Let’s talk about John 10, verses 14-18. It’s talking about the sheep and the shepherd- an extended metaphor for Jesus and us (believers, and people/humans in general).
I recently got an interlinear bible; it has the New Testament in English and Greek, with a word-to-word translation line-by-line (hence the interlinear), and for the Old Testament it has Hebrew and English. It’s So. awesome.
Let’s take a look at the English of these verses:
14 I [Jesus] am the good shepherd; I know my sheep [humans, Israelites] and my sheep know me—15just as the Father [-God] knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.16 I have other sheep [humans, all nations] that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” [Emphasis and parenthetical comments added by me]
As it turns out, the word that NIV translates “life” in Koine Greek is actually the word psuché, [or ψυχή, in its neutered form] which we derive our modern word “psyche” from. According to Strong’s concordance(5590), it means one’s soul, seat of affection and will…. One’s individual identity. in other words, Jesus gives his soul for us. His total identity.
Jesus was God who became man. He came down from his seat next to the throne of the Father-God to become fully God, and fully human person on earth in order that we could be saved through his death and sacrifice on the cross. Did he alter his identity in order to do this? No, because ultimate love is part of God is; his identity as a loving God was merely manifested in his coming down to earth.
But he did not die because puny humans killed him. No, his sacrifice of his will and life were a result of his choice. This choice was empowered by the authority given to him by the Father-God. And he returns to sit at the right hand of the father, but he gave it all up to show us his love. His identity is as the one who loves us enough to give up and sacrifice his will so that we can be saved.
This blows me away. I don’t know about you, but saying “oh yeah, Jesus gave his life for me, but nbd [no big deal] because he’s God anyway” doesn’t have as much strength as “Jesus gave his will, soul, and individual identity, and laid it all down in order to save us sheep.” It is one thing to say you will die for someone. It is another thing to say you will give your entire identity, life, and soul for someone. Especially if those someones are similar enough in attitudes and behavior to be compared to sheep (and all the positive and negative associations that come with that).
Six Months Later 