10:26
“But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep”. Earlier Jesus had said that His sheep hear and recognise His voice. Here the converse is stated. Those who are not His sheep do not believe. This can be looked at in two ways. From a Calvinistic stance there is a strong predestination aspect to this. From an Armenian stance one would be more inclined to say that the hardness of heart of the religious leaders meant they were not among Jesus’ sheep and so they did not believe. As I have said before, and will continue to say time and time again, the Bible teaches both the absolute sovereignty of God and human responsibility. If any of the religious leaders had repented (and it would seem from Acts that some did) then they would be gladly received into the kingdom. I believe in predestination, in fact we have no choice if we claim to believe the Bible, but predestination is not fatalism.
10:27
The contrast between those who are Christ’s sheep and those who are not is that His sheep do hear His voice and they follow Him. And also that Christ knows them. The crucial point in all this is that knowing Jesus, listening to Him and following Him is the key to everything. The religious leaders had made the Law the focus, if we make anything other than Christ Himself the focus then we are badly mistaken.
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