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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 10:16 - 10:16
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16. ἄλλα πρόβατα. Not the Jews in heathen lands, but Gentiles, for even among them He had sheep. The Jews had asked in derision, ‘Will He go and teach the Gentiles?’ (Joh 7:35). He declares here that among the despised heathen He has sheep. He was going to lay down His life, ‘not for that nation only’ (Joh 11:52), but that He might ‘draw all men unto Him’ (Joh 12:32). Of that most heathen of heathen cities, Corinth, He declared to S. Paul in a vision, ‘I have much people in this city’ (Act 18:10; comp. Act 28:28). The Light ‘lightens every man’ (Joh 1:9), and not the Jews only. Ἔχω, not ἕξω, like ἐστί μοι in Act 18:10 : they are already His, given to Him (Joh 17:7) by the Father. He is their Owner, but not yet their Shepherd.
ἐκ τ. αὐλῆς τ. Emphasis on αὐλῆς not on ταύτης; the Gentiles were not in any fold at all, but ‘scattered abroad’ (Joh 11:52).
ἐκεῖνα. Not ταῦτα: they are still remote.
δεῖ. Such is the Divine decree; see on Joh 3:14. It is the Father’s will and the Messiah’s bounden duty.
ἀγάγειν. Lead, rather than ‘bring;’ comp. ἐξάγειν (Joh 10:3). Christ can lead them in their own lands. ‘Neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem’ (Joh 4:21) is the appointed place. The spiritual gathering into one (Joh 11:52) is not the idea conveyed here.
γενήσεται μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμήν. They shall become one flock, one shepherd. The distinction between ‘be’ and ‘become’ is worth preserving (see on Joh 9:27; Joh 9:39), and that between ‘flock’ and ‘fold’ still more so. ‘There shall become one fold’ would imply that at present there are more than one: but nothing is said of any other fold. In both these instances our translators have rejected their better predecessors: Tyndale and Coverdale have ‘flock,’ not ‘fold;’ the Geneva Version has ‘be made,’ not ‘be.’ The old Latin texts have ovile for αὐλή and grex for ποίμνη; so Cyprian and (sometimes) Augustine. The Vulgate has ovile for both. Hence Wiclif has ‘fold’ for both; and this error was admitted into the Great Bible of 1539 and A.V. of 1611. One point in the Greek cannot be preserved in English, the cognate similarity between ποίμνη and ποιμήν. ‘One herd, one herdsman’ would involve more loss than gain. ‘One flock, one flock-master’ would do, if ‘flock-master’ were in common use. But the rendering of ποίμνη by ovile and ‘fold’ is all loss, and has led to calamitous misunderstanding by strengthening ‘the wall of partition’ (Eph 2:14), which this passage declares shall be broken down. Even O.T. Prophets seem to have had a presentiment that other nations would share in the blessings of the Messiah: Mic 4:2; Isa 52:15. The same thought appears frequently in the Synoptists; e.g. Mat 8:11; Mat 13:24-30; Mat 28:19; Luk 13:29. And if S. Matthew could appreciate this side of his Master’s teaching, how much more S. John, who had lived to see the success of missions to the heathen and the results of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is therefore unreasonable to urge the universalism of the Fourth Gospel as an argument against its authenticity. Here, as elsewhere in N.T., the prior claim of the Jews is admitted, their exclusive claim is denied.