Study Questions

1. Read John 9:35–41 and John 10:1–6 together. If the chapter division weren’t there, what connections would you naturally make between the confrontation with the Pharisees and Jesus’ picture of shepherds, sheep, strangers, thieves, and robbers? 

2. In John 10:3–5, the sheep both recognize the shepherd and refuse to follow strangers. Why do you think Jesus describes discipleship in terms of both following the right voice and rejecting other voices? What makes a competing voice spiritually dangerous even when it sounds reasonable?

3. Compare John 10:1–6 with Ezekiel 34:1–16. What similarities do you see between Jesus’ criticism of Israel’s leaders and God’s criticism of the shepherds in Ezekiel? What does Jesus calling Himself the Good Shepherd imply about who He is?

4. Jesus says, “I am the door” in John 10:7–10. How can Jesus be both our Good Shepherd and the door at the same time? 

5. Jesus promises “abundant life” in John 10:10, yet the passage still contains wolves, thieves, danger, and sacrifice. How does the context itself help define what “abundant life” can—and cannot—mean? How could this reshape our expectations of following Christ?

6. Read John 10:11–13. What does danger reveal about the difference between a shepherd and a hired hand? More broadly, what tends to reveal what we ourselves actually love when following Jesus becomes costly?

7. Read John 10:14–15. Jesus says that He knows His sheep. What is the difference between believing that God is aware of you and believing that Christ actually knows you? How might being fully known by Jesus affect shame, secrecy, fear, or the way you pray?

8. Read John 10:16. Jesus says there will be “one flock, one shepherd.” What barriers do human beings tend to build that Jesus does not recognize as boundaries of His flock? What implications should this have for evangelism, church community, or the way Christians view people who are very different from them?

9. Read John 10:11, 17–18 together with 1 Peter 2:24–25. Peter connects Jesus bearing our sins with wandering sheep returning to their Shepherd. What does that connection tell us about what Jesus had to do in order to bring wandering sheep home? If Christ really “bore our sins,” what is the appropriate response to guilt after we have repented—and what responses might actually deny what He accomplished?

10. Now reread John 10:1–18 as a whole. Imagine someone genuinely believed every claim Jesus makes here: He knows me, calls me, goes before me, saves me, guards me, lays down His life for me, and will not abandon me. What parts of a person’s ordinary life should begin to look different? Where in your own life are you most tempted to live as though you have no Shepherd?