John 10:16 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 10:16

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Christ is talking about the Gentiles. They will not replace the Jews, but both Jew and Gentile will be brought into the new order, the New Testament church of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2.12, the apostle Paul speaking to Gentiles reminds them of their unconverted state. ‘That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, [outsiders] and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.’ That has changed as a result of the glorious work of Christ: ‘But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, [Jews and Gentiles one] and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.’ There is now no difference now between Jew, elect Jew and elect Gentile. All are in the reformed commonwealth of Israel. There is now one foundation, one corner stone – Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:20) – and one building, Jews and Gentiles built together, one grand spiritual temple, ‘in whom ye are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit’ (Ephesians 2:22). This is the mystery that he speaks of in Ephesians 3: that Jews and Gentiles will be one. That was kept a secret in prior ages.The Old Testament prophets knew that the Gentiles would be brought in. What they did not know was that they would be equal partners, all one new reformed church – the commonwealth of the true Israel, the New Testament church of Christ. They thought when the Gentiles came in, they would come in, (not that they thought patronisingly as second-rate people) but that they would come in as guests. Wonderful, the Gentiles are coming in as guests. The prophets actually did not say much more than that. ‘Enlarge your tent’, says Isaiah in chapter 54, the Gentiles are coming into your tent. But he does not say, you will all be absolutely one. That was kept a secret until Christ came. And that is why the apostle Paul speaks several times of the secret of the oneness of Jew and Gentile both together. ‘Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs [equal heirs] and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel’ (Ephesians 3:5-6).So the great analogy or allegory of the Good Shepherd in John 10 is chiefly to announce the Jewish-Gentile church of Christ. This is the great revelation of Christ, six months before Calvary of a new arrangement, a new order. Some people say, ‘Oh, it is the chapter of the Good Shepherd.’ So it is, but the new order is actually the chief theme.

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‘Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.’ Now, the Greek here is ‘fold’ or ‘sheepfold’. ‘Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one …’ – our translation says ‘fold’ at this point, but it isn’t ‘fold’ in the Greek; it is ‘flock’. This is one of these very rare slips that we find in our grand old version, and the whole sense of the verse rests on realising the difference. By our Authorised Version translating ‘fold’ in both cases it has lost the sense which is a shame, but the Greek for the second ‘fold’ is ‘flock’. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile now, and some Christians don’t understand this. They are taught quite wrongly that somehow the Jews are still everything, and one day there will be a special provision for them. ‘But no,’ says Christ. ‘Other sheep I have’ – Gentile converts. ‘They are not of this Jewish sheepfold, and I must call them too’, and then the converted Jews will come out of this fold and together with converted Gentiles will be all one flock in a new fold.

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John 10:16 Commentary and Bible Study