; but he keeps his
flock day and night. He is greater than all the enemies of the church,
all the opposition given to her interests, and able to secure his own
against all their insults; he is greater than all the combined
force of hell and earth. He is greater in wisdom than the old
serpent, though noted for subtlety; greater in strength than the
great red dragon, though his name be legion, and his title
principalities and powers. The devil and his angels have had
many a push, many a pluck for the mastery, but have never yet
prevailed,
The Lord on high is mightier.
[b.] The interest of the Father in the sheep, for the sake of
which this power is engaged for them: “It is my Father that gave
them to me, and he is concerned in honour to uphold his gift.” They
were given to the Son as a trust to be managed by him, and therefore
God will still look after them. All the divine power is engaged for the
accomplishment of all the divine counsels.
[c.] The safety of the saints inferred from these two. If this
be so, then none (neither man nor devil) is able to pluck
them out of the Father’s hand, not able to deprive them of the
grace they have, nor to hinder them from the glory that is designed
them; not able to put them out of God’s protection, nor get them into
their own power. Christ had himself experienced the power of his Father
upholding and strengthening him, and therefore puts all
his followers into his hand too. He that secured the glory of the
Redeemer will secure the glory of the redeemed. Further to corroborate
the security, that the sheep of Christ may have strong consolation, he
asserts the union of these two undertakers: “I and my Father are
one, and have jointly and severally undertaken for the protection
of the saints and their perfection.” This denotes more than the
harmony, and consent, and good understanding, that were between the
Father and the Son in the work of man’s redemption. Every good man is
so far one with God as to concur with him; therefore it must be meant
of the oneness of the nature of Father and Son, that they are
the same in substance, and equal in power and glory. The fathers urged
this both against the Sabellians, to prove the distinction and
plurality of the persons, that the Father and the Son are two, and
against the Arians, to prove the unity of the nature, that these two
are one. If we should altogether hold our peace concerning this
sense of the words, even the stones which the Jews took up to cast at
him would speak it out, for the Jews understood him as hereby making
himself God
(v. 33)
and he did not deny it. He proves that none could pluck them out of
his hand because they could not pluck them out of the Father’s
hand, which had not been a conclusive argument if the Son had not
had the same almighty power with the Father, and consequently been one
with him in essence and operation.
IV. The rage, the outrage, of the Jews against him for this discourse:
The Jews took up stones again,
v. 31.
It is not the word that is used before
(ch. viii. 59),
but ebastasan lithous—they carried stones–great
stones, stones that were a load, such as they used in stoning
malefactors. They brought them from some place at a distance, as
it were preparing things for his execution without any judicial
process; as if he were convicted of blasphemy upon the notorious
evidence of the fact, which needed no further trial. The absurdity of
this insult which the Jews offered to Christ will appear if we
consider,
1. That they had imperiously, not to say impudently,
challenged him to tell them plainly whether he was the Christ or no;
and yet now that he not only said he was the Christ, but proved
himself so, they condemned him as a malefactor. If the preachers of the
truth propose it modestly, they are branded as cowards; if
boldly, as insolent; but Wisdom is justified of her
children.
2. That when they had before made a similar attempt it was in vain; he
escaped through the midst of them
(ch. viii. 59);
yet they repeat their baffled attempt. Daring sinners will throw stones
at heaven, though they return upon their own heads; and will strengthen
themselves against the Almighty, though none ever hardened themselves
against him and prospered.
V. Christ’s tender expostulation with them upon occasion of this
outrage
(v. 32):
Jesus answered what they did, for we do not find that
they said any thing, unless perhaps they stirred up the crown
that they had gathered about him to join with them, crying, Stone
him, stone him, as afterwards, Crucify him, crucify him.
When he could have answered them with fire from heaven, he mildly
replied, Many good works have I shown you from my Father: for which
of those works do you stone me? Words so very tender that one would
think they should have melted a heart of stone. In dealing with his
enemies he still argued from his works (men evidence what they
are by what they do), his good works—kala
erga excellent, eminent works. Opera eximia vel
præclara; the expression signifies both great works
and good works.
1. The divine power of his works convicted them of the most obstinate
infidelity. They were works from his Father, so far above the
reach and course of nature as to prove him who did them sent of
God, and acting by commission from him. These works he
showed them; he did them openly before the people, and not in a
corner. His works would bear the test, and refer themselves to the
testimony of the most inquisitive and impartial spectators. He did not
show his works by candle-light, as those that are concerned only for
show, but he showed them at noon-day before the world,
See
His works so undeniably demonstrated that they were an
incontestable demonstration of the validity of his
commission.
2. The divine grace of his works convicted them of the most base
ingratitude. The works he did among them were not only miracles, but
mercies; not only works of wonder to amaze them, but works of love and
kindness to do them good, and so make them good, and endear himself to
them. He healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, cast out devils, which
were favours, not only to the persons concerned, but to the public;
these he had repeated, and multiplied: “Now for which of these do
you stone me? You cannot say that I have done you any harm, or
given you any just provocation; if therefore you will pick a quarrel
with me, it must be for some good work, some good turn done you; tell
me for which.” Note,
(1.) The horrid ingratitude that there is in our sins against God and
Jesus Christ is a great aggravation of them, and makes them appear
exceedingly sinful. See how God argues to this purpose,
Jer. ii. 5; Mic. vi. 3.
(2.) We must not think it strange if we meet with those who not only
hate us without cause, but are our adversaries for our love,
When he asks, For which of these do you stone me? as he
intimates the abundant satisfaction he had in his own innocency, which
gives a man courage in a suffering day, so he puts his persecutors upon
considering what was the true reason of their enmity, and asking, as
all those should do that create trouble to their neighbour, Why
persecute we him? As Job advises his friends to do,
VI. Their vindication of the attempt they made upon Christ, and the
cause upon which they grounded their prosecution,
What sin will want fig-leaves with which to cover itself, when even the
bloody persecutors of the Son of God could find something to say for
themselves?
1. They would not be thought such enemies to their country as to
persecute him for a good work: For a good work we stone thee
not. For indeed they would scarcely allow any of his works to be
so. His curing the impotent man
(ch. v.)
and the blind man
(ch. ix.)
were so far from being acknowledged good services to the town, and
meritorious, that they were put upon the score of his crimes, because
done on the sabbath day. But, if he had done any good works, they would
not own that they stoned him for them, though these were really
the things that did most exasperate them,
Thus, though most absurd, they could not be brought to own their
absurdities.
2. They would be thought such friends to God and his glory as to
prosecute him for blasphemy: Because that thou, being a man, makest
thyself God. Here is,
(1.) A pretended zeal for the law. They seem mightily concerned for the
honour of the divine majesty, and to be seized with a religious horror
at that which they imagined to be a reproach to it. A blasphemer was to
be stoned,
Lev. xxiv. 16.
This law, they thought, did not only justify, but sanctify, what they
attempted, as
Note, The vilest practices are often varnished with plausible
pretences. As nothing is more courageous than a well-informed
conscience, so nothing is more outrageous than a mistaken one.
See
(2.) A real enmity to the gospel, on which they could not put a greater
affront than by representing Christ as a blasphemer. It is no new thing
for the worst of characters to be put upon the best of men, by those
that resolve to give them the worst of treatment.
[1.] The crime laid to his charge is blasphemy, speaking
reproachfully and despitefully of God. God himself is out of the
sinner’s reach, and not capable of receiving any real injury; and
therefore enmity to God spits its venom at his name, and so shows its
ill-will.
[2.] The proof of the crime: Thou, being a man, makest thyself
God. As it is God’s glory that he is God, which we rob him
of when we make him altogether such a one as ourselves, so it is his
glory that besides him there is no other, which we rob him of
when we make ourselves, or any creature, altogether like him. Now,
First, Thus far they were in the right, that what Christ said of
himself amounted to this–that he was God, for he had said that he was
one with the Father and that he would give eternal life;
and Christ does not deny it, which he would have done if it had been a
mistaken inference from his words. But, secondly, They were much
mistaken when they looked upon him as a mere man, and that the
Godhead he claimed was a usurpation, and of his own making. They
thought it absurd and impious that such a one as he, who appeared in
the fashion of a poor, mean, despicable man, should profess himself the
Messiah, and entitle himself to the honours confessedly due to the Son
of God. Note,
1. Those who say that Jesus is a mere man, and only a made
God, as the Socinians say, do in effect charge him with
blasphemy, but do effectually prove it upon themselves.
2. He who, being a man, a sinful man, makes himself a god as the Pope
does, who claims divine powers and prerogatives, is unquestionably a
blasphemer, and that antichrist.
VII. Christ’s reply to their accusation of him (for such their
vindication of themselves was), and his making good those claims which
they imputed to him as blasphemous
(v. 34,
&c.), where he proves himself to be no blasphemer, by two
arguments:–
1. By an argument taken from God’s word. He appeals to what was
written in their law, that is, in the Old Testament; whoever
opposes Christ, he is sure to have the scripture on his side. It
is written
I have said, You are gods. It is an argument a minore ad
majus–from the less to the greater. If they were gods, much more
am I. Observe,
(1.) How he explains the text
(v. 35):
He called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture
cannot be broken. The word of God’s commission came to them,
appointing them to their offices, as judges, and therefore they are
called gods,
Exod. xxii. 28.
To some the word of God came immediately, as to Moses; to others in the
way of an instituted ordinance. Magistracy is a divine institution; and
magistrates are God’s delegates, and therefore the scripture calleth
them gods; and we are sure that the scripture cannot be broken,
or broken in upon, or found fault with. Every word of God is
right; the very style and language of scripture are
unexceptionable, and not to be corrected,
(2.) How he applies it. Thus much in general is easily inferred, that
those were very rash and unreasonable who condemned Christ as a
blasphemer, only for calling himself the Son of God, when yet they
themselves called their rulers so, and therein the scripture warranted
them. But the argument goes further
(v. 36):
If magistrates were called Gods, because they were commissioned to
administer justice in the nation, say you of him whom the Father
hath sanctified, Thou blasphemest? We have here two things
concerning the Lord Jesus:–
[1.] The honour done him by the Father, which he justly glories
in: He sanctified him, and sent him into the world.
Magistrates were called the sons of God, though the word of God
only came to them, and the spirit of government came upon them by
measure, as upon Saul; but our Lord Jesus was himself the Word,
and had the Spirit without measure. They were constituted for a
particular country, city, or nation; but he was sent into the
world, vested with a universal authority, as Lord of all. They were
sent to, as persons at a distance; he was sent forth, as
having been from eternity with God. The Father sanctified him,
that is, designed him and set him apart to the office of Mediator, and
qualified and fitted him for that office. Sanctifying him is
the same with sealing him,
Note, Whom the Father sends he sanctifies; whom he designs for holy
purposes he prepares with holy principles and dispositions. The holy
God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as he finds
or makes holy. The Father’s sanctifying and sending him is here vouched
as a sufficient warrant for his calling himself the Son of God;
for because he was a holy thing he was called the Son of
God,
Luke i. 35.
See
[2.] The dishonour done him by the Jews, which he justly complains
of–that they impiously said of him, whom the Father had thus
dignified, that he was a blasphemer, because he called himself
the Son of God: “Say you of him so and so? Dare you say so? Dare
you thus set your mouths against the heavens? Have you brow and brass
enough to tell the God of truth that he lies, or to condemn him that
is most just? Look me in the face, and say it if you can. What! say
you of the Son of God that he is a blasphemer?” If devils, whom
he came to condemn, had said so of him, it had not been so strange; but
that men, whom he came to teach and save, should say so of him,
be astonished, O heavens! at this. See what is the language of
an obstinate unbelief; it does, in effect, call the holy Jesus a
blasphemer. It is hard to say which is more to be wondered at, that men
who breathe in God’s air should yet speak such things, or that men who
have spoken such things should still be suffered to breathe in God’s
air. The wickedness of man, and the patience of God, as it were,
contend which shall be most wonderful.
2. By an argument taken from his own works,
v. 37, 38.
In the former he only answered the charge of blasphemy by an argument
ad hominem–turning a man’s own argument against himself; but he
here makes out his own claims, and proves that he and the Father are
one
(v. 37, 38):
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. Though he
might justly have abandoned such blasphemous wretches as incurable, yet
he vouchsafes to reason with them. Observe,
(1.) From what he argues–from his works, which he had often
vouched as his credentials, and the proofs of his mission. As he proved
himself sent of God by the divinity of his works, so we must
prove ourselves allied to Christ by the Christianity of ours.
[1.] The argument is very cogent; for the works he did were the
works of his Father, which the Father only could do, and which
could not be done in the ordinary course of nature, but only by the
sovereign over-ruling power of the God of nature. Opera Deo
propria–works peculiar to God, and Opera Deo Digna–works worthy
of God–the works of a divine power. He that can dispense with the
laws of nature, repeal, altar, and overrule them at his pleasure, by
his own power, is certainly the sovereign prince who first instituted
and enacted those laws. The miracles which the apostles wrought in his
name, by his power, and for the confirmation of his doctrine,
corroborated this argument, and continued the evidence of it when he
was gone.
[2.] It is proposed as fairly as can be desired, and put to a short
issue. First, If I do not the works of my Father, believe me
not. He does not demand a blind and implicit faith, nor an assent
to his divine mission further than he gave proof of it. He did not wind
himself into the affections of the people, nor wheedle them by sly
insinuations, nor impose upon their credulity by bold assertions, but
with the greatest fairness imaginable quitted all demands of their
faith, further than he produced warrants for these demands. Christ is
no hard master, who expects to reap in assents where he has not sown in
arguments. None shall perish for the disbelief of that which was not
proposed to them with sufficient motives of credibility, Infinite
Wisdom itself being judge. Secondly, “But if I do the works
of my Father, if I work undeniable miracles for the confirmation of
a holy doctrine, though you believe not me, though you are so
scrupulous as not to take my word, yet believe the works:
believe your own eyes, your own reason; the thing speaks itself plainly
enough.” As the invisible things of the Creator are clearly seen by his
works of creation and common providence
(Rom. i. 20),
so the invisible things of the Redeemer were seen by his miracles, and
by all his works both of power and mercy; so that those who were not
convinced by these works were without excuse.
(2.) For what he argues–that you may know and believe,
may believe it intelligently, and with an entire satisfaction, that
the Father is in me and I in him; which is the same with what he
had said
(v. 30):
I and my Father are one. The Father was so in the Son as that in
him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead, and it was by a divine
power that he wrought his miracles; the Son was so in the Father as
that he was perfectly acquainted with the whole of his mind, not by
communication, but by consciousness, having lain in his bosom. This we
must know; not know and explain (for we cannot by
searching find it out to perfection), but know and believe it;
acknowledging and adoring the depth, when we cannot find the
bottom.
| Christ Retires beyond Jordan. |
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39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out
of their hand,
40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John
at first baptized; and there he abode.
41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle:
but all things that John spake of this man were true.
42 And many believed on him there.
We have here the issue of the conference with the Jews. One would have
thought it would have convinced and melted them, but their hearts were
hardened. Here we are told,
I. How they attacked him by force. Therefore they sought again to
take him,
v. 39.
Therefore,
1. Because he had fully answered their charge of blasphemy, and wiped
off that imputation, so that they could not for shame go on with their
attempts to stone him, therefore they contrived to seize him, and
prosecute him as an offender against the state. When they were
constrained to drop their attempt by a popular tumult, they would try
what they could do under colour of a legal process. See
Or,
2. Because he persevered in the same testimony concerning himself, they
persisted in their malice against him. What he had said before he did
in effect say again, for the faithful witness never departs from
what he has once said; and therefore, having the same provocation, they
express the same resentment, and justify their attempt to stone him by
another attempt to take him. Such is the temper of a persecuting
spirit, and such its policy, malè facta malè factis
tegere ne perpluant—to cover one set of bad deeds with another,
lest the former should fall through.
II. How he avoided them by flight; not an inglorious retreat, in which
there was any thing of human infirmity, but a glorious retirement, in
which there was much of a divine power. He escaped out of their
hands, not by the interposal of any friend that helped him, but by
his own wisdom he got clear of them; he drew a veil over
himself, or cast a mist before their eyes, or tied the hands of those
whose hearts he did not turn. Note, No weapon formed against our Lord
Jesus shall prosper,
He escaped, not because he was afraid to suffer, but because
his hour was not come. And he who knew how to deliver
himself no doubt knows how to deliver the godly out of
temptation, and to make a way for them to escape.
III. How he disposed of himself in his retirement: He went away
again beyond Jordan,
v. 40.
The bishop of our souls came not to be fixed in one see, but to go
about from place to place, doing good. This great benefactor was never
out of his way, for wherever he came there was work to be done. Though
Jerusalem was the royal city, yet he made many a kind visit to the
country, not only to his own country Galilee, but to other parts, even
those that lay most remote beyond Jordan. Now observe,
1. What shelter he found there. He went into a private part of
the country, and there he abode; there he found some rest and
quietness, when in Jerusalem he could find none. Note, Though
persecutors may drive Christ and his gospel out of their own city or
country, they cannot drive him or it out of the world. Though Jerusalem
was not gathered, nor would be, yet Christ was glorious, and would be.
Christ’s going now beyond Jordan was a figure of the taking of the
kingdom of God from the Jews, and bringing it to the Gentiles. Christ
and his gospel have often found better entertainment among the plain
country-people than among the wise, the mighty, the noble,
1 Cor. i. 26, 27.
2. What success he found there. He did not go thither merely for
his own security, but to do good there; and he chose to go thither,
where John at first baptized
(ch. i. 28),
because there could not but remain some impressions of John’s ministry
and baptism thereabouts, which would dispose them to receive Christ and
his doctrine; for it was not three years since John was baptizing, and
Christ was himself baptized here at Bethabara. Christ came hither now
to see what fruit there was of all the pains John Baptist had taken
among them, and what they retained of the things they then heard and
received. The event in some measure answered expectation; for we are
told,
(1.) That they flocked after him
(v. 41):
Many resorted to him. The return of the means of grace to a
place, after they have been for some time intermitted, commonly
occasions a great stirring of affections. Some think Christ chose to
abide at Bethabara, the house of passage, where
the ferry-boats lay by which they crossed the river Jordan, that the
confluence of people thither might give an opportunity of teaching many
who would come to hear him when it lay in their way, but who
would scarcely go a step out of the road for an opportunity of
attending on his word.
(2.) That they reasoned in his favour, and sought arguments to induce
them to close with him as much as those at Jerusalem sought objections
against him. They said very judiciously, John did no miracle, but
all things that John spoke of this man were true. Two things they
considered, upon recollecting what they had seen and heard from John,
and comparing it with Christ’s ministry.
[1.] That Christ far exceeded John Baptist’s power, for John did no
miracle, but Jesus does many; whence it is easy to infer that Jesus
is greater than John. And, if John was so great a prophet, how great
then is this Jesus! Christ is best known and acknowledged by such a
comparison with others as sets him superlatively above others. Though
John came in the spirit and power of Elias, yet he did not work
miracles, as Elias did, lest the minds of people should be made to
hesitate between him and Jesus; therefore the honour of working
miracles was reserved for Jesus as a flower of his crown, that there
might be a sensible demonstration, and undeniable one, that
though he came after John, yet he was preferred far before him.
[2.] That Christ exactly answered John Baptist’s testimony. John not
only did no miracle to divert people from Christ, but he
said a great deal to direct them to Christ, and to turn them over as
apprentices to him, and this came to their minds now: all things
that John said of this man were true, that he should be the
Lamb of God, should baptize with Holy Ghost and with
fire. Great things John had said of him, which raised their
expectations; so that though they had not zeal enough to carry them
into his country to enquire after him, yet, when he came into theirs,
and brought his gospel to their doors, they acknowledged him as great
as John had said he would be. When we get acquainted with Christ, and
come to know him experimentally, we find all things that the scripture
saith of him to be true; nay, and that the reality exceeds the report,
John Baptist was now dead and gone, and yet his hearers profited by
what they had heard formerly, and, by comparing what they heard then
with what they saw now, they gained a double advantage; for,
First, They were confirmed in their belief that John was a
prophet, who foretold such things, and spoke of the eminency to
which this Jesus would arrive, though his beginning was so small.
Secondly, They were prepared to believe that Jesus was the
Christ, in whom they saw those things accomplished which John
foretold. By this we see that the success and efficacy of the word
preached are not confined to the life of the preacher, nor do they
expire with his breath, but that which seemed as water spilt upon
the ground may afterwards be gathered up again. See
(3.) That many believed on him there. Believing that he who wrought
such miracles, and in whom John’s predictions were fulfilled, was what
he declared himself to be, the Son of God, they gave up themselves to
him as his disciples,
An emphasis is here to be laid,
[1.] Upon the persons that believed on him; they were many.
While those that received and embraced his doctrine at Jerusalem were
but as the grape-gleanings of the vintage, those that believed on him
in the country, beyond the Jordan, were a full harvest gathered in to
him.
[2.] Upon the place where this was; it was where John had been
preaching and baptizing and had had great success; there many
believed on the Lord Jesus. Where the preaching of the doctrine of
repentance has had success, as desired, there the preaching of the
doctrine of reconciliation and gospel grace is most likely to be
prosperous. Where John has been acceptable, Jesus will not be
unacceptable. The jubilee-trumpet sounds sweetest in the ears of those
who in the day of atonement have afflicted their souls for sin.
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