John 10:22 - Meaning and Application

Here we have another encounter between Christ and the Jews in the temple. It is hard to say which is more surprising, the gracious words that came from his mouth or the spiteful words that came from theirs.

First, notice the time of this meeting. It was at the feast of Dedication, and it was winter. This feast was kept every year by common agreement, to remember the cleansing of the temple and the setting apart of a new altar by Judas Maccabaeus, after the temple had been profaned and the altar defiled. The story is told in the history of the Maccabees, and Daniel had also spoken of it in prophecy (Daniel 8:13-14). See also 2 Maccabees 1:18.

The Jews treated this as a joyful memorial of their regained freedom, like life from the dead. They kept it every year on the twenty-fifth day of the month Cisleu, near the start of December, and it lasted seven days. This observance was not limited to Jerusalem, as God’s appointed feasts were. People kept it where they lived, not as a holy day, since only God’s own appointment can make a day holy, but as a good day, like the days of Purim (Esther 9:19). Christ was now in Jerusalem, not because this feast required his attendance, but because he would use these days wisely for good purposes.

Next, consider the place. Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s Porch (Acts 3:11), so named not because Solomon had built it, but because it stood in the same area as the part of the first temple that had carried his name. The name remained for the sake of its reputation. Christ walked there to observe the actions of the great Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, that sat there (Psalm 82:1). He also walked there ready to hear anyone who came to him and to offer his help. It seems he walked alone for a time, like one who was neglected, and perhaps with sorrow as he foresaw the temple’s coming ruin. Anyone who has something to say to Christ may find him in the temple and walk with him there.

Now comes the conference itself. The Jews gathered around him to trouble him, while he was ready to do them good. They chose this moment to harm him. It is no rare thing for ill will to answer good will. Even in his Father’s house, he could not enjoy peace without interruption. They surrounded him as if laying siege, like bees swarming about him. They also came as though they all agreed together in an honest search for truth, but their real purpose was to attack the Lord Jesus. They said, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Their words carried both complaint and challenge. They acted as if he had wrongly kept them waiting and uncertain. Some understand their phrase to mean, “How long will you steal away our hearts?” That would suggest they were accusing him of winning the people unfairly, like Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. But the more common sense is this: “How long will you keep us in doubt? How long must we stay undecided about whether you are the Christ?” Their doubt came from unbelief and strong prejudice. After Jesus had given them clear proof, they still refused to accept it, because he was not the kind of Christ they wanted. People who choose to doubt can always keep objections hanging on equal weight with the strongest proofs.

It was also bold and dishonest for them to blame Christ for their own unbelief. They acted as if he had made them doubt by being unclear, when in truth they made themselves doubt by holding on to their prejudice. If Wisdom’s words seem doubtful, the fault is not in the truth itself but in the listener’s eyes. Christ would lead us to believe, but we can make ourselves doubt.

They also demanded that he give a direct answer, without figures of speech, whether he was the Messiah, the anointed King whom God had promised. They wanted plain words, not sayings like, “I am the light of the world,” or, “I am the good shepherd.” Yet their question was not honest. If he had said plainly that he was the Christ, they could have used that against him. Everyone knew the Messiah was to be a king, and the Romans would view any such claim as rebellion. That was likely what they hoped for. Even then, they could still answer, as they had before, “You are testifying about yourself” (John 8:13).

Christ answered in a way that cleared himself from any blame for their unbelief. He pointed them back to what he had already said. “I told you,” he said. He had already told them that he was the Son of God, the Son of Man, that he had life in himself, and that he had authority to judge. Were these not clear signs that he was the Christ? He had said these things, and they did not believe. So why should he repeat them just to satisfy curiosity? They claimed to be doubting, but Jesus said they did not believe. Doubt in religion is no better than unbelief. We are not in a place to tell God how he must teach us, or to demand that he speak only in a way that suits us. We should rather be thankful for the revelation he has given.

He also pointed them to his works, that is, to the way he lived and especially to his miracles. His life was pure and full of goodness, and it matched his teaching. His miracles confirmed his message. No one could do those works unless God was with him, and God would not support a liar or a forgery.

He condemns them for their stubborn unbelief, even after the clearest and strongest reasons had been given to convince them. In effect, he says, “You still do not believe. You remain what you have always been, stubborn in unbelief.”

The reason he gives is surprising: “You do not believe because you are not my sheep.” In other words, they do not believe in him because they do not belong to him. This can mean, first, that they are not willing to be his followers. They are not open, teachable, or ready to receive the teaching and rule of the Messiah. They will not gather with his sheep, or come to hear his voice.

A deep dislike for Christ’s gospel is a strong bond of sin and unbelief. It can also mean, second, that they were not chosen to be his followers. They were not among those the Father gave him to bring to grace and glory. If they keep on in unbelief, that unbelief will prove they are not among the elect, the people God chose for salvation. As Solomon says of immorality, the same is true of unbelief: it is a deep pit, and the one whom the Lord rejects falls into it (Proverbs 22:14). Faith is God’s gift, and it comes from his choosing love.

He uses this moment to describe both the gracious nature and the happy condition of his sheep, because there are such people, even if these men are not among them. To show that they were not his sheep, he tells them the marks of his sheep. First, they hear his voice (John 10:27), because they know it is his voice (John 10:4), and he has promised that they will hear it (John 10:16). They recognize it, like the bride who says, “It is the voice of my beloved” (Song of Songs 2:8). They love hearing it, and they are at home when they sit at his feet to receive his word. They also obey it and make his word their rule.

Christ will not count as his sheep those who are deaf to his calls and deaf to his grace (Psalm 58:5). Second, they follow him. They yield to his guidance by willing obedience to all his commands and by gladly taking on his spirit and example. His command has always been, “Follow me.” We must look to him as our leader and captain, walk in his steps, and live as he lived. We follow the instructions of his word, the direction of his providence, and the guidance of his Spirit. We follow the Lamb, the leader of the flock, wherever he goes. We hear his voice in vain if we do not follow him.

To show them how unhappy it is not to be among Christ’s sheep, he also describes the blessed state of those who are. This would comfort his poor, despised followers and keep them from envying the power and splendor of those who were not his sheep. The Lord Jesus takes notice of his sheep: “They hear my voice, and I know them.” He sets them apart from others (2 Timothy 2:19) and watches over each one in a special way (Psalm 34:6). He knows their needs and desires, knows their souls in trouble, knows where to find them, and knows what to do for them. He knows others from far away, but he knows his own closely and personally.

He has also prepared a happiness for them that fits them well: “I give them eternal life” (John 10:28). The gift is rich and valuable, for it is life, eternal life. Human beings have living souls, so the happiness provided is life suited to their nature. They also have immortal souls, so the happiness provided is eternal life, matching their lasting being. Eternal life is the true joy and highest good of an immortal soul.

The way this gift comes to them is free. He says, “I give it to them.” It is not something bought and sold for a price, but given by the free grace of Jesus Christ. He has the right to give it. He who is the fountain of life and Father of eternity has authorized Christ to give eternal life (John 17:2). He does not say only, “I will give it,” but “I give it,” because it is a present gift. He also gives the assurance of it, the pledge and first taste of it, in spiritual life, which is eternal life begun, like heaven in the seed, the bud, and the first growth.

He has also taken responsibility for their safety until they reach that happiness. First, they will be saved from endless ruin. They shall never perish. As there is eternal life, so there is eternal destruction, where the soul is not wiped out, but ruined, still existing yet losing all comfort and joy forever. All believers are saved from that. Whatever troubles they face, they will not come into condemnation. A person is not truly lost until he is in hell, and they will not go there. Shepherds with large flocks often lose some sheep, but Christ has promised that none of his sheep will be lost, not one.

Second, they cannot be kept from their lasting happiness. It is reserved for them, and the one who gives it will also keep them for it. His own power is committed to their preservation: “No one will snatch them out of my hand.” A serious struggle is assumed here over these sheep. The Shepherd is so concerned for their well-being that he keeps them not only in his fold and under his eye, but in his hand, under his special love and protection. Yet their enemies are bold enough to try to snatch them away from him. They cannot do it, and they will not do it. Those are safe who are in the hands of the Lord Jesus. Believers are kept in Christ Jesus, and their salvation is not in their own keeping, but in the keeping of a Mediator, one who stands between God and humanity.

The Pharisees and rulers did all they could to frighten Christ’s disciples away from following him. They used rebukes and threats, but Christ says they will not succeed. His Father’s power is also committed to their preservation (John 10:29). He now appeared in weakness, and so, lest that security seem too weak, he adds his Father as further protection. His Father is greater than all. He is greater than all other friends of the church, and greater than all other shepherds, rulers, or ministers. He can do for his people what others cannot. Human shepherds sleep and fail, and it would be easy to snatch sheep from their hands. But he keeps his flock day and night. He is greater than all the enemies of the church, greater than every attack against her good, and able to protect his own from every insult. He is greater than all the joined strength of hell and earth.

He is wiser than the old serpent, the devil, though that name stands for craft and subtlety. He is stronger than the great red dragon, even though the devil is called legion and is linked with principalities and powers, that is, ranks of evil spiritual rulers. The devil and his angels have made many attempts to gain the victory, but they have never succeeded (Revelation 12:7-8). The Lord on high is still stronger.

The Father also has a direct interest in the sheep, and that is part of why this power is used for their good. Christ says, in effect, “It is my Father who gave them to me, and he is bound to honor his gift.” The sheep were given to the Son as a trust for him to care for, so God will keep watch over them. All divine power is committed to carrying out all divine purposes.

From these two truths, we learn the safety of the saints, that is, true believers. If this is so, then no one, neither man nor devil, can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. No one can take away the grace they already have, or keep them from the glory prepared for them. No one can remove them from God’s protection or put them under another power.

Christ himself had known the Father’s power upholding and strengthening him, and so he places all his followers in that same hand. He who secured the glory of the Redeemer will also secure the glory of the redeemed. To give believers strong comfort, he adds the unity of these two who have taken responsibility for them: “I and my Father are one.” This means more than agreement, harmony, or shared purpose in saving people.

A good person is one with God in the sense that he agrees with God. So this must point to something stronger, the oneness of Father and Son in nature. They are the same in substance, equal in power, and equal in glory. The early church fathers used this verse against the Sabellians, to show that the Father and the Son are distinct persons, and against the Arians, to show that they are one in nature. Even if we said nothing more about this meaning, the stones the Jews picked up to throw at him would explain it, because they understood him to be making himself God (John 10:33). He did not deny their reading.

He proves that no one could snatch the sheep out of his hand because no one could snatch them out of the Father’s hand either. That would not be a strong argument unless the Son had the same almighty power as the Father, and so was one with him in being and working.

The Jews’ anger at him over this teaching was fierce and violent. They took up stones again (John 10:31). This is not the same wording used earlier (John 8:59). Here the idea is that they carried stones, large ones, the kind used for stoning criminals. They brought them from some distance, as if they were already preparing his execution without any legal trial. They acted as if he had already been found guilty of blasphemy on clear evidence, with no need for any further hearing.

Their behavior was absurd. They had boldly demanded that he tell them plainly whether he was the Christ, and now that he had not only said so but proved it, they condemned him as though he were a criminal. If preachers present the truth gently, people call them timid; if they speak boldly, people call them rude. But wisdom is shown to be right by her children.

They had tried the same thing before, and it had failed. He escaped through the middle of them (John 8:59). Yet they repeated their defeated attack. Bold sinners will still throw stones at heaven, even though those stones fall back on their own heads. They will harden themselves against the Almighty, though no one has ever done that and prospered.

Jesus answered their attack with great patience, even though they were not speaking any words to him, unless they were stirring up the crowd around him to shout, “Stone him, stone him,” as they later cried, “Crucify him, crucify him.” He could have answered them with fire from heaven, yet he replied gently: “Many good works I have shown you from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” These words are so tender that they should have softened even a hard heart.

When he dealt with his enemies, he still pointed to his works, because what people do shows what they are. His were good works, excellent and noble works. They were divine works, coming from the Father, and far above the order of nature, so they proved that he was sent by God and acted under his authority. He had shown these works openly, before the people, not in secret. They could stand up to careful testing by any fair and honest witness. He did not display them in hidden places, as if he only wanted appearance. He showed them in broad daylight before the world (John 18:20; Psalm 111:6).

His works also showed the deepest ingratitude on their part, because they were not only miracles but acts of mercy. They were not only wonders meant to amaze, but acts of love meant to help people, make them better, and draw hearts to him. He healed the sick, cleansed lepers, and cast out demons, which were blessings not only for the people helped, but for the whole community. He had done these works again and again. So he asks, “Now for which of these do you stone me?” They could not say he had harmed them or given them any just reason for hostility. If they wanted a quarrel, it must be over some good deed, some kindness he had done them. Tell me which one, he says.

This shows the terrible guilt of sin against God and Jesus Christ. Our sins are made much worse by the fact that they are against his goodness. See how God argues this same point in (Deuteronomy 32:6), (Jeremiah 2:5), and (Micah 6:3). We should also not be surprised if people hate us without cause, or even oppose us because we love them (Psalm 35:12; Psalm 41:9).

When Jesus asks, “For which of these do you stone me?” he is showing how sure he is of his own innocence. That kind of clear conscience gives a person courage in suffering. At the same time, he makes his enemies stop and think about the real reason for their hatred, and asks them to examine themselves, as Job advised his friends to do (Job 19:28). Then comes their answer, and their attempt to justify what they had done, along with the charge they brought against him (John 10:33).

What sin will not look for fig leaves to cover itself, when even the bloodthirsty persecutors of the Son of God could find excuses for themselves? They said, “We are stoning you for no good work.” In truth, they would hardly admit that any of his works were good. When he healed the man who could not walk and the blind man (John 5, John 9), they did not praise these as acts of mercy. Instead, they counted them as offenses because he did them on the Sabbath. Still, if they had really been good works, they would not have admitted that they were stoning him for them, even though those deeds were what stirred them up most (John 11:47). So, though their position was absurd, they would not own it.

They also wanted to appear as friends of God and defenders of his honor, as if they were prosecuting him for blasphemy, “because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Here is a false zeal for God’s law. They acted deeply concerned for the honor of God’s majesty and claimed to recoil from what they thought insulted him. The law said a blasphemer was to be stoned (Leviticus 24:16), and they imagined that this law not only allowed what they were doing, but made it holy, as in Acts 26:9. The worst actions are often covered with smooth excuses. Nothing is more bold than a well-taught conscience, and nothing is more violent than a mistaken one (Isaiah 66:5; John 16:2).

But there was also real hatred of the gospel. They could not insult Christ more deeply than by calling him a blasphemer. It is nothing new for wicked people to put the worst label on the best men when they are determined to treat them badly. The charge was blasphemy, speaking against God. God himself is beyond a sinner’s reach and cannot be harmed in himself, so hatred against God often attacks his name instead. That is how evil shows itself.

Their proof was this: “You, being a man, make yourself God.” In one sense they were right. What Christ said about himself really did mean that he was God. He had said that he was one with the Father and that he would give eternal life. Christ did not deny their conclusion, which he surely would have done if it had been a false one. But they were badly mistaken in treating him as only a man and in saying that his claim to Godhood was a sham he invented for himself.

They thought it absurd and sinful that one who looked like a poor, ordinary, despised man should call himself the Messiah and claim the honor belonging to the Son of God. Those who say Jesus was only a man, or a made God, do, in effect, accuse him of blasphemy. And any man, being sinful, who makes himself into a god, as the Pope does when he claims divine powers and rights, is plainly a blasphemer, an antichrist.

Christ answered their charge and defended the claims they called blasphemous (John 10:34 and following). He proved that he was no blasphemer in two ways. First, he used God’s word. He appealed to what was written in their law, that is, the Old Testament. Anyone who opposes Christ will find Scripture against him. “It is written, ‘I said, you are gods’” (Psalm 82:6). This is an argument from the lesser to the greater. If others could be called gods in that sense, how much more could he be called God?

He explains the text this way: those were called gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be broken. God’s word of appointment came to them and set them in their office as judges, so they are called gods (Exodus 22:28). Some received God’s word directly, like Moses. Others received it through an established order. Civil authority is a gift from God, and rulers act as God’s servants, so Scripture calls them gods. And Scripture cannot be broken, set aside, or corrected. Every word of God is true, and even its way of speaking is beyond fault (Matthew 5:18).

Then Christ applies the argument. If rulers were called gods because they were appointed to govern a nation, how can you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, “You blaspheme”? Here Christ speaks of two things.

First, there is the honor the Father gave him, which he rightly honors. The Father sanctified him and sent him into the world. Rulers were called sons of God even though God’s word only came to them and the Spirit came on them in measure, as with Saul. But our Lord Jesus was himself the Word, and he had the Spirit without limit. They were appointed for one country, city, or nation. He was sent into the world with authority over all. They were sent to people already at a distance. He was sent forth, coming from eternity with God.

To sanctify him means that the Father set him apart for the office of Mediator, the one who stands between God and people, and fitted him for that work. To sanctify him is the same as to seal him (John 6:27). The Father prepares only holy people for holy purposes. The holy God will employ and reward no one but those he finds holy or makes holy. The Father’s sanctifying and sending of Christ is enough warrant for his calling himself the Son of God, for he was the holy one who would be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35; Romans 1:4).

Second, there is the dishonor the Jews gave him, which he rightly rebukes. They wickedly said of him, the one the Father had so honored, that he was a blasphemer because he called himself the Son of God. “Do you say that of him? Dare you say that? Are you bold enough to speak against heaven like this? Can you look the God of truth in the face and say he lies, or condemn the one who is perfectly just? Say it aloud if you can. Will you call the Son of God a blasphemer?”

If demons, whom he came to judge, had said this of him, it would not have seemed so strange. But for men, whom he came to teach and save, to say it of him is shocking. Heaven should be amazed at such blindness.

Think about the language of stubborn unbelief. In effect, it calls the holy Jesus a blasphemer. It is hard to say what is more striking, that people who breathe God’s air still speak this way, or that those who have spoken this way are still allowed to breathe it. The wickedness of man and the patience of God seem to compete over which is more amazing.

Jesus also answers from his own works, in John 10:37, 10:38. Before, he had only answered the charge of blasphemy by turning their own argument back on them. Here he clearly proves his claim that he and the Father are one (John 10:37, 10:38): “If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.” He could justly have left such blasphemous people as beyond hope, yet he still reasons with them.

Notice what he argues from, his works, which he had often given as his proof and as evidence of his mission. As he showed that he was sent by God through the divine power of his works, so we should show that we belong to Christ through the Christian character of our own works. The argument is very strong, because the works he did were the works of his Father, works only the Father could do. They could not be done in the ordinary course of nature, only by the sovereign power of the God who made nature.

These were works peculiar to God, works worthy of God, works of divine power. The One who can suspend the laws of nature, change them, or overrule them whenever he chooses, by his own power, is surely the sovereign ruler who first made those laws. The miracles the apostles did in his name, by his power, and to confirm his teaching, strengthened this argument and kept it before the world after he had gone.

Christ puts the matter as fairly as anyone could ask, and brings it to a simple test. First, “If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.” He does not ask for blind faith or for people to accept his divine mission without proof. He did not win people by tricks, hidden hints, or bold claims that overrode reason. He set aside any demand for faith beyond the evidence he gave. Christ is not a harsh master who expects belief where he has not given reasons for belief. No one will be lost for refusing what was never presented with enough proof, since infinite wisdom itself is the judge.

Second, “But if I do the works of my Father, if I do clear miracles to confirm a holy teaching, then even if you do not believe me, even if you are too cautious to trust my word, believe the works. Believe your own eyes and your own reason, because the truth is plain.” As the unseen things of the Creator are clearly seen in creation and common care for the world (Romans 1:20), so the unseen things of the Redeemer were seen in his miracles and in all his works of power and mercy. Those who were not convinced by these works were left without excuse.

The point he wants them to know and believe is that the Father is in him and he is in the Father. This is the same truth he had already spoken in John 10:30: “I and my Father are one.” The Father was in the Son so fully that all the fullness of God lived in him, and he worked his miracles by divine power. The Son was in the Father so fully that he knew the whole will of the Father, not by being told from outside, but by perfect inward knowledge, as one who had lain in his bosom. We must know this, not fully explain it, because we cannot search it out to perfection. We must know it and believe it, honoring the mystery even when we cannot reach the bottom of it.