Introduction
Identifying the second "fold" of Sheep Jesus refers to in John 10:16
John 10:16
And I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must also bring these, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock, one Shepherd.
There have been various explanations from many different camps of people as to who the "other" fold of sheep are here. Some Muslims I have spoken with have identified themselves as these "sheep", being the nation of Islam and/or nation of Muslim's, others such as Mormon's(LDS), have claimed Jesus after his ressurection payed a visit to America and established another Testament and cite John 10:16 a proof text. The purpose of this article is to properly identify who this second fold of sheep are by looking into the immediate and neighbouring context and provide a sound exegesis of the Scripture.
What Not To Do!
An eisogetical approach to this verse(and any other verse in the Bible for that matter) is unacceptable and untenable. Any truth seeker will understand we must let the Bible provide the correct biblical hermeneutic, we must exhibt integrity and honesty and leave our traditional understandings behind and stop our emotions from taking over. We cannot accept any hocus pocus wild claimants out there, rather than the Holy Bible, God's revelation to man. Let's say a person, hmm *Joe Bloggs*, received a(so-called) "revelation" from a "deity", Joe says: "ah yes God said to me the sheep in John 10:16 are referring to the Chinese Blonde Africans ".. yeah ah huh sure God said that man! Some of you maybe thinking: "my position doesn't sound that bad, its actually quite reasonable!" well I have news for you! you're position would sound like lunacy to Jesus and his Disciples. Why is this? This is because if you isolate a quote of Jesus, totally remove it from the context of his sermon/teaching and over-all message, reassert the quote in a completely different manner and context hundreds of years after the sermon took place, then started redefining words, such as: "the sheep is actually such and such.." and there by, you have changed its intended meaning and fabricated an alien interpretation! the result is a complete misapplication from what Jesus actually said! and hence the sheep could really infact be Blonde African Chinese, using that logic. This example, and other similar claims show an utter misusage of the words of Jesus and a misrepresentation of his message and obviously this cannot be taken seriously by anyone, I trust the example was sufficent in demonstrating that.
Now lets provide a Scriptural Understanding Then!( *I like* ~ Plagerized quote from Blondee_Gyrl)
Who are the First-Fold of Sheep?
Before we identify the second fold of Sheep, lets establish scripturally who are the First-Fold!
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:21-28 ESV
The Markan Account:
And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children be FED FIRST, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Mark 7:24-30 ESV
[Side note: For those of you thinking Jesus is being racist and insulting the Gentile Woman here, please click here and learn better =) ]
Jesus made a clear unambigous statement here: "I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". And also in his mini-parable: "Let the children be fed first", This enlightens us as to who the first-fold of sheep were, those being the Sheep of Israel that had wandered and therefore were lost. Jesus illustrates this point about his mission being for the sheep, 'the lost sinners' infront of the Pharisees:
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:1-7 ESV
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard it, he said, "THOSE WHO ARE WELL HAVE NO NEED OF A PHYSICIAN, BUT THOSE WHO ARE SICK. GO AND LEARN WHAT THIS MEANS, 'I DESIRE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE.' FOR I CAME NOT TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS." Matthew 9:9-13 ESV
And:
And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost". Luke 19:9-10 ESV
Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains. John 9:39-41
Jesus was clearly not calling the Pharisees to repent in any of these instances. Jesus pointed out that his ministry was not for them as they considered themselves "well" and "righteous" and "able to see" but he came for the lost, those Jews who were lost and in sin, those blind, thats why he spent time with the sinners, and thats why these Pharisees could never understand Jesus teaching, because of there pride in thinking they were righteous while others were sinners(John 9:34), Jesus came for those sinners who were lost. Therefore we can understand the 'lost sheep of the house of Israel' is not inclusive of every single Jew but rather those Jews(as opposed to the Pharisees) who are lost in there sin that will at some stage in there life-time repent and believe in Jesus.
Further demonstrating this point:
Then the Jews encircled Him, and said to Him, Until when do You lift up our soul? If You are the Christ, tell us publicly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you did not believe. The works which I do in the name of My Father, these bear witness about Me. But you do not believe FOR YOU ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP, as I said to you. My SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them, and THEY FOLLOW ME. John 10:24-27 LITV
Thus the identity of the first-fold is established scripturally, the sheep are those Israelites who were lost in sin, who on hearing the message of Christ did indeed follow him and Christ preserved them(John 17:12), this is not inclusive of All Jews as pointed out above!
Jesus main public and earthly ministry was devoted to the Lost Sheep of Israel, even instructing his disciples to do the same:
And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 10:1-6 ESV
Who are the Other(Second)-Fold of Sheep in John 10:16 then?
Details about John 10:16 become clear in the next chapter:
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die FOR THE NATION, and NOT FOR THE NATION ONLY, but also TO GATHER INTO ONE the children of God who are SCATTERD ABROAD. John 11:47-52 ESV
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have OTHER SHEEP that are not of THIS FOLD. I must BRING THEM ALSO, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be ONE FLOCK, ONE SHEPHERD. John 10:14-16 ESV
Note the Parallel:
a) that Jesus would die FOR THE NATION
b) and I lay down my life for the sheep
c) NOT FOR THE NATION ONLY
d) I have OTHER SHEEP that are not of THIS FOLD
e) also TO GATHER INTO ONE the children of God scattered
f) I must BRING THEM ALSO So there will be ONE FLOCK, ONE SHEPHERD
This second fold of sheep is identifed as the Believers, the Children of God, scattered over the earth as opposed to First-Fold of Jewish Believers. After Jesus bodily ressurection he instituted the great commission to his disciples for these exact people!
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to ALL NATIONS, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24:45-48
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
In the scripture Jews and Gentiles are identified as being one chuch, being of one body in Messiah, and Gentiles are identifed as joining the flock of Israel:
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been BROUGHT NEAR by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in ONE BODY through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were FAR OFF and peace to those who WERE NEAR. For through him we both have access in ONE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER. So then YOU ARE NO LONGER STRANGERS and aliens, but you are FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE SAINTS AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF OF GOD Ephesians 2:11-19 ESV
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy... He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:9-10; 24-25 ESV
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither JEW NOR GREEK, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Galations 3:26-29 ESV
