John Calvin Commentary John 10

Verily, verily, I say to you. As Christ had to deal with scribes and priests, who were considered pastors of the Church, it was necessary that they should be stripped of the honor of this title, if he wanted his doctrine to be received. The small number of believers might also greatly diminish the authority of his doctrine. He therefore contends that we should not count, in the number of shepherds or of sheep, all who outwardly claim a place in the Church. But we will never be able, by this mark, to distinguish the lawful shepherds from the reprobate, and the true sheep from the counterfeit, if all have the same object, beginning, and end.

This warning has been highly useful in all ages, and today it is especially necessary. No plague is more destructive to the Church than when wolves ravage under the guise of shepherds. We also know how serious an offense it is when spurious or degenerate Israelites claim to be sons of the Church and, on this pretext, insult believers. But today, nothing alarms weak and ignorant persons more than when they see the sanctuary of God occupied by the greatest enemies of the Church; for it is not easy to make them understand that it is the doctrine of Christ that the shepherds of the Church so fiercely resist. Besides, as the majority of people are led into various errors by false doctrines, while each person's views and expectations are directed by others, scarcely anyone permits himself to be led into the right path.

We must therefore, above all, guard against being deceived by pretended shepherds or counterfeit sheep, if we do not want to willingly expose ourselves to wolves and thieves. The name of “The Church” is highly honorable, and justly so; but the greater the reverence it deserves, the more careful and attentive we should be in marking the distinction between true and false doctrine.

Christ here openly declares that we should not count as shepherds all who boast of being such, and that we should not count as sheep all who boast of outward marks. He speaks of the Jewish Church, but what he says applies equally well to our own. We should also consider his purpose and design, so that weak consciences may not be alarmed or discouraged when they perceive that those who rule in the Church, instead of being pastors or shepherds, are hostile or opposed to the Gospel; and that they may not turn away from the faith because they have few fellow disciples listening to Christ among those who are called Christians.

He who entereth not by the door. It is useless, I think, to examine too closely every part of this parable. Let us be satisfied with this general view: that, as Christ states a resemblance between the Church and a sheepfold, in which God assembles all his people, so he compares himself to a door, because there is no other entrance into the Church but by him. Hence it follows that only those are good shepherds who lead people directly to Christ; and that only those are truly gathered into the fold of Christ, so as to belong to his flock, who devote themselves to Christ alone.

But all this relates to doctrine; for, since all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, (Colossians 2:3), he who turns aside from him to go elsewhere neither keeps the road nor enters by the door.

Now, whoever does not despise Christ or his instructor will easily free himself from the hesitation that keeps so many in a state of perplexity about what the Church is, and to whom they should listen as shepherds. For if those who are called shepherds attempt to lead us away from Christ, we should flee from them, at the command of Christ, as we would flee from wolves or thieves; and we should not form or maintain fellowship with any society except one that is united in the pure faith of the Gospel. For this reason Christ urges his disciples to separate themselves from the unbelieving multitude of the whole nation, not to allow themselves to be governed by wicked priests, and not to let themselves be deceived by proud and empty titles.

To him the porter openeth. If by the word Porter anyone chooses to understand God, I do not object; and Christ even appears expressly to contrast the judgment of God with the false opinion of men in approving of pastors, as if he had said, “There are others, indeed, whom the world generally applauds, and on whom it willingly confers honor; but God, who holds the reins of government, does not acknowledge or approve of any but those who lead the sheep by this road.”

He calleth his own sheep by name. I consider this as referring to the mutual consent of faith; because the disciple and the teacher are united together by the one Spirit of God, so that the teacher goes before, and the disciple follows. Some think that it denotes the intimate knowledge which every shepherd ought to have of each of his flock, but I do not know if this rests on solid grounds.

Because they know his voice. Though he speaks here of ministers, yet, instead of wishing that they should be heard, he wishes that God should be heard speaking by them; for we must attend to the distinction which he has laid down, that he alone is a faithful pastor or shepherd of the Church, who conducts and governs his sheep by the direction of Christ.

We must attend to the reason why it is said that the sheep follow; it is, because they know how to distinguish shepherds from wolves by the voice. This is the spirit of discernment, by which the elect discriminate between the truth of God and the false inventions of men.

So then, in the sheep of Christ a knowledge of the truth goes before, and next follows an earnest desire to obey, so that they not only understand what is true, but receive it with warm affection. And not only does he commend the obedience of the faith, because the sheep assemble submissively at the voice of the shepherd, but also because they do not listen to the voice of strangers, and do not disperse when any one cries to them.

This parable. This is the reason why, proudly boasting of their wisdom, they rejected the light of Christ; for in a matter not very difficult to understand, they are extremely slow to understand.

But they did not understand what things they were which he spoke to them. In this clause, the Greek manuscripts differ. Some copies might be literally rendered, they did not understand what he said. Another reading, which I have followed, is fuller, though it amounts to the same meaning. The third reading is that they did not know that he who spoke of himself was the Son of God; but this is not widely accepted.

I am the door. If this explanation had not been added, the whole discourse would have been allegorical. He now explains more clearly what was the chief part of the parable when he declares that he is the door.

The sum of what is stated is that the principal point of all spiritual doctrine, on which souls are fed, consists in Christ. Thus also Paul, one of the shepherds, says:

I reckon nothing to be worth knowing but Jesus Christ,
(1 Corinthians 2:2).

And this mode of expression conveys the same meaning as if Christ had testified that to him alone we must all be gathered together. Therefore, he invokes and exhorts all who desire salvation to come to him. By these words, he means that in vain do they wander about who leave him to go to God, because there is but one open door, and all approach in any other way is prohibited.