The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 19 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
10:25-11:10
[10:25] Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, these bear witness of me.
[10:26] But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.
[10:27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
[10:28] and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
[10:29] My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
[10:30] I and the Father are one.
[10:31] The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
[10:32] Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
[10:33] The Jews answered him, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
[10:34] Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
[10:35] If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken),
[10:36] say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
[10:37] If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
[10:38] But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.
[10:39] They sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand.
[10:40] And he went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at the first baptizing; and there he abode.
[10:41] And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true.
[10:42] And many believed on him there.
[11:1] Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
[11:2] And it was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
[11:3] The sisters therefore sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
[11:4] But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby.
[11:5] Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
[11:6] When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was.
[11:7] Then after this he saith to the disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
[11:8] The disciples say unto him, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
[11:9] Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
[11:10] But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Jesus declares that Lazarus's sickness is 'not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby' (11:4), asserting that the divine actively orders even suffering toward intelligible cosmic ends.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage presents a clear hierarchical flow: the Father gives the sheep to Jesus, who in turn gives them eternal life, establishing a cascading divine structure from the Father through the Son to the elect.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Jesus calls for direct knowing and understanding ('that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father') through the works rather than mere faith or ritual observance.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The passage centers on the tension of the divine taking bounded human form: 'being a man, makest thyself God' (10:33) and 'whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world' (10:36) describe a specific descent of the divine into corporeal existence.
The strong and holy generation that no star, angel, or ruler can govern — the elect of Sethian soteriology whose souls survive death and ascend, the 'seed' promised the kingdom; in the Gospel of Judas the central soteriological claim, and the fate Judas is told he is excluded from ('you'll become the thirteenth, and will be cursed by the other generations'). Distinct from pneumatic_elect (a classification of persons by spiritual substance) in being a corporate, trans-historical people with a cosmic destiny.
The declaration that the sheep 'shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand' (10:28-29) describes a generation immune to all external powers of destruction or governance.
The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
The metaphor in 11:9-10 distinguishes those who 'seeth the light of this world' from those in whom 'the light is not in him,' presenting an inner luminous quality as the condition of spiritual perception.
Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.
Jesus's love for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (11:5) and his willingness to return to Judea despite danger to heal the sick express active compassionate care as an expression of divine love.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The declarations 'I and the Father are one' (10:30) and 'the Father is in me, and I in the Father' (10:38) express the merging of the Son's identity with the Father's as a statement of ontological union.
The phenomenon where spiritual messengers or healers are rejected by their own community due to familiarity or lack of awe.
The passage depicts Jesus being stoned and sought after by the Jews despite his works and testimony, a clear instance of the spiritual messenger being rejected by his own community.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The works are done 'in my Father's name' (10:25), implying that the name carries ontological authority and power that authenticates the works performed under it.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The citation of 'I said, Ye are gods' (10:34) references the deification of humans as partakers of divine nature, which Jesus uses to defend his own claim to divinity.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The declarations 'I and the Father are one' (10:30) and 'the Father is in me, and I in the Father' (10:38) assert the ultimate oneness of divine reality, collapsing the distinction between Father and Son into a single substance.