Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 10:17
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
17. Therefore ] Better, On this account, or, For this cause (Joh 12:18; Joh 12:27). See on Joh 7:22 and Joh 8:47, and comp. Joh 5:16; Joh 5:18, Joh 6:65. The Father’s love for the incarnate Son is intensified by the self-sacrifice of the Son.
that I might take it again ] literally, in order that I may take it again. This clause is closely connected with the preceding one: ‘that’ depends upon ‘because.’ Only because Christ was to take His human life again was His death such as the Father could have approved. Had the Son returned to heaven at the Crucifixion leaving His humanity on the Cross, the salvation of mankind would not have been won, the sentence of death would not have been reversed, we should be ‘yet in our sins’ (1Co 15:17). Morever, in that case He would have ceased to be the Good Shepherd: He would have become like the hireling, casting aside his duty before it was completed. The office of the True Shepherd is not finished until all mankind become His flock; and this work continues from the Resurrection to the Day of Judgment.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I lay down my life – I give myself to die for my people, in Jewish and pagan lands. I offer myself a sacrifice to show the willingness of my Father to save them; to provide an atonement, and thus to open the way for their salvation. This proves that the salvation of man was an object dear to God, and that it was a source of special gratification to him that his Son was willing to lay down his life to accomplish his great purposes of benevolence.
That I might take it again – Be raised up from the dead, and glorified, and still carry on the work of redemption. See this same sentiment sublimely expressed in Phi 2:5-11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. Therefore doth my Father love me] As I shall be shortly crucified by you, do not imagine that I am abandoned by my heavenly Father, and therefore fall thus into your hands. The Father loveth me particularly on this account, because I am going to lay down my life for the life of the world. Again, do not suppose that I shall be put to death by your rulers, because I have not strength to resist them. I LAY DOWN my life voluntarily and cheerfully; no one can take it away from me, see Joh 10:18; and I shall give you the fullest proof of my supreme power by raising, in three days, that very crucified, wounded body from the grave.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Christ here asserts two things.
1. That he was about to lay down his life, and should now very shortly lay it down; but yet so as he should take it again; that is, rise again from the dead; death should not have dominion over him: by which he comforteth his disciples concerning his death, declaring,
a) That he was a freewill offering, as he further openeth it in the next verse.
b) That he should not perish in the grave, but rise again from the dead.
2. That therefore the Father loved him; for:
a) By this means he declared himself with power to be the Son of God, and the Father could not but love his Son. And:
b) By this means also he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Phi 2:8.
So as that the Father had many reasons to love the Son; and amongst others, this obedience of his to death, even the accursed death upon the cross, to fulfil his Fathers will, for the redemption and salvation of the sons of men, was not the least: and by this also he commendeth his Fathers love to those that are his sheep, in that his Father loveth him with the more exceeding love, for laying down his life, to purchase their redemption and salvation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Therefore doth my Father loveme, because I lay down my life, &c.As the highest act ofthe Son’s love to the Father was the laying down of His life for thesheep at His “commandment,” so the Father’s love to Him asHis incarnate Son reaches its consummation, and finds itshighest justification, in that sublimest and most affecting of allacts.
that I might take itagainHis resurrection-life being indispensable to theaccomplishment of the fruit of His death.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore doth my Father love me,…. Christ was the object of his Father’s love from all eternity, and was loved by him on various accounts; first and chiefly, as his own Son, of the same nature with him, equal to him; and also as Mediator, engaging for, and on the behalf of his chosen people; and likewise as he was clothed with their nature, and even in his state of humiliation; and not only as subject to his ordinances, and obedient to his will, and doing what was pleasing in his sight, but likewise as suffering in their room and stead, and he loved him on this account; the bruising of him was a pleasure to him, not for the sake of that itself, but because hereby his counsels and decrees were accomplished, his covenant fulfilled, and the salvation of his people obtained: hence it follows here,
because I lay down my life; that is, for the sheep; to ransom them from sin and Satan, the law, its curse and condemnation, and from death and hell, wrath, ruin and destruction: and the laying down his life on this account, was not only well pleasing to his Father, but likewise was done, with the following view; or at least this was the event of it,
that I might take it again; as he did, by raising himself from the dead, by which he was declared to be the Son of God; and to have made full satisfaction to divine justice, for the sins of his people, and therefore rose again for their, justification; and to be the victorious conqueror over death, having now abolished it, and having in his hands the keys of it, the power over that, and the grave: and which life he took up again, by his divine power, and as the surety of his people, to use it for their good; by ascending to his God and theirs, entering into heaven as their forerunner, appearing in the presence of God for them, as their advocate, and ever living to make intercession for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For this reason ( ). Points to the following clause. The Father’s love for the Son is drawn out (Joh 3:16) by the voluntary offering of the Son for the sin of the world (Ro 5:8). Hence the greater exaltation (Php 2:9). Jesus does for us what any good shepherd does (10:11) as he has already said (10:15). The value of the atoning death of Christ lies in the fact that he is the Son of God, the Son of Man, free of sin, and that he makes the offering voluntarily (Heb 9:14).
That I may take it again ( ). Purpose clause with and second aorist active subjunctive of . He looked beyond his death on the Cross to the resurrection. “The purpose of the Passion was not merely to exhibit his unselfish love; it was in order that He might resume His life, now enriched with quickening power as never before” (Bernard). The Father raised Jesus from the dead (Ac 2:32). There is spontaneity in the surrender to death and in the taking life back again (Dods).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Therefore doth my Father love me,” (dia touto me ho pater agapa) “On account of this the Father loves me,” Joh 5:20; Eph 5:2; Php_2:9. Because I am the: 1) Good Shepherd, Joh 10:11; Joh 10:14; John 2) The Great Shepherd, Heb 13:20; Hebrews , 3) The Chief Shepherd, 1Pe 5:1-4; the door (the entrance) for salvation and service into the sheepfold, the church or house of God, that Jesus built, in this age and of Israel and the church of the millennial age, Heb 3:1-3; 1Ti 3:15.
2) “Because I lay down my life,” (hoti ego tithemi ten psuchen mou) “Because I lay down my soul-life of my own accord,” not by force but voluntarily, Isa 53:7-12; Heb 2:9; Php_2:6-8; Luk 23:46. None took it from Him, except He willed to yield to the time and the method of His departure from life.
3) “That I might take it again.” (hina palin labo auten) “in order that I may receive or take it again,” for Himself and also to receive the Spiritual, eternal bliss of His redeemed in their resurrection bodies, like His one day, 1Jn 3:2; Mat 26:32; Php_3:20-21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. On this account the Father loveth me. There is, indeed, another and a higher reason why the Father loveth the Son; for it was not in vain that a voice was heard from heaven,
This is my beloved Son, in whom the good-pleasure of God dwells, (Mat 3:17.)
But as he was made man on our account, and as the Father delighted in him, in order that he might reconcile us to himself, we need not wonder if he declares it to be the reason why the Father loveth him, that our salvation is dearer to him than his own life. This is a wonderful commendation of the goodness of God to us, and ought justly to arouse our whole souls into rapturous admiration, that not only does God extend to us the love which is due to the only-begotten Son, but he refers it to us as the final cause. And indeed there was no necessity that Christ should take upon him our flesh, in which he was beloved, but that it might be the pledge of the mercy of his Father in redeeming us.
That I may take it again. As the disciples might be deeply grieved on account of what they had heard about the death of Christ, and as their faith might even be greatly shaken, he comforts them by the hope of his resurrection, which would speedily take place; as if he said, that he would not die on the condition of being swallowed up by death, but in order that he might soon rise again as a conqueror. And even at the present day, we ought to contemplate the death of Christ, so as to remember, at the same time, the glory of his resurrection. Thus, we know that he is life, because, in his contest with death, he obtained a splendid victory, and achieved a noble triumph.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Therefore doth my Father love me . . . For the meaning of this difficult verse, comp. Notes on Joh. 5:17 et seq., and on Php. 2:8-9. The thought is that in the relation between the Father and the human nature of Christ, the reason of the Fathers love is based upon the self-devotion of the Son. He who so loved the world that he gave His only-begotten Son to die for it, loves the Son who of His own will gives Himself to die. It is, if we might presume so to speak, as though the salvation of mankind had called forth a new relation of love between the Father and the Son.
That I might take it again.This is given as part of the reason of the Fathers love; and the words admit of no other construction. At first sight they seem to us paradoxical, beyond and against common feeling. In acts of sacrifice, the fact that that which is lost will be certainly regained, seems to us to take away all value from the act; but here the fact that Christ will lay down His life, is stated to be in order that He may take it again; and this is the foundation of the Fathers love! The key to the meaning is in the truth that for Christ the taking again of human life is itself a further sacrifice, and that this is necessary for the completion of the Great Shepherds work. The scattered sheep during the whole of the worlds existence are to be gathered in by Him whose continued union with human nature makes Him at once the Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep, and the Door by whom we ever have access to the Father.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Therefore doth my Father love me The Son was given from love to man, in spite of God’s love for Him, to the end that God should love him therefor. The whole is grounded in the primitive love of the Father.
That I might take it again So that the dying man might conquer a resurrection. And to the sight of men the death and resurrection process might be made visible in a representative case.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“This is why my Father loves me, because I lay down my life, in order that I might take it again ”
We are reminded here that the Father is equally as interested in and concerned about the sheep as Jesus is, and responds in full measure to His Son’s action in giving His life for the sheep. But note the affirmation that that will not be the end, for when He has died Jesus Himself will take back His life by resurrection. Thus, unlike in the natural world, the sheep will still have their sacrificing Shepherd to watch over them, and because He has risen they too will rise again at the last day. Note that here His death and resurrection are seen to be of His own doing. He is in total control of events.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The end of the discourse and its effect:
v. 17. Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.
v. 18. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.
v. 19. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
v. 20. And many of them said, He hath a devil, I and is mad; why hear ye Him?
v. 21. Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
The chief proof and manifestation of the love of the Good Shepherd consists in this, that He lays down His life, His soul, as a ransom. The self-sacrifice of Jesus was altogether free and in no way forced upon Him. For that reason also did His Father love Him, because the Son was in such thorough accord with Him that He understood His will so completely and acted upon it so cheerfully. And in laying down His life, Jesus has a second object, namely, to take it again. To remain in death and So leave His sheep defenseless would render His entire ministry void. It was necessary for Christ to die, but just as necessary also for Him to arise again. As His sacrifice was free and voluntary, so His return to life must be a matter of His own power, of the deliberate use of His strength. The laying down of His life was not due to His yielding to His foes and their cunning; it was an act of His will. He had the power to give His life, to lay it down in death; but He had the power also to take it again. No other man could dream of having such power; every other person succumbs to death, but Jesus differs from all other men in this respect, because He is Himself true God. The fact of His voluntary death gave to His sacrifice its real worth and value; without such free will His sacrifice would have been in vain. And herein He agrees with His Father, whose command He has received and now carries out for the salvation of mankind.
The immediate effect of the entire discourse was that it caused a division among the Jews that were present. Many thought He was talking insane foolishness and that He was possessed of an evil spirit. That is the meanness, the devilish mind of the unbelievers, that they have nothing but mockery and blasphemy for the consoling, precious words of Christ concerning His shepherd’s love. But others took a more sensible view. The calm discourse of Jesus could hardly be put into the same category with the ravings of demoniacs. The devil is also able to perform seeming miracles, but never such as will benefit any person in body or soul. The miracle performed upon the blind man was of a nature to admit of only one explanation: divine interference. Thus there are always some people whose hearts accept the glorious truths of the Gospel and learn to trust in Jesus as their Savior.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 10:17-18. Therefore doth my Father love me, “Nothing can shew the great regard I have for the salvation of mankind in a stronger light, than my laying down my life to promote and secure it; and this is so correspondent with the operations of infinite goodness, that my Father cannot but look upon me as an object of infinite love, even on that account.” Instead of that I might take it again, we may render the words so as to take it again; for had our Lord laid down his life, and remained under the power of death, it could not have been concluded that he had made a sufficient atonement, or that God was reconciled to mankind by his sacrifice of himself: but as he laid down his life so as to resume it again, it was evident that his death had atoned for the sins of mankind, and that he who had conquered death, was able to save and rescue those from the power of death who died in his faith. Further we may observe, it was necessary that the sufferings of Christ should be voluntary, to become either meritorious or just; whence it is that he adds so emphatically, no man taketh my life from me, Joh 10:18 but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, &c. which gives us a most sublime idea of our Lord’s dignity and person. But this idea is heightened, when it is considered, that he had not only power to lay down his life, but likewise could take it again. As a mortal, death was common to him with other men; but what mortal, though he should willinglysacrifice his life, could have it in his power to resume it? That our Lord voluntarily resigned his life, evidently appeared from the strong cry uttered just before his death, with which the centurion was so much affected, Luk 23:47. That he had full power to do so, will appear, because he had life in himself, Ch. Joh 5:26 and likewise because he resumed his life after he had quitted it. Our Lord adds, This commandment, or commission, have I received of my Father. “I do not lay down my life, or rise again from the dead, without the appointment of my Father: with respect to both, I act in strict conformity to his will.” Our Lord’s receiving this commission is not to be considered as the ground of his power to lay down and resume his life; for this he had in himself, as having an original right to dispose thereof, antecedent to the Father’s commission: but this commission was the reason why he thus used his power in laying down his life. The present passage affords us a full answer to the infidel objection, that by allowing so much merit to the death and love of Christ, we greatly detract from the love of God the Father; for as the redemption of the world by the Son may be inferred from this verse, as in strict consistence with the dispensation of the Father, so the benevolence, goodness, and mercy of the Father appear to have conspired together for this great end; and how much soever we acknowledge as owing to the merits of the Son, we owe no less to the Father.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 10:17-18 . Christ’s self-delineation as the Good Shepherd is finished. Jesus now further bears testimony to that which filled His heart, while setting forth this great vocation, which was only to be fulfilled by dying and rising again, namely, the love of His Father , which rests upon Him just because of that which He has declared concerning Himself as the good shepherd.
] is to be taken as in all the passages where it occurs in John (Joh 5:16 ; Joh 5:18 , Joh 8:47 , Joh 12:18 ; Joh 12:39 ; 1Jn 3:1 ): therefore because , namely , referring to what had preceded , and introducing a more precise explication of . The sense consequently is: therefore , because of this my relationship as Shepherd, of which I have spoken down to Joh 10:16 , my Father loves me, because, namely, I ( ; no other does so or can do so) lay down my life, in order to take it again . Note in particular: (1) The explanation is pragmatically correct, because it is just the readiness to sacrifice His life which is the main characteristic of the good shepherd (Joh 10:11 ; Joh 10:15 ). (2) . do not belong to ., but express the intention or design of . . . (not merely its result , as Theodore of Mopsuestia, Euth. Zigabenus, Grotius, and many suppose; or its condition , as Calvin, De Wette, and several others maintain); for the ground of the love of God lies not merely in the sacrifice considered by itself, but in the fact that the Good Shepherd, when He gives up His life, is resolved to take it again, in order that He may continue to fulfil His pastoral office till the final goal is reached, when all mankind shall constitute His flock. Indeed, only on the condition of His taking His life again, could He fulfil the office of Shepherd unto the final completion contemplated in the divine decree, and referred to in Joh 10:16 . For this reason, also, cannot be regarded as introducing the divine intention (Tholuck), because the ground of the Father’s love must lie in the volition of Jesus , which volition, it is true, corresponds to the Father’s will, though this is not here expressly declared, but first in Joh 10:18 .
Joh 10:18 . It must be, however, not an unwilling , but a voluntary self-sacrifice, if it is to form the ground of the love of the Father to Him; hence the words ( mea ipsius sponte ). Nor must He proceed to effect this voluntary sacrifice of His own authority; but must receive a warrant thereto , as also for that which He had in view in so doing, viz. the resumption of His life; hence the words: . Nay, more; even this very thing which He purposed to do, namely, the surrender and resumption of His life, must have come to Him as a commission from God; hence the expression: . , in which ( this and not something different ) is emphatic, and is correlate to the idea of , as this latter is grounded in the divine mandate . Notice further: (1) The , the power conferred (so also in Joh 19:10 f., not power generally), lies in the relation of subordination to God, of whom the Son is the commissioned representative , and to whom He submits Himself voluntarily, i.e . from no compulsion exerted by a power outside of Himself, but with self-determined obedience to the Father (Joh 14:30 f.; Mat 26:53 ). Equality of nature (Olshausen) is the presupposition of this moral harmony. (2) The view which pervades the New Testament, that Christ did not raise Himself from the dead, but was raised by the Father, is not affected by this passage, inasmuch as the taking again of His life, for which the divine-human Christ had received authorization, implies the giving again of the life, to wit, the re-awakening activity of the Father. This giving again on the part of God, by which Christ becomes (see 1Pe 3:19 , and Huther on the passage), and that , which Christ receives from God, are the two factors of the resurrection the former being the causa efficiens , whilst the latter, the of Christ, is the causa apprehendens . Compare Constitutiones Apostol . 5. 7. 8 : . (3) . embraces the aforementioned twofold ; justly so, inasmuch as the authorization to die and to rise again was only formally divided according to its two aspects. Chrysostom and several others erroneously refer to the dying alone.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1664
VOLUNTARINESS OF CHRISTS UNDERTAKING
Joh 10:17-18. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
THE subject here insisted on, whilst, at first sight, it appears merely speculative, is really of great importance: for, if the Lord Jesus Christ did not act voluntarily in every part of his mediatorial work, there could be no justice in laying our sins upon him, nor any efficacy in the atonement which he offered for them. It was this willingness of his to endure all which was necessary for our redemption, that put an essential difference between him and all other shepherds. Other shepherds, in countries where their flocks are open to the assaults of wild beasts, have exposed, and even sacrificed, their lives for their flocks: but no one ever undertook the office of a shepherd on purpose that he might die for his sheep. This, however, our blessed Saviour did. He foresaw, from all eternity, that, if he would redeem our souls, he must die in our stead: and of his own mind and will, without any necessity or constraint, except what arose from his own love to us and to his heavenly Father, he undertook our cause, and executed all that was necessary for the accomplishment of that stupendous task. The earnestness with which this fact is asserted in my text, together with the acceptableness of it to his heavenly Father, in whose estimation it so greatly raised him, shew, that the whole subject deserves our most attentive consideration. In fact, we cannot have just conceptions of our Saviours mediatorial work, unless we distinctly mark,
I.
Its voluntariness on his part
It is said, indeed, in my text, This commandment have I received of my Father. Now, it must be remembered, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as man, and as Mediator, was the Fathers servant: as says the prophet; Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth [Note: Isa 42:1.]. And hence he is spoken of continually as sent by the Father to be the Saviour of the world [Note: 1Jn 4:9-10.]. But, as God, he was equal with the Father, and voluntarily concurred with the Father in executing the plan that was agreed upon between them. This appears,
1.
At his first undertaking of the work
[The counsel of peace was between the Father and the Son [Note: Zec 6:13.]; the Son agreeing to make his soul an offering for sin, and the Father engaging to give him a seed who should prolong their days in happiness for ever and ever [Note: Isa 53:10.]. This mysterious transaction is declared by the Psalmist in the plainest terms; and his words are cited by St. Paul in confirmation of it: Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: mine ears hast thou opened (boring them, as it were, to the door-post, after the manner of a servant, who voluntarily refused his liberty, and consecrated himself for ever to the service of his master [Note: Exo 21:5-6.]). Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart [Note: Psa 40:6-8. with Heb 10:4-10.]. And this accords with what our blessed Lord also says, For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth [Note: Joh 17:19.].]
2.
In all the progressive steps of its advancement
[Our blessed Lord foresaw all that should come upon him in the performance of his work. He knew from the beginning, who should betray him [Note: Joh 6:64.]. In the prospect of his sufferings, he was quite straitened till they should be accomplished [Note: Luk 12:50.]. He distinctly and repeatedly foretold all that he was appointed to endure; and, when the time was come for his enduring them, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, for the express purpose that he might endure them [Note: Luk 9:51.]: and, on Peters endeavouring to dissuade him from submitting to them, he rebuked him with a severity never manifested on any other occasion, and declared him to be on that occasion an agent and confederate of the devil [Note: Mat 16:23.]. On the night previous to his crucifixion, he instituted his last Supper; delivering to every one of his Disciples the bread and the wine, as representing his body broken, and his blood shed, for the remission of their sins [Note: 1Co 11:23-26.]. When Judas, with an armed band, came to apprehend him, he, by a word, beat them all backward to the ground, to shew that, in his subsequent surrender of himself to them, he acted voluntarily, and not from necessity [Note: Joh 18:6.]. Thus in these, as in a variety of other incidents, he shewed, that neither by fraud nor violence could any man prevail against him; but that, in every part of his work, he freely consented to sustain all that should come upon him.]
3.
At the closing scene of his life
[He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and went altogether like a lamb to the slaughter. If it had pleased him, he could have called to his aid more than twelve legions of angels; any individual of whom would have been able to defeat his adversaries, even if they had been a thousand times more numerous than they were [Note: Mat 26:53.]. But how, then, should the Scriptures be fulfilled? He had undertaken to save us; and therefore he would not, though he could easily have done it, save himself. And at the very moment that he surrendered up his life, he cried with a loud voice, in order to shew that his nature was not exhausted, but that of himself he had power to lay down his life, and did lay it down voluntarily, and not by constraint. And this very thing so struck the Centurion who superintended the execution, as to convince him that Jesus was indeed the Son of God [Note: Luk 23:46-47. with Mar 15:39.].
That Jesus raised up himself is also true. He had, in the very beginning of his ministry, declared, that when the Jews should have destroyed the temple of his body, he would raise it up again in three days [Note: Joh 2:19.]: and accordingly he did rise, as he had said. At the appointed time, also, he ascended up to heaven, and sent down his Holy Spirit to carry on the work on earth, whilst he himself should be carrying it on in heaven. Thus he has proved, that, in every part of his work, he has acted voluntarily, having loved us, and given himself for us [Note: Gal 2:20.].]
Let us now proceed to notice,
II.
Its acceptableness on the Fathers part
In my text, it is said, Therefore the Father loveth me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. Here again we must observe, that Christ speaks of himself, not personally, as the second Person of the ever-blessed Trinity, but officially, as man and as Mediator. Personally he needed nothing, nor could do any thing, to augment the Fathers love: for He and the Father are one, in glory equal, and in majesty co-eternal. But in his office he greatly commended himself to the Fathers love:
1.
In undertaking it so willingly
[The first intimation of the Fathers wish for the redemption of the world was, as we have seen, assented to by the Son, without the slightest hesitation, notwithstanding the means, by which it was to be accomplished, were so difficult and self-denying. To divest himself of all his glory, to assume the nature that had sinned, to bear in his own person the wrath due to our sins, and to become a curse for us, in order to redeem us from the curse of Gods broken law [Note: Gal 3:13.], all this he willingly undertook; because he saw, that, whilst by this mysterious act of condescension he should save our ruined race, he should glorify his God and Father, in a way, and to an extent, in which he never otherwise could be glorified. God had shewn forth his wisdom and power and goodness in the works of creation: and he had manifested his justice and holiness in the condemnation of the fallen angels: but never had he exhibited any trace of mercy, any more than if it had not been an attribute of his nature, or a perfection which it was possible for a holy and just Being to display. But, by undertaking to die in our place and stead, he has satisfied the demands of justice; and, by working out a righteousness for us, he has rendered our acceptance with God compatible with the rights of holiness; and has thus opened a way for the exercise of mercy, not only in perfect consistency with all the other attributes of the Deity, but to the more glorious display of all; thus glorifying justice in a way of mercy, and mercy in a way of justice; or, as the Psalmist expresses it, causing mercy and truth to meet together, and righteousness and peace to kiss each other [Note: Psa 85:10.]. This could not but be pleasing to the Father; and, consequently, well might the Father love him on account of it.]
2.
In executing it so completely
[Never did the Lord Jesus Christ draw back, till he could say It is finished. By what he did and suffered for us, all the eternal counsels of the Father were fulfilled, and every thing was effected that could conduce either to the honour of God or the good of man. There was nothing left for either God or man to desire. His atonement fully satisfied Divine justice: his righteousness is fully adequate to our necessities: and now that he has again resumed his life, and has all power committed to him in heaven and in earth, he will complete the work he has begun; and God shall, to all eternity, be glorified in him. In the very prospect of this, when Noah offered up a sacrifice that only shadowed it forth, God smelled a savour of rest [Note: Gen 8:21.]: and much more, when the Lord Jesus Christ offered up himself the true Sacrifice, was the Father well pleased with it! so true is that declaration of St. Paul, that Christ loved us, and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savour [Note: Eph 5:2.].]
We see, then, from hence,
1.
How to commend ourselves to the Fathers love
[If the Father loved his own Son because of his voluntary services, he will love us also on the same account. Some would be ready to cry out against this, as a legal sentiment: but I affirm that it is truly evangelical. Hear our blessed Lords assertions to this effect: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him ..If a man will love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him [Note: Joh 14:21; Joh 14:23.]. True, God has given us commandments: but it is not as servants, but as sons, that we are to obey them; delighting to do his will, even as our Saviour himself did. We are to esteem all his commandments concerning all things to be right; and to abhor every false way [Note: Psa 119:128.]. It is this readiness, this delight in Gods commandments, that constitutes the very summit of evangelical obedience: and in proportion as we abound in it, we hesitate not to say, that God will love us, both in this world and in the world to come. According as with self-denying zeal and diligence we improve our talents for him, he will exalt and magnify us to all eternity [Note: Mat 25:20-21.].]
2.
What love we owe to the Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ
[Did the Father, who could receive no benefit from his Sons work, love him because he laid down his life for us? What, then, should we do, whose happiness, both in time and in eternity, results from that alone? St. Paul says, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha [Note: 1Co 16:22.]. And who, amongst us, will hesitate to add his Amen to that? Who does not feel the justice of it? Who does not wonder that it has not long since been executed on himself, for his base ingratitude to the Saviour? And who, if hell were at this moment to open and swallow him up quick, must not justify God, and say, Righteous art thou, O Lord; and true and just are thy judgments [Note: Rev 19:2.]? Sure I am, that however we may attempt to palliate our ingratitude to him now, the time is coming, when our mouths will be shut [Note: Mat 22:12.], and we shall be constrained to acknowledge that we have received the just reward of our deeds [Note: Luk 23:41.]. But, brethren, I hope better things of you, and things that accompany salvation [Note: Heb 6:9.]: and most gladly close my subject with that benevolent petition of the Apostle, Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity! Amen and Amen [Note: Eph 6:24.].
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. (18) No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Reader! make a long pause over these blessed verses, for they are most blessed. The love Jesus here speaks of cannot possibly mean the love of God the Father to God the Son, as God; for then, in this sense, no such reason as is here assigned, would be given. Neither did God the Son lay down his life as God. And, moreover, the observation of God the Father loving God the Son would have been unnecessary in Christ to have informed the disciples. For unless the Church had faculties suitable to the apprehension, (which is impossible,) we never could have the least conception what that infinite love is, which One of the divine Persons in the Godhead bears to another. But the love of the Father to Christ here spoken of by Jesus, is the love he hath to him as God-Man-Mediator. He loved him for his voluntary undertaking to become the Head and Husband of his body the Church. He loved him for all the offices connected with it, in rescuing his Spouse, his Bride, which the Father gave him before all worlds, from that dreadful state of sin and ruin into which, in the time-state of her Adam-nature, she had fallen. This, I venture to believe, was the love which the Lord Jesus here spake of, and which Jesus prized so highly. And well might all the persons of the Godhead delight in the God-Man love of Jesus to his Church. For the perfect unsinning obedience of the whole creation of God, yea, had the whole creation of God, added to that obedience, been offered up as one rich and full oblation, the whole would have been nothing in comparison to the holy life, and spotless death of Christ upon the cross, when doing away the whole penal effect of sin by the sacrifice of himself, and magnifying the law of God, and making it honorable. Reader! pause a moment longer, and then say, did God the Father thus love Christ on our account, think then how God the Father must love us. And if Jesus was so loved by the Father for us, how ought Christ to be loved by us?
I must not suffer the Reader to pass away from those sweet verses before that he hath also noticed, and with the due attention it merits, what Jesus hath said of his own sovereign power and Godhead. If no man had power to take his life from him, but as he elsewhere saith: As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. Joh 5:26 . let the Reader receive from those precious words, the Lord’s assurance of his nature and office as God-Man-Mediator! Oh! how infinitely great must be his nature, how full of glory and dignity his person, who thus possessed such infinite power? And how unspeakably great his love, who so loved us, as to give himself for us an offering, and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Ver. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because ] This “because” is nota consecutionis, non causae, know from its consequences not from it cause, saith Beza.
I lay down my life ] I do it even now; for he suffered many a little death all his life long, and at length the cursed death of the cross.
That I might take it again ] For Christ’s being life essential, swallows up death in victory, as the fire swallows up the fuel, as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17. ] The is now over, and He speaks plainly , My Father. In this wonderful verse lies the mystery of the love of the Father for the Son; because the Son has condescended to the work of humiliation, and to earn the crown through the cross (see Phi 2:8-9 , ). The here is strictly , in order that. “Without this purpose in view,” says Stier (iv. 504, edn. 2), “the Death of Christ would neither be lawful nor possible.”
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 10:17 . At this point the exposition of the functions of the good shepherd terminates; but as a note or appendix Jesus adds , “on this account,” i.e. , because I lay down my life for the sheep (Joh 10:15 and following clause) does my Father love me. The expressed serves to bring out the spontaneity of the surrender. And this free sacrifice or death is justified by the object, . He dies, not to remain in death and so leave the sheep defenceless, but to live again, to resume life in pursuance of the object for which He had given it. The freedom of the sacrifice is proved by His taking His life again. He was not compelled to die.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Therefore = On account of (Greek. dia. App-104. Joh 10:2) this.
My Father. See note on Joh 2:16.
love. Greek agapao. App-135. See note on Joh 3:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] The is now over, and He speaks plainly,-My Father. In this wonderful verse lies the mystery of the love of the Father for the Son;-because the Son has condescended to the work of humiliation, and to earn the crown through the cross (see Php 2:8-9, ). The here is strictly ,-in order that. Without this purpose in view, says Stier (iv. 504, edn. 2), the Death of Christ would neither be lawful nor possible.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 10:17. ) loveth Me, and lovingly enjoins this on Me,-lovingly as it were persuades Me, and I, although I must lay down My life, remain sure of His love; for I lay it down, that I may take it up again: moreover the Father, in love to Me, gives Me the sheep as my peculiar portion; because I keep His commandment concerning the laying down of My life; Joh 10:18, No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father. Love is intimated as coming over and above [supervenient. Coming as an extraneous addition]. The love of the Father is to be kept in sight, in the passion of Christ, not only towards us, but also towards Christ: we are not to look merely to His avenging severity [stern justice].
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 10:17
Joh 10:17
Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.-The reason God loved Jesus and sent him to save sinners was because he had no will save to do the will of God and was willing to die to save all who would serve God. He gave his life with the full assurance that he would take it up again.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomons porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Fathers name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand. I and my Father are one.
There are two outstanding themes in these verses, and perhaps it may be well to say that verses 17-18 really belong to the previous paragraph, which sets forth our Savior as the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. Our Lord stresses the fact that it was not man that forced Him to do that. In other words, He did not have to die. His humanity was different from ours in this, that we begin to die as soon as we are born. The seeds of death, as it were, are in the body of every child of Adam. We are all under that Adamic curse, Dying, thou shalt die. These bodies of ours are mortal, that is, subject to death. It was otherwise with the body of our Lord Jesus. We are told that, Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (Jam 1:15). That is why we die, because we have all inherited the virus of Adams sin. But our Lord Jesus Christ was the Sinless One, and, therefore, while He came into the world with a body that could die, it was not necessary that it should die. He had in His own power the ability to die or to live on for endless years. But He died out of love for our guilty souls and out of love for the Father, because He came to do the Fathers will.
In Psalm 118 we hear Him saying, through the psalmist, God is the LORD, which hath shown us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar (v. 27). He Himself was the One whom all the sacrifices of the law typified; therefore, this verse refers to Him. The altar of old had four brazen horns, and we might never have known what they were used for had it not been for these words. But we learn from this psalm that when they brought a beast, such as an ox or a lamb, for sacrifice they bound it to the horns of the altar, and its blood was spilled about the altar, for without shedding of blood [there] is no remission (Heb 9:22).
So our Lord Jesus Christ was bound with cords to the horns of the altar. What were the cords? We read in Hos 11:4 that God has drawn us with the cords of love: I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. The cords of love have drawn our poor hearts to Christ and bound us to Him, and it was the cords of love that bound Him to the cross.
Twas love that sought Gethsemane,
Or Judas neer had found Him;
Twas love that held Him to the tree,
Or iron neer had bound Him.
And there was not only one cord; there were cords. There was the cord of love to the Father, and the cord of love to us. We hear Him saying, That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence (Joh 14:31). And He went out to the garden of sorrow and on to the cross of atonement. Love to the Father took Him there, thus to lay down His life for us. But it is also written that Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it (Eph 5:24-26). The apostle could say, The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). So it was love for us, for our needy souls, that took Him there and led Him to die as a sacrifice for sin.
So He says, Therefore doth My Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again (Joh 10:17), though it is also perfectly true that sinful men laid hold of Him and nailed Him to the cross. The apostle Peter said to the Jews of his day, Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain (Act 2:23). And speaking of the Gentiles and their rulers, the apostle Paul says, Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1Co 2:8). Man is held responsible for the rejection of Christ, but man was perfectly powerless to take His life. He laid it down of Himself. He says in verse 18, No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. That is, He had commandment from the Father to lay it down, and He came to do the Fathers will, and that will involved His becoming the great sin offering.
Then observe, just as He had authority to lay down His life, so He had authority to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (v. 18). The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is attributed to each person of the Holy Trinity. We read that He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father (Rom 6:4). We read of the Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead (8:11). The Holy Spirit then had His part in the resurrection. But Jesus also said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (Joh 2:19). He spake of the temple of His body (v. 21). So the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were all concerned in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ even as all were concerned in His death. It was the Father who gave the Son that He might die as our Redeemer. It was in the power of the Eternal Spirit that Christ offered Himself without spot unto God. And it was in His own love and grace that He laid down His life as the Good Shepherd, and rose again that we might know redemption from the guilt and power of sin.
You remember we quoted several passages from the Old Testament in which we saw that the Shepherd of Israel was the coming One, God Himself, who was to be manifested here on earth. So when Jesus said, I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep (10:11), He was declaring that He was the One who would fulfill all these Scripture passages.
But the people were not ready to receive Him. Many declared that He had a demon. Others said, These [words] are not the words of him that hath a [demon] (v. 21a). They seemed to be so carefully chosen, and so reverent and holy. They did not sound to some of His hearers like the words of one speaking under the power of an evil spirit. Then they asked very sensibly, Can a [demon] open the eyes of the blind? (v. 21b). They remembered that wonderful miracle that had been done among them. It seemed that, after all, Jesus might be the expected Messiah.
And now in verse 22 we are told that it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication. This was celebrated annually since the days of the return under the leadership of Zerubbabel, of Davids lineage, and of Joshua, the high priest, and the scribe Ezra and the governor Nehemiah. It was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomons porch, or court. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? (v. 24).
He had told them many times, but again they put the question. Jesus answered and said, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in My Fathers name, they bear witness of me (v. 25). Why did they not consider the signs, the evidences? They seemed to be blind to these things. And He gave the reason for this. Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you (v. 26). They refused to believe His message. His sheep are those who have turned to God in repentance and have accepted the message that He brought. He says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And now I have come to a rather crucial passage, about which there has been probably more controversy than concerning anything else in the gospel of John. One is often asked: Do you think that this passage teaches that if a man is once saved, he is saved forever? That it is impossible to fall from grace?-that a man will continue to be a Christian, no matter what sins he commits, if he has once professed faith in Christ? We need to be very careful here. It is good to follow the exact words of Jesus, and then we will not go astray.
First, He says, My sheep hear my voice (v. 27a). Joh 5:24 tells us, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. Hear, and your soul shall live (Isa 55:3). So He says, My sheep hear my voice. We cannot say that people are numbered among His sheep simply because they make a profession. There are people even in evangelical churches who are not numbered among the sheep of Christ, because actually they have never heard His voice. They are formalists, members of the church outwardly, but not of the church which is His body. Such people make a religious profession, maybe under emotion, and flock into the church. For a time they seem to go on very well, and then by-and-by the newness wears off and their enthusiasm disappears. The hankering for the world wells up in their souls and then they begin to drift. We say, Poor souls, they are backsliders. But, as one has well said, They were never frontsliders. They had turned from their sins, reforming themselves, but they had never heard the voice of the Son of God in their inmost souls. Their hearts were like that house that was swept and garnished, but left empty after the evil spirit had departed.
Such as these are those who bring reproach upon the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were never real believers at all. No matter what people profess, if they do not hear the voice of the Son of God, they are not actually His sheep. I wish we may get that clear. Of all His sheep He says, I know them, and they follow me (Joh 10:27b). Now, will you put in contrast to that a passage in Matthews gospel: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven (7:21). He that doeth the will-stop there for a moment. Are we saved by doing? No, we are saved by faith. What does He mean when He says, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven? We are not saved by doing, but we manifest the reality of our faith by doing the will of God. You remember that passage again in Eph 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. But he immediately adds, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (v. 10).
Be very clear about that. Our works have nothing to do with procuring eternal life, but no man has eternal life who is not manifesting good works.
I would not work my soul to save;
That work my Lord has done;
But I would work like any slave
From love to Gods dear Son.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (Mat 7:21-22). He is referring to the day of judgment, the day of manifestation. We might put that in modern language, Have we not preached in Your name? Perhaps through their preaching men have been delivered from the awful power of Satan, for I believe that many an unsaved preacher has been used of God to save men, even though his own life was all wrong. God uses His word by whomsoever proclaimed. And in thy name have cast out demons. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (v. 23).
He will never say to anyone in that day of judgment, I used to know you, but I do not know you anymore. He says, I never knew you. But of His own He says, I know them.
Now if you will keep that in mind, I do not think you will have any question about the eternal security of the believer. He never knew those who, though they seemed to be workers in His own vineyard, had never heard His voice.
So then, first, His sheep know His voice. Second, He says, I know them. Notice the third thing, and they follow me. There is no use to profess to be a sheep of Christs unless you follow Him. Christ means so much to those who are truly born again that their souls delight to follow Him. Do you follow Him? Is His will precious to you? We do not become sheep by following Jesus. It is the very opposite. We follow Him because we belong to His flock. Having been saved, we manifest that by following Him. There are a great many people who bear the Christian name who are not really born of God. This accounts for so many who at one time seemed to be Christians, but because there was no reality, they never knew the Lord. They never found any satisfaction in following Him, and so they fell away.
Speaking of His own sheep, I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (Joh 10:28). What kind of life? Eternal life. My brother, my sister, you who have questioned the eternal security of the believer, how long is eternal? I give unto them eternal life. Do you not see? It is not probationary life. It is not temporal life. It is eternal life.
A lady came to me in San Francisco, where I had been preaching on Joh 5:24, and she said, I agree with everything you said tonight except that doctrine-once saved, always saved. I have never found that in the Bible. I said, Dont you believe the words of the Lord Jesus? Let me show you what He said. She replied, I know where you are going to turn: Joh 10:28-29. Well, I said, you do know. But let me read the verses: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand.
I inquired, Do you believe that? She said, Not in your way. I said, What is my way? Well, she said, you believe that if a person is once saved he can never be lost. I read it again, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand. I said, Do you believe that? Not in your way. But I am not telling you my way. I have not explained it at all. Do you not believe what the Son of God has said? Not the way you do. Well, let me read it again. And I read it through once more, except for one change. I put ten years in place of eternal life. I inquired, What does that mean? She answered, Well, it would mean that if a person once got saved he would be saved for ten years. Exactly! Now let us stretch it a bit. I give unto them life for forty years. What does it mean now? She admitted it would imply that one thus saved would be secure for forty years. Suppose it read, I give unto them life as long as they are faithful. That is what I believe, she replied. But that is not what it says. It says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Fathers hand. How long does that mean? She said, As long as they remain His sheep. And she went out. She did not want light, so turned her back upon it.
If one would only take Gods Word at its face value. I give unto them eternal life. It could not be eternal if it could ever come to an end, and He said, They shall never perish. No man can pluck them out of my hand. There could not be a stronger statement. His sheep are safe in the hands of the Father and the Son. There is no power in earth or hell that can pluck us out, and there is no power in heaven that would want to do so. You say, Well, but you know I can take myself out. But you would perish then, wouldnt you? The marvelous thing is that when He saves a person He puts such a love for Himself in the heart that none would wish to be separated from Him.
I remember a dear friend of mine, a minister of the gospel, a kindly, gracious man, who was reasoning with me about this. He said finally, My brother, if I believed as you do, I could go out and sin all I want to, and it would not make any difference. I said, My dear brother, do you want to sin? Oh, no! he replied. I do not want to sin. Thats it. The Christian does not want to sin. Nothing makes him more miserable than failure or falling into sin. His only joy is found in walking in fellowship with God.
What does Jesus mean when He says, My Fatheris greater than all (v. 29)? He was coequal with the Father from all eternity. But as Man here on earth, He could say, My Father is greater than all. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. He voluntarily took the subject place in the days of His flesh.
But having said, My Fatheris greater than all, He immediately adds, I and my Father are one (v. 30). What a proof of His true Deity we have right there! I and my Father. Why, you would have thought He would have said, My Father and I. It would be the natural thing-would it not?-for the subservient One. But there is no subservience here. God the Son, and God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit are coequal. So He says, I and my Father are one.
Isnt it marvelous grace! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are united in sending this gospel to the world and inviting sinners everywhere to put their trust in the work that Jesus did. And when you trust Him you have eternal life, and you will be as secure as God Himself can make you, even as we read elsewhere, For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38-39). What a gospel to proclaim to poor, dying men! If there is one who reads these words who has never trusted the Savior, wont you come to Him today?
Years ago, there was a poor old man who lived in a miserable hovel and subsisted on what he could beg. Finally he was taken to a hospital, very ill, and when the nurse moved his clothes she found a worn paper that he had put away in an inner pocket. When she examined it she saw that it was an order on the Treasury of the United States to give him a pension because of his faithfulness in serving as a scout in the army during the war between the States. The poor old man said, Oh, dont take that away from me! President Lincoln gave me that, and I value it above all else. And yet, he had never cashed in on it! He had never availed himself of his privileges.
Are you treating Gods salvation like that? You have the right to come to Jesus and receive eternal life and forgiveness of sins. Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts (Heb 3:7; Heb 3:15; Heb 4:7).
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Joh 3:25, Joh 15:9, Joh 15:10, Joh 17:4, Joh 17:5, Joh 17:24-26, Isa 42:1, Isa 42:21, Isa 53:7-12, Heb 2:9
Reciprocal: Gen 22:9 – bound Num 19:2 – upon which Mat 28:6 – as Joh 2:19 – I will Joh 10:15 – and I Joh 18:4 – knowing Act 13:30 – General Gal 1:4 – gave Eph 1:6 – in 1Th 5:10 – died
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
Had the death of Christ been involuntary, his Father would not have raised him to life again. This willingness on his part caused God to love his Son.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 10:17. Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. In Joh 10:15 we have read of the Fathers recognition of the Good Shepherd, who gives the highest proof of His devotion to the shepherds work and possession of the shepherds character in laying down His life for the sheep. These verses take up and expand that thought, speaking not of recognition only but of love. But it is with Joh 10:16 that Joh 10:17 is immediately connected. I must had expressed complete union with His Fathers will: the prophecy that follows brought into view the full and certain accomplishment of the Fathers purpose. On this account, because of this union of will and this devotion to His purpose, the Father (note once more how perfect is the fitness of this name here) loveth Him,namely, because He layeth down His life that He may take it again. The two parts of this statement must be closely joined together. The perfect conformity to the Fathers will is shown not in laying down the life only, but also in taking it again. The duty of the Shepherd, as set forth in Joh 10:15-16, can only in this way be accomplished. He gives His life to purchase life for His sheep, but besides this He must continue to lead the flock of which He is the Only Shepherd. In the execution of His work, therefore, He could not give Himself to death without the purpose of taking His life again: He died that His own may ever live in His life.But, if the Fathers love can rest on the Son who is obedient even unto death, and unto life through death, it is essential that the obedience be entirely free. Hence the words of the next verse.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Hence note, 1. That Jesus Christ certainly foreknew his own death and resurrection.
2. That Christ was a volunteer in dying, He laid down his life, none could have taken it from him. ‘Tis true, his death was a violent death, but a voluntary sacrifice; he died violently, but yet voluntarily: the hand of his enemies could never hurt him without his own consent.
3. That as Christ died voluntarily with respect to himself, so in a way of subjection to his Father’s command. This commandment have I received from my Father.
4. That this voluntary submission of Christ to die for us, was the ground of his Father’s love to him. Therefore doth my Father love me: because I lay down my life. Although the Father had many reasons to love the Son, yet none was stronger than this obedience of his to death, even the cursed death of the cross, for the redemption and salvation of lost sinners; therefore did the Father love him with a more exceeding love, because he laid down his life for his sheep.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 17, 18. Therefore does my Father love me: because I give my life that I may take it again; 18 no one takes it away from me, but I give it of myself; I have power to give, and I have power to take it again: this commandment I received of my Father.
, for this reason, refers ordinarily in John to a previously expressed idea, but one which is about to be taken up and developed in the following clause, beginning with (because). The same is the case here. It is because of His voluntary devotion to this great work (Joh 10:15-16) that His Father loves Him; that is to say, He adds, because He sacrifices His life to it, and this not in order absolutely to give it up, but with the express intention of recovering it, and thus of finishing the work of which He only makes a beginning here on the earth. No doubt, the Father eternally loves the Son; but, when once made man, the Son cannot be approved and loved by Him except on condition of perfectly realizing the new law of His existence, as Son of man. Now this law, which results for Him from the solidarity in which He is bound together with a fallen race, is that of saving it by the gift of His life; and the constant disposition of the Son to accept this obligation of love, is the object of the infinite satisfaction (of the ) of the Father. It is in this sense that St. Paul calls the death of Jesus an offering of a sweet smell (Eph 5:2). The last words serve to complete the preceding idea: because I give my life, and because I give it that I may take it again. The self-devotion of the Son who consents to give His life is infinitely pleasing to the Father, but on one condition; that this gift be not the abandoning of humanity and of the work begun in it, which would be at the same time the forgetting of the glory of the Father. In other terms, the devotion to death would be of an evil sort if it had not for its end the return among men by means of the resurrection. As Luthardt with perfect correctness remarks: Jesus must wish to resume His life again in order to continue, as glorified, His ministry of shepherd to the Church, especially to the Gentiles whom He has the mission to gather together (Eph 2:17). The supreme end indicated in Joh 10:16 requires not only His death, but also His resurrection. It appears from the words: that I may take it again, that Jesus raises Himself from the dead.
And this is true, for if it is in the Father that the power lies which gives Him life, it is Himself who by His free will and His prayer calls upon His person the display of this power. Joh 10:18 is the emphatic reaffirmation of this character of freedom in the work of the Son, which alone makes it the object of the Father’s satisfaction. Hence the asyndeton. It is not through powerlessness that the shepherd will succumb to the hostile power; there will come a moment when He will Himself consent to His defeat (Joh 14:31). The word , no one, includes every creature; we may include in it God Himself, since if, in dying, the Son obeys the decree of the Father, He yet does it freely; God neither imposes on Him death nor resurrection. The words , I have the power (the competency, the authority), are repeated with a marked emphasis; Jesus had no obligation to die, not only because, not having sinned, He had the right to keep His holy life, but also because, even at the last moment, He could have asked for twelve legions of angels, who would have wrested Him from the hands of His enemies. In the same way, in giving up His life, it depended on Himself to demand it again or not to reclaim it. As Luthardt says: In these two acts, the action of the Son comes before the action of the Father. The last words: I have received this commandment, are ordinarily referred to the commandment to die and rise again which had been given to Him by the Father. But would not such an idea tend to weaken all that Jesus had just developed? The true movement of the passage is the affirming of the full independence of the Lord. This is the reason why it seems to me that it is better to apply the term ,this command, to the commission with which Jesus has come to the earth and which gives Him the right to make free use of His own person, to die and to revive at will. The tenor of this commission, when the Father sent Him, was this: Thou canst die or not die, rise again or not rise again, according to the free aspirations of thy love. Jesus calls it a command in order to cover with the veil of humility this incomparable prerogative.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
10:17 {5} Therefore doth my Father love me, because {g} I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
(5) Christ is by the decree of the Father the only true shepherd of the true Church, for he willingly gave his life for his sheep, and by his own power rose again to life.
(g) He uses the present tense because Christ’s whole life was as it were a perpetual death.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Having declared the intimate knowledge that the Father and the Son share, Jesus now explained why the Father loved Him as He did. Jesus did not mean that the Father’s love resulted from the Son’s performance. It would still have existed if Jesus had failed to obey Him completely. The Father loved the Son unconditionally from the beginning. However the Son’s full obedience to the Father’s will resulted in the Father having a special love for the Son that obedience under testing produced. Similarly God loves all believers unconditionally, but when we obey Him we enjoy an intimacy with Him that only obedience produces (cf. Joh 15:14).
Jesus died sacrificially with His resurrection and glorification in view. He did not die thinking that He would remain dead. His death was an event in a larger chain of events that was always in view as Jesus anticipated the Cross.