John 10

"The works that I do in My name*, they bear witness of Me."
"But you do not believe, because you are not a part of my body*"
"My body parts* hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me"
"My Father - who has given My body* to Me - is greater than all"
"I and My Father are one."
... adapt from John 10:24-30

"The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me."

"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 them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father's hand."

"I and My Father are one."

*Substitutions used in intro ..
'My Father' = 'I' = 'My Name'
'My sheep' = the living flesh = 'my body (members) parts'

John 10

Jesus the True Shepherd
1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Jesus the Good Shepherd
7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 All who ever came before Me[a] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know 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 will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

18 No one takes 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 command I have received from My Father."

19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.

20 And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?"

21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

The Shepherd Knows His Sheep
22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.

24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."

25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.

26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.[b]

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

30 I and My Father are one."

Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?"

33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."

34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?[c]

35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe[d] that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

39 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. The Believers Beyond Jordan

40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.

41 Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."

42 And many believed in Him there.

Footnotes:

1. John 10:8 M-Text omits before Me.
2. John 10:26 NU-Text omits as I said to you.
3. John 10:34 Psalm 82:6
4. John 10:38 NU-Text reads understand.

The Prologue (1:1-18) is a hymn identifying Jesus as the Logos and as God.

Of the four gospels, John presents the highest Christology. John describes Jesus as the Logos who was in the Arche (a Greek term for "the beginning" or "the ultimate source of all things").

John gives his Jesus identity as savior, and declaring him to be of God. John focuses on Jesus' mission to bring the Logos ("Word", "Wisdom", "Reason" or "Rationality") to his disciples.

Compared to the Synoptic Gospels, Only in John does Jesus talk at length about himself, including a substantial amount of material Jesus shared with the disciples only. Here Jesus' public ministry consists largely of miracles not found in the Synoptics, including raising Lazarus from the dead. Certain elements of the synoptics (such as parables, exorcisms, and possibly the Second Coming) are not found in John.

Hymn to the Transcendental Word

Jesus as the eternal Word (Logos) of God. John adapts the doctrine of the Logos, God's creative principle, from Philo, a 1st-century Hellenized Jew. Philo, in turn, had adopted the term Logos from Greek philosophy, using it in place of the Hebrew concept of Wisdom (sophia) as the intermediary between the transcendent Creator and the material world. So philosophia, the study of the Word is the intermediary means between the transcendental and the material world.

Philo (20 BC - AD 50), known also as Philo of Alexandria, Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt.

Philo used allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Judaism. His method followed the practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy. Philo claimed a problem is, "The sophists of literalness," as he calls "opened their eyes superciliously" when he explained to them the marvels of his exegesis. Philo's works were enthusiastically received by the early Christians, some of whom saw in him a cryptic Christian. Philo concept of the Logos as God's creative principle. To him Logos was God's "blueprint for the world", a governing plan.

"I am"

"the bread of life" (John 6:35)
"the light of the world" (John 8:12)
"the door of the sheep" (John 10:7)
"the good shepherd" (John 10:11)
"the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25)
"the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6)
"the real vine" (John 15:1)