Summary and conclusion
6. Unity among Christ’s servants
Augustine, compared to the perspectives named by the other early Christian exegetes, in Sermones ad Populum 46, 229N, and 285, adds a new dimension by linking John 10:16 to the unity between the “under-shepherds” appointed to pasture God’s flock on earth and to serve Christ as the heavenly Shepherd. In this way, according to Augustine, despite the many shepherds who have served on earth, one Shepherd ultimately remains: Christ. In Sermo 285, Augustine makes it clear that this view also applies to “advocates,” such as martyrs, who are also “united”
in Christ as the only Advocate. This emphasis is present exclusively in Augustine’s works and is not found in earlier exegetes.
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Development
A chronological analysis shows that in the period from the Early Church to Augustine, the sequence of the most dominant applications can be established as follows:
In the early period the focus is on the eschatological implications of the meaning of John 10:16 (especially Clement, Origen). This then shifts to a perspective emphasizing the unity of the Christian church (notably Tertullian, Cyprian, Athanasius). Then the main emphasis is placed on the significance of John 10:16 for the relationship between believers from Jews and Gentiles (notably Eusebius, Basil, Cyril). This application develops into the most common one within the whole of this study. In the latter part of the period under study, an emphasis develops on the importance of John 10:16 with regard to the extension of salvation among the nations (notably Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril).
In examining Augustine’s applications of John 10:16, it becomes clear that the church father of Hippo adopts the interpretations of the earlier exegetes. Also in his exegeses, John 10:16 is most often employed in light of the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in Christ. This theme is visible in almost all the works studied: Expositio epistulae ad Galatas, Enarrationes in Psalmos, Expositio in Romanos, De Consensu Evangelistarum, In Iohannis euangelium tractatus and in Sermones ad Populum. The second major perspective concerns the emphasis on the extension of salvation among the pagan peoples, which is visible in Enarrationes in Psalmos, In Iohannis euangelium tractatus and in Sermones ad Populum. It is noteworthy that this emphasis emerges most dominantly in the tracts (31, 47, 49, 117), while other applications emerge in them in a limited way. The interpretation with regard to the unity within the Christian church only comes to the fore in Augustine’s Sermones ad Populum and the Epistulae. In these passages the words of John 10:16 are concretely applied to current church matters, such as with regard to the Donatists (Sermones ad Populum 138, 295, 340A; Epistula 108), the Rogatists (Epistula 93), and Arius and Eunomius (Sermones ad Populum 229O). With an application of John 10:16 to the unity of the shepherds in Christ, Augustine adds a dimension relative to the earlier early Christian exegetes.
This aspect is limited exclusively to the Sermones ad Populum.
Exegetical Consistency
Although different perspectives and developments in the interpretation of John 10:16 are discernible, it is generally true that the exegesis of this biblical text is consistent. The five perspectives that unfolded between Clement of Alexandria (125-215) and Leo I (400-461) are by and large all to be found with Augustine, who thus presents himself -as far as the exegesis and application of John 10:16 is concerned- truly as a representative of the Early Church.
There is, however, an exegetical issue this calls our attention to in this context. It concerns the meaning of “this fold”. In many of the fragments studied, it is not made explicit as to what the
exact meaning that the exegete attaches to these words is. In a number of cases, however, this does emerge clearly and differences become apparent.
Basil, for example, makes a clear distinction in his works between “this fold” and the “flock of Christ”. Speaking of the believers from among the Jewish people, he says, “And God, who does them good, drives them out of the Jewish court, that they may seek refuge in the court of the sheep of Christ that it may become ‘one flock and one Shepherd’ “(Commentarius in Isaiam prophetam, PG 30, c. 174). ‘This fold’ is thus given the meaning of the Jewish people and ‘the flock’ is given the meaning of the New Testament church in which believers from Jews and Gentiles are united.
This exegesis corresponds to contemporary exegesis and, until Augustine, seems to be, though often implicitly, the general interpretation of the early Christian authors.
In the case of Augustine, however, another interpretation can also be observed. Primarily, “this fold” is given the meaning of “the physical descendants of Israel” (Sermones ad Populum, 138), or, “ancient Israel” (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 72). But careful analysis makes it clear that in In Iohannis euangelium tractatus (49), in Sermones ad Populum (138, 265), and Epistula 93, it emerges that believers from among the Gentiles will be brought to “this fold. Thus, on several occasions, “this fold” takes on the meaning of the place where Christ’s flock will be united.
Augustine says in Sermo 138 (PL 38, c. 765-766) with regard to believers from the Gentile nations,
“For they are not bodily descendants of Israel. Yet they will not remain outside this sheepfold, for it is written, ‘I must shepherd them also.’ Then there will be one flock with one shepherd.” In this quote it becomes clear that Augustine gives “this fold” a spiritual interpretation in addition to the primary meaning of Abraham’s descendants, with “this fold” being synonymous with the Christian church.
The issue of the Augustinian interpretation of ‘this fold’ has already been named in the outline of the development of the shepherd metaphor. Exegetes have concluded that the Vulgate translation, in which both ‘fold’ and ‘flock’ are rendered with ‘ovile’, would have contributed to the suggestion that ‘the Jewish fold’ is also the place of union between Jews and Gentiles in Christ, namely the church. The fact that Augustine apparently switches easily between literal and spiritual interpretations in his exegeses may confuse the modern reader. The accusation of inconsistency, for example in response to the use of “this fold” in Sermo 138, is therefore understandable to some extent, especially when contemporary exegesis is considered. In Early Christian exegesis, however, an associative way of interpreting the Bible was quite common and fully accepted across the patristic spectrum.
A careful analysis of Augustine’s entire body of work on John 10:16 makes it clear that the claim that Augustine would identify the New Testament church, as Christ’s flock, with physical Israel, or would want to put the church in her place, by an appeal to this scripture, requires rejoinder.
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Precisely in the sermon preceding Sermo 138, Augustine makes it clear with the use of John 10:16 that the believing Jews will separate from the rest of the people to be united with “the uncircumcised into one flock with one shepherd”.
“Surely the Lord came to establish the church, and to separate the Jews with right faith, right hope, and right love from the rest, as the wheat from the chaff. He wanted to make a wall of the circumcised and connect with it another wall, that of the uncircumcised. Of those two walls, which came together from different sides, He would become the cornerstone. And did not this same Lord say of these two nations that were to become one, “I have other sheep, not of this sheepfold”?
He then spoke to the Jews, saying, ‘I must bring those also, then there will be one flock with one shepherd.” (Sermo 137, PL 38, c. 757). With these words Augustine closely follows the earlier example of Basil (Commentarius in Isaiam prophetam, PG 30, c. 174).
Scholarly Relevance
An examination of the early Christian use of John 10:16 yields instructive and surprising results.
This dissertation provides the reader with an opportunity to become more deeply acquainted with the Early Church in an intensive and specific way. Because this acquaintance emerges from the exegesis of John 10:16 something of the soul of the Early Church becomes visible and it is possible to see very closely the way in which the early Christian exegetes applied Holy Scripture in preaching, biblical interpretation, and pastoral care. The relevance of the related research findings to today’s scholarship can be summarized as follows.
1. Relevance of the shepherd metaphor.
This research began by showing the relevance of the shepherd metaphor and the way this metaphor has developed. At the same time, this study shows more. Not only did the Early Church pay explicit attention to the shepherding metaphor as such, but it recognized the special significance of John 10:16 as a high point in the development of the shepherding metaphor and used precisely this text as Scriptural underpinning when discussing the major theological themes of the time.
The pastoral metaphor in a general sense and Christ’s pastoralism in particular is provided by means of John 10:16 with concrete applications in the field of ecclesiology, missiology, dogmatics, and eschatology.
2. John 10:16 as a core text in the Early Church
This study also shows that John 10:16 functioned as a core text for the Early Church. At least three reasons can be given in support of this claim. First, the relevance of John 10:16 is underscored by the number of quotations of it present in the works of early Christian authors. In this dissertation, 68 fragments have been analyzed, coming from fourteen representatives of both the Eastern and Western churches from the 2nd to the 5th centuries. This frequent representation by leading early Christian exegetes emphasizes the importance that the Early Church attributed to John 10:16.
Second, the relevance of John 10:16 emerges in the exegetical perspectives that it illuminates in response to this biblical text. In unfolding these perspectives, all of which can be traced back to the main theme of “unity,” the Early Church builds, as it were, on the development of the pastoral metaphor as present in Scripture and applies Christ’s pastoral action in response to John 10:16 to important themes facing the early Christian church.
a. First, the ecclesiological relevance of John 10:16 becomes clear when this scripture is given a crucial role in the scriptural interpretation of the relationship between believers from Jews and Gentiles, who are one in the Shepherd Christ. In line with this, the words of John 10:16 are emphatically used to emphasize the great importance of church unity. In the midst of a growing Christian community that is becoming increasingly multiethnic and multicultural, striving for dogmatic purity and fighting heresies, early Christian exegesis points to John 10:16 and thus points to the ecclesiological importance of this text. After all, the unity of Christ’s flock should be visible in the Christian church here on earth. This ecclesiological relevance is also evident in Augustine’s exegesis which employs this scripture to emphasize the unity between servants in Christ.
b. The interpretation of this verse also constitutes an important early Christian window into the mystery that Christ also possesses sheep from the Gentiles who will also hear His voice and be led into the same fold. By doing so, the Early Church emphasizes the missiological relevance of the shepherd metaphor and of John 10:16 in particular.
c. Third, with the perspective of Christ’s ownership on the basis of John 10:16, the Early Church makes a direct connection between the shepherd metaphor and the dogmatic theme of predestination. The notion of Christ’s ownership of His sheep plays an important role here.
d. Fourth, the Early Church connects John 10:16 to extemporaneous themes in several ways that underscore the eschatological relevance of this text in the Early Church. The Early Church shows that Christ’s pastorship is not limited to the earthly, but has just as much implication with regard to the future.
The aforementioned ecclesiological, missiological, dogmatic, and eschatological relevance of John 10:16, and the way in which this text is connected by the Early Church to the previously mentioned important early Christian themes, makes it clear that John 10:16 was of great significance in the early church.
Thirdly, the importance and especially the prominence of John 10:16 is revealed in the partial citation of this biblical text. Of the 68 quotations examined, there are 54 instances of partial quotation. In the case of Augustine, even in 26 of the thirty quotations analyzed, there is no complete quotation. In 17 cases, there seems to be some exegesis, when for no apparent reason the words “and they will hear My voice” are missing. In addition, the (partial) quotation of John
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10:16 is done in the great majority of cases without any form of introduction or further explanation of the text. These discoveries make it plausible that John 10:16 was assumed to be known by early Christian authors. Indeed, such familiarity is an important condition for not introducing or specifically interpreting the text and allows for partial quotation of the text without detracting from its intended meaning. In a sense, the quoting of John 10:16 tends to sound like a refrain, assuming familiarity with the text among hearers and readers by the early Christian authors.
3. Exegetical Development
The exegetical development of John 10:16 uncovered through this study provides a special window into developments in the Early Church. From an initial dominance of eschatological implications, the exegetical perspective shifts to unity within the Christian congregation and the relationship between believers from Jews and Gentiles, to end in the 5th century with the importance of John 10:16 in light of the expansion of salvation among nations. Augustine emerges in this study as a representative of the early Christian period by having the previously present perspectives all return in his exegesis, with the addition of a view that focuses on the unity of church servants in Christ. In a general sense, the exegetical development demonstrated reflects the whole of the development of the Early Church. Broadly speaking, the focus seems to broaden from local issues (unity within the Christian congregation, relationship between believers from Jews and Gentiles) to a universal perspective emphasizing the extension of salvation to the Gentiles.
Further Research
Every study raises follow-up questions. This research has provided insight into the major themes to which John 10:16 is associated in the Early Church. These themes are highlighted and offered from the exegesis of John 10:16. Further patristic examination of the perspectives identified in this study could compare the exegetical functioning of Jn 10:16 with the role of other Scriptures that relate to these themes. In this way, Scripture is zoomed in again from the thematic perspective and the specific role of John 10:16 in relation to other Scriptures becomes apparent. For this purpose, in a more global study, the same temporal delineation as in this study could be used;
a more specific delineation at the level of one or more exegetes, for example, might provide an even more detailed picture.
Because of the limited scope of this study, the examination of the fragments has been provided with both content and textual interpretation. A comprehensive contextual interpretation has been deliberately omitted. However, the results presented in this dissertation call for careful follow-up research that further examines the context of the John 10:16 fragments. This should include not only a careful examination of the origins and functioning of the source document, but also attention to the historical context of the fragment. In this way the early Christian function of John 10:16 can be illuminated from different perspectives so that the special role of this text in the Early Church can be better understood.
In light of the early Christian use of John 10:16, further research into how the Early Church applied other supporting biblical texts within the development of the shepherd metaphor could be relevant.
In this way, insight can be gained into what the precise exegetical function of John 10:16 was in relation to other biblical texts in the Early Church and the extent to which the perspectives that become visible in the deployment of John 10:16 correspond to the perspectives that are illuminated in the exegesis of other texts.
A fourth suggestion concerns follow-up research on the broader use of Scripture in the Early Church. As has been shown, John 10:16 is often rendered in a fragmentary way, suggesting by the manner of its citation that this text was assumed to be known. Is something similar apparent with other passages, and to what extent does the use of John 10:16 deviate from this?
Topical relevance
In the first place, this dissertation proves the value of a study in which the exegesis of a portion of Scripture is the starting point and the researcher looks over the shoulder of the early Christian exegetes, as it were, at the way John 10:16 is interpreted and applied. In this way, the object of study - the Early Church - itself gets to speak and has the opportunity to introduce itself to the 21st -century reader. The researcher, on the other hand, connects the Scriptural interpretation to the important themes that have emerged through earlier patristic research. Whereas many patristic studies begin with themes and eventually end up with exegesis, this more original method can provide new perspectives that can contribute to a better understanding of the Early Church.
Second, this research shows that with the help of the right methodology, a careful analysis of the collected fragments can be made, revealing developments in the use of a passage. It goes without saying that this research design does not only lend itself to John 10:16, but is much more widely applicable. Here patristic theology can make gains in making the exegetical development of other passages insightful and accessible.
A third way in which this research is relevant to today’s theological world concerns the connection between the development of the shepherd metaphor up to and including the New Testament, and the way in which the Early Church deals with it (relatively) a short time later and applies it concretely to the major themes of the time. The research results make clear that the importance of the shepherd metaphor, and of John 10:16 in particular, is also made visible by the Early Church.
This not only underscores the relevance of the shepherd metaphor to the church today, but also provides opportunities for studies of other themes or metaphors that develop throughout the Old and New Testaments and are applied by the Early Church.
The relevance of this dissertation to the Dutch church community, in the author’s opinion, lies most in the interaction between Scripture and practice. In this study, it becomes clear that John
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10:16 is employed by the Early Christian authors in connection with highly relevant but equally complex issues of the church at that time. In doing so, the Early Church demonstrates the ways in which the shepherd metaphor functions. This presents the church of today with the question of what the shepherd metaphor has to say in a general sense, and of Christ’s shepherdship in particular. Also, in the church today, the theme of unity occupies an important place. The Early Church, as made evident in this dissertation, shows us something of the way she dealt with it and through which applications the pastoral metaphor proved relevant to her. Following the example of early Christian exegetes, renewed attention for the pastoral metaphor can lead to a better understanding of the self-consciousness of the church, in the ecclesiological, missiological, dogmatic and eschatological fields.
In doing so, time and again the fragments use Bible quotations as foundations and underlining for all kinds of positions and opinions. This not only gives insight into the nature of the issues of the Early Church, but above all it shows something of the authority and value that the Early Church attached to John 10:16. It presents the church community of today with the question of how it deals with its issues and what role Scripture has in grounding and accentuating them in exegesis, preaching, and pastoral care.
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