And other sheep I
have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear
my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:16)
A danger of apologetics is that when one approaches various disputed texts in the LDS vs. non-LDS
debate (often Evangelical, though not always) is that one tends to just focus
on the areas of disagreement, and the overall meaning of the text may be lost.
John 10:16 is one such example. While I do believe that the Latter-day Saint
reading is sound and the common Gentile interpretation is fallacious (see The
"other sheep" of John 10:16: A Critique of the "Gentile"
Interpretation; cf. Brury
Eko Saputra on Samaritans being the "other sheep" in John 10:16 for
a recent scholarly rejection of this interpretation), there is much more going
on in this text than simply a prophecy of Jesus appearing in Mesoamerica to the
Book of Mormon peoples. Consider the following from Johannine scholar Jerome
Neyrey and how it relates to the then-future death of Jesus:
In 10:16 Jesus states that he has “other
sheep, not of this fold” and so there will be “one flock and one shepherd.”
This remark, too, becomes more accessible when seen in terms of “noble death.”
First, it surely benefits the sheep to be safely gathered into one, that is,
into close association around the shepherd, who can pasture and protect them
all. This represents another example of the duty of the shepherd, that is, his
virtue of justice toward the sheep. Second, when or how is this achieved?
Comparable remarks in 11:52; 12:23–24, and 32 indicate that Jesus’ death occasions
these benefits. Caiaphas’s prophecy, we are told, really meant “that Jesus
would die … not for the nation only, but to gather into one the scattered
children of God” (11:52). Jesus’ death, then, benefits the sheep currently
around him and those “scattered.” Similarly, in his exhortation to the Greeks
whom Philip and Andrew brought to him, Jesus declares that when a seed dies and
falls into the ground, it bears much fruit (12:23–24). Finally in an
unmistakable reference to his death Jesus says: “When I am lifted up from the
earth, I will draw all to myself” (12:32). His death (“lifted up”) benefits
others by “drawing all to myself.” Thus 10:16, especially when seen in
relationship to similar remarks in chs 10–12, bears the reading of “noble”
death because of benefits rendered and the virtue of justice displayed. (Jerome
H. Neyrey, The Gospel of John in Cultural
and Rhetorical Perspective [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2009], 303–304)