Lecture 2 — Explanation of the parable

^10:6^ This proverb Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. [n. 1379]

^10:7^ Jesus therefore said to them again: amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. [n. 1382]

^10:8^ All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. [n. 1383]

^10:9^ I am the door. If any man enter by me, he will be saved. He will go in and out, and he will find pastures. [n. 1387]

^10:10^ The thief only comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. [n. 1395]

1378. Here the Evangelist tells why it was necessary to explain the above similitude; and this necessity was caused by the failure of his listeners to understand.

First, he mentions the reason why they failed to understand;

second, he explains that they failed to understand.

1379. The cause of their failure to understand was that Christ was speaking in figures. The Evangelist says, this proverb Jesus spoke to them. A ‘figure,’ properly speaking, is the use of one word in place of another, when it is intended that one word be understood from its likeness to the other. This is also called a parable.

Our Lord spoke in figures, first of all, because of the wicked, in order to conceal from them the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven: to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables (Luke 8:10). Second, because of the good, so that his figures might stir them up to make further inquiry. So, after our Lord spoke his figures or parables to the crowds, his disciples questioned him in private, as mentioned elsewhere (Matt 13:10; Mark 4:10). This is the reason why Augustine says: our Lord feeds the believing crowds with clear words, and stirs up his disciples with things that are obscure.

1380. The Evangelist discloses their failure to understand when he says, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. The ignorance which resulted from Christ’s figures was both useful and harmful. For the good and the just it was useful for giving praise to God; for although they did not understand, they believed and praised the Lord and his wisdom which was so far above them: it is the glory of God to conceal the word (Prov 25:2). But for the wicked, it was a source of harm, because, failing to understand, they blasphemed: but these men revile whatever they do not understand (Jude 1:10). As Augustine observes, when both the good and the wicked hear the words of the Gospel, and neither of them understands, the good person says that what was said was true and good, but that he does not understand it. Such a person is knocking and deserves to have the door opened, provided he perseveres. But the wicked person says that what was said had no meaning or was evil.

1381. Now our Lord explains the similitude.

If the above similitude is examined correctly, it contains two principal clauses, followed by others. The first is: **he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber **(John 10:1). The second is: **he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep **(John 10:2). Accordingly, this section is divided into two parts.

First, he explains the first clause;

then the second clause, at I am the good shepherd.

Concerning the first he does two things:

first, he explains the first clause;

second, he proves it, at I am the door.

The first clause mentions a door, a thief and a robber;

first he explains the door,

then the thief and then the robber, at all others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers.

1382. Concerning the first he says, Jesus therefore said to them again, to gain their attention and have them understand the similitude: the man of understanding may acquire skill to understand a proverb and a figure (Prov 1:6). Jesus said, amen, amen, I say to you, I am the door. Now the purpose of a door is that through itself it conduct one to the rooms of the house; and this is fitting to Christ, for one must enter into the secrets of God through him: this is the gate of the Lord, that is, Christ, the righteous will enter through it (Ps 118:20).

He says, I am the door of the sheep, because through Christ not only the shepherds are brought into the present Church or enter into everlasting happiness, but the sheep also. Thus he says below: my sheep hear my voice . . . and they follow me; and I give them eternal life (John 10:27–28).

1383. Then when he says, all others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers, he explains what he had said about thieves and robbers. First, he shows who the thieves and robbers are; second, their sign.

1384. In regard to the first, we should avoid the error of the Manicheans, who rejected the Old Testament on the ground that it says here all others, as many as have come, are thieves. They maintained that the fathers of the Old Testament, who came before Christ, were evil and have been damned.

The falsity of this view is clear from three things. First, from what this parable says. For the statement, all others, as many as have come, is intended as a description of the previous statement, which mentioned those who do not enter by the door. Therefore, all others, as many as have come, but not through me, that is, not entering by the door, are thieves and robbers. It is clear that all the patriarchs and prophets, whom the Christ-to-come had sent forerunners, entered by the door, i.e., Christ. For although he took flesh and became man in time, he was the Word of God from all eternity: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever (Heb 13:8). Indeed, the prophets were sent by the Word and wisdom of God: in every generation she, the wisdom of God, passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets (Wis 7:27). Accordingly, we expressly read in the prophets that the word of the Lord came to this or that prophet, who prophesied by participating in the Word of God.

Second, the falsity of the teaching of the Manicheans is seen when our Lord says, have come, implying that they were thrusting themselves forward on their own authority and were not sent by God: I did not send the prophets, yet they ran (Jer 23:21). Indeed, such prophets have not come from the Word of God: woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing (Ezek 13:3). But the fathers of the Old Testament were not of this type, as has been said.

Third, this falsity is seen from the fact that he shows what effect their words had, for we read, but the sheep did not hear them. Therefore, those whom the sheep did heed were not thieves and robbers. Now the people of Israel did listen to the prophets, and those who did not heed them were rebuked in Sacred Scripture: which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? (Acts 7:52) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! (Matt 23:37)

1385. Having excluded this error, it must be said that all others, as many as have come, that is, independently of me, without divine inspiration and authority, and not with the intention of seeking the glory of God but acquiring their own, are thieves, insofar as they take for themselves what is not theirs, that is, the authority to teach: your princes are rebels and companions of thieves (Isa 1:23); and robbers, because they kill with their corrupt doctrine: you make it a den of robbers (Matt 21:13); as robbers lie in wait for a man . . . they murder on the way (Hos 6:9). But the sheep, that is, the predestined, did not hear them, the thieves and robbers, otherwise they would not have been Christ’s sheep, because, as was said before, **a stranger they do not follow but fly from him **(John 10:5). Furthermore, this is commanded: you will not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams (Deut 13:3).

1386. I am the door. Here he clarifies his explanation:

first, of the door;

second, of the thief, at the thief only comes.

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he repeats what he intends to explain;

and second, he gives the explanation.

1387. He repeats what he had already said, namely, I am the door; if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar (Song 8:9), that is, let us grant her an incorruptible power.

1388. He explains this when he says, if any man enter by me, he will be saved.

First, he shows that the purpose of a door, which is to keep the sheep safe, applies to himself;

second, he mentions the manner in which they are kept safe, at he will go in and out.

1389. The door safeguards the sheep by keeping those within from going out, and by protecting them from strangers lest they come in. And this applies to Christ, for he is our safeguard and protection. And this is what he says: if any man, not with insincerity, enter, into the fellowship of the Church and of the faithful, by me, the door***, he will be saved***, i.e., if he perseveres: for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12); we will be saved by his life (Rom 5:10).

1390. The way the sheep are safeguarded is set forth when he says that he will go in and out, and he will find pasture. This statement can be explained in four ways. First of all, according to Chrysostom, it simply affirms the security and freedom of those who cling to Christ. For one who enters some other way than by the door does not have free entry and exit; but one who does enter by the door has free exit, because he can leave freely. Therefore, when he says, he will go in and out, the meaning is that the Apostles adhering to Christ enter with security by living with the faithful, who are within the Church, and with unbelievers who are outside, when they became masters of the whole world and no one wished to cast them out: let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out before them and come in before them . . . that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep which have no shepherd (Num 27:16). And find pasture, find delight in converting others, and find joy even when persecuted by unbelievers for the name of Christ: then the Apostles left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41).

1391. Second, this can be explained as Augustine does in his Commentary on John. Two things are incumbent upon anyone who acts well, namely to be well-ordered to the things that are within him, and to those that are without. Within a person is the spirit, and without is the body: though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day (2 Cor 4:16). Therefore, a person who clings to Christ will go in through contemplation, to protect his conscience: when I enter my house, i.e., my conscience, I will find rest with her, i.e., with wisdom (Wis 8:16); and out, namely, by good actions, to tame the body: man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening (Ps 104:23); and find pasture, in a clean and sincere conscience: I will appear before your sight: I will be satisfied when your glory appears (Ps 16:15). Again, by his actions he will find pasture, i.e., fruit: he will come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him (Ps 126:6).

1392. The third explanation is also Augustine’s as well as that given by Gregory in his Commentary on Ezekiel. The meaning, then, is this. Such a one will go in, i.e., into the Church, by believing: I will go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle (Ps 41:5), and this is to enter the Church militant; and out, from the Church militant into the Church triumphant: go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of the wedding (Song 3:11); and find pasture, that is, the pastures of doctrine and grace in the Church militant: he makes me lie down in green pastures (Ps 22:2); and the pastures of glory in the Church triumphant: I will feed them with good pasture (Ezek 34:14).

1393. Fourth, there is an explanation found in the work, On the Spirit and the Soul, which has been incorrectly attributed to Augustine. Here it is said that such a one will go in, that is, the saints will go in to contemplate the divinity of Christ, and out, to consider his humanity; and they will find pasture in both, because in both they will taste the joys of contemplation: your eyes will see the king in his beauty (Isa 33:17).

1394. Now he considers the thief.

First, he mentions the mark of the thief;

second, he says that he himself has the opposite characteristic, I have come that they may have life.

1395. He says that those who do not enter by the door, i.e., those who have come independently of me, are thieves and robbers; and they are evil. For in the first place, the thief comes only to steal, i.e., to usurp what is not his; these are the agitators and heretics, who fasten on to those who belong to Christ: he lies in ambush to catch the ones who are poor (Ps 9:4). Second, the thief comes to kill, and he kills by bringing in perverse teachings and evil practices: as robbers lie in wait for a man . . . they murder on the way (Hos 6:9). Third, the thief comes to destroy, by casting into everlasting destruction: my people have been lost sheep (Jer 50:6). But these traits are not in me.

1396. I have come that they may have life. This is like saying: the above have not come in by me, otherwise they would do as I do. But they do the contrary, because they steal, and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, that is, the life of righteousness, by entering into the Church militant through faith: my righteous one will live by faith (Heb 10:38). We read of this life that we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren (1 John 3:14). And have it abundantly, that is, have eternal life, when they leave the body. We read below of this life: this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God (John 17:3).