John 10 says Jesus has other sheep who will hear His voice and join one flock under one shepherd, but it does not name them. A Gentile reading fits the New Testament’s wider mission. In 3 Nephi, Jesus identifies the Nephites and describes other scattered groups who would hear Him directly. The passage does not say Gentiles can never join His flock. The Greek distinguishes an enclosure from a flock, though that wording alone does not identify the sheep.
John leaves the other sheep unnamed. The Gentile reading fits John’s wider story of Christ gathering people across boundaries. In 3 Nephi, Jesus identifies His audience at Bountiful as people He meant and says He will visit other groups too. He also says Gentiles can become part of His covenant people through faith and repentance.
Jesus says He has sheep outside His present fold. He must bring them, they will hear His voice, and they will be one flock under one shepherd. John leaves the group unnamed and gives no location for the gathering. The promise comes between statements about Jesus laying down His life and taking it up again. The shepherd who gathers them is the one who dies for them. John 10:14–18
Ezekiel provides another biblical backdrop. God promises to seek His scattered sheep, gather Israel out of the nations, and set one shepherd over them. That makes scattered Israel a natural part of the imagery. Ezekiel’s promise gives no names or locations for the people in 3 Nephi. Ezekiel 34:11–16, 23 · Ezekiel 37:21–24
John later says Jesus would die to gather God’s scattered children into one. When Greeks come asking to see Jesus, He speaks of His coming death and says He will draw all people to Himself. Those passages give readers a good reason to see Gentiles in the gathering. Ephesians makes the broader point explicit by describing how Christ brings Jews and Gentiles together in one body. John 11:49–52 · John 12:20–32 · Ephesians 2:11–18
Mormonism Research Ministry reads John 10:16 in light of the Gentile mission and asks why hearing Jesus would require an in-person visit. Robert M. Bowman Jr. argues that the category includes Gentiles, Samaritans, and dispersed Israelites outside the religious community Jesus addressed. The disagreement with 3 Nephi turns on whether Jesus was speaking about people who would encounter Him in person or about those who would hear Him through the gospel. John’s wider gathering language supports Bowman’s reading. John 10 leaves the way the sheep hear His voice open. Mormonism Research Ministry · Bowman, Institute for Religious Research
At Bountiful, Jesus calls His audience a remnant of Joseph and tells them, “ye are they,” quoting His promise about the other sheep. He says His Jerusalem disciples had assumed He meant the Gentiles. In His explanation, the people at Bountiful see and hear Him themselves. Gentiles come to faith through preaching and the witness of the Holy Ghost. 3 Nephi 15:11–24
Jesus then says He has still other sheep beyond both lands and will go to show Himself to them. Later in the same chapter, He says that Gentiles who repent will be numbered among His people. The Book of Mormon distinguishes who hears Jesus in person from who can join His covenant people. 3 Nephi 16:1–6, 13 · 3 Nephi 17:4
Latter-day Saints believe 3 Nephi gives Christ’s own explanation of whom He meant and records a visit that fulfilled the promise. John supplies the promise. To establish the visit historically, readers would need evidence beyond the wording of John 10:16. What Jesus’s visit adds in 3 Nephi
John uses two Greek words. Aulē means an enclosure or fold. Poimnē means a flock, the sheep themselves. The King James Version uses “fold” in both places. The New American Bible reads “this fold” and “one flock.” The distinction puts the emphasis on the sheep being united under one shepherd. It supplies no names for the sheep. Greek text, John 10:16 · KJV · NABRE
The English text of 3 Nephi repeats the KJV’s “one fold.” Bowman points to this as evidence of dependence on the King James wording. That close match is real and worth accounting for. A modern author could reuse a familiar Bible rendering. A Latter-day Saint account of translation can also allow familiar biblical language to shape the English wording. Deciding between those explanations takes more evidence than the shared word alone. 3 Nephi 15:17, 21 · Bowman’s discussion of the KJV · King James wording in the Book of Mormon
