Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 10:1-5

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." — John 10:1-5 (ASV)

1. After our Lord showed that his teaching had power to enlighten, he here shows that he has power to give life.

   First, he shows this by his word.

   Second, he shows this by a miracle, with the words, now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus (John 11:1).

   Concerning the first point, he does three things.

   First, he shows that he has life-giving power.

   Second, he shows his manner of giving life, with the words, I am the good shepherd (John 10:11).

   Third, he explains his power to give life, beginning with, a dissension arose again among the Jews on account of these words (John 10:19).

   The first part is divided into three sections.

   First, our Lord relates a parable.

   Second, the Evangelist mentions the necessity for explaining it, with the words, this proverb Jesus spoke to them (John 10:6).

   Third, our Lord explains the parable, beginning with, Jesus therefore said to them again (John 10:7).

   He relates the parable to them, saying, amen, amen, I say to you. It concerns two figures: a thief and the shepherd of the sheep. In it, he does three things.

   First, he mentions the mark of a thief and robber.

   Second, he gives a characteristic of the shepherd, with the words, he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

   Third, he describes the effect each of these has, with the words, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.

2. To understand this parable, we must consider who the sheep are: namely, they are the faithful of Christ and those in the grace of God. As it is written, we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand (Psalms 95:7); and, you, the people, are the sheep of my pasture (Ezekiel 34:31). And so the sheepfold is the multitude of the faithful: I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold (Micah 2:12). The door of the sheepfold is explained in different ways by Chrysostom and by Augustine.

3. According to Chrysostom, Christ calls Sacred Scripture the door, according to the verse, pray for us also that God may open to us a door for the word (Colossians 4:3). Sacred Scripture is called a door, as Chrysostom says, first, because through it we have access to the knowledge of God: which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was made for him of the seed of David according to the flesh (Romans 1:2–3). Second, just as the door guards the sheep, so Sacred Scripture preserves the life of the faithful: search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have eternal life (John 5:39). Third, because the door keeps the wolf from entering, so Sacred Scripture keeps heretics from harming the faithful: every Scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction in justice (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, the one who does not enter by the door is the one who does not use Sacred Scripture to teach the people. Our Lord says of such people: in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Matthew 15:9); and, you have made void the word of God (Matthew 15:6). This, then, is the mark of the thief: he does not enter by the door, but in some other way.

   He adds that the thief climbs, which is appropriate to this parable because thieves climb walls instead of entering by the door, and drop into the sheepfold. It also corresponds to the truth, because the reason some teach what conflicts with Sacred Scripture is pride: if any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and knows nothing (1 Timothy 6:3). Referring to this, he says that such a person climbs, that is, through pride. The one who climbs in another way is a thief, because he snatches what is not his, and a robber, because he kills what he snatches: if thieves came to you, if plunderers by night, how you would have been destroyed! (Obadiah 1:5).

   According to this explanation, the relation to what preceded is made in this way: since our Lord had said, if you were blind, you would not have sin (John 9:41), the Jews might have answered, “We do not believe you, but this is not due to our blindness. It is because of your own error that we have turned away from you.” And so our Lord rejects this and wishes to show that he is not in error, because he enters by the door—that is, by Sacred Scripture—and teaches what is contained in Sacred Scripture.

4. Against this interpretation is the fact that when our Lord explains this further on, he says, I am the door (John 10:9). So it seems that we should understand the door to be Christ.

   In answer to this, Chrysostom says that in this parable our Lord refers to himself as both the door and the shepherd. But this is from different points of view. Since he calls himself a shepherd, it is necessary that the door be something other than him, because a door and a shepherd are different. Now aside from Christ, nothing is more fittingly called a door than Sacred Scripture, for the reasons given above. Therefore, Sacred Scripture is fittingly called a door.

5. According to Augustine, the door is Christ, because one enters through him: after this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door (Revelation 4:1). Therefore, anyone who enters the sheepfold should enter by the door, that is, by Christ, and not by another way. Note that both the sheep and their shepherd enter the sheepfold: the sheep in order to be secure there, and the shepherd in order to guard the sheep. And so, if you wish to enter as a sheep to be kept safe, or as a shepherd to keep the people safe, you must enter the sheepfold through Christ. You must not enter by any other way, as did the philosophers who taught the principal virtues, or the Pharisees who established ceremonial traditions. These are neither sheep nor shepherds because, as our Lord says, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber, because he destroys both himself and others. For Christ and no one else is the door into the sheepfold, that is, the multitude of the faithful: we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access through faith into this grace in which we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God (Romans 5:1–2); there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

   According to this exposition, the connection with what went before is made in this way: because they claimed they could see without Christ, our Lord shows this is not true, recalling his words, now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains (John 9:41). Thus he says, amen, amen, I say to you.

   It should be noted that just as one who does not enter by the door as a sheep cannot be kept safe, so one who enters as a shepherd cannot guard the sheep unless he enters by the door, namely, by Christ. This is the door through which the true shepherds have entered: and one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was (Hebrews 5:4). Evil shepherds do not enter by the door, but by ambition, secular power, and simony; and these are thieves and robbers: they set up princes, but without my knowledge—that is, without my approval (Hosea 8:4). Further, he says such a person climbs in another way, because the door, namely, Christ, is small through humility—learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29)—and can be entered only by those who imitate the humility of Christ. Therefore, those who do not enter by the door but climb in by another way are the proud. They do not imitate him who, although he was God, became man; nor do they recognize his self-humbling.

6. Now he considers the shepherd.

   First, he mentions the mark of the shepherd.

   Second, he shows through signs that he is the shepherd, with the words, to him the gatekeeper opens.

7. The mark of the true shepherd is to enter by the door, that is, by the testimony of Sacred Scripture. Thus Christ said: everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). He is called a shepherd: I am not troubled when I follow you as my shepherd (Jeremiah 17:16); he rebukes and trains and teaches them, and turns them back, as a shepherd his flock .

   But if the door is Christ, as Augustine explains it, then in entering by the door, he enters by himself. This is unique to Christ, for no one can enter the door to beatitude except by the truth, because beatitude is nothing other than joy in the truth. But Christ, as God, is the truth; therefore, as man, he enters by himself, that is, by the truth, which he is as God. We, however, are not the truth, but children of the light by participating in the true and uncreated light. Consequently, we have to enter by the truth which is Christ: sanctify them in truth (John 17:17); if any man enter by me, he will be saved (John 10:9).

   If one wishes to enter even as a shepherd, he must enter by the door, that is, Christ, according to his truth, will, and consent. Thus we read: and I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them (Ezekiel 34:23). This is like saying, “They must be given by me, and not by others or themselves.”

8. Now he mentions the signs of a good shepherd, and there are three.

   The first relates to the gatekeeper: the good shepherd is let in by him. As to this he says, to him the gatekeeper opens. This gatekeeper, according to Chrysostom, is the one who opens the way to a knowledge of Sacred Scripture. The first one to do this was Moses, who first received and established Sacred Scripture. And Moses opened to Christ, because as was said above: if you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me also, for he wrote of me (John 5:46).

   Or, according to Augustine, the gatekeeper is Christ himself, because he brings us to himself. He says he opens himself, meaning he reveals himself, and we enter only by his grace: For by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:8).

   It does not matter if Christ, who is the door, is also the gatekeeper, for certain things are compatible in spiritual matters that cannot occur in physical reality. Now there seems to be a greater difference between a shepherd and a door than between a door and a gatekeeper. Therefore, since Christ can be called both a shepherd and a door, as was said, much more so can he be called a door and a gatekeeper. But if you seek a gatekeeper other than Moses or Christ, then consider the Holy Spirit the gatekeeper, as Augustine says. For it is the office of a gatekeeper to open the door, and it says of the Holy Spirit that he will teach you all truth (John 16:13). And Christ is the door insofar as he is the truth.

9. The second sign relates to the sheep: they obey the shepherd. He says, the sheep hear his voice. This is reasonable if the resemblance to a natural shepherd is considered, because just as sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd from familiar experience, so righteous believers hear the voice of Christ: O that today you would harken to his voice! (Psalms 95:7).

10. But what about the fact that many who were Christ’s sheep did not hear his voice, like Paul? Or that some who were not his sheep did hear it, like Judas?

    One might reply that Judas was Christ’s sheep at that time in regard to his present righteousness. And Paul, when he did not hear the voice of Christ, was not a sheep but a wolf; but when the voice of Christ came, it changed the wolf into a sheep.

    This reply could be accepted if it did not contradict the statement: the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back (Ezekiel 34:4). It seems from this that even when they were crippled and strayed, they were sheep. Therefore, one must say that here our Lord is speaking of his sheep not only according to their present righteousness but also according to their eternal predestination. For there is a certain voice of Christ that only the predestined can hear, that is, the call to endure to the end . Again, he says, the sheep hear his voice, because they might offer as an excuse for their unbelief the fact that not only they, but none of the leaders believed in him. So he says in answer to this, the sheep hear his voice, as if saying, “They do not believe because they are not my sheep.”

11. The third sign is taken from the actions of the shepherd. Here he mentions four actions of a good shepherd. The first is that he knows his sheep. He says, he calls his own sheep by name, which shows his knowledge of and familiarity with his sheep, for we call by name those whom we know familiarly: I know you by name (Exodus 33:17). This is part of the office of a shepherd, according to the verse: be diligent to know the countenance of your flock (Proverbs 27:23). This applies to Christ according to his present knowledge, but even more so considering eternal predestination, by which he knew them by name from eternity: he determined the number of the stars, he gives to all of them their names (Psalms 147:4); the Lord knows those who are his (2 Timothy 2:19).

    The second action of a good shepherd is that he leads them out, that is, he separates them from the company of the wicked: he brought them out of darkness and gloom (Psalms 107:14).

    The third is that after separating them from evil and bringing them into the sheepfold, he leads them out of the sheepfold. He does this, first, for the salvation of others: I will send survivors to the nations (Isaiah 66:19); behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16), so that they can make sheep out of the wolves. Second, they are to show the direction and way to eternal life: to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79).

    Fourth, the good shepherd goes before his sheep by the example of a good life. So he says, he goes before them, although this is not what a literal shepherd does, for he often follows, as in I took him from following the ewes (Psalms 78:70). But the good shepherd goes before them by example: not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). And Christ does go before them, for he was the first to die for the teaching of the truth: if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Matthew 16:24). And he went before all into everlasting life: he who opens the breach will go up before them (Micah 2:13).

12. Now he considers the effect that both the thief and the shepherd have upon the sheep.

    First, he mentions the effect of the good shepherd.

    Second, he mentions the effect of the wolf and the thief, with the words, but a stranger they do not follow.

13. He says, first, that the sheep follow him who goes before them. This is easy to see, because subjects follow in the steps of their leaders, as is stated: Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21); my foot has held fast to his steps (Job 23:11). The sheep follow because they know his voice—that is, they know it and take delight in it: let me hear your voice in my ears, for your voice is sweet (Song of Solomon 2:14).

14. The effect that the thief has is that the sheep do not follow him for very long, but only for a time. So he says, but a stranger they do not follow; that is, they do not follow a false and heretical teacher: the children who are strangers have lied to me (Psalms 18:45). Thus Paul did not follow false teachers for long. But they fly from him, because bad company ruins good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33). They flee because they do not know—that is, do not approve of—the voice of strangers, meaning their teaching, which spreads stealthily like a cancer.