He that entereth not by the door — By Christ. He is the only lawful entrance. Into the sheepfold — The Church. He is a thief and a robber — In God's account. Such were all those teachers, to whom our Lord had just been speaking.... [ Continue Reading ]
To him the door keeper openeth — Christ is considered as the shepherd, John 10:11. As the door in the first and following verses. And as it is not unworthy of Christ to be styled the door, by which both the sheep and the true pastor enter, so neither is it unworthy of God the Father to be styled the... [ Continue Reading ]
He goeth before them — In all the ways of God, teaching them in every point, by example as well as by precept; and the sheep follow him — They tread in his steps: for they know his voice — Having the witness in themselves that his words are the wisdom and the power of God. Reader, art thou a shepher... [ Continue Reading ]
They will not follow a stranger — One whom Christ hath not sent, who doth not answer the preceding description. Him they will not follow — And who can constrain them to it? But will flee from him — As from the plague. For they know not the voice of strangers — They cannot relish it; it is harsh and... [ Continue Reading ]
They — The Pharisees, to whom our Lord more immediately spake, as appears from the close of the foregoing chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
I am the door — Christ is both the Door and the Shepherd, and all things.... [ Continue Reading ]
Whosoever are come — Independently of me, assuming any part of my character, pretending, like your elders and rabbis, to a power over the consciences of men, attempting to make laws in the Church, and to teach their own traditions as the way of salvation: all those prophets and expounders of God's w... [ Continue Reading ]
If any one — As a sheep, enter in by me — Through faith, he shall be safe — From the wolf, and from those murdering shepherds. And shall go in and out — Shall continually attend on the shepherds whom I have sent; and shall find pasture — Food for his soul in all circumstances.... [ Continue Reading ]
The thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy — That is, nothing else can be the consequence of a shepherd's coming, who does not enter in by me.... [ Continue Reading ]
But the hireling — It is not the bare receiving hire, which denominates a man a hireling: (for the labourer is worthy of his hire; Jesus Christ himself being the Judge: yea, and the Lord hath ordained, that they who preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel:) but the loving hire: the loving the h... [ Continue Reading ]
The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling — Because he loves the hire, not the sheep.... [ Continue Reading ]
I know my sheep — With a tender regard and special care: and am known of mine — With a holy confidence and affection.... [ Continue Reading ]
As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father — With such a knowledge as implies an inexpressible union: and I lay down my life — Speaking of the present time. For his whole life was only a going unto death.... [ Continue Reading ]
I have also other sheep — Which he foreknew; which are not of this fold — Not of the Jewish Church or nation, but Gentiles. I must bring them likewise — Into my Church, the general assembly of those whose names are written in heaven. And there shall be one flock — (Not one fold, a plain false print)... [ Continue Reading ]
I lay down my life that I may take it again — I cheerfully die to expiate the sins of men, to the end I may rise again for their justification.... [ Continue Reading ]
I lay it down of myself — By my own free act and deed. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again — I have an original power and right of myself, both to lay it down as a ransom, and to take it again, after full satisfaction is made, for the sins of the whole world. This commissi... [ Continue Reading ]
These are not the words — The word in the original takes in actions too.... [ Continue Reading ]
It was the feast of the dedication — Instituted by Judas Maccabeus, 1 Macc. iv, 59, when he purged and dedicated the altar and temple after they had been polluted. So our Lord observed festivals even of human appointment. Is it not, at least, innocent for us to do the same?... [ Continue Reading ]
In Solomon's portico — Josephus informs us, that when Solomon built the temple, he filled up a part of the adjacent valley, and built a portico over it toward the east. This was a noble structure, supported by a wall four hundred cubits high: and continued even to the time of Albinus and Agrippa, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye do not believe, because ye are not of my sheep — Because ye do not, will not follow me: because ye are proud, unholy, lovers of praise, lovers of the world, lovers of pleasure, not of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, &c. — Our Lord still alludes to the discourse he had before this festival. As if he had said, My sheep are they who, Hear my voice by faith; Are known (that is, approved) by me, as loving me; and Follow me, keep my commandments, with a bel... [ Continue Reading ]
I and the Father are one — Not by consent of will only, but by unity of power, and consequently of nature. Are — This word confutes Sabellius, proving the plurality of persons: one — This word confutes Arius, proving the unity of nature in God. Never did any prophet before, from the beginning of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Psalms 82:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
If he (God) called them gods unto whom the word of God came, (that is, to whom God was then speaking,) and the Scripture cannot be broken — That is, nothing which is written therein can be censured or rejected.... [ Continue Reading ]
Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world — This sanctification (whereby he is essentially the Holy One of God) is mentioned as prior to his mission, and together with it implies, Christ was God in the highest sense, infinitely superior to that wherein those judges were... [ Continue Reading ]
That ye may know and believe — In some a more exact knowledge precedes, in others it follows faith. I am in the Father and the Father in me. I and the Father are one — These two sentences illustrate each other.... [ Continue Reading ]
To the desert place where John baptized, and gave so honourable a testimony of him.... [ Continue Reading ]
John did no miracle — An honour reserved for him, whose forerunner he was.... [ Continue Reading ]