Chester wrote: (post 318)
If you begin with the first question that DJ2 asks: Who are the sheep?
Verse 27 gives the simple answer from the text (John 10)
ta probata ta ema tes phones mou akouousin, kago ginosko auta, kai akolouthousin moi
The sheep of me the voice of me are hearing, and I am knowing them, and they are following me.
(My sheep are hearing my voice, and I am knowing them, and they are following me.)
When verse 27 is fulfilled and is happening, then what verses 28 and 29 say is always true of these sheep. If verse 27 is not happening - that is, a person is not hearing and is not following, then the promises of verses 28 and verse 29 do not apply.
It is that simple; exactly as the text says it
: How in the world does anyone get "once saved always saved" out of John 10:27-29???????????????
PennEd: I 'm not sure how to try to argue with an analogy about still being sheep or morphing into a goat, nor do I understand how leaving the 99 to find the one lost one enters in here??
All I am trying to do is read and understand the text and take it at face value:
Verse 37 says the sheep are hearing Jesus' voice, and He is knowing them and they are following Him.
(I know that this is true of me: I have no doubts about it! I believe in Christ and I am listening to His voice - not perfectly, of course, but He looks at me heart. And He knows me: Hallelujah! Others may misunderstand and laugh at me, but Jesus really knows me at a deep level. And I am following Jesus - there is no one else in all the world who I will let take His place: I am following and will follow Him!
Now when I read verses 38,39 I (a sheep) have these promises: He is giving to me eternal life, and I will never perish, and no man will pluck me out of His hand