John 10:9

There is a very clear reference to this verse in the Ignatian Epistles, Philad. 9: αὐτὸς ὢν θύρα τοῦ πατρός, δι' ἧς εἰσέρχονται Ἀβραὸμ κ. Ἰσαὰκ κ. Ἰακὼβ κ. οἱ προφῆται κ. οἱ�. ἡ ἐκκλησία. In the message to the Philadelphian Church (Revelation 3:8) we find ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ἐνώπιόν σου θύραν�. For other early adaptations of this image comp. Hegesippus (Eus. H. E. II. xxiii. 8), τίς ἡ θύρα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Hermas III. Sim. ix. 12, ἡ πύλη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστί, and Clem. Rom. I. xlviii. see on John 3:8; John 4:10; John 6:33; John 8:28-29.

δι' ἐμοῦ. Placed first for emphasis; ‘through Me and in no other way.’ The main point is iterated again and again, each time with great simplicity and yet most emphatically. “The simplicity, the directness, the particularity, the emphasis of S. John’s style give his writings a marvellous power, which is not perhaps felt at first. Let his words seem to hang about the reader till he is forced to remember them. Each great truth sounds like the burden of a strain, ever falling upon the ear with a calm persistency which secures attention.” Westcott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, p. 250.

ἐάν τις. If anyone: there is no limit of sex or nationality. Comp. John 6:51; John 8:51; John 3:15; John 11:25; John 12:46.

σωθήσεται. It is interesting to see how this has been expanded in the Clementine Homilies (III. lii.); Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ πύλη τῆς ζωῆς· ὁ δι' ἐμοῦ εἰσερχόμενος εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὴν ζωήν. ὡς οὐκ οὔσης ἑτέρας τῆς σώζειν δυναμένης διδασκαλίας. See on John 10:27 and John 9:1. These passages place the reference to the Fourth Gospel beyond a doubt. Σωθήσεται and νομὴν εὑρήσει seem to shew that this verse does not refer to the shepherds only, but to the sheep also. Although ‘find pasture’ may refer to the shepherd’s work for the flock, yet one is inclined to think that if the words do not refer to both, they refer to the sheep only.

εἰσελεύσεται κ. ἐξ. These words also are more appropriate to the sheep than to the shepherds; but comp. Numbers 27:17; 1 Samuel 18:13; 2 Chronicles 1:10. ‘To go in and out’ includes the ideas of security and liberty (Jeremiah 37:4). The phrase is a Hebraism, expressing the free activity of life, like versari (Deuteronomy 28:6; Deuteronomy 28:19; Deuteronomy 31:2; Psalms 121:8; Acts 1:21; Acts 9:28).