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Bible Study		November 4, 2025
Sheep From Another Pen

Introduction

John the Apostle records Jesus saying something odd. Many people have struggled with it and come to understand his point in different ways.

This translation uses the word "fold," which isn't a common word in our time. Other translations use the word "pen." He's talking about a fenced-in area for animals, in this case, sheep.

I Am (the living God), the good shepherd. I know mine and am known by mine. ¹⁵ Just as my Father knows me and I know my Father, and I lay down my life for the flock's sake. ¹⁶ But I have other sheep which were not from this fold; I must also bring them. They also will hear my voice, and the entire fold shall be one, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)

What does he mean by "this fold"? And who are these other sheep? These are the different interpretations:

• "This fold" is the people descended from Jacob / Israel. They are a people, and therefore, the other sheep are some other people.
• "This fold" is the people under the Old Covenant. Therefore the other sheep are those who were not under the Old Covenant.
• Christians are grafted into the same tree. Therefore "this fold" is Jews and Gentiles. Therefore the other sheep are other beings, maybe angels, maybe aliens from space.

There is also another way of thinking about this. The other sheep must be brought into the fold. The fold is the Old Covenant. Therefore all believers must be brought into the Old Covenant. This is used by those who believe all or most of the Old Covenant law applies to Christians.

This is a lightly symbolized parable, which means that some but not all of the nouns have been symbolized (converted to symbols). The main symbol, "sheep," appears so often in Jesus' words that we hardly think of it as a symbol. We automatically convert it to "people" or "believers," according to the context. Here, the context is not clear.

Complications

There are a number of things in what Jesus says that complicate understanding what he says. He said, "I lay down my life for the flock's sake." Who are "the flock"? Are they the ones in the pen?

We know that Jesus died so that salvation would be offered to all mankind. So "the flock" must be all mankind, but how does that relate to the fold or pen?

Jesus said, "They also will hear my voice." Jesus is referring to only the people who are his followers. How does that relate to the pen?

The natural inference from that is that Jesus is speaking about only the people who have accepted him as Messiah. Therefore the people in the pen would be only those people from the Old Covenant who had accepted him. That's different from "the flock."

Jesus said, "the entire fold shall be one." What is "the entire fold"?

Because they interpret "entire fold" to be a reference to both groups of sheep, people think that there are two folds or pens, therefore "entire fold" means "both folds." But, what would the other fold represent?

Explanation

Flock - The flock represents all the people of the world. Jesus died for all of them so that those who would believe in him would be saved. This symbol is not connected to "sheep" and "fold," though that might seem odd because "flock" is the name for a group of sheep.

This fold - The fold represents the Old Covenant, the people that Jesus is speaking to and travelling among. He doesn't specifically say there are sheep in this fold, but the sheep there would be those who are under the Old Covenant. This would include the people who reject Jesus.

The other sheep - These sheep are not in a pen (covenant). They have no shepherd. They have no path to salvation. They are the Gentiles.

Those who hear his voice - Jesus used this phrase to refer to those among the other sheep (Gentiles) who will trust in him. By implication, he also refers to those sheep inside the pen who have and will trust in him. So this is a subgroup of both.

Entire fold - This is a quirk from the original language and how it expresses unity or oneness. Instead of focusing on "entire fold," we need to look at the expression, "the entire fold shall be one." This means nothing more than that there will be one fold that will contain all the sheep. This is the same as the following expression "one shepherd." A person could think that this meant there had been two shepherds, but now there will be only one. It only means there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Conclusion

Jesus used three different symbols to refer to different groups of people: all mankind, individuals, and those who believe. That made it tricky.

The meaning of the parable is that Jesus is a good shepherd in that he is searching for those who are his. He is currently ministering to those with whom he has a covenant, but he has a plan to find those who are his from among all peoples. In time, those who are his from both groups will be unified, and he will be their shepherd.