John 10:16
John 10:14-16 (see also Revelation 3:20)
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 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.”
In terms of the Gentiles, Ephesians 2:12 states: “Remember that you [Gentiles] were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Recall that Jesus had stated: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) However, here at John chapter 10, when Jesus says, “I must bring them also,” He points to a time when He will draw all men, Jews and Gentiles alike: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32)
In terms of the “one flock,” Calvinist, William MacDonald explains: “In the latter part of the verse there is the very important change from the fold of Judaism to the flock of Christianity. This verse gives a little preview of the fact that in Christ, Jew and Gentile would be made one, and that the former distinctions between these peoples would disappear.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, p.1526, emphasis mine)
Agreed.
John Calvin: “Even as there are many wolves within the church, so there are many ‘sheep’ outside the church. But it is not wholly applicable to this passage, which refers to the outer aspect of the church, in that Gentiles, who had been temporarily strangers, were later taken into the kingdom of God along with the Jews. Yet I agree that it applies in the sense that Christ calls unbelievers ‘sheep’ who in themselves could not be thought of as ‘sheep’ at all. Through this word Christ not only shows what they will be but, even more, refers it to God’s secret election, in that we are already God’s ‘sheep’ before we are aware that Christ is our ‘shepherd,’ just as elsewhere we are called ‘enemies’ (see Romans 5:10), even when Christ loved us. This is why Paul also say that we were known by God before we knew him (see Galatians 4:9).” (John Calvin: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.259, emphasis mine)
Question: When Jesus says, “I have other sheep,” doesn’t it seem like Jesus is saying that the “other sheep” are His right now, in terms of already belonging to Him, even by secret?
Answer: Where is Jesus saying that these “other sheep” are secretly elect? Rather, they are lost people that Jesus also seeks to save, who are not of the fold of the lost sheep of Israel, but are of the fold of the lost sheep of the Gentiles, who are in just as much of a need for salvation as the Jews.
Question: Does the reference of “sheep,” indicate a “secret election”?
Answer: No. Recall that Jesus had stated: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) Notice that Jesus did not say that He was sent only to the elect sheep of the house of Israel, but rather the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Therefore, this reference of “sheep” does not differentiate between secret sheep vs. secret goats, but refers to sheep in general. Jesus has other lost sheep to reach, that is, to seek and to save. The Bible often draws an analogy of people to sheep. Recall that Jesus stated: “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36) Isaiah likened mankind to sheep when he wrote: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:6)
Question: Do all Gentiles hear the voice of Jesus?
Answer: If you’ve heard the Gospel preached, then you’ve heard Jesus’ voice. His voice is His word (Psalm 103:20), the Scriptures, and He speaks to us through it. Hearing His voice alone, however, does not save. Revelation 3:20 states: “…if anyone hears My voice and opens the door....” Psalm 95:7-11 states: “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest.” The issue is not whether they could hear His voice, but whether they would hear His voice and harden their hearts against Him.
John Calvin: “‘I must bring them also.’ Christ means that God’s election will be certain, and no one will perish whom he wishes to be saved. The hidden purpose of God, by which men were ordained to life, is at length manifested in his own time by the calling. And that calling is effectual, for Christ regenerates by his Spirit, to be his sons, those who were previously born of flesh and blood.” (John Calvin: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.259, emphasis mine)
Calvin is presumptuous in inferring Preemptive Regeneration. Jesus brings them in the sense of drawing them. Recall that Jesus states: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32) This refers to the worldwide ministry of the Gospel in which Jewish and Gentile believers will be combined into one flock.
Summary:
Paraphrase: “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold [that is, not of the fold of Israel]; I must bring them also [speaking of Jesus’ plan to draw all men to Himself, as per John 12:32, because these sheep are lost and perishing, upon whom He has compassion, just like the 1 in the parable of the 99 and the 1], and they will hear My voice [indeed when He draws all men, Jew and Gentile alike, with the Gospel message]; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” [provided that those who hear His voice through the Gospel message will not harden their heart, but open the door of their heart to receive Him, and will be joined together in one body of a multi-racial, Jewish and Gentile Church]
