Metaphors of the Church: The Flock of God

The patriarch Jacob, who had been a shepherd all his life, described God as his shepherd all his life (Genesis 48:15). David, the shepherd boy, said, “Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). In Psalm 80:1 the psalmist appeals to Yahweh as “the Shepherd of Israel” who leads Joseph like a flock. So it should be no surprise when Jesus calls himself “the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11), an indirect way of calling himself Yahweh God. And it should be no surprise that those who follow Jesus, the Church, should be called his flock.

Using the metaphor of shepherd and flock in John 10, Jesus speaks to who is a genuine believer as those who listen to Jesus’ voice and whom he calls by name. And he speaks to the function of a legitimate shepherd when he says he has come to give abundant life, laying down his life for the flock in order to rescue them. He mentions a flock that he has that is not of “this” sheep pen, whom he will bring to himself and who will follow his voice, an apparent reference to Gentiles who will be saved. He is the Good Shepherd.

When Paul is challenging the elders of the church of Ephesus, he uses this metaphor:

²⁸ Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ²⁹ I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ³⁰ Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ³¹ So be on your guard! (Acts 20:28-31)

Elders, as undershepherds (pastors) of the Good Shepherd, must care for the flock and guard it from enemies, wolves, who would savage it.

Peter uses the metaphor to speak to the character of leadership in the church:

² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1 Peter 5:2-4)

Believers need care and watching over, like sheep, by leaders who are serving willingly, purely, eagerly, and gently under the leadership of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

This metaphor of the Church highlights the intimate connection the Church has to Jesus and the care it needs from her Shepherd. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 100:3).