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John 10 · a question people ask

Jesus speaks of "a thief and a robber" (10:1), a stranger (10:5) and "a hired hand" (10:12). Whom does he mean?

In the text

He doesn't name them, and these notes don't either. Here are his words. "one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber" (10:1). "They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers" (10:5). "All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them" (10:8). "The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy" (10:10). "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees" (10:12). He doesn't say who the gatekeeper of 10:3 is, or the wolf of 10:12. What he does say is who he is: "I am the sheep’s door" (10:7), and "I am the good shepherd" (10:11).

From Favor's study of John 10

John 10: I am the good shepherd

When they didn't understand his parable of the sheep fold, the first thing Jesus called himself was not the shepherd but the door: "I am the sheep’s door" (10:7). Then "I am the good shepherd" (10:11), who says of his life, "I lay it down by myself", and "I have power to take it again" (10:18).

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Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions