John 10

John 10:1-21 . THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

This discourse seems plainly to be a continuation of the closing verses of the ninth chapter. The figure was familiar to the Jewish ear (from Jeremiah 23:1-40 ; Ezekiel 34:1-31 ; Zechariah 11:1-17' , &c.). "This simple creature [the sheep] has this special note among all animals, that it quickly hears the voice of the shepherd, follows no one else, depends entirely on him, and seeks help from him alone--cannot help itself, but is shut up to another's aid" [LUTHER in STIER].

1, 2. He that entereth not by the door--the legitimate way (without saying what that was, as yet).
into the sheepfold--the sacred enclosure of God's true people.
climbeth up some other way--not referring to the assumption of ecclesiastical office without an external call, for those Jewish rulers, specially aimed at, had this ( Matthew 23:2 ), but to the want of a true spiritual commission, the seal of heaven going along with the outward authority; it is the assumption of the spiritual guidance of the people without this that is meant.

2. he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep--a true, divinely recognized shepherd.

3. To him the porter openeth--that is, right of free access is given, by order of Him to whom the sheep belong; for it is better not to give the allusion a more specific interpretation [CALVIN, MEYER, LUTHARDT].
and the sheep hear his voice--This and all that follows, though it admits of important application to every faithful shepherd of God's flock, is in its direct and highest sense true only of "the great Shepherd of the sheep," who in the first five verses seems plainly, under the simple character of a true shepherd, to be drawing His own portrait [LAMPE, STIER, &c.].

7-14. I am the door of the sheep--that is, the way in to the fold, with all blessed privileges, both for shepherds and sheep (compare John 14:6 , Ephesians 2:18 ).

8. All that ever came before me--the false prophets; not as claiming the prerogatives of Messiah, but as perverters of the people from the way of life, all pointing to Him [OLSHAUSEN].
the sheep did not hear them--the instinct of their divinely taught hearts preserving them from seducers, and attaching them to the heaven-sent prophets, of whom it is said that "the Spirit of Christ was in them" ( 1 Peter 1:11 ).

9. by me if any man enter in--whether shepherd or sheep.
shall be saved--the great object of the pastoral office, as of all the divine arrangements towards mankind.
and shall go in and out and find pasture--in, as to a place of safety and repose; out, as to "green pastures and still waters" ( Psalms 23:2 ) for nourishment and refreshing, and all this only transferred to another clime, and enjoyed in another manner, at the close of this earthly scene ( Revelation 7:17 ).

10. I am come that they might have life, and . . . more abundantly--not merely to preserve but impart LIFE, and communicate it in rich and unfailing exuberance. What a claim! Yet it is only an echo of all His teaching; and He who uttered these and like words must be either a blasphemer, all worthy of the death He died, or "God with us"--there can be no middle course.

11. I am the good shepherd--emphatically, and, in the sense intended, exclusively so ( Isaiah 40:11 , Ezekiel 34:23 , 37:24 , Zechariah 13:7 ).
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep--Though this may be said of literal shepherds, who, even for their brute flock, have, like David, encountered "the lion and the bear" at the risk of their own lives, and still more of faithful pastors who, like the early bishops of Rome, have been the foremost to brave the fury of their enemies against the flock committed to their care; yet here, beyond doubt, it points to the struggle which was to issue in the willing surrender of the Redeemer's own life, to save His sheep from destruction.