John 10:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He rightly called Scripture the door. It leads us to God and opens the way of the knowledge of God. It produces the sheep, protects them, and does not allow wolves to enter.

Like some secure door, it bars entrance to heretics. It sets us in safety from everything and does not allow us to fall into error.

If we ourselves do not open this door, we shall be inaccessible to enemies.

By it we recognize everyone, both shepherds and those who are not shepherds.

What does "into the fold" mean? It means to the sheep and to care for them.

Whoever does not use Scripture, but climbs up another way, does not go by the appointed path. He makes another path for himself. Such a man is a thief.

Do you see from this too that He agrees with the Father, because He brings Scripture into view?

Therefore He also said to the Jews, "Search the Scriptures" (Jn 5:39). He brought forward Moses and called him a witness, and likewise all the Prophets.

"All who have heard the Prophets," He said, "will come to Me" (Jn 6:45). And again: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me" (Jn 5:46).

Here also He has said the same thing, only in a figure.

By the words, "climbs up another way," He was also pointing to the scribes. They taught commandments and traditions of men, but violated the law.

He rebuked them for this, saying: "None of you keeps the law" (Jn 7:19).

He rightly said, "climbs up," and not "enters." This is what a thief usually does when he wishes to get inside the enclosure, doing everything with risk.

Do you see how He has portrayed the robber? Notice also the marks of the shepherd. What are they?

Notice the marks of the robber. First, he does not enter openly. Second, he does not enter according to the Scriptures. This is what "not by the door" means.

Here Christ points both to those who were before Him and to those who will appear after Him, to Antichrist and to false christs, to Judas and Theudas, and to others like them.

He rightly called Scripture the door. It leads us to God and opens the way of the knowledge of God. It produces the sheep, protects them, and does not allow wolves to enter.

Like some secure door, it bars entrance to heretics. It sets us in safety from everything and does not allow us to fall into error.

If we ourselves do not open this door, we shall be inaccessible to enemies.

By it we recognize everyone, both shepherds and those who are not shepherds.

What does "into the fold" mean? It means to the sheep and to care for them.

Whoever does not use Scripture, but climbs up another way, does not go by the appointed path. He makes another path for himself. Such a man is a thief.

As for the fact that later He calls Himself the door, this again should not trouble us.

He calls Himself both shepherd and sheep, indicating different aspects of His ministry. When He brings us to the Father, He calls Himself the door. When He expresses His care for us, He calls Himself shepherd.

They do not permit wolves to enter, for they cut off heretics. They set us in safety and give us knowledge about everything we may desire.

Therefore the thief is the one who does not enter through the Scriptures "into the sheepfold" in order to care for the sheep.

Instead, he climbs up "some other way," that is, he cuts for himself another and unusual road, as Theudas and Judas did.

Before Christ's coming they deceived the people, destroyed them, and themselves perished (Acts 5:36-37).

Such also will be the vile antichrist. For with them there is no testimony from the Scriptures.

He also hints at the scribes, who fulfilled none of the words of the commandments of the law, but taught human commandments and traditions.

He fittingly said, "climbs up." This suits a thief, who jumps over the enclosure and does everything with danger.

These are the marks of the robber.

Because He sees the inward parts and the hearts, He also gave answers to thoughts alone. For "all things are naked and open to Him, and there is no creature hidden before Him" (Heb 4:13).

Therefore He also says to one of the saints: "Who is this who hides counsel from Me, who keeps words in his heart and thinks to hide them from Me?" (Job 38:2).

Now, as we have just said, the impious gathering of the Pharisees asked whether they also were blind.

They did this so that, if He spoke the truth and said that they too were blind, they could again condemn Him for insulting the leaders and reviling those who had received authority over the people.

For they were excessively high-minded about this.

Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ, again repelling this plot of theirs, considers it necessary and profitable to introduce this parable.

In a somewhat veiled and enigmatic way, He indicates that because of their greed they cannot be firm leaders. This dignity cannot be secure among those who, by arrogance, insult God, the giver of this dignity.

On the contrary, He teaches that this should belong only to those whom He Himself calls to guide the people.

Therefore He calls Himself the door, since by His own will He appoints experienced and God-loving men to guide rational flocks.

He calls the one who comes from elsewhere a thief and robber. This is the man who thinks that an honor not given to him can be obtained by violence and tyranny.

Such were those of whom He says through one of the prophets: "They reigned, but not through Me. They ruled, but not through My Spirit" (Hos 8:4; Is 30:1).

In these words He veils the indication that, although it pleases them to lord it over the people, only those who have believed and received the divine preaching through Him should seek this.

Thus they may have authority unshaken and well established. This belonged to the holy Apostles and to the teachers of the holy churches who followed them.

To them also "the doorkeeper opens." This means either the angel appointed to watch over the churches and to assist the sacred ministers for the benefit of the peoples, or again the Savior Himself.

For He is Himself both the door and the Lord of the door.

Quite rightly He commands the flock of sheep to listen and submit properly to the voice of the shepherd. Conversely, they are to turn away with all diligence from "the voice of strangers."

You should understand the true state of the matter by taking the saying in its general sense.

For we teach in the churches by presenting the doctrines of Sacred Scripture. As a kind of spiritual food, we set forth the evangelical and apostolic word.

Those who heed such teaching are the believers in Christ and those distinguished by uncorrupted faith. They reject the voices of false shepherds and turn away from them as from a destructive evil.

But what, someone will ask, is being indicated from this to the Pharisees?

I shall repeat the matter again, generally and briefly. He shows Himself to be the master of the fold, the door, and the doorkeeper.

Thus they may know exactly that they will not have firm and stable authority unless they come to it through Him and receive the God-given good.

By adding that the sheep listen to their own shepherds and flee from strangers, He again nobly hints that they will by no means stand at the head of those who will believe in Him.

On the contrary, the sheep will flee from their teaching and follow the shepherds appointed by Him.

Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Are we blind also?’ (Jn 9:40). He answered them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say, “We see,” your sin remains’ (Jn 9:41). To these words He added what we heard today in the reading.

‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, is a thief and a robber.’ They had declared themselves not to be blind. Yet they could see only by being Christ’s sheep. How did those who raged against the Day claim the light for themselves?

Because of their empty, proud, and incurable arrogance, the Lord Jesus added words by which He also gives us saving admonition, if only we are ready to receive it. There are many people who, by a certain custom of this life, are called good people, good men, good women, innocent, and seemingly observant of what the Law commands.

They honor their parents. They do not commit fornication. They do not stain themselves with murder. They do not steal. They do not bear false witness against anyone. They observe the rest that the Law prescribes, but they are not Christians.

Often they boast like those Jews, ‘Are we blind also?’ (Jn 9:40). Yet because all that they do is done in vain, since they do not know the end for which they do it, the Lord set forth in today’s passage the parable of His flock and of the door leading into the sheepfold.

The Gentiles will say, ‘We live well.’ If they do not enter through the door, what profit is there in their boasting? The profit for anyone who lives well must be that he will be granted to live forever. For if one will not be granted to live forever, what profit is there in living well?

One cannot say that those live well who, either through blindness, do not know the goal of the good life, or through conceit, despise it. No one has a true and firm hope of living forever unless he knows the Life, who is Christ, and enters the sheepfold through the door.

Most such people strive to persuade others that they live well without being Christians. They wish to enter from another side, to seize and slaughter, not to preserve and save as a shepherd. There were philosophers who reasoned subtly and at length about virtues and vices.

They distinguished them, defined them, drew refined conclusions about them, filled books with them, spread their wisdom, and puffed out their cheeks. They even dared to say to men, ‘Follow us. Hold to our school, if you wish to lead a good life.’

But they did not enter through the door (cf. Jn 10:1). They wished to destroy, slaughter, and kill. What shall I say of such men? The Pharisees themselves read Scripture. In what they read, they heard of Christ. They hoped for His coming, yet did not recognize Him when He came.

They boasted that they were among those who saw, that is, among the intelligent. They denied Christ and did not enter through the door. If they suddenly led anyone away with them, they led him away to destroy and kill, not to set free (cf. Mt 23:15).

Let us leave them and consider those who boast in the name of Christ Himself, whether they enter through the door. There is no number to those who not only boast that they see, but wish to seem enlightened by Christ, while they themselves are heretics. Have they perhaps entered through the door? Certainly not.

Sabellius says, ‘He who is the Son is also the Father.’ But if He is the Son, He is not the Father. He has not entered through the door who calls the Son the Father. Arius says, ‘The Father is one thing, the Son another thing.’

He would have spoken rightly if he had said ‘another,’ not ‘another thing.’ That is, another as Person or Hypostasis, not another thing as nature or essence. For when he says ‘another thing,’ He whom he hears speaks against him: ‘I and the Father are one’ (Jn 10:30).

Therefore he too did not enter through the door. He preaches a Christ of his own invention, not the Christ whom the Truth proclaims. You have the name, but not the reality. Christ is the name of a certain reality. Grasp the reality itself, if you wish to profit from the name.

Another man, Photinus, I know not from where, says that Christ is man and not God. He too has not entered through the door, because Christ is both man and God. But why touch on so many errors and enumerate the many empty words of heretics?

Hold fast to this: the sheepfold of Christ is the catholic Church. Whoever wishes to enter the sheepfold must enter through the door and preach the true Christ. Let him not only preach the true Christ, but also seek glory for Christ, not for himself.

For many, seeking glory for themselves, have scattered the sheep of Christ rather than gathered them into the flock. Christ the Lord is the lowly door. Whoever enters through this door must humble himself, so that he may enter without injuring his head.

Whoever does not humble himself but exalts himself wishes to climb over the wall. Whoever climbs over the wall climbs only in order to fall. Yet the Lord Jesus still speaks in a hidden way, and He is not yet understood.

He names the door, names the sheepfold, names the sheep, and mentions all these things, but He does not yet explain them. Let us read further, because He turns to the words by which He deemed it fitting to disclose something of what He had said.

Through their explanation, perhaps He will enable us to understand what He had not previously explained. For He feeds us with clear things and exercises us with hidden things. ‘He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way.’

Woe to the wretched man, for he will fall. Let him be humble. Let him enter through the door. Let him walk on the level road and not stumble. ‘That man,’ He says, ‘is a thief and a robber.’

He wants to call another’s sheep his own sheep, so that, as though they were his own, but in truth stolen, he may not save them, but kill them. He is a thief because he calls another’s property his own. He is also a robber because he kills what he has stolen.

He is a thief because he wishes to appropriate what does not belong to him. He is a robber because he wishes to destroy.

Such thieves and robbers before the coming of Jesus Christ were Judas and Theudas. Afterward came false messiahs, the antichrist, and all other deceivers.

This discourse also applies to the scribes and Pharisees, who, "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Mt 15:9), violated the law.

Do you see how Jesus Christ portrayed the thief, the robber, and the deceiver? Now turn your attention also to the marks of the Shepherd.

In eastern countries flocks of sheep were driven at night into caves or specially made folds for protection from thieves and wolves.

Often flocks belonging to different owners were driven into one fold.

In the morning the gatekeepers opened the doors of the fold for the shepherds. The shepherds entered, separated their own flocks from the others, called their sheep by name, and went out to the pastures.

The sheep recognized their own shepherds by voice and appearance, obeyed them, and went out after them.

But thieves and robbers did not dare to enter the guarded doors of the fold. They secretly climbed over the enclosure.

All this was very well known to the Pharisees.

Taking such a familiar example, Christ says: "He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out his own sheep, he goes before them.

The sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

This comparison of their despotism with His lawful mission became the occasion for the majestic discourse about the good shepherd.

In the East, as in remote mountainous districts of every other country, the relationship between a shepherd and his flock is entirely unlike the mechanical and soulless relationship observed elsewhere.

The solitude of pastoral life in these countries brings man and the animals he shepherds very close together.

It binds them to one another by a feeling of companionship, in which they share both dangers and pleasures.

Therefore the eastern shepherd often forgets the difference between himself and his flock, and becomes the friend of his sheep.

This feeling is not limited to his side alone. The sheep themselves become as accustomed and attached to their shepherd as he is to them.

They become his silent friends, sharing together the quiet and the same majesty of the mountains or the desert.

We learn to love what we often undergo danger for.

Therefore the various dangers from robbers, wolves, and the like make dear to the shepherd the flock with which he must live.

Thus, in a pastoral country such as Palestine, nothing could be more moving than the picture of tenderness and mutual care from shepherd life which Christ set forth in His discourse on the good shepherd.

For He came into the world in order to gather the new Israel into one great flock, and Christ compares the nations to flocks of sheep.

Already in the Old Testament, Jehovah, through the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 34:31), spoke while promising to deliver His people from the tyranny of bad shepherds.

"You are My sheep, the sheep of My pasture. You are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God."

A door usually leads into the sheepfold, and the true shepherd must enter through it to his sheep.

No shepherd can lay claim to the sheep unless he has been chosen, authorized, and sent by the father of the household, the actual owner of the flock.

One who comes without permission usually does not enter by the door, because he would not be admitted there.

Therefore he must resort to cunning or violence in order somehow to penetrate the sheepfold. When he breaks into the flock, he brings only destruction and death among it.

This was precisely the sect of the Pharisees. Through their hypocrisy and insolence they exercised authority over the people of God without any authorization from the true owner of the sheep.

Since they had no divine commission, as was often proved by their deeds, they plundered the sheep in the interest of their pride, prejudices, and egoism.

Their malice knew no bounds. They not only zealously spread the most abominable teaching, but also spread slanders in order to prevent Israel from coming to the truth.

Even at that very moment, had they not gone so far as to threaten to excommunicate the One who alone was the true Shepherd?

He was guiding the sheep of His heavenly Father to the true pastures.

Hence: "He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up another way, is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he has brought out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. But they do not follow a stranger; rather, they flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."

This gave Him opportunity to present the beautiful image at once, in all its features, without interruption.

Only after He had finished the portrayal did His enemies understand Him. Then, as often happened, a division arose among them (Jn 10:19-21).

"He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door," and so on. The form of expression is taken from shepherd life in Palestine.

For the night lodging of flocks, when for some reason it was inconvenient to leave them on the pasture overnight, natural caves were sometimes used. In places these were quite spacious.

At other times special artificial enclosures were made, larger or smaller, sometimes open and sometimes covered.

Into these the flocks were driven for the night, the doors were shut, and one of the shepherds, usually not one of the chief shepherds, remained at the doors on guard.

Whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the straight and lawful way, through the door, thereby shows that he is neither owner of the flock nor lawful shepherd.

He is a predator, a thief and a robber, for the owner and shepherd have no need to enter otherwise than through the door.

"Climbs up some other way": over the enclosure, which for the most part was not very high, or by breaking a hole, or by digging under it, and the like.

A thief is one who steals another's property quietly and secretly. A robber is one who takes it by force.

In the East a sheepfold is under the open sky, but enclosed by a low stone wall. At the gate of the fold stands a watchman.

He opens and shuts the gate for the shepherd and the flock.

A thief can only climb over the wall to get into the fold for plunder, and only by night.

The shepherd freely enters the fold through the gate, for the watchman knows him.

The sheepfold is the Church of God. So it was portrayed by the prophets: Mic 2:12; Ezek 34:14.

The sheep are the believers (Jn 21:17).

Who is the guardian of the fold? If one were to say that it is God the Father, such a service would not seem fitting to His Person.

The guardian is the Holy Spirit. He sanctifies the true shepherds for their ministry.

He also opens the doors for the flock into the sheepfold, the Church of God.

Apart from Him, only thieves and robbers, wolves and predatory beasts, can appear in the fold.

"To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

In the West the shepherd walks behind the flock. In the East, among shepherding peoples, among Kurds and Syrians, the shepherd walks before the flock, and the sheep follow him.

There the diligent shepherd so accustoms the sheep to himself that each is called by a special name.

When the shepherd calls it by its name, it leaves its feed and runs to him with signs of affection and pleasure.

He loves them tenderly and cares for them. If one of them falls sick, he tends it.

Thus the sheep do not run from their own shepherd.

On the contrary, they do not know a stranger and fear him. He can seize them only by force, and he must chase the sheep in order to catch it.

The meaning of the whole beautiful eastern image is this: whoever presents himself as a teacher outside the order established by Christ the Lord is a dishonorable impostor and destroyer of souls (v. 1).

The true shepherd of the people of God is appointed according to the will of Christ the Lord by the Holy Spirit (v. 2).

He acts freely within his sphere. With all love he cares for the salvation of each soul and diligently cares for the happiness of all (v. 3).

The members of the Church of God know and love him as their true shepherd. They repay his love with love (v. 4).

But the self-appointed teacher is an object of dread and fear for them. His teaching is foreign to them, and he catches them only by craftiness and schemes (v. 5).