John 10

Part of Light of the World and the Good Shepherd📖 John introduction

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¹“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ✦ ²But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ✦ ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. ✦ ⁴Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ✦ ⁵They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.” ✦ ⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them. ✦ ⁷Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door. ✦ ⁸All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. ✦ ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. ✦ ¹⁰The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ✦ ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ✦ ¹²He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. ✦ ¹³The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep. ✦ ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; ✦ ¹⁵even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. ✦ ¹⁶I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. ✦ ¹⁷Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. ✦ ¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.” ✦ ¹⁹Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words. ✦ ²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?” ✦ ²¹Others said, “These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?” ✦ ²²It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. ²³It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. ✦ ²⁴The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ✦ ²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me. ✦ ²⁶But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. ✦ ²⁷My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ✦ ²⁸I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ✦ ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ✦ ³⁰I and the Father are one.” ✦ ³¹Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him. ✦ ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” ✦ ³³The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.” ✦ ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ ✦ ³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), ✦ ³⁶do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ ✦ ³⁷If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. ✦ ³⁸But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” ✦ ³⁹They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand. ✦ ⁴⁰He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed. ✦ ⁴¹Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.” ✦ ⁴²Many believed in him there. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Concept The Good Shepherd

Where this chapter connects

John 10 ·52 John 6 ·22 John 8 ·19 John 17 ·19 John 5 ·16 John 14 ·12 John 3 ·12 Ezek 34 ·11

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.
★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 10YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 10David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 10Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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