# John 10.17-18 **Book:** [John](/codex/john-the-apostle/) · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT ## Verse **ASV:** > 17. Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father. (John 10:17-18, ASV) **WEB:** > 17. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.” (John 10:17-18, WEB) **KJV:** > 17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10:17-18, KJV) **YLT:** > 17. 'Because of this doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that again I may take it; 18. no one doth take it from me, but I lay it down of myself; authority I have to lay it down, and authority I have again to take it; this command I received from my Father.' (John 10:17-18, YLT) ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV:** > 15. even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice: and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. 17. Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father. 19. There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words. 20. And many of them said, He hath a demon, and is mad; why hear ye him? (John 10:15-20, ASV) **WEB:** > 15. even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. 17. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.” 19. Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words. 20. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?” (John 10:15-20, WEB) **KJV:** > 15. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 19. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. 20. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? (John 10:15-20, KJV) **YLT:** > 15. according as the Father doth know me, and I know the Father, and my life I lay down for the sheep, 16. and other sheep I have that are not of this fold, these also it behoveth me to bring, and my voice they will hear, and there shall become one flock, one shepherd. 17. 'Because of this doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that again I may take it; 18. no one doth take it from me, but I lay it down of myself; authority I have to lay it down, and authority I have again to take it; this command I received from my Father.' 19. Therefore, again, there came a division among the Jews, because of these words, 20. and many of them said, 'He hath a demon, and is mad, why do ye hear him?' (John 10:15-20, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** Jesus (the Good Shepherd discourse, John 10:1-21) - **Audience:** Jewish leaders + the disciples + the broader crowd still divided by the man-born-blind healing of John 9 (per 10:19-21) - **Location:** Jerusalem temple precincts, autumn AD 29, between the Feast of Tabernacles (Oct, John 7:2) and the Feast of Dedication / Hanukkah (Dec, John 10:22) - **Time period:** events c. AD 29; composed c. AD 85-95 by John the Apostle (Ephesus) - **Narrative context:** the climactic Christological self-disclosure of the Good Shepherd discourse. Jesus claims (a) voluntary death, no one takes His life from Him, (b) authority to take it back, resurrection-from-the-dead by His own power, (c) the Father's love grounded precisely in this voluntary-laying-down-and-taking-back, and (d) the Father's commandment as the framework within which this freedom operates. The crowd's response in vv. 19-21, division and accusations of demon-possession, measures the intensity of the claim. ## Theological reading John 10:17-18 is the **single most explicit pre-passion Christological self-disclosure of Jesus's voluntary death and self-resurrection authority**. In two verses Jesus claims the Father loves Him *because* He voluntarily lays down His life, no one takes His life from Him, He has the personal authority (*exousia*) to lay it down, He has the personal authority to take it back, and the whole pattern is the commandment received from the Father. Only God can possess intrinsic resurrection-authority over His own life; Jesus claims exactly that authority. ### The Greek anchor, *exousia* The key term is *exousia* (ἐξουσία, Strong's G1849), "authority, power, right." The same term covers Jesus's authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:10), to teach (Mark 1:22), over unclean spirits (Mark 1:27), and over all flesh (John 17:2). Here *exousia* is paired with two infinitives: *theinai autēn* ("to lay it [my life] down") and *labein autēn* ("to take it [up] again"). The doubled *exousia echō* construction emphasizes intrinsic personal authority: Jesus is not saying "the Father will raise me" (passive divine action) but "I have authority to take it up" (active personal authority). The Synoptic resurrection-predictions tend toward the passive, *"the Son of Man... will be killed, and on the third day be raised"* (Matt 16:21; cf. 17:23; 20:19), emphasis on the Father's action. The Johannine 10:17-18 adds the complementary truth: the Son also raises Himself. Both are true; both are canonical. ### Patristic and Reformed readings **Augustine** (*Tractates on the Gospel of John* 47, c. AD 416) emphasizes the voluntary-death claim against Gnostic / Docetic readings: the *voluntariness* is the proof the suffering was real (a phantasm cannot voluntarily lay down a life it does not possess) AND the proof the Person dying is divine (only God has authority over His own being). **Chrysostom** (*Homilies on John* 60) reads the verse as Christological grounding for the atonement: the Father loves the Son *for* laying down His life, the cross is not a tragedy God reluctantly permits but a love-act the Father positively wills and rewards. **John Calvin** (*Commentary on John* ad loc.) deploys the verse against any "the Jews / Romans killed Jesus" reading that would dilute the atonement: *"He affirms that his life is laid down at his own pleasure, that we may know that what he did proceeded from a free choice."* The historical agents (Caiaphas, Pilate, the soldiers) are real but the *ultimate* cause is Jesus's voluntary self-offering in obedience to the Father. ### Apologetic deployment Three apologetic moves anchor on this verse: 1. **Defeat of the swoon theory.** If the cross was a near-death and revival, Jesus's pre-passion claim to have authority to lay His life *down* (truly die) and authority to take it *up* (truly rise) is false. See [Stolen Body Hypothesis Defeater](/codex/stolen-body-hypothesis-defeater/) and related under [Resurrection of Jesus](/codex/resurrection-of-jesus/). 2. **Defeat of the stolen-body theory.** Jesus's pre-passion claim of *self*-resurrection authority cannot be reconciled with the disciples then arranging a fake fulfillment; the conspiracy-required-faith-unto-martyrdom is the larger improbability (cf. [Minimal Facts Argument](/codex/minimal-facts-argument/)). 3. **Defeat of the "Jesus was a victim, not a sacrifice" reading.** Contemporary critiques sometimes characterize Jesus's death as imposed-by-others (the "cosmic-child-abuse" framing). John 10:17-18 forecloses this: Jesus's death is **His own voluntary self-offering** in cooperation with the Father's will. See [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/) and [Atonement Theory Spread](/codex/atonement-theory-spread/). ### Trinitarian / Oneness reading The verse contains both the Father-Son distinction (*"This commandment received I from my Father"*) and the unity-of-will (the Father loves the Son for doing what the Father commanded). Trinitarian reading: inner-Trinitarian relational dynamic, the Son obeys the Father in mutual love. Oneness reading: the one God's intra-incarnational dynamic, the divine Father-source loves the Son-manifestation precisely *for* the voluntary self-offering the divine plan accomplishes. Both affirm the verse's full Christological force. See [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/). ### Canonical-theological connections - **John 2:19**, *"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"* (earlier self-resurrection prediction; temple = His body, 2:21) - **John 10:11, 15**, *"The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep"* (immediate context) - **John 19:30**, *"It is finished... and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost"*, the moment of voluntary laying-down on the cross (active *paredōken to pneuma*) - **Philippians 2:6-8**, pre-incarnate kenosis + obedience-to-death (Pauline parallel) - **Hebrews 9:14**, *"who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God"* - **Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15; 10:40**, the parallel attestation that *God raised Him* (canonical complement to active self-raising) ## Key words - [G3962 - pater](/codex/g3962-pater/), *pater* (Strong's G3962). Also appears in: [Matthew 5.48](/codex/matthew-5-48/), [Matthew 6.25-26](/codex/matthew-6-25-26/), [Matthew 6.25-34](/codex/matthew-6-25-34/). - [G5590 - psyche](/codex/g5590-psyche/), *psyche* (Strong's G5590). Also appears in: [Matthew 6.25-26](/codex/matthew-6-25-26/), [Matthew 10.28](/codex/matthew-10-28/), [Matthew 10.37-39](/codex/matthew-10-37-39/). ## See also - [Resurrection of Jesus](/codex/resurrection-of-jesus/), historical-evidential case - [Minimal Facts Argument](/codex/minimal-facts-argument/), apologetic methodology - [Stolen Body Hypothesis Defeater](/codex/stolen-body-hypothesis-defeater/), naturalistic-alternative defeater - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), the atonement model the voluntary-self-offering grounds - [Atonement Theory Spread](/codex/atonement-theory-spread/), multi-position atonement comparison - [Christology](/codex/christianity/) / [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), Christological context - [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/), Father-Son dispute - [Hypostatic Union](/codex/hypostatic-union/), two-natures Person who claims authority over His own life - [Jesus](/codex/jesus/), speaker - [John 11.25](/codex/john-11-25/), *"I am the resurrection"* (companion I-AM, rich hub) - [John 6.44](/codex/john-6-44/), Father-drawing (companion Christological text, rich hub) ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Animal Sacrifice Objection Defeater](/codex/animal-sacrifice-objection-defeater/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) - [Cursed Messiah Objection Defeater](/codex/cursed-messiah-objection-defeater/) - [Did Jesus Send Muhammad Dilemma Argument](/codex/did-jesus-send-muhammad-dilemma-argument/) - [Jesus is Not a Human Sacrifice (Defeater)](/codex/jesus-is-not-a-human-sacrifice-defeater/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) - [Jesus's Sacrifice Was Not Real Because He Rose Objection Defeater](/codex/jesuss-sacrifice-was-not-real-because-he-rose-objection-defeater/) - [No One Can Die For Another Objection Defeater](/codex/no-one-can-die-for-another-objection-defeater/) - [OT vs NT God Objection Defeater](/codex/ot-vs-nt-god-objection-defeater/) **Concepts:** - [Atheism](/codex/atheism/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) - [Christ vs Other Religion-Founders](/codex/christ-vs-other-religion-founders/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) - [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) - [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [John 10](/codex/john-10/) - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) **Lexicon:** - [G1453 - egeiro](/codex/g1453-egeiro/) - [G5590 - psyche](/codex/g5590-psyche/), via [John 10.17](/codex/john-10-17/) - [H1350 - goel](/codex/h1350-goel/), via [John 10.18](/codex/john-10-18/) **Passages:** - [Isaiah 53.12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/) - [John 1.1-14](/codex/john-1-1-14/) - [John 15.13](/codex/john-15-13/) - [Revelation 1.17-18](/codex/revelation-1-17-18/)