John 10:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Those who withdrew from Him do not dishonor the shepherd, but cut themselves off from the flock of sheep.

As for the fact that afterward He calls Himself the door, one should not be disturbed by this.

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 the shepherd.

So that you may not think that His work consists only in bringing us to the Father, He also calls Himself the shepherd.

In the same way, when He sent the sheep, He sent them not away from wolves, but into the midst of wolves.

This shepherding is far more wondrous than what exists among us.

It seems to me that there is also an allusion here to the blind man. He called him too and led him out from the midst of the Jews, and he heard and knew His voice.

If you wish to examine each word in the parable, nothing prevents understanding Moses here by the doorkeeper, because the words of God were entrusted to him.

The Pharisees often called the Lord a deceiver and proved it by their own unbelief, saying, "Have any of the rulers believed in Him?" (Jn 7:48).

Therefore the Lord shows that He should not be considered a destroyer because they do not believe. Rather, they must be excluded from the number of the sheep.

I, He says, enter by the door. Clearly, I am truly the Shepherd.

You have not followed Me, and by this you have shown concerning yourselves that you are not sheep.

From where, then, does He lead His sheep? From the midst of unbelievers, as, for example, He led the blind man out from among the Jews, who both heard Him and knew Him.

For “all things are naked and open to Him, and there is no creature hidden before Him” (Heb 4:13). Therefore He says to one of the saints: “Who is this that hides counsel from Me, keeping words in his heart, and thinks to conceal them from Me?” (Job 38:2).

As we have just said, the impious assembly of the Pharisees asked whether they also were blind. If He spoke the truth and said that they too were such, that is, blind, they could again condemn Him.

They would accuse Him of insulting the leaders and reviling those who had received authority over the people. For they were excessively proud about this.

Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ, repelling this design of theirs, judges it necessary and profitable to introduce this parable. In a somewhat veiled way, and as though in a riddle, He indicates that, because of their greed, they cannot be firm guides.

Nor can this dignity be secure in those who, by their arrogance, insult God, the giver of this dignity. Rather, He teaches that it must belong only to those whom He Himself calls to guide the people.

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

He calls a thief, a robber, and one who comes from another way, the man who thinks that honor not given to him can be seized 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; Isa 30:1).

In these words He covertly indicates that, although they take pleasure in ruling over the people, only those who have believed and received the divine preaching through Him should seek this authority.

Thus they may possess a power unshaken and firmly established. This was found in the holy Apostles and in the teachers of the holy churches who followed them.

To these “the doorkeeper opens.” This means either the angel appointed to watch over the churches and assist the ministers for the benefit of the peoples, or again the Savior Himself.

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

Quite rightly He commands the flock of sheep to listen to the voice of the shepherd and obey it properly. Conversely, He commands them to turn away with all diligence from “the voice of strangers.”

By taking the saying in its general meaning, you may understand the true state of the matter. For we teach in the churches by setting forth the doctrines of Holy Scripture.

We offer, as a kind of spiritual food, the evangelical and apostolic word. Those who heed such teaching are the believers in Christ, distinguished by an unperverted faith.

They reject the voices of false shepherds and turn away from them as from a destructive evil.

But someone may ask: what, then, is indicated to the Pharisees by this? I shall repeat it 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.

Nor will they have it unless they receive the God-given good. And when He adds that the sheep listen to their shepherds and flee from strangers, He again nobly hints at this.

They will by no means stand at the head of those who are to believe in Him. Rather, the sheep will flee from their teaching and follow the shepherds appointed by Him.

If you seek another person as the doorkeeper, the Holy Spirit may be found.

The Lord Himself says to His disciples concerning the Holy Spirit, "He will teach you all truth" (Jn 16:13).

What is the door? Christ. What is Christ? The Truth.

Who opens the door, if not the One who teaches all truth?

On verses 2-5: "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens" (Jn 10:2-3).

We shall ask about this doorkeeper when we learn from the Lord Himself what the door is and who the shepherd is.

"And the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name" (Jn 10:3).

For He has their names written in the book of life. He calls His own sheep by name.

Therefore the Apostle also says, "The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Tim 2:19).

"And he 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" (Jn 10:3-5).

All this is full of riddles. It raises questions and is filled with hidden intimations.

Let us therefore follow further and listen to the Teacher, who discloses something in these obscure matters and makes us enter within through what He discloses.

He would not call the sheep by name if, because of his earnest care for them, he did not know each one individually.

"And he leads them out," to pasture. For rational sheep, the pasture is the study of the Word of God, which nourishes their soul.

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."

"His own": it was customary sometimes to drive not one flock, but several, into one enclosure for the night.

When the shepherds came in the morning, each separated his own flock from the others and led them out to pasture.

The sheep knew their own shepherds by sight and voice. The shepherds called their own sheep by name, and in this way separated their flocks.

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).