Church Fathers Commentary John 10:7-10

"Jesus therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture. The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have [it] abundantly." — John 10:7-10 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: To awaken the attention of the Jews, our Lord unfolds the meaning of what He has said. Then Jesus said to them again, Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Behold, the very door that He had shut, He now opens. He is the Door; let us enter, and let us enter with joy.

St. John Chrysostom: He did not say this about the Prophets, as the heretics think, but about Theudas, Judas, and other agitators. So He adds in praise of the sheep, The sheep heard them not. He nowhere praises those who disobeyed the prophets; on the contrary, He condemns them severely.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Understand this to mean all who ever came in opposition to Me. The Prophets were not in opposition to Him. They came with Him, because they came with the Word of God and spoke the truth. He, the Word and the Truth, sent heralds before Him, but the hearts of those He sent were His own.

They came "with Him" because He has always existed, even though He took on flesh in time, as it is written: In the beginning was the Word. His humble advent in the flesh was preceded by righteous men who believed in Him as the one who was to come, just as we believe in Him who has come. The times are different, but the faith is the same. Our faith unites both those who believed He was about to come and those who believe He has come.

All who ever came in opposition to Him were thieves and robbers; that is, they came to steal and to kill. But the sheep did not hear them. They did not have Christ’s voice, but were wanderers, dreamers, and deceivers. He next explains why He is the Door: I am the Door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.

Alcuin of York: It is as if He said, "The sheep do not hear them, but they hear Me, for I am the Door. Whoever enters by Me, not falsely but in sincerity, will be saved through perseverance."

Theophylact of Ohrid: The door admits the sheep into the pasture: And shall go in and out, and find pasture. What is this pasture but the happiness to come, the rest to which our Lord brings us?

St. Augustine of Hippo: What does this mean, "to go in and out"? To enter the Church through Christ the Door is a very good thing, but to go out of the Church is not. "Going in" must refer to inward thought, while "going out" refers to outward action, as it says in the Psalm, Man goes forth to his work.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Alternatively, "to go in" means to watch over the inner man, and "to go out" means to mortify the outward man—that is, our members which are on the earth. He who does this will find pasture in the life to come.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, He is referring to the Apostles, who went in and out boldly. They became masters of the world; no one could turn them out of their kingdom, and they found pasture.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But He Himself explains it more satisfactorily to me in what follows: The thief comes not, but for to steal, and for to kill... I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

By "going in" they have life—that is, by faith, which works by love. Through this faith they enter the fold, for as it is written, The just lives by faith. And by "going out," they will have life more abundantly. This means that when true believers die, they receive a more abundant life that never ends. Although there is no lack of pasture in this fold, they will then find the pasture that truly satisfies them, as when the Lord said, Today shall you be with Me in paradise.

St. Gregory the Great: To "go in" is to enter into faith; to "go out" is to pass from faith to sight; and to "find pasture" is to enjoy eternal fullness.

Alcuin of York: The thief comes not but for to steal, and to kill. It is as if He said, "And it is right that the sheep do not hear the voice of the thief, for he comes only to steal." He usurps another's office, forming his followers not according to Christ's precepts, but his own. And therefore it follows, "and to kill," that is, by drawing them away from the faith; "and to destroy," that is, by their eternal damnation.

St. John Chrysostom: The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. This was literally fulfilled in the case of those who stirred up sedition, whose followers were nearly all destroyed and deprived by the thief even of this present life. But He came, He said, for the salvation of the sheep: that they might have life, and have it more abundantly in the kingdom of heaven. This is the third mark of difference between Himself and the false prophets.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Mystically, the thief is the devil. He steals through wicked thoughts, kills by the mind's assent to them, and destroys through the resulting actions.