I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures.
εγω ειμι η θυρα δι εμου εαν τις εισελθη σωθησεται και εισελευσεται και εξελευσεται και νομην ευρησει
14 Church Fathers comment on this verse
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me... he will go in and out and find pasture.” That is, he will enjoy safety and freedom.
By “pasture” He means here the food and feeding of the sheep, as well as authority and dominion. That is, he will remain upon it, and no one will drive him out.
So it was with the apostles. They went in and out freely, as though they possessed the whole world, and no one could drive them out.
Whoever enters through Me, the door, and is brought to the Father and becomes His sheep, will be saved.
Not only will he be saved, but he will receive great fearlessness, like that of the Lord and Master.
This is what He indicates by the words, "and will go in and out." So also the Apostles boldly went in and out before rulers, and came out rejoicing and unconquered (Acts 5:41).
"And he will find pasture," that is, abundant food.
Again, since our man is twofold, according to the expression of the Apostle Paul, inward and outward (Rom 7:22; 2 Cor 4:16), one may say this.
The one enters who cares for the inward man. And again the one goes out who, in Christ, puts to death the members which are on the earth and the works of the flesh (Rom 8:13).
Such a one will find pasture also in the age to come, according to what is said: "The Lord shepherds me, and I shall lack nothing" (Ps 22:1).
From what commonly happens He transforms the discourse, as it were, from history into spiritual contemplation.
What almost lies before the eyes and presents no difficulty for understanding He makes into an image of things less clear.
Thieves and robbers, He says, shamelessly forcing their way into the sheep pens, do not enter by the doors. Instead they leap in somewhere else and, at their own peril, jump over the fence of the fold.
Such a plunderer, and one rashly resolved on wickedness, can very easily be caught.
But those who enter through the door itself make a wholly safe entrance. Clearly they are not unknown or unfamiliar to the owner of the sheep.
They enter in the presence of the doorkeeper, who opens the door for them.
Such men, He says, will be with the sheep in complete safety. They make a most lawful entrance, without any wickedness and free from suspicion of robbery.
This is the historical sense.
But turning its meaning to spiritual profit, we shall say this. Those who enter the governance of the people without divine indication refuse, as it were, to enter through the door.
They will certainly perish, pressing hard upon the divine judgment by their wicked deeds.
But those who have received authority from God and come to it through Christ, with great boldness and love, will rule the sacred fold.
Not only will they be far from divine wrath against them, but on the contrary, they will receive honors for this.
They will expect the swift granting of crowns from above, since their aim was in no way and in nothing to harm the sheep.
Rather, their aim was to benefit them and, doing what is pleasing to the Master of the flock, always to strive to guard His subjects.
In these words also the Lord greatly frightens the stubborn Pharisees. He says that they will not preserve the authority they have, but will lose it.
This is altogether just, since they think they possess it firmly not through God, but through their own evil-mindedness.
Yet here too I must marvel at the incomparable love of mankind of the Savior.
Indeed, "gracious and merciful is the Lord" (Ps 110:4). He offers all the way of salvation and calls to it in many ways even the very disobedient and stubborn.
The proof of what has been said will again come to me from the matter itself.
When neither miracles nor an impulse toward future hope and glory persuades the Pharisee to accept His teaching, He quickly turns to what would naturally throw them into great confusion.
Then, as if by unavoidable necessity, they might turn to good obedience.
Knowing that they strive to obtain the glory that comes from authority, and do not care at all about giving benefit through it, He says that they will be deprived of what they value greatly.
They will wholly lose what is in their hands, unless very soon they change toward obedience to Him and receive mercy from Him.
“Where do You pasture Your flock?” (Song 1:6), O good Shepherd, who takes the whole flock upon Your shoulders? For the whole human race, which You lifted upon Your shoulders, is one sheep.
Show me the grass. Let me know the water of rest. Lead me out to the nourishing pasture. Call me by name, so that I, Your sheep, may hear Your voice, and through Your voice grant me eternal life.
Teach me where You pasture Your flock, so that, having found the saving pasture, I may be filled with heavenly food. Without tasting it, it is impossible to enter into life.
He is the Way (see Jn 14:6), as leading us through Himself. He is the Door, as the One who brings us in.
He is the Shepherd, as the One who makes us dwell in a green place, nourishes us beside the waters of rest (see Ps 22:2), and guides us from here.
He protects us from beasts, turns back the one gone astray, searches for the lost, binds up the broken, preserves the strong (see Ezek 34:4), and by the words of pastoral skill gathers us into the fold beyond.
“I am the door,” said the Lord (Jn 10:9). For those who have completed the whole path of the virtues well, in the blameless course of the active life, He brings into the realm of knowledge.
As light, He shows them the most radiant treasures of wisdom. He Himself is one and the same: the way, the door, the key, and the kingdom.
He is the way as guide; the key as opening to the worthy the entrance to divine treasures; the door as the One who brings in; the kingdom as the One inherited, and as present in all by participation.
“I am the door.” By repeating this word (Jn 10:7), Jesus Christ strengthens His speech.
“If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” If anyone walks according to My commandments, he will be saved, because he will enter the heavenly dwellings.
“He will go in and out,” into every place of the universe, as happened with the apostles.
“And will find pasture,” not only for the soul but also for the body. Before the apostles there always lay open everything the believers possessed.
He Himself is the door of the Father, through which Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, the apostles, and the Church enter. All this is for union with God.
He will enter into faith, and will go out from faith to vision, from believing to contemplation. He will find pasture in eternal rest.
Thus His sheep find pasture, because whoever follows Him with a simple heart is fed with the food of eternal freshness.
What are the pastures of those sheep, if not the inward joys of ever-verdant paradise?
For the pastures of the elect are the present vision of God. When they behold Him without interruption, the mind is satisfied with the infinite food of life.
In these pastures those who have already been freed from the chains of lustful temporality rejoice in the abundance of eternity.
There are the choirs of Angels singing a hymn to God. There is the fellowship of the citizens on high.
There is the joyful triumph of those returning from the sorrowful toil of this pilgrimage.
There are the foresighted companies of the Prophets. There is the appointed number of the Apostles as judges.
There is the victorious army of countless Martyrs, rejoicing there all the more because they were tormented here more cruelly.
There is the steadfastness of the Confessors, consoled by the receiving of their reward.
There are faithful men in whom the pleasure of the age could not exhaust the strength of courage.
There are holy women who, together with this age, overcame even their sex.
There are youths who here surpassed their years by their conduct.
There are elders whom years made weak here, but whom virtuous activity did not abandon.
Therefore, beloved brethren, let us seek these pastures, where we may rejoice with the assembly of such citizens.
Let the very triumph of those who rejoice stir us toward this.
If a people were celebrating a solemn feast somewhere, and if, at the announcement of the feast, they were gathering for the consecration of some church, we would all hasten to be there.
Each would be concerned to be present there. He would count it a loss if he did not see the feast of common joy.
Behold, among the elect citizens in heaven there is joy. All in their assembly greet one another.
And yet we, indifferent to the love of eternity, are kindled by no desire. We do not strive to be amid such a feast.
We deprive ourselves of joys, and are pleased.
Therefore, brethren, let us inflame the soul. Let faith in what we have believed grow hot. Let our desires burn for the things above.
In this way, to love means to go.
Let no hardship draw us away from the joy of the inward feast. If someone desires to go to a planned place, no hardship of the road changes his desire.
Let no flattering prosperity turn us aside from the path. For he is a foolish traveler who gazes on pleasant meadows along the way and forgets to go where he intended.
Therefore let the soul strive with full desire toward the Fatherland above.
Let it desire nothing in this world which it knows it must soon leave behind.
Then, if we are truly sheep of the heavenly Shepherd, since we do not cling to the pleasure of the road, we shall be satisfied on the eternal pastures when we arrive there.
This is through the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The Pharisees did not understand Jesus. Yet the thought underlying this figurative saying had not yet been fully expressed by Him.
Therefore, continuing His discourse, He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Whoever enters through Me will be saved."
Now it became clear that He was speaking about the Kingdom of God founded by Him on earth.
It is the Kingdom of people united by faith in Him and by love for their neighbors.
He likens this Kingdom to a sheepfold. But since one must pass through a door into a fold, and one can enter the Kingdom of God only by believing in Him, He calls Himself that door which leads into this Kingdom.
Whoever, having been born according to the flesh, enters into regeneration through holy baptism and preserves the state given by baptism through life according to the Gospel, that person will be saved.
He will enter the God-pleasing course of earthly life through spiritual birth. He will depart from this course by a blessed death. In eternity he will find eternal, most abundant, most sweet spiritual pasture.
"I am the door." "By the repetition He strengthens the word" (Euthymius Zigabenus).
"If anyone enters by Me." In connection with what precedes, the speech concerns shepherds who enter the fold through the door.
Yet, as it seems, at the end of this figurative saying the image is taken more broadly.
Since not only shepherds but also sheep enter and go out by the door, both shepherds and those shepherded are meant by those entering and going out.
At the same time, the notion of the sheepfold is now taken more narrowly. Properly speaking, what is in view is the Messianic Kingdom, the Church of Christ.
Therefore of those who have entered He uses the expression "will be saved," which properly means salvation in the Kingdom of the Messiah.
"Whoever enters by Me will be saved." The whole expression points to entrance into a state of reconciliation with God through faith.
It points to participation in salvation in the Church of Christ.
The further expressions, "and will go in and out, and find pasture," point to the satisfaction in the Kingdom of Christ of all true spiritual needs of those who enter it.
This is expressed through the image of the needs of sheep being satisfied.
The word "will enter" signifies the satisfaction of the need for certainty in spiritual safety, for sure protection and shelter.
There one may find peace of spirit and rest in God, as sheep find protection, shelter, and rest in the sheepfold.
The words "will go out and find pasture" signify the satisfaction of the need for spiritual nourishment by the food of truth, goodness, and beauty in the Kingdom of the Messiah.
There, for the satisfaction of all needs of the spirit, there is an abundance of every object, a spacious pasture, where each may feed as much as he wishes.
In the Kingdom of Christ there is everything for the satisfaction of every spiritual need.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” In contending with the unbelief and distrust of men, the Savior presents Himself under another image and calls Himself the door.
He is either the door for the sheep, so that they can enter only through Him, as Chrysostom understood it. Or He is the door into the sheepfold, as in v. 4, so that the rulers of the Church can enter only through Him.
But there is no need to separate one meaning from the other here. He is the door both for the sheep and for the shepherds.
St. Hermas wrote: “The Son of God is the new door, because all who are saved will enter the kingdom of God through this door.”
“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers.” Οσοι ηλθον προ εμου. Since the Lord calls Himself the door in the sense of the only Savior, the expression προ εμου in this form must mean “apart from Me,” independently of Me.
The use of προ in the sense of “except” is found in Euripides, and likewise in John 5:7. Teachers acting apart from the chief shepherd, however many there may be and whenever they may come, are thieves and robbers.
However brilliant their gifts may be, and however extensive their knowledge, if they offer teaching about faith not according to the spirit of Jesus, they are predators and destroyers of souls. Such is God’s will concerning this.
“The sheep did not hear them.” The true members of Christ’s Church do not listen to or receive false teachers.
The Savior expresses His thought about His genuine sheep, who know Him and whom He knows (John 10:14-15). They possess spiritual perception, so as to recognize the wolf concealed in sheep’s clothing.
History shows this. It is another matter with those who seek teachers for themselves who are ready to indulge their passions. Whom they seek, they also find (2 Tim 4:3-4).
“Whoever enters by Me will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” The expression “will go in and out” means a free and blessed occupation in one’s affairs (Ps 120:8; Deut 28:6; Jer 37:4; 2 Chr 1:10).
In other words, he will have strength to carry out his affairs without hindrance. “And he will find pasture,” for himself and for his flock if he is a shepherd.
Or, according to the word of the Apostle in 1 Tim 4:16, he will save both himself and those who hear him.
“The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” The thief approaches the sheepfold in order to climb over the wall like a thief (v. 1) and carry off what belongs to another.
But even this is not enough for him. Since he cannot draw the sheep to himself by kindness, he strikes it and finally slaughters it. Such are the works of false teachers (Matt 23:13, 15; Jer 10:21; Jer 23:1-2).
Christ the Lord came so “that they may have life, and may have it abundantly,” περισσον εχωσι την ζωην. The word περισσον refers not to ζωην, but to εχωσι.
The meaning is this. He came so that all believers might enjoy life in God, and that in full sufficiency. They were to become possessed of complete abundance of strength.
The Old Testament also gave life to its children. It gave consolation to the soul and led it “in paths of righteousness” (Ps 22:3).
But the revelation of Christ gives complete satisfaction to all the best needs of the soul. No Pharisee and no idealist has the right to reproach the teaching of Christ.
They cannot reproach it for errors or obscurity, nor for any deficiency. It is pure truth, lofty truth, all-embracing truth, such as the world has not yet seen. Only folly can replace it with another.
"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved" (Jn 10:9).
This is the same as what the Lord says elsewhere: "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (Jn 14:6).
He confirmed the same still more closely when He said, "Without Me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).
He is a Christian who is wholly in Christ, and who has from Christ everything valuable that he has within himself.
His justification is Christ's, and his body is also Christ's.
The one being saved is saved because he has put on Christ. Only in this condition does he have access to the Father.
We have fallen away from God, and for this reason are under wrath.
Only when we draw near in Christ and for Christ does the righteousness of God withdraw, and His mercy stretch out toward us and receive us as we approach.
The seal of Christ is imprinted on the whole nature of the Christian. The one who bears it will walk through the midst of the shadow of death and will fear no evil.
In order to be such, we have the Mysteries: Baptism and Communion, mediated for those who sin after Baptism by repentance.
But this is from the side of the Lord. From our side, in order to receive them, receptive dispositions must be formed in the spirit.
These are faith, which confesses, "I am perishing and am saved only by the Lord Jesus Christ"; love, which zealously dedicates everything to the Lord and Savior, sparing nothing.
And there is hope, which expects nothing from itself, yet is certain it will not be abandoned by the Lord.
It is certain that every help, inward and outward, will come from Him throughout life, until it is taken there where He Himself is.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 17 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS