I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd - not 'a,' but emphatically "The Good Shepherd," and, in the sense intended, exclusively so (see Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:23; Ezekiel 37:24; Zechariah 13:7).
The good shepherd giveth, х titheesin (G5087)] - rather, 'layeth down;' as the word is properly rendered in John 10:15; John 10:17,
His life for the sheep. Though this may be said of literal shepherds who, even for their brute flock have, like David, encountered "the lion and the bear" at the risk of their own lives, and still more of faithful pastors, who, like the early bishops of Rome, have been the foremost to brave the fury of their enemies against the flock committed to their care; yet here, beyond doubt, it points to the struggle which was to issue in the willing surrender of the Redeemer's own life, to save His sheep from destruction.