ACC ~ John 10 v1 - 6

OVERVIEW:

The shepherd leads the sheep rather than following them, and he gathers them in rather than letting them wander (CHRYSOLOGUS). He instructs them in Scripture, which is the door of entry into the sheepfold of Christ (CHRYSOSTOM). Those who confess the true Christ enter through that door (AUGUSTINE). Shepherds use the door while thieves use whatever entrance is possible (THEODORE), including the side door (CLEMENT). When the true shepherd enters by the door, he enters in by Christ (AUGUSTINE) and demonstrates he is a worthy shepherd by faithfully teaching the flock and keeping from them any doctrine that might lead to their slaughter (THEODORE). Moses is one of the gatekeepers of Scripture (CHRYSOSTOM), along with Christ and the Holy Spirit (AUGUSTINE) and the angel of Revelation who presides over the churches (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). The door of Scripture is opened with study and prayer (ORIGEN).

Sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd and do not listen to strangers (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS). Christ leads his sheep in the midst of the wolves (CHRYSOSTOM), leading them to freedom (AUGUSTINE). With the condition of our world the way it is, sheep need a shepherd (CLEMENT). Our shepherd, Christ, leads his sheep instead of following them as some shepherds might do (CHRYSOSTOM). He leads them from death to life (AUGUSTINE). Can you discern the voice of the shepherd (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS)? The good shepherd goes after the strays feeding the sheep with plain words and exercising them by obscure ones (AUGUSTINE).

BRINGING IN THE SHEEP

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: Each year, when spring with its breezes begins to usher in the birth of so many sheep and to deposit the numerous young of the fruitful flock about the fields, the meadows and the paths, a good shepherd puts aside his songs and leisure. He anxiously searches for the tender little sheep, picks them up and gathers them together. Happy to carry them, he places them about his neck, on his shoulders and in his arms. He wants them to be safe as he carries or leads them to the protecting sheepfolds.

That is the case with ourselves, too. When we see our ecclesiastical flock gaining rich increase under the favoring smile of the spring of Lent, we put aside the resonant tones of our treatise and the customary fare of our discourse. Concerned about our very heavy labor, we give all our concern [1] to gathering and carrying in the heavenly [lambs]. SERMON 40. [2]

[1] This is evidence that in Lent, Chrysologus, like other bishops of the time, omitted his customary preaching to devote his time to the instruction of the catechumens.

[2] FC 17:85-86*.

10:1 | A Thief Does Not Enter the Sheepfold by the Door

SCRIPTURE IS THE DOOR

CHRYSOSTOM: Observe the marks of a robber. First, that he does not enter openly. Second, he does not enter according to the Scriptures, for this is, “not by the door.” Here also, Jesus refers to those who had been before and to those who would come after him: antichrist and the false christs, Judas and Theudas, and whoever else there have been of the same kind. And he rightly calls the Scriptures “a door,” for they bring us to God and open to us the knowledge of God. They make us his sheep. They guard us and do not let the wolves come in after us. For Scripture, like some sure door, bars the passage against the heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all that we desire and not allowing us to wander. And, if we do not undo Scripture, we shall not easily be conquered by our enemies. By Scripture we can know all, both those who are and those who are not shepherds. But what does “into the fold” mean? It refers to the sheep and their care. For whoever does not use the Scriptures but “climbs up some other way,” that is, who cuts out for himself another and an unusual way, “the same is a thief.”… When our Lord further on calls himself the door, we should not be surprised. According to the office that he bears, he is in one place the shepherd, in another the sheep. In that he introduces us to the Father, he is the door; in that he takes care of us, he is the shepherd. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 59.2-3. [1]

[1] NF 1 14:213-14**.

THE TRUE CHRIST

AUGUSTINE: Keep hold of this, that Christ’s sheepfold is the church. Whoever would enter the sheepfold, let him enter by the door; let him preach the true Christ. Not only let him preach the true Christ but also seek Christ’s glory, not his own. For many, by seeking their own glory, have scattered Christ’s sheep instead of gathering them. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 45.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:250**.

ONLY THE SHEPHERD HAS AUTHORITY TO USE THE ENTRANCE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Our current circumstance is a lot like the sheepfold: the thief comes from wherever it is possible for him to hide. His desire is to steal. But the shepherd who has authority to use the entrance leads the sheep out to pasture, and they follow him, knowing their own shepherd, while they avoid the others whose voice they do not know. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 4.10.1. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:197.

ENTER THROUGH THE TRADITION OF THE LORD

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Those, then, who follow impious words and dictate them to others, inasmuch as they pervert the divine words instead of using them rightly, neither enter into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor do they permit those whom they have deluded to attain the truth. They do not have the key for the entrance but a false key. Using this counterfeit key, they do not enter in as we enter in, that is, through the tradition of the Lord by drawing aside the curtain. Instead they burst through the side door and dig clandestinely through the wall of the church. They step over the truth and constitute themselves the Mystagogues [1] of the soul of the impious. STROMATEIS 7.17 [2]

[1] Those who initiate into the mysteries.

[2] ANF 2:554.

10:2 | The Shepherd Enters by the Door

ENTER BY THE DOOR IMITATING CHRIST’S HUMILITY

AUGUSTINE: Who is he who enters by the door? It is he who enters in by Christ. Who is he? He is the one who imitates the suffering of Christ, who is acquainted with the humility of Christ, so as to feel and know that if God became man for us, [a] man should not think himself God but man [humankind]. He who being man wishes to appear God does not imitate him who, being God, became man. You are not asked to think less of yourself than you are but to know what you are. SERMON 87(137).4 [1]

[1] NPNF 1 6:518**.

WHO IS WORTHY TO BE A SHEPHERD?

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The shepherd of the sheep is the one who is worthily endowed with the gift of teaching. He is the one who uses the lawful entrance, that is, who lives with all his heart according to the doctrine of the law and so enters into the sheepfold, as is only right. Then he leads all the others, like sheep, to the pastures of doctrine by showing them the food of the Word with which they must nourish themselves first and continually afterwards. He also leads them by showing them the power of the Word, how Scripture must be understood and from which doctrine they must abstain—doctrine that others may deceitfully propose to them for the slaughter of the sheep…. The thief and bandit is the exact opposite. He neither uses the lawful entrance, nor does he show respect for the precepts of the law. This is how he teaches the people given to him. In vain he tries to take hold of the entrance and of the dignity of the teacher, even though he does nothing that is required for such an honor. He is inconsiderate and does everything without regard to how it may harm the sheep. Indeed how can he be useful to others when he does not exercise himself in the precepts of the law? Take a look if you want, our Lord says, and discern between me and you as to who uses the lawful entrance. See who diligently follows the precepts of the law. See to whom Moses, the gatekeeper of the sheepfold, opens the gate and whom he praises for finishing his work. See whose works themselves testify to his worthiness to be called the Shepherd. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 4.10.1-6. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:197-98.

10:3 | The Gatekeeper Opens the Door for the Shepherd

MOSES THE GATEKEEPER

CHRYSOSTOM: The gatekeeper perhaps is Moses, for to him the oracles of God were committed. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 59.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:214*.

CHRIST OR THE HOLY SPIRIT THE GATEKEEPER

AUGUSTINE: Whoever you understand here, be careful that you do not think that the porter is greater than the door; for in our houses the doorman usually ranks above the door, not the door above the doorman…. The doorman is our Lord himself. There is much less difference between a door and a doorman than between a door and a shepherd. And he has called himself both the door and the shepherd. Why then not the door and the doorman?… For what is the door? The way of entrance. Who is the doorkeeper? He who opens it. Who, then, is he that opens himself, but he who reveals himself to sight?… If you seek another person for doorman, take the Holy Spirit… of whom our Lord below said, “He will guide you into all truth.” [1] What is the door? Christ. What is Christ? The truth. Who opens the door but the one who will guide you into all truth? TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 46.2-4. [2]

[1] Jn 16:13.

[2] NPNF 1 7:256-57**.

THE GATEKEEPER

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The gatekeeper is either the angel who is appointed to preside over the churches [1] and to assist those whose lot is to minister in holy things for the good of the people, or else [the gatekeeper is] the Savior himself, who is at the same time both the Door and the Lord of the door. Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.1. [2]

[1] See Rev. 2.

[2] HE WORD IN THE BEGINNING | JOHN 1:1

THE DOOR OF SCRIPTURE OPENED WITH STUDY AND PRAYER

ORIGEN: My child, diligently apply yourself to the reading of the sacred Scriptures. Apply yourself, I say. For we who read the things of God need to do so often, otherwise we might say or think something too rashly about them. And applying yourself in this way to the study of the things of God, with faithful preconceptions that are well pleasing to God, knock at its locked door, and it will be opened to you by the gatekeeper, of whom Jesus says, “To him the gatekeeper opens.” And applying yourself in this way to the divine study, seek the meaning of the holy Scriptures that so many have missed, but do so in the right way and with unwavering trust in God. Do not be satisfied with knocking and seeking; for prayer is, of all things, indispensable to the knowledge of the things of God. This is what the Savior encourages us to do, saying not only, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you; and seek, and you shall find,” [1] but also, “Ask, and it shall be given to you.” [2] LETTER TO GREGORY 4. [3]

[1] Mt 7:7.

[2] Lk 11:9.

[3] ANF 4:394*; GTDO 43. ANF has this quote incorrectly under subsection 3.

DO NOT LISTEN TO STRANGERS

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: These I call by name… and they follow me, for I herd them up beside the waters of rest. They follow every shepherd whose voice they love to hear…. But they will not follow a stranger. Instead, they will flee from him because they have a habit of distinguishing the voice of their own from that of strangers. AGAINST THE ARIANS AND ON HIMSELF, ORATION 33.16. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 7:333.

HE LEADS THEM OUT AMID THE WOLVES

CHRYSOSTOM: When he sent out the sheep, he sent them not out of the reach of, but into the midst of, the wolves. [1] For far more wonderful is this way of keeping sheep than what we do. There also seems to be a secret allusion to the blind man. He called him out of the midst of the Jews, and he heard his voice. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 59.3. [2]

[1] Mt 10:16.

[2] NPNF 1 14:214**.

CHRIST LEADS SHEEP TO FREEDOM

AUGUSTINE: And who else leads them out but the same one who loosens the chain of their sins so that, unfettered, they may follow him? TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 45.14. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:255**.

10:4 | The Sheep Follow the Shepherd

SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: In our sickness we need a Savior, in our wanderings a guide, in our blindness someone to show us the light, in our thirst the fountain of living water that quenches forever the thirst of those who drink from it. We dead people need life, we sheep need a shepherd, we children need a teacher, the whole world needs Jesus! CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1.9.83. [1]

[1] JFA 62.

SHEPHERDS USUALLY FOLLOW SHEEP

CHRYSOSTOM: Shepherds always follow behind their sheep, but he, on the contrary, goes before them to show that he would lead all of them to the truth. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 59.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:214**.

CHRIST LEADS SHEEP FROM DEATH

AUGUSTINE: And who has gone before the sheep to the place where they are to follow him but he who rising from the dead, dies no more…. And who when he was seen here in the flesh said, “Father, I will also that they whom you have given me be with me where I am”? [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 45.14. [2]

[1] Jn 17:24.

[2] NPNF 1 7:255**.

10:5 | Sheep Will Not Follow a Stranger

CAN YOU DISCERN THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD?

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: He offers you a shepherd. For this is what your good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep is hoping and praying for…. Do you on your side offer to God and to us obedience to your pastors? Will you dwell in a place of pasture and be fed by refreshing waters, [1] knowing your Shepherd well and being known by him? [2] Will you follow when he earnestly calls you as a Shepherd through the door? Or will you follow a stranger climbing up into the fold like a robber and a traitor? Will you listen to a strange voice when that voice would take you away by stealth and scatter you from the truth on mountains, [3] and in deserts, and pitfalls, and places that the Lord does not visit? And would you be led away from the sound faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one power and Godhead whose voice my sheep always heard—and may they always hear it—to follow deceitful and corrupt words that would tear them from their true Shepherd? May we all be kept from this, both shepherd and flock. May we guide and be guided away from such a poisoned and deadly pasture so that we may all be one in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and unto our heavenly rest. ON EASTER AND HIS RELUCTANCE, ORATION 1.6-7. [4]

[1] Ps 23:2 (22:2 LXX).

[2] Jn 10:14.

[3] Ezek 34:6.

[4] NPNF 2 7:204**.

WHAT ABOUT THE STRAYS?

AUGUSTINE: What are we to think? Were all those who heard Christ’s voice sheep? Judas heard, and he was a wolf but wore sheepskin as he followed, laying snares for the Shepherd. And sometimes some of the sheep do not hear him, as for instance those who crucified Christ…. Now you might say, When they did not hear, they were not yet sheep so they must have been wolves at the time; the voice, when they heard it, however, changed them from wolves into sheep….

Still I am disturbed by the Lord’s rebuke to the shepherds in Ezekiel, “Neither have you brought again that which strayed.” [1] He calls it a stray sheep, and yet it never stops being a sheep, although if it strayed, it could not have heard the voice of the Shepherd but the voice of a stranger—the voice of the thief and robber….

What I say then is this: The Lord knows those that are his. [2] He knows the foreknown, he knows the predestined. [3] … They are the sheep. For a time they do not even know what they are themselves, but the Shepherd knows them. [4] … According to this divine knowledge and predestination, how many sheep are outside, how many wolves within! And how many sheep are inside, how many wolves without!… But these [wolves] are not the sheep, for we speak of those who were predestined—of those whom the Lord knows are his. And yet, even these wolves, as long as they rightly obey, are still listening to the voice of Christ. In fact they are the ones who hear, the others do not. And yet, according to predestination, they are not sheep while the others are.

This is how we solve the difficulty. The sheep do hear the Shepherd’s voice, and they only. When is that? It is when that voice said, “He that endures to the end shall be saved.” [5] No one who is his is indifferent to such a voice; a stranger does not hear it…. But maybe there was someone who treated this voice with disdain and heard it as that of a stranger. If he was predestined, he strayed for the time, but he was not lost forever. He returns to hear what he has neglected, to do what he has heard. For if he is one of those who are predestined, then both his very wandering and his future conversion have been foreknown by God. If he has strayed, he will return to hear that voice of the Shepherd and follow him. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 45.10-13. [6]

[1] Ezek 34:4.

[2] See 2 Tim 2:19.

[3] Augustine then quotes Rom 8:29-33.

[4] Eph 1:4.

[5] Mt 10:22.

[6] NPNF 1 7:253-54**.

10:6 | They Did Not Understand the Figure

TWO REACTIONS TO THE GOSPEL

AUGUSTINE: Our Lord feeds by plain words, he exercises by obscure ones…. For when two people are listening to the words of the gospel, the one godly, the other ungodly, both can hear the words of the gospel, but it can also be the case that neither one of them understands the words. One person says, “What Jesus said is true and good, but we do not understand it.” The other says, “It is not worth attending to.” The first one knocks [on the door] in faith. Yes, and, if he continues to knock, it shall be opened to him. The second one, however, will hear the words in Isaiah, “If you do not believe, you shall not understand.” [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 45.6-7. [2]

[1] Is 7:9 LXX.

[2] NPNF 1 7:251**.