a comfort to keep  

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

Faith of Our Mothers

In the Garden

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Softly and Tenderly

Personal Saving Relationship"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." Jesus to His followers, John 10:14 Jesus knows us even better than parents can know their children. Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus knows us. We know Jesus. The Bible invites us into a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Quotes& Notes

• There is a significant emphasis on personal knowledge;  Christ's knowledgeof His own people and their knowledge of Him, the Father's knowledge ofthe Son and the Son's knowledge of the Father... Where no such personalrelationships exist, there can be no true shepherd. 

Donald Guthrie, New Bible Commentary: Revised,p. 951
• The understanding between the shepherd and the sheepis a counterpart of the mutual knowledge existing between Father and Son...There may be many folds but there can be only one true flock.

A.J. Macleod, New Bible Commentary,p. 885
• Christ speaks here as if he gloried in being knownby his sheep, and though their respect an honour to him. 

Matthew Henry, Commentary, p. 1032
• All beings have a right, even the innocent, to prefersufferings for others, whether as patriot, martyr, or ransom.  Thefree volition of the Son was in profound concurrence and harmony with theprimitive purpose of the Father's will.  And the whole process wasbathed in infinite love.

D.D. Whedon, Commentary, p. 328
• Two applications of this second parable are given (vv 11-13, 14-18), eachheaded by the same declaration, "I am the good shepherd" (vv 11, 14)... The first application connects this with the defense of the sheep against"wolves,"  a traditional image for false teachers... The second applicationspeaks first of the inner life of the Church (the shepherd knows the sheepby name) and then of the Church's missionary outreach. 

Reginald H. Fuller, Preaching the Lectionary,p. 264
• He is an hireling, whop would not work, were it not for the hire; to whom this is the great, if not only, motive of working.  O God! if a man who works only for hire is such a wretch, a mere thief and a robber,what is he who continually takes the hire, and yet does not work at all?...because he loves the hire, not the sheep. 

John Wesley, Notes Upon the New Testament
• The "thieves and robbers" should not be exclusively applied to the priests; they include all messianic pretenders and revolutionaries who destroy theflock by their temporal ambitions.

Massey H. Shepherd, Jr.,  Interpreter'sOne-Volume Commentary, p. 721
• Though Christ claims for himself alone the name of a shepherd, yet he indirectlystates that,

in some respects, he holds it in common with the agents by whom heacts. For we know that there have been many, since the time of Christ,who did not hesitate to shed their blood for the salvation of the Church;and even the prophets, before his coming, did not spare their own life.But in his own person he holds out a perfect example, so as to lay downa rule for his ministers. For how base and shameful is our indolence, ifour life is more dear to us than the salvation of the Church, which Christpreferred to his own life! 
John Calvin, Commentary
• Precious principle! They could have understood an earthly knowledge andinterest on the part of the Messiah on earth with regard to His sheep.But the Son, although He had given His life and was in heaven, knows Hisown, even as the Father knew Him when He was on the earth.

 John Darby,Synopsisof  the New Testament
• The distinguishing mark of the Christian Church throughoutall the world, is that it has only one head, that is Christ, the only keeper,and only shepherd of it. 

 GeneveaStudy Bible
• The soul's response to the voice that has inwardlyand efficaciously called it; for of this mutual loving acquaintance oursis the effect of His.   "The Redeemer's knowledge of us is theactive element, penetrating us with His power and life; that of believersis the passive principle, the reception of His life and light. In thisreception, however, an assimilation of the soul to the sublime object ofits knowledge and love takes place; and thus an activity, though a derivedone, is unfolded, which shows itself in obedience to His commands" [OLSHAUSEN].From this mutual knowledge Jesus rises to another and loftier reciprocityof knowledge.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary
• Not in a general way, as devils and external professors may know him, butwith a special, spiritual, and saving knowledge: Christ's own approve ofhim, as their shepherd and their Saviour, and desire no other; they lovehim above all, in the sincerity of their souls, and with a love as strongas death; they trust in him as their shepherd, believing they shall notwant; and appropriate him to themselves, as their own; and care for him,his cause and interest, his Gospel, ordinances, and ministers; and arenot ashamed to own him as theirs, in the most public manner. 

John Gill,  Exposition of the Bible
• He is a hireling who would not work were it not for this hire, and who works where the hire is highest rather than werehe can do the most good.

Johnson, B.W., People's New Testament
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Commentary Texts

Gospel Reading
1. Calvin, John
2. Darby,John N. 
3. GenevaStudy Bible, 1599 
4. Gill,John
5. Henry,Matthew 
6. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown 
7. Johnson,B.W.
8. Robertson,A.T.
9. Wesley,John

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