I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine,
Jesus has just described a hired man who runs when the wolf comes. Now He says what sets Him apart: the Shepherd and His sheep know each other — but how deep does that knowing go, and what does it cost Him?
One commentator explains that the hired man is not a criminal. His wages decide how he acts, and that is where the Shepherd stands apart.
The hireling is not necessarily evil like the thief; but being a man who works for wages, his interest is primarily a monetary one. The sheep are of interest to him only so far as they are the means of his livelihood. He does not really care for them enough to risk his skin on their behalf. It is far otherwise with the Shepherd, who lays down His life for them and establishes a link of wonderful intimacy.
Notice which half of the verse the Lord puts first. One writer shows how kind that order is for anyone who doubts their own grasp of Christ.
As for the sheep, they hear His voice, and follow Him. Then, speaking of Himself, He declares, "I know them." Of the sheep's knowledge of Him He here makes no mention. His knowledge of them He makes prominent. How gracious was this! Many a person might question his or her knowledge of Christ. Did they know Him rightly? Did they know Him as they ought? And then write bitter things against themselves. Now here He gives no room for such morbid thoughts. The question for them is a very different one. Do they hear His voice? Do they follow Him?
That knowledge takes in everything a sheep could worry about in itself.
He knows His sheep with a perfect knowledge. Their weakness, their ignorance, their tendency to wander, their many needs — He knows them all. And knowing them, He loves them with a love that led Him to lay down His life for the sheep.
He has already given His life for the flock. What more could He add? One writer finds the answer in the second half of the verse.
It might be said, if He has given His life for them, He can do nothing more. But no! it is not so with Him. See verse 14, "I know my own and my own know me." There is not only caring for the flock as a whole, but for the individual sheep.
One writer insists the sentence does not stop at the end of verse 14. What follows gives the measure of this knowing.
The 14th and 15th verses really form one sentence. They are not divided as we have them in our Bibles. The meaning is that He showed Himself as the good Shepherd because He knew the sheep, and they knew Him, just as He knew the Father and the Father knew Him. The knowledge that the Father and the Son have of each other is the pattern for the knowledge between the Shepherd and the sheep.
Another writer weighs that closeness against what the Jewish people knew before.
The Lord Jesus Christ wants to give us an idea of the intimacy that will exist between Himself, the Good Shepherd, and the sheep. To do it, He has to tell us of the intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son. This is far better than visiting terms: these are at home terms… What a contrast to Judaism, where there was distance.
The sheep know Him too, and one writer says this goes well past knowing a voice.
This is the highest blessing the sheep are capable of. It means entering into His own thoughts, ways, and desires — yes, the knowledge of Himself. This is how He brings us into communion with Him. We may know His voice, and be following Him, and yet have little acquaintance with His character.
Even the weakest believer can rest on the Shepherd's side of this knowing.
The feeblest believer finds no difficulty when the Son of God says, "I know my own"… We are sure that He knows us. He knows all things and all men. Deep inside, we know that He knows and loves His own… Not one of His sheep ever escapes the watchfulness of His eyes! Not one is ever forgotten for one moment by His loving heart!
- Cost. The hired man values the sheep for his wages. The Shepherd values them enough to die, and that death opens the way into this closeness.
- His knowing first. He speaks of His knowledge of the sheep before theirs of Him. That comforts anyone unsure how well they know Christ. His test is simple: do they hear His voice and follow?
- Each one. His care is not only for the flock as a whole but for the single sheep, weakness, wandering and all.
- The pattern. Verse 15 gives the measure: Shepherd and sheep know each other as the Father and the Son do. These are at home terms, not distance.
- The reach. Knowing His voice is the start. Knowing Him is the highest blessing a sheep can reach. And no sheep slips out of His sight along the way.
as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Here Jesus compares His knowledge of His own sheep to the knowledge the Father and the Son have of each other. Two questions follow: what kind of knowing does He promise ordinary people, and why does a claim about knowing end in dying?
Verses 14 and 15 belong together as a single thought, and older translations broke the link with a full stop. One writer traces the damage that punctuation did:
This mutual knowledge almost entirely disappears in the Authorised Version because of the unhappy full stop between verses 14 and 15, and the mistranslation of the earlier clause of verse 15 that follows from it.
Read as one sentence, the comparison sets the standard for the whole relationship.
Verses 14 and 15 really form one sentence. They are not divided as we have them in our Bibles. The meaning is that He showed Himself to be the good Shepherd because He knew the sheep and they knew Him, just as He knew the Father and the Father knew Him. The mutual knowledge between the Father and the Son is the pattern of the knowledge between the Shepherd and the sheep.
Can the sheep really know Christ the way the Father and the Son know each other? One writer answers by separating the measure from the character.
Of course this does not state the measure of the intimacy between the sheep and the Shepherd. They could never reach the same measure that exists between the Father and the Son. Still, it is true that the same character of intimacy is theirs with Him... By God's Word and Spirit, His grace and power and love have produced in the sheep a nature fitted by God for this wonderful privilege.
The comparison also tells us what kind of knowledge the sheep have.
From this comparison we can be sure that the knowledge of Christ's sheep here is neither uncertain nor unclear. It is the knowledge of a Person, not knowledge about Him. Knowledge about the Lord does grow over time. But knowing Him is what marks the very youngest lamb of the flock, as one who is not of the world, which does not know Him.
Another writer shows what this knowing brings, and what a believer may still lack.
This is the highest blessing the sheep are capable of, for it means entering into His own thoughts, ways and desires — yes, the knowledge of Himself. This is how we are brought into communion with Him. We may know His voice, and be following Him, and yet not be well acquainted with His character.
Jesus states the intimacy here without explaining the means. One writer looks to the letters of the New Testament for the answer.
From what the letters make clear, I can tell you how it can exist. It exists through the gift of the Holy Spirit, by the indwelling Spirit... The Lord is saying, "I am going to start something that far outshines anything known before I came. I am going to bring My sheep into this wonderful position where they may have intimate knowledge and communion with Me."
The verse ends with the Shepherd giving His life. One writer weighs the words closely:
"Lays down His life," or soul (compare Isaiah 53:10). The word for "life" here is quite different from the one in verse 10 (life in contrast with death). The following "for," as Meyer says, shows substitution, not just benefit.
Another writer sets the Shepherd beside the hired man:
The hired man cares only for his wages. The sheep are not his own, and he takes no personal interest in them... By contrast, between the Good Shepherd and His own there is a bond of the most tender intimacy... His sheep know Him, for they have received His life and nature, and in this way have been brought into communion.
Later in the chapter Jesus gives a second reason for the same act. One writer marks the difference:
He adds, "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life." Here He does not say "for the sheep." He says simply "that I may take it up again." So besides laying down His life for the sheep, He laid it down to prove His perfect confidence in His Father... It was the most complete, absolute giving up of Himself.
- Pattern — Verses 14 and 15 are one sentence. The Father and the Son know each other, and that is the model for the Shepherd and His sheep.
- Measure — The sheep never reach that measure of knowledge, but the same character of it is theirs.
- Person — This is knowing Him, not knowing facts about Him. It is not vague, and even the youngest believer has it.
- Means — One writer points to the indwelling Spirit, who gives the sheep this nearness, unknown before Christ came.
- Proof — Love proves itself in death: the hired man cares only for his pay, the Shepherd gives His life in the place of His own.