[3.] Then lest on hearing that, “I have received a command from the Father,” thou shouldest deem that the achievement doth not belong to Him, He hath said preventing the, “The good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep”; showing by this that the sheep were His, and that all which took place was His achievement, and that He needed no command. For had He needed a commandment, how could He have said, “I lay it down of Myself”? for He that layeth it down of Himself needeth no commandment. He also assigneth the cause for which He doeth this. And what is that? That He is the Shepherd, and the good Shepherd. Now the good Shepherd needeth no one to arouse him to his duty; and if this be the case with man, much more is it so with God. Wherefore Paul said, that “He emptied Himself.” ( Philip. ii. 7.) So the “commandment” put here means nothing else, but to show His unanimity with the Father; and if He speaketh in so humble and human a way, the cause is the infirmity of His hearers.