even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father--What claim to absolute equality with the Father could exceed this? (See on Mat 11:27). and I lay down my life for the sheep--How sublime this, immediately following the lofty claim of the preceding clause!
15. As the Father knoweth me. It is unnecessary, and is not even expedient, that we should enter into those thorny questions, How is it that the Father knows his Wisdom? For Christ simply declares that, so far as he is the bond of our union with God, he is placed between Him and us; as if he had said, that it is no more...
As the Father knoweth me,.... These words, with what follow, are in connection with Joh 10:14; and the sense is, that the mutual knowledge of Christ, and his sheep, is like that which his Father and he have of each other.