Jesus’ Sheep (John 10)

18 min readApr 27, 2019

NOTE: The post you are about to read is adapted from Chapter 14 of my book The Flower Falls: A Careful Examination of Calvinism’s TULIP. The entire book is available here in blog format, but you can find it in print form on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or ask for it at your favorite bookstore.

Jesus’ Sheep (John 10)

“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (John 10:9–11)

Jesus’ words about his sheep are some of the most loved in all of Scripture. In only three short verses, he spoke of himself as the door of the sheepfold through which anyone entering would be saved. He said he was the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. And he proclaimed that he came to give his sheep abundant life.

These are beautiful gospel illustrations, and his use of the indefinite pronoun anyone in verse 9 means they apply to all people who believe in him; I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.” Sadly though, not everyone has entered that door, and Jesus isn’t the shepherd of everyone. Only a few verses after speaking of himself as the good shepherd, he said to some Jews who questioned whether he was the Christ:

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:26–29).

Some people read Jesus’ words about the sheep given to him and think they represent every person who has believed in him or will believe in him — people Calvinists claim are unconditionally chosen for salvation. However, while it’s true that no one can snatch sheep (or anything else) out of Jesus’ hand, he wasn’t talking about a nebulous group of people. He was talking about a particular group of first-century men.

You might remember that on the night of his crucifixion, Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You…I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word” (John 17:1, 6). You might also remember that Jesus made a distinction between the men his father had given him and “those also who believe in Me through their word” (John 17:20). We saw this in the previous chapter when considering John 6 and the identity of the men drawn and given to Jesus. This isn’t the only time Jesus made a distinction between two groups, however. He also did so when speaking of sheep in John 10.

He said of the first group that the shepherd calls them by name, leads them out, and goes ahead of them (John 10:3–4). This is the same group of people he referred to later saying, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (vv. 27, 29). They are distinct, however, from the group he referred to in verse 16 where he said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16).

Some people might want to claim they are part of the first group but, as we saw in the previous chapter, Jesus’ words and their greater context reveal that the sheep given to him are the men his father had chosen, drawn, and given to him as eyewitnesses of his life, death, and resurrection; the men he later sent out to proclaim the one whom they had seen, touched, and heard (1 John 1:1). The identity of the sheep Jesus spoke of who “will hear” his voice is revealed in the greater context of the Scriptures, but alluded to at the end of the chapter:

“And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. Many came to Him and were saying, ‘While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.’ Many believed in Him there” (John 10:40–42).

The importance of those words is easy to overlook, but John’s mention of Jesus going beyond the Jordan “again” is key to understanding his statement in verse 16 and provides insight into why “many believed in Him there.” The first mention of Jesus going beyond the Jordan is in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — The people walking in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned’” (Matthew 4:12–16).

Jesus appears to have settled in Capernaum early in his ministry, as Matthew records it came on the heels of Jesus’ baptism and after his temptation in the wilderness, but before he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow him (Matthew 3:13–4:22). Matthew then went on to tell of Jesus proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing people with various diseases before noting, “Large crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan (Matthew 4:23–25).

His mention of the Decapolis is important because the Decapolis was a group of nations east of the Jordan River with relatively large populations of Gentiles. It was in the Decapolis that Jesus cast demons out from men and allowed them to enter nearby herds of swine who then rushed down a steep cliff into the sea (Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–13).

Matthew and Mark both note that the herdsmen reported to the people of the city what Jesus had done, and both say the people responded by imploring Jesus to leave their region. But Mark’s account includes additional information. Not only does it say the townspeople became frightened, it says that as Jesus was getting in the boat to leave, the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him. His plea seems reasonable in light of the circumstances, but Jesus denied his request and told him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you” (Mark 5:14–19). Mark then followed up with this important comment: “He went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed (Mark 5:20).

The Scriptures don’t say how many times Jesus went to the Decapolis, but Matthew noted that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River which divides Israel from the Decapolis (Matthew 3:13–17). And, after John referred to Jesus as the only begotten God who explained the Father, he went on to record John the Baptist calling Jesus, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” saying he saw the Spirit descending like a dove and remaining on Jesus, and testifying of Jesus saying, “This is the Son of God” (John 1:18, 29, 32, 34). For verification, John noted in verse 28, “These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing.” And later, also referring to Jesus, the disciples of John the Baptist came to him saying, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him” (John 3:25–27).

Combined, Matthew, Mark, and John’s accounts of Jesus’ time beyond the Jordan indicate that the people there not only saw a great light as prophesied by Isaiah and quoted by Matthew, many of them listened to Jesus teach, others heard of him casting out demons, still others heard John the Baptist’s testimony about him, and some of them may have been baptized by his disciples (John 4:1–2). So it shouldn’t be a surprise that when he “went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing…Many came to Him and…many believed in Him there”(John 10:40–42).

This greater context of Jesus’ words reveals that the sheep given to him were the men his father had chosen, drawn, and given to him as eyewitnesses of his life, death, and resurrection so that others would believe in him through their testimonies about him. The sheep he spoke of who “will hear” his voice were Gentiles of the Decapolis who had heard of his grace, seen his great power, listened to what he said, believed in him, and were saved. Christians today are neither, but that does not leave us out. We too can hear and believe.

Listen and Take Hold of Jesus

Despite the distinctions Jesus made between the two groups of sheep, Calvinists read about sheep hearing Jesus’ voice and suggest only some people have the ability to hear it; those they believe are unconditionally chosen and predestined to salvation. They are partially right. It is true that only some people hear Jesus’ voice, but this fact does not support the idea that only chosen people have the ability to hear it. Nor does it support the idea that the people who hear his voice were predestined to salvation.

The Greek word translated “hear” in verse 16 is a form of akouo, an active voice verb that can also be translated “listen.” Therefore, the verse might be more accurately translated “they will listen to my voice” rather than “they will hear my voice.” The chosen apostles generally listened to Jesus’ voice, but not everyone did. Jesus spoke of people who, like a child who hears the voice of a parent but doesn’t listen to it, heard his voice but didn’t listen (Matthew 13:15).

The idea that only “unconditionally elect” sheep can hear Jesus’ voice likely stems from a misunderstanding of his words in John 8:43: “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.” Calvinists tend to read those words and suggest that the people couldn’t hear Jesus because they were prevented from hearing him or they weren’t given the capacity to understand. But that requires reading something into the text. The Jews heard Jesus. They just didn’t want to listen to or acknowledge what he said. Knowing this, Jesus responded in verse 47, “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” These words, combined with those he spoke in 10:26–29 seem to present the strongest case yet for the TULIP-colored view of salvation. The support is removed, however, when they are interpreted within their greater context.

Because John’s gospel is a narrative, a proper interpretation of Jesus’ words requires that we go all the way back to the first chapter where John wrote of the Light coming to his own and being rejected by them:

“He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11–13).

When reading this passage, it is important to consider the tense of the words received, gave, and were born. Each is translated in the English past tense, but they are aorist tense verbs that aren’t relegated to the past, present, or future. For example, received can be translated receive, or will receive. Furthermore, the word translated “received” is paralambano, an active voice verb meaning “to take alongside” or “to receive.” In fact, more than ninety percent of the time lambano is used in the NASB it is translated as “take” or “receive.” The aorist tense, combined with the active voice, means that people of any generation who actively take hold of Jesus are given the right to become children of God.

What does it mean to have the right to become children of God? The word translated “right” in this passage is exousia which speaks of power and authority. This power and authority to become God’s children corresponds well with the practices of ancient Roman adoption we looked at previously. You might remember that adoption took place between two consenting parties and was allowed only if it was in the best interests of the adoptee. Once these two requirements were verified, the adoptee was given the authority to become the child of the adopter, with all the rights of one born to him. Roman law even went so far as to say the adoptee was “as if one born.”(1)

The people John wrote about were born, are born, or will be born of God, though not of blood. That is, no one is naturally born as God’s child. Neither were they born of the will of the flesh. That is, no one can will themselves to be God’s child. Nevertheless, John 1:12–13 tells us as many as receive Jesus (aorist tense, active voice) and believe in him (present tense, active voice) God gave, gives, will give the right to become his children.

Pay Attention and Understand

It is true that some people don’t see, hear, or understand the good news of God’s Kingdom and the salvation offered in and through Jesus; but it is not because he withholds the ability from them. Jesus said to his chosen twelve, “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?” (Mark 8:18). In other words, “You have eyes, don’t you? Look! Pay attention! You have ears, don’t you? Listen!”

More than once, Jesus said to the crowds, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15; 13:9; Luke 8:8). Those words don’t refer to the physical capacity of hearing, however. They refer to the willingness to listen. In fact, as we saw earlier, Jesus spoke in Matthew 13 of people who see but don’t see, and people who hear but don’t hear or understand. His words are reminiscent of the Lord’s words in Ezekiel 12:2, “Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house.”

This fuller context of the Scriptures reveals that some people don’t see, hear, and understand the gospel because they are rebellious. This rebellion is spoken of in the greater context of Matthew 13. Referring to people who didn’t understand the parable of the sower, Jesus said,

“In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them’” (Matthew 13:14–15).

Jesus didn’t say they cannot hear, see, or understand. He said they will not. These words are taken from Isaiah 6:9–10, which records the Lord’s words: “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.”

On its own, this passage gives a different impression than the combination Jesus quoted, but first-century Jews knew the context of his words. They knew Isaiah 6 was in response to people rejecting the law of the Lord and despising his word (Isaiah 5:24). Moreover, they knew Jesus was not only quoting from Isaiah but also from Zechariah 7 which reveals exactly why some people cannot hear his word:

Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, “Thus has the Lord of host said: ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the Lord of armies” (7:8–12).

In alluding to this passage, Jesus affirmed his father’s perspective on why some people didn’t see, hear, and understand his words: They refused to pay attention, turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint. This response is similar to that of the Council in Jerusalem who listened to Stephen’s detailed proclamation of the gospel and rebuke of those who were resisting the Holy Spirit. After hearing him speak of God’s dealings with their forefathers and his indictment of them as lawbreaking betrayers and murderers of the “righteous one,” they gnashed their teeth at him (Acts 7:2–54). But when he spoke of seeing God’s glory and Jesus standing at God’s right hand, his words proved too much for them. They cried out with a loud voice, “covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse” (Acts 7:57).

Like the people who heard Jesus’ words but refused to listen and obey them, the men of the Council heard Stephen’s words but didn’t want to listen to or consider the truth of what he said. They, like the people mentioned in Ezekiel 12, had eyes to see but did not see. They had ears to hear but did not hear. However, nothing in the context indicates God withheld their sight or their ability to hear.

Thankfully, God, who desires all people to be saved, is patient and long-suffering. He sent the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah to plead with his chosen people to repent and return to him. He instructed Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh to call on him and turn from their wicked ways (Jonah 3:8). He anointed John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus and turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God (Luke 1:16–17). He chose Peter to tell his fellow Israelites to repent, turn from evil, and do good (Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:8–11). And, he chose Saul to open the closed eyes of both Jews and Gentiles:

“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:15–18).

From Genesis to Revelation, God’s desire for relationship with humankind is on display; but he didn’t stop with desire. He made provision for relationship by reconciling the world to himself through Christ. And, knowing people wouldn’t seek him on their own, he spoke these incredible words to Isaiah: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ to a nation which did not call on My name” (Isaiah 65:1).

An Open Heart

The gracious God of the Scriptures still says “Here I am” to those who don’t call on his name. And, as Paul told the Greek philosophers at the Areopagus, he is the God who determined the appointed times and boundaries of humanity “so they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).

The Scriptures tell us some people have closed their eyes and stopped up their ears. We might even say they have closed their hearts to God; but even this doesn’t stop him from calling. Moreover, while all people have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, the Scriptures don’t say they aren’t able to open their eyes, ears, and hearts to him. In fact, Acts 16:14 tells of “Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God” who was listening to Paul by the riverside “and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”

When I discussed this passage with the Calvinist youth pastor from my former church, he suggested Lydia was one of the “unconditionally elect” because the Lord opened her heart to respond to him. His conclusion may sound logical to those of us who have been influenced by Calvinistic teaching, but it’s speculative, requiring us to read something into the text.

Despite the claims of Calvinism, the Scriptures not only tell of people who worshiped God, they reveal that he made provision for people who would join themselves to him. Exodus 12:48 tells of him making provision for “strangers” to celebrate the Passover. Joshua 2 records that he made provision for Rahab and her family who feared him after hearing about how he had brought Israel out of captivity in Egypt. And Isaiah 56:6–7 records the Lord speaking of provision being made for foreigners who joined themselves to him:

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

Lydia appears as a beautiful example of a foreign worshiper of God who joined herself to him after seeing and hearing of his great might, power, and grace. What does it mean, though, that the Lord opened her heart? The word commonly translated “open” is anoigo. This is the word Paul used in Acts 26:18 when speaking of the Lord’s command that he go to the Gentiles “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light.” It is also the word used in John 9 to speak of Jesus opening the eyes of a blind man. However, the word translated “opened” when referring to the Lord opening Lydia’s heart is slightly different in that it includes the preposition dia, which is commonly used as a prefix and indicates a thorough or complete opening.

The Scriptures don’t provide details about when or how Lydia became a worshiper of God, but the fact that she was implies her heart was open toward the Lord before she heard Paul speak. It’s true that it wasn’t until after she listened to Paul that the Lord opened her heart completely, but rather than being an example of Calvinism’s unconditional election, Lydia’s story seems to be a picture of Jesus’ words in Matthew 13:12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given” and Matthew 13:23 where Jesus referred to a heart of good soil ready to receive the word of the kingdom.

Despite their insistence, Calvinists cannot rightly claim Jesus’ statements in John 10 about the sheep given to him were about them or anyone else they might claim God unconditionally elected to salvation. Instead, the grammatical and historical context of his words reveal the sheep were the men given to Jesus as eyewitnesses so they could testify of him whom they had seen, heard, and touched before he ascended into heaven (John 10:3, 26–29; John 17:4–6, 20–22; 1 John 1:1–4; Acts 1:10–11).

When Calvinism’s TULIP-colored lenses are removed, Jesus’ words in John 10:9 remain simple and beautiful, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

[1] <http://archive.org/details/instituesofgaiu00gaiuuoft>. p. 121. #135a

You can connect with me on Twitter X, or email me at patti@theflowerfallsoff.com

To read more, return to the homepage or follow one of the links below.

Calvinism’s Errors: A Brief Introduction

The Protestant Reformation: Truth and Error

Calvinism, Illusory Truth, and the Scriptures

The Sovereignty and Will of God

Chosen and Predestined Ephesians 1

Calvinism and the Plain Sense of Pronouns

Redemption, Adoption, and the Seal of the Spirit- Ephesians

Romans 8- Foreknown and Predestined

Romans 8:33- A Charge Against God’s Elect