John 10:24-28

I have been somewhat unclear with this text in my past writing on my Primitive Baptist Apologist blog, and I would like to state clearly the meaning of this passage, as I understand it.

Most Primitive Baptists and Stephen Garrett, I think, apply and correlate this passage to John 5:25 in the "voice" of Christ being the effectual call, which I think is partially correct.

What I have tried to point out, is that this passage clearly applies more of John 5 than simply verse 25 as I shall show.  The "hearing" and "following" of the sheep in 10:27 is plainly contrasted to the gospel unbelief of the pharisees in 10:25.  The evident and incontrovertible point of Christ is that the pharisees were gospel unbelievers because they were not of Christ's sheep.

Now, the problem here for some modern Primitive Baptists is that this passage clearly makes the gospel belief lacking in the pharisees (vs. 25, 26) part of the "hearing" and "following" of the sheep by contrast.  This follows quite clearly to any reasonable mind free of prejudice.  The unbelief of the pharisees in this passage to the ministry of Jesus is clearly a result of non-election, and the gospel belief of sheep is plainly a part of hearing and following the voice of Christ, as, "He that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God (John 8:47)".

The problem for Stephen Garrett, and some Primitive Baptists also,  is observed in 10:27 as correlated to John 5, is that in John 5, spiritual life is not limited to the quickening of the Son in verse 25.  As Christ stated plainly in 5:21, the Father quickened whoever He willed, as the Son.  It is clear from John 5:37, 38 that there were many already quickened by the Father, but that those not quickened by the Father showed damnation in rejecting the ministry of Jesus.

John 5:24 is understood in this vein, as the ministry of Jesus was compatible with the Father, and he that rejected Christ, rejected the Father (5:23), showing their damned state in their pseudo trust in Moses (5:45-47).

John 5:24 refers to those Jews with the Father's word already abiding in them (21, 38) who embraced the public ministry of Christ because they had eternal life.

John 5 does not isolate the hearing of the words of Jesus to the quickening, resurrecting power of Jesus, manifestly, as there were clearly Jews already quickened of the Father.  John 5:25 refers to the quickening power of Jesus, indeed, but there is no reason to view John 10:24-28 as only referring to John 5:25 because the "sheep" is a reference to all of the elect, even those already quickened by the Father.  John 10:24-28 clearly encompasses the truth of the 5th chapter that there were many pseudo-Jews who "trusted" in Moses to their own damnation, who were not quickened by the Father or Jesus.

The pharisees in 10:24,25 were clearly such Jews who did not have the Father's word abiding in them.  The idea that the sheep are all quickened by the voice of Jesus contradicts John 5:21.  The point of 10:27, in harmony with the entire 5th chapter of John, is that hearing the voice of Christ is not only the quickening of the dead by the Spirit, it is also the corroboration of those with eternal life that have been quickened by the Father (John 6:45).

I do not think that some modern Primitive Baptists and Stephen Garrett clearly evaluate John 10:24-28 in relation to John 5, and realize that it must refer both to Christ's quickening and the illumination of the Father's previous quickening, just as the effectual call may be with the gospel as preached by men or apart from it.  But regardless of whether the words of Christ are physically present whether by Christ or preachers of Christ, it is Christ or the Father by the Spirit that effects quickening through the spiritual revelation of the person of Christ (5:25), which embraces the words of Christ as preached by men, if they are present, as the sheep follow their shepherd (5:24).

The sheep already quickened by the Father would hear the voice of Christ to gospel conversion (5:24, 6:45), and the sheep yet dead in their sins would hear the voice of Christ (or be drawn of the Father - 6:44) first by Spirit (5:25), then by following immediately in faith and life in the person of Christ and gospel belief tantamount to the spiritual experience of His person (10:27).

The central point is that John 10:27 does not establish that all the elect are quickened by the Son, as this would make Christ to contradict Himself in John 5:21.  All of the sheep hear the voice of Christ whether by quickening power, as in the first instance of life from the dead (5:25), or because they have been quickened already by the Father (5:24).