Bible Strands
John 10:15
just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks as the good shepherd immediately after identifying himself in John 10:14 and before addressing his other sheep in John 10:16. He addresses his immediate audience within the ongoing shepherd discourse.
The words — The text uses καθὼς (kathōs), meaning "even as," to link the mutual knowledge between Jesus and the Father. It also employs γινώσκει (ginōskei), meaning "knows," to describe this reciprocal recognition.
The thread — The theme of laying down life for others parallels Paul’s description of Christ giving himself to rescue believers in Galatians 1:4. The mutual knowledge between the Father and Son echoes Jesus’ claim in Matthew 11:27.
Why it lands — The text states the Father-Son relationship and the voluntary sacrifice for the sheep before drawing any theological conclusion. Readers must acknowledge this mutual knowledge and sacrificial act as the basis for recognizing the shepherd’s authority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Cross-references
- Galatians 1:4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
- John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
- Matthew 11:27 All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
- Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
- 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- 1 John 2:2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
- Zechariah 13:7 Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
- Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- John 10:17 The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again.