| 27. Oves meae vocem meam audiunt: et ego cognosco eas, et sequntur me: | 27. My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me. |
27. We prefer to understand the sheep here, as in verse 14, not of the just merely, nor of the elect only, but, with A Lap., of all the faithful. All the faithful hear Christ, so as to believe, and in this they are contrasted with those addressed in the preceding verse, who believe not; and all too follow [pg 187] Christ so as to imitate His example, as far as lies in Him.
| 28. Et ego vitam aeternam do eis: et non peribunt in aeternum, et non rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea. | 28. And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. |
28. In the same sense He gives them life eternal, and they shall not perish, and (= for) no one can snatch them from His hand. As far as their salvation depends upon Him, they shall be saved; they may indeed fail to correspond with His grace, but they shall not perish through His fault. They may desert Him themselves, but no one shall snatch them from Him.
| 29. Pater meus quod dedit mihi, maius omnibus est: et nemo potest rapere de manu Patris mei. | 29. That which my Father hath given me is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. |
| 30. Ego et Pater unum sumus. | 30. I and the Father are one. |
29, 30. He proves that no one shall snatch them from Him. No one shall snatch them from the Father (who is greater and more powerful than all). But I and the Father are one in nature and power; therefore no one shall snatch them from Me. This is the argument in the more probable Greek reading, and is more natural than that afforded by the Vulgate. We would read then instead of the present Vulgate text in verse 29: “Pater meus qui dedit mihi major omnibus est,” &c.[74] Note that the unity with the Father to which Christ here lays claim is not a moral union, but a unity of nature and power, else the proof of His statement that no one could snatch His sheep from His hands would not be valid.
| 31. Sustulerunt ergo lapides Iudaei, ut lapidarent eum. | 31. The Jews then took up stones to stone him. |
31. See above on [viii. 59].
| 32. Respondit eis Iesus: Multa bona opera ostendi vobis ex Patre meo, propter quod eorum opus me lapidatis? | 32. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? |
32. For which of those works do you stone me? i.e., wish to stone Me.[75]