Lesson 31: John 10:22–42 – I and My Father are One
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—
36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.
This part of the chapter must be understood as completing Jesus’ statement: He is the Good Shepherd. The Feast of Dedication was a time of remembering when God had protected Israel in a very special way, and the people had rededicated themselves to God as a nation. Jesus was telling the people His job as the Good Shepherd meant He would care for them forever. With this promise, He was saying He was God. Of course the religious leaders became furious and even tried to kill Him – see verse 31. But it was not yet God’s time; He had given them the Feast of the Passover as a picture of the sacrifice for sin Jesus would complete in just a few months.
The last part of this chapter is one of the strongest statements Jesus ever made about His identity – He is God! He told them again: if they didn’t want to believe just what He said, they had only to look at His works as proof of His claim to be God. (This concludes part one of the study of John.)
*Why do you think it is so hard for people today to accept Jesus as God?
We invite you to continue with part two.
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—
36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.
This part of the chapter must be understood as completing Jesus’ statement: He is the Good Shepherd. The Feast of Dedication was a time of remembering when God had protected Israel in a very special way, and the people had rededicated themselves to God as a nation. Jesus was telling the people His job as the Good Shepherd meant He would care for them forever. With this promise, He was saying He was God. Of course the religious leaders became furious and even tried to kill Him – see verse 31. But it was not yet God’s time; He had given them the Feast of the Passover as a picture of the sacrifice for sin Jesus would complete in just a few months.
The last part of this chapter is one of the strongest statements Jesus ever made about His identity – He is God! He told them again: if they didn’t want to believe just what He said, they had only to look at His works as proof of His claim to be God. (This concludes part one of the study of John.)
*Why do you think it is so hard for people today to accept Jesus as God?
We invite you to continue with part two.