JOHN 10:16

Q: Jesus says he is the good shepherd and He lays down his life for the sheep. Then he says he has other sheep that are not of this sheep pen and that he will bring them also. Who are the other sheep? Is this a reference to the Gentiles, perhaps?

Well, according to the Book of Mormon the “other sheep” were the Nephites, a North American tribe who had already been converted before Jesus appeared on earth and were waiting for Him to appear in America. The “other sheep” couldn't be the Gentiles since at the time Jesus was speaking, the Gentiles were not yet his people.

The Jehovah Witnesses, on the other hand, state that the “other sheep” are the same as the great crowd in Revelation 7:9 who will live forever in a paradise on earth while being subject to the 144,000 specially chosen saints who will reign with God in heaven.

This illustrates the common practice of cults to take an obscure passage in Scripture, often coupling it with a completely unrelated passage, in order to establish a major doctrine.

Getting back to reality:

Since this is the only passage in the Bible where the term “other sheep” appears, a definitive answer to your question is hard to give. (The mention of a “little flock” in Luke 12:32 refers to Jesus' closest disciples and has no obvious relationship to John 10:16.)

The consensus of nine commentaries I consulted was that the most likely identification of the “other sheep” is the Gentiles. Other possibilities mentioned were Greek-speaking Jews or those living outside the Holy Land (Borchart, John 1-11) and Jews who hadn't yet come to belief in Jesus as the Messiah (Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII).

In support of the idea that Jesus was indeed speaking about the Gentiles are (a) the many OT prophecies of the Messiah bringing light to the whole world (Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament) and (b) the citation by J. Barton Payne (Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy) of John 11:51-52 as a parallel passage: “Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God.”

In any case, “The other sheep are not to remain distinct from the existing sheep...They are to become united in one flock...under the leadership of one shepherd.” (Morris, The Gospel According to John)