Jesus The Door of the Sheep

This designation is used only by John in John 10:7, "I am the door of the sheep", and in John 10:9, "I am the door".  To the latter the explanation is added, "If any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture".  The door is that of the "sheepfold" (10:1), that is, the Kingdom of God. of which the Church is the present manifestation.  The first passage, which mentions those who wrongly enter the fold or are strangers, appears to have in mind, the leaders of the sheep, and the second the sheep themselves.  As "the Door", Jesus alone has authority to give admittance and the power to bestow life (10:1).  "To be saved" - is to have the gift of eternal life her and now, and "to find pasture" is to obtain constant and unfailing spiritual food through union with Christ.  The greatness of the claim is more fully expressed in the saying, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). 

The idea that there is a door leading to heaven is one of great antiquity.  It is illustrated in Genesis 28:17, in the account of Jacob's dream, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven", and again in Psalm 78:23, "Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven".  Psalm 118:20 also illustrates this idea: "This is the gate of the Lord: The righteous shall enter into it".

The name arises naturally out of the allegory of John 10: 1-5 and expresses his conviction that entrance into life depends on believing in Jesus.  The name is the expression of his spiritual evaluation of the significance of Jesus.

-excerpt was adapted from The Names of Jesus by Vincent Taylor pg 136-8

Jesus The Door of the Sheep - Pt 2

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep."  John 10: 7

[I am the door of the sheep] It is through me alone that mankind can be saved.

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10: 9

[I am the door] Those who come for salvation to God, through Christ, shall obtain it. He shall be saved - he shall have his sins blotted out, his soul purified and himself preserved unto eternal life. This the scribes and Pharisees could neither promise nor impart.

[Go in and out] This phrase, in the style of the Hebrews, points out all of the actions of a man's life and the liberty he has of acting, or not acting. A good shepherd conducts his flocks to the fields where good pasturage is to be found, watches over them while there and brings them back again and secures them in the fold.

- Based upon excerpts from Adam Clarke's Commentary, 2nd edition published in New York by Lane and Scott, 1850

While Jesus spoke this allegory for the peace and comfort of His disciples, He also spoke it to expose false shepherds and false sheep who were even in His audience. There were wolves and goats at that time, too, who were pretending to be shepherds and sheep. Jesus wanted them to know that He knew who they really were. And He wanted His true shepherds and sheep to know it too. So when Jesus explains to His disciples, in the first place, that He is the door of the sheep, He does so by way of contrast.  He speaks of thieves and robbers. In the life of a shepherd and his sheep there were always such sheep-stealers to deal with. These people had no love for their sheep, no care for them. They only came to harm the sheep. For this reason they did not enter the sheepfold through the gate. They climbed in some other way.

Jesus takes this earthly reality and applies it to what goes on in the church in her visible manifestation on earth. Applying it, first of all, to His own time, Jesus refers to the fact that the religious leaders of His day were spiritual thieves and robbers of God's true people as sheep. They were not really interested in them. They did not really care for them. They really only sought to kill God's sheep. The proof of that is that they themselves did not enter the sheepfold through the door. And they did not teach the sheep to go through the door.

Applying this principle spiritually, this means that they did not believe in Christ the door, and they did not enter the kingdom through Christ. They did not teach the people to enter the kingdom only through Christ. They had another way into the church and kingdom of God-the way of works, the way of self-righteousness, the way of human merit. That is how they tried to steal the sheep of God too. Jesus wanted it known that they could not be saved in this way. Neither could those who would follow these false shepherds. There is no entrance into the sheepfold of God in this way of works. Jesus is teaching here that there is no salvation in man's righteousness. There is only one way into the church, only one way of salvation. And that was Himself. He is the door, the only door of the sheep.

-excerpt taken from http://www.prca.org/refwitness/1997/1997sep28.html

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