Who are the "Other Sheep" of John 10:16?

[RR144]

THE Jehovah’s Witnesses have been taught to believe that in the resurrection, those who died faithful to God are included in the ‘other sheep’ and will receive the “resurrection of the righteous” (“just” KJV) mentioned in Acts 24:15. (The Watchtower 2/15/95 p. 11 par. 12) Those of the ‘other sheep’ who are alive today, some of whom survive through Armageddon without needing a resurrection, are referred to as the ‘great crowd’. (The Watchtower 4/15/95 p. 31 Questions From Readers). These views are based around the following text.

“And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16 NWT)

The Bible speaks of the church as Jehovah’s flock (Acts 20:29; 1 Pet 5:2). Up until the conversion of Cornelius, the Gospel invitation had NOT been made available to the gentiles. But that changed suddenly about AD 36. Of the conversion of Cornelius’ household, we read in Acts 10:45, “And the faithful ones that had come with Peter who were of those circumcised were amazed, because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations.” NWT.

The gentile Christians could not be invited until after the 70 weeks (Dan 9:24) for Israel were completed (AD 36). Of that final week [a day = a year], we read “And he must keep the covenant in force for the many for one week” Dan 9:27 NWT). That covenant was Jehovah’s 70 weeks agreement with Israel. It was in the last half of the 70th week, three and a half years after the cross, that the great work was done amongst the Jews.

Applying the “other sheep” to the new gentile converts is the evident meaning and it would take strong additional scriptural evidence to convince the honest student otherwise. There is no direct indication in the Bible that these “other sheep” are referring only to true Christians who will not be part of the Little Flock. Without further compelling evidence, insisting on a different interpretation is building a doctrine from a scripture taken out of context. This reminds us of the Catholic Church misapplication of Matt 16:18

RR

 

[Robert194972]

THE Jehovah’s Witnesses have been taught to believe that in the resurrection, those who died faithful to God are included in the ‘other sheep’ and will receive the “resurrection of the righteous” (“just” KJV) mentioned in Acts 24:15. (The Watchtower 2/15/95 p. 11 par. 12) Those of the ‘other sheep’ who are alive today, some of whom survive through Armageddon without needing a resurrection, are referred to as the ‘great crowd’. (The Watchtower 4/15/95 p. 31 Questions From Readers). These views are based around the following text.

“And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16 NWT)

The Bible speaks of the church as Jehovah’s flock (Acts 20:29; 1 Pet 5:2). Up until the conversion of Cornelius, the Gospel invitation had NOT been made available to the gentiles. But that changed suddenly about AD 36. Of the conversion of Cornelius’ household, we read in Acts 10:45, “And the faithful ones that had come with Peter who were of those circumcised were amazed, because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations.” NWT.

The gentile Christians could not be invited until after the 70 weeks (Dan 9:24) for Israel were completed (AD 36). Of that final week [a day = a year], we read “And he must keep the covenant in force for the many for one week” Dan 9:27 NWT). That covenant was Jehovah’s 70 weeks agreement with Israel. It was in the last half of the 70th week, three and a half years after the cross, that the great work was done amongst the Jews.

Applying the “other sheep” to the new gentile converts is the evident meaning and it would take strong additional scriptural evidence to convince the honest student otherwise. There is no direct indication in the Bible that these “other sheep” are referring only to true Christians who will not be part of the Little Flock. Without further compelling evidence, insisting on a different interpretation is building a doctrine from a scripture taken out of context. This reminds us of the Catholic Church misapplication of Matt 16:18

RR

" I have other sheep not of this fold...." Jesus was talking to the "Little" and the little flock are the anointed. To my way of thinking all those not part of said "fold" would be the "other sheep", whether Jew or Gentile.

 

[Posstot]

THE Jehovah’s Witnesses have been taught to believe that in the resurrection, those who died faithful to God are included in the ‘other sheep’ and will receive the “resurrection of the righteous” (“just” KJV) mentioned in Acts 24:15. (The Watchtower 2/15/95 p. 11 par. 12) Those of the ‘other sheep’ who are alive today, some of whom survive through Armageddon without needing a resurrection, are referred to as the ‘great crowd’. (The Watchtower 4/15/95 p. 31 Questions From Readers). These views are based around the following text.

“And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16 NWT)

The Bible speaks of the church as Jehovah’s flock (Acts 20:29; 1 Pet 5:2). Up until the conversion of Cornelius, the Gospel invitation had NOT been made available to the gentiles. But that changed suddenly about AD 36. Of the conversion of Cornelius’ household, we read in Acts 10:45, “And the faithful ones that had come with Peter who were of those circumcised were amazed, because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations.” NWT.

The gentile Christians could not be invited until after the 70 weeks (Dan 9:24) for Israel were completed (AD 36). Of that final week [a day = a year], we read “And he must keep the covenant in force for the many for one week” Dan 9:27 NWT). That covenant was Jehovah’s 70 weeks agreement with Israel. It was in the last half of the 70th week, three and a half years after the cross, that the great work was done amongst the Jews.

Applying the “other sheep” to the new gentile converts is the evident meaning and it would take strong additional scriptural evidence to convince the honest student otherwise. There is no direct indication in the Bible that these “other sheep” are referring only to true Christians who will not be part of the Little Flock. Without further compelling evidence, insisting on a different interpretation is building a doctrine from a scripture taken out of context. This reminds us of the Catholic Church misapplication of Matt 16:18

RR

I agree with you that the 'other sheep' of John 10:16 are gentile anointed ones after 36 AD, and that this scripture cannot be used to establish the valid doctrine that there are followers of Jesus who have the hope to live here on earth. Heb 2:5

But at the risk of going off on a tangent here, Daniel 9:24-27 can also not be used as support that Jews were given a 3.5 year head start over Gentiles as regards the heavenly calling, although that fact is supported elsewhere in Scripture.

The 'he' who in Da 9:27 'keeps the covenant in force for the many for one week' is not Jesus, but 'a coming leader, whose people will bring the city and the holy place to ruin' when they place the disgusting thing there.

Another reason why this text cannot refer to Jesus is that the 'one week' here referred to is the 70th, at 'the half of' which 'sacrifice and gift offering were to cease,' presumably by Christ's death, but which would contradict verse 26, where 'Messiah' would be 'cut off' after the 'sixty-two [69] weeks,' not sixty-two and a half!

Hence, the cessation of sacrifice and gift offering has to do with the disgusting thing standing in a holy place, not Christ's sacrifice for our sins, which would be totally out of context here.

 

[Zane]

(John 10:16) “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those too I must bring in, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.

What fold? The same fold (sheepfold) he was speaking about in the previous 15 verses.

What is a sheepfold? In both verse 1 and verse 16 the same Greek word "aule" is used, which refers to the pen that holds the sheep and not to the sheep themselves. A sheepfold is an enclosure or pen designed and built specifically to hold sheep. Even when a sheepfold is empty it is still a sheepfold.

In Christ's fold are the sheep that "listen to his voice." (Jn 10:3) In other words, Christians.

In Christ's fold (Christianity) are multiple flocks, and multiple shepherds, including "hired men" who are not true shepherds. (Jn 10:12, 13)

Then, in verse 16, Christ speaks of "other" sheep, which are not in his Christian fold.
In his fold are the sheep that listen to his voice.
The "other sheep," on the other hand, are those who are not yet in this fold and have not yet listened to his voice.
But "they will listen to (his) voice" and become Christians, at which point they will have entered his fold.