distinctly meaning a flock, as does also the diminutive rroipvov, little flock (Luke xii. 832; 1 Pet. v. 2, etc.). Render, as Reyv., one flock, one shepherd. So Tynd. Compare Ezek. xxxiv. 23. We are not, however, to say with Trench (“ Authorized Version of the New Testament”), that the Jew and the Gentile are the two folds which Christ will gather into a single flock. The heathen are not conceived as a fold, but as a dispersion. See vil. 35; xi. 52; and, as Meyer observes, “the thought of a divine leading of the heathen does not correspond at all to the figure of a fold, of which the conception of theocratic fellow- ship constitutes an essential feature.” So Bengel. “He says, other sheep, not another fold, for they were scattered abroad in the world.” When Jesus speaks of the other sheep who are not from this fold, the emphasis is on fold, not on this. Com- pare Rom. xi. 17 sqq. Nor, moreover, does Jesus mean that the Gentiles are to be incorporated into the Jewish fold, but that the unity of the two is to consist in their common relation to Himself. ‘The unity of the Church does not spring out of the extension of the old kingdom, but is the spiritual antitype of that earthly figure. Nothing is said of one fold under the new dispensation” (Westcott). It will readily be seen that the in- correct rendering fostered by the carelessness or the mistake of some of the Western fathers, and by the Vulgate, which renders both words by ovdle, fold, has been in the interest of Romish claims.
18. Taketh away (aipes). Some texts read jpev, took away. According to this reading the word would point back to the work of Jesus as conceived and accomplished in the eternal counsel of God, where His sacrifice of Himself was not exacted, but was His own spontaneous offering in harmony with the Father’s will.
I lay it down of myself. Wye., J put tt from myself. Power (éfovoiav). Rev., in margin, right. See on i. 12.
Commandment (€vtoAyv). See on Jas. ii. 8.