Father by Me, whether pastors or hearers, sha/1 find through Me safety and liberty, and possess continua' food for their souls." Strictly speaking the sentence appears to belong spe- cially to the true ministers of the flock of Christ. But I dare not confine it to them alone. It is a grand, wide promise to all who enter in.
Melancthon sees in this verse a most excellent picture of a true pastor, in four respects. (1) He shall be saved personally.
(2) He shall go into close and intimate communion with God.
(3) He shall go forth furnished with gifts, and be useful to the Church. (4) He shall find food and refreshment for his own soul.
Musculus observes that our Lord does not say, "If any learned, or righteous, or noble, or rich, or Jewish man enters by Me ; " but any man, " no matter who, great or small, how- ever wicked in times past," — any man that enters by Me shall be saved.
The expression, " go in and out," implies a habit of using familiarly a dwelling, and treating it as a home. It is a Hebra- ism. It expresses beautifully the habitual communion and happy intercourse with Christ which a true believer enjoys. (See Acts i. 21, ix. 28 ; John xiv. 23; Rev. iii. 20.)
Augustine suggests that " go in " means entering by faith, and " going out/' dying in faith, and the result of it having life in glory. He says, " We come in by believing: we go out by dying." But this seems far-fetched.
Euthymius thinks that "going out" refers to the Apostles going out into the world to preach the Gospel.
The '* finding pasture " implies the .satisfaction, comfort, and refcgshgifint of soul which every one who uses Christ as his Door into heaven shall experience. The latent thought is evi- dently Psalm xxiii. 1, 2, etc.
Burgon remarks : " The concluding words describe the secur- ity and enjoyment which are the privilege of God's people. To go in and out is to transact the business of each day's life : its rest and labour, the beginning and end of every work. The Hebrew phrase denotes a man's whole life and conversation. The promises connected therewith seem to imply that in their daily walk, it may be in the world's dusky lane and crowded mart, the people of God will find spiritual support and conso- lation, even meat for their souls, which the world knows not of. Elsewhere the phrase is often, ' go out and come in.' Here, not without meaning, the expressions are transposed. The for- mer is the order of nature, the latter the order of grace."
In leaving this difficult passage, it is well to remember that though our Lord is not speaking of Himself as a Shepherd here, and is only giving a descriptive picture of a good shepherd, there is a latent application to Himself. There is no one to
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