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WHAT DOES JOHN 10:26 TRULY MEAN?
Here is John 10:26 from the King James Version of the Bible. I have changed the Old English word “ye” to the modern English “you”. And I have emphasized the word “BECAUSE” and the word “NOT” in order to show how some Christians use this verse to try and support what they believe.
John 10:26 from the King James Version of the Bible.
“But you believe not, BECAUSE you are NOT of my sheep, as I said unto you.”
So then, when you emphasize these two words it makes it SEEM like there can be no other possible interpretation of this verse. And when you read this verse with a presupposed belief in a church doctrine, then it seems almost impossible for this verse to mean anything else than what your church denominational doctrine dogmatically demands that it MUST mean.
Therefore, Calvinist Christians along with Reformed Theology Christians and even salvation for Israel only Christians use John 10:26 to try and support their belief that God chose ONLY certain people to be saved. And according to their interpretation of the scriptures, if you are not one of those so-called chosen people to be saved before the foundation of the world, then it is impossible for you to be saved.
So then, this study in God’s word is to learn the TRUE meaning of this verse by taking a CLOSER look at this verse in its context. You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, almost every verse in the Bible can have more than just one single interpretation. Even some of the verses that SEEM like a statement of fact with absolutely no interpretation needed can sometimes have another interpretation that may have been overlooked.
So what I would like to do is for you, the reader and seeker of the truth, to have three tables. I use the word table as an analogy for laying all your “cards on the table”. This is an expression that is used to be upfront and honest with God, yourself, and others. So, what I mean by this is to put all the verses that you use to support what you believe on ONE table. A table could be a literal table or a file draws or a column on a piece of paper having three columns. Simply list all these verses that support what you believe in one column.
Then on ANOTHER table or column, I want you to place all the verses used by others that SEEM to contradict what you believe and teach. The third table or column will be empty or blank for the moment when you first begin with an honest and open-minded examination of what you have come to believe. The third table will be used to hold all the verses that can NO LONGER be used as ironclad positively undeniable proof to YOU that seem to support what you have come to believe and teach to be Biblical.
Now, instead of trying to explain away what OTHERS believe and teach we are going to be open and honest with ourselves to seek ONLY what the Bible itself teaches. And in order to do this, it may be necessary to revisit the verses that we use to support our OWN church denominational teaching.
And in this case, since John 10:26 is used to try to prove PREDESTINATION in the way that Reformed Theology Christians teach, then I want all my Reformed or Calvinist brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ to do your best to NOT read into John 10:26 your own predetermine belief.
Let us read John 10:26 in the immediate close context which is just a few verses before and after the verse in question. The verse in question is the verse you desire to know the true meaning according to what the rest of the Bible teaches us IN SIMPLICITY. If the gospel is not taught in simplicity then it may very well be ANOTHER gospel that the Apostles of Jesus Christ did NOT teach.
Please read 2 Corinthians 11:3,4.
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is IN Christ.
4. For if he that comes preaching ANOTHER Jesus, (That did NOT die on the cross for the sins of the WHOLE world) whom WE have NOT preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or ANOTHER gospel, (Where God predestined certain specific people to be lost and there is nothing that they can do to be saved) which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.”
Let us now read the immediate CONTEXT of John 10:26 by reading John 10:24-26.
John 10:24-26.
“Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long do you make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us plainly. (So then, the subject under discussion is that the Jews want for Jesus to simply come straight out and tell them plainly if he is the Christ or if he is not the Christ)
25. Jesus answered them, I TOLD YOU, (Meaning that Jesus is saying, I have ALREADY told them the ANSWER to their question) and YOU believed not: the WORKS that I do in my Father's name, (Speaking of the mighty works of healing that no man could do EXCEPT that he be sent by Almighty God and God was with him) they bear witness of me. (So then, from the answer that Jesus gives we can conclude, that at some previous point in time, Jesus told them that he is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the ANOINTED by God, the one prophesied to come.)
26. But you believe not, BECAUSE you are NOT of my sheep, as I said unto you.”
Now, the way that verse 26 has been TRANSLATED from the original Greek text, it certainly seems like the REASON of WHY these Jews do NOT BELIEVE is BECAUSE they are NOT of his SHEEP. And the salvation for Israel ONLY Christians INTERPRET this verse to mean that the only SHEEP that can be saved are the children of ISRAEL. They have wrongly concluded that the JEWS are NOT the lost sheep of ISRAEL and thus Jesus only has ONE FOLD of SHEEP and that one fold of sheep is the house of Israel.
But when we widen the CONTEXT of verse 26 we can see that in John 10:16 that Jesus has ANOTHER FOLD of sheep who will indeed HEAR his voice.
Please read John 10:16.
“And OTHER sheep I have, which are NOT of THIS FOLD:(Referring to the JEWS to whom Jesus was presently speaking) THEM ALSO I must bring, and THEY SHALL hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
So then, from just this one verse we can clearly see that the salvation for Israel ONLY Christians have ERRED in their INTERPRETATION of the scriptures by not truly considering ALL the verses in the Bible. But what about the Calvinist or Reformed Theology interpretation of verse 26? Does not John 10:26 state as a FACT that the reason these certain Jews did NOT BELIEVE is that they are NOT the CHOSEN sheep before the foundation of the world to believe and be saved?
Think this through for yourself. SOME of the Jews BELIEVED and SOME of the Jews did NOT believe. That was one fold of sheep. And Jesus said in verse 16 that he has ANOTHER fold of sheep that are NOT the JEWS. And in the same verse, Jesus said that they SHALL HEAR his voice meaning that THEY SHALL BELIEVE. Now we know that the other fold of sheep is speaking of the Gentiles. But do ALL the Gentiles BELIEVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ even though Jesus said that they SHALL HEAR his voice? NO! Not every single Gentile believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So the, WHY do not ALL the Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah? And WHY do not ALL Gentiles believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Is it because God specifically chose certain individual people to NOT BELIEVE? Or is there ANOTHER reason? Could it POSSIBLY be that some people do NOT BELIEVE because they themselves simply CHOSE NOT to BELIEVE?
Please consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:13,14 where Jesus is teaching us to CHOOSE the RIGHT WAY. I implore you to take the time and read the whole context later by reading the entire chapter of Matthew 7 but for now, these two verses may suffice to make my point.
Matthew 7:13,14.
“Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (So then, there are TWO different gates set before all of mankind. And Jesus is teaching us to CHOOSE the straight and narrow gate that will LEAD us to eternal life IF SO BE that we remain, unto the end, in the right WAY that leads to eternal life)
14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which LEADS UNTO life, and few there be that FIND it.”
And when you read the CONTEXT of these two verses Jesus is teaching us about the CHOICES we make. And if we make the WRONG choice to bear bad fruit of unrighteousness, then we will be cut down and cast into the lake of fire on the Day of Judgment. Eternal life is something that we SEEK and hope to OBTAIN in the world to come.
Now let us come back to John 10:26 and CONSIDER the possibility that it is a poor inaccurate TRANSLATION of the original Greek text. We have two possibilities.
Possibility #1.
The translators got the order of the English word wrong and verse 26 should have read as follows.
“But BECAUSE you BELIEVE NOT you are NOT my sheep, as I have said (Meaning as I have told you before when I said that I am the ANOINTED one of God prophesied in Isaiah 61:1,2 at the very beginning of my ministry saying to you that this scripture is FULFILLED in your ears).”
Possibility #2.
The Greek word TRANSLATED as “BECAUSE” was mistranslated as an honest mistake due to what the translator was TAUGHT to believe. So it was an honest but still yet BIASED translation. And, therefore, it should have been correctly translated as the word “THEREFORE” instead of “because”. Please consider this translation that AGREES with the entire Bible having no contradictions with any scriptures.
John 10:26.
“BUT you believe not, THEREFORE you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.”
In other words, BECAUSE you do NOT BELIEVE, THEREFORE, or for this very reason of your UNBELIEF, you are NOT SAVED. Do you not remember that I already told you this before? I said you would not be saved UNLESS you believe in the Son of God. Please read John 3:16-18 where Jesus is basically saying that if we do NOT BELIEVE that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then we shall REMAIN in our sins being condemned already to the second death BECAUSE we have NOT BELIEVED.
John 3:16-18.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, THAT (Or so that) WHOSOEVER BELIEVES in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17. For (Or BECAUSE) God sent NOT his Son into the world to CONDEMN the world; but that the world through him MIGHT be saved.
18. He (Of WHOSOEVER of ANY person in the whole world) that BELIEVES on him is NOT condemned: (That is ONE CHOICE and the CHOICE that God DESIRE that we make) BUT he that believes NOT is condemned already, BECAUSE he has NOT BELIEVED in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
And that is the SECOND CHOICE that God does NOT DESIRE that ANY person to make because it is God’s WILL and desire that ALL men be saved according to the SIMPLICITY of the gospel found in 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:4.
Now, the INTERPRETATION that we just read in this study in God’s word concerning John 10:26, as other POSSIBLE TRANSLATIONS of John 10:26 AGREE PERFECTLY with John 3:16-18. So, now you have a CHOICE to make, you can either take John 10:26 OFF your table of the verses that you use to try and support your belief in Calvinism or Reformed Theology or not? In other words, you can CHOOSE to place John 10:26 on table number three as a verse that you can NO LONG USE to try and prove that Calvinism is the only sound Biblical option. Or you can CHOOSE to continue to try and explain away John 3:16-18 by redefining words to fit your INTERPRETATIONS of the scriptures. But that would require you to have your own FREE WILL to make either of these TWO CHOICES.
Please consider the OTHER side of this highly controversial subject. You see, all you need to do is to PLUG IN your theology of ONLY the ELECT being saves into John 3:1-18 and see if it COMPUTES logically in your mind. Here is how a NON-Calvinist Christian sees the Reformed Theology or Calvinistic interpretation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being INTENDED ONLY for the ELECT.
Calvinistic paraphrased thought for thought translation of John 3:16-18.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever of the ELECT CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD TO BE SAVE WHO BELIEVE in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the ELECT OF THE world; but that the ELECT OF THE world through him MIGHT be saved.
18 He OF WHOSOEVER OF THE ELECT CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD that BELIEVES on him is not condemned: BUT he OF WHOSOEVER OF THE ELECT CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD that BELIEVES NOT is condemned already, BECAUSE he OF WHOSOEVER OF THE ELECT CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD has NOT BELIEVED in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Now according to Calvinism, it is IMPOSSIBLE for one of the ELECT to NOT BELIEVE. And according to Calvinism, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is INTENDED for ONLY the ELECT seeing that ONLY the ELECT can possibly BELIEVE. So by the Predeterminism Theology redefining the word “WHOSOEVER” to mean “ONLY the ELECT” does NOT COMPUTE when applied to scripture. You see, when that “Calvinistic” meaning of “ONLY the ELECT” is plugged into John 3:16-18 where Jesus is clearly teaching us IN SIMPLICITY that the ELECT have TWO CHOICES from which to choose of their own free will. The ELECT can either CHOOSE to BELIEVE. Or the ELECT can CHOOSE to NOT believe. And the eternal life of the ELECT depends on which CHOICE that the ELECT makes of the ELECT person’s own free will.
The NEXT VERSE we will study is 1 Peter 2:8 in the study called “WHAT DOES 1 PETER 2:8 TRULY MEAN?”
Thanks for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God.
And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus.
Once Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even atheists understand the REASON that Yahweh CREATED the Son of MAN, Jesus, was to have DOMINION over the work of Yahweh’s hands.
And after you understand that the REASON that Yahweh did that is to STILL His ENEMIES, Satan and the fallen angels.
Then you can understand that God made His human Son to become “a” Lord, “a” King, and “a” God, under and subject to his God and Father in order to JUDGE Satan and the fallen angels.
For a deeper understanding of this WAR that Lucifer and one third of the angels waged against the throne of Almighty God, please read the studies under the subject category called ** Q-0 Why Are We Here? Is God at WAR? **.
More studies are coming in this SHORTER Biblical Unitarian view of who Jesus is according to the WHOLE word of God.
If you have a PARTICULAR verse of Scripture that you would like to know the sound Biblical Unitarian meaning, then please email me at MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail.com and let me know.
For further and more in-depth studies on this subject of Jesus being created to STILL the enemies of Yahweh, please read the studies called D-25. A NEW LOOK at JOHN 1:1, In the BEGINNING!
And also read the study called D-28. The PRE-ADAMIC LUCIFERIAN FLOOD!
At the top of my homepage, there are subjects or categories which contain compiled lists of ** ALL Studies! ** I have written on that particular subject. So, if a link within a study is broken, then click on ** ALL Studies! ** to find the suggested study.
Or you can scroll down to the MORE dropdown menu list to find those studies as well.
Thanks again for reading, and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of Almighty God.
And to me, the truth concerning who Jesus TRULY is, according to the Bible ITSELF, is the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus.
And again, for ALL of the studies on the Biblical Unitarian view of Jesus, please click on the subject heading ** D-0 The BIBLICAL UNITARIAN VIEW of Jesus! **
And for the SUBJECT on the true foundation of the church, please click on the subject heading ** C-0 The TRUE FOUNDATION of the Church! **
This way you can just send ONE link to those who you want to share the TRUE sound Biblical FOUNDATIONAL teachings of the church that Jesus and his Apostles taught in the first century church.
Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Brother Mark.
My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century.
So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament.
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