The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 43

ArchrlPMon Wut.kins emphasizes the present cities nhout it-beauty, f'rngroncr, strength, tense.•· are thieves," eto., mal..ing Christ's growth, \'nrioty, reproduction, rcsistnnce to rPfrreacc ohdous to the lawyera and scribes death, continuity, eternity. In thc Loo-os 0 is of his own dny, who were closing the door. and l(fe-snd Clirist cnme to give it, to com- p)unrlering those whom they kept out of the muniCRte "life to the non-living, to the dead l7ngdorn. But the sheep did not hee.r them. in trcspl\sscs, and to thoso in their gravea" The true sheep hRve not been seduced by (eh. v. 26). them. The teaohing of those Phn.risocs bas Vers. 11-21.-(S) Tltefu11ctio11s ancl rP• not prevailed over susceptible snuls. spo11sibilities of t/1e vel'ilable ShcphBTd, a11<.I Ver. 9.-I am the Door: by me-by living the rel,1tion of the Sltephcrcl to the floe/,. relation to me-if any man ; i.e. either Ver. 11.-I am the good Shephord. The Bhephcrd or sheep, for in this pMt of the worrl hero rendered " good " mcnns rnoro interprl'tn.tiou tbey are not distinguished, and than the" true" (ti,1.,1611,) or the" veritable" they alike need "salvation" and" pasture." (ti,1.11611,&s); morc than tii,a.B&s, good, iu the By me if any man enter, he shall be aaved., sense of being morally execlleut nnd in- and shall go in and out, and find pa.stnre. wardly fulfilling God's purposo thllt the "Se.I rntion" here spoken of refers prime.rily sheep should be shepherded. The word to deliveranoe from dangers, protection from 1<a;\os suggests a "goodness" that is con- the raveno11B wolves without the fold, and from spicuous, that shows nnd approves itself to false shepherds within. "Go in and out" is the experience and observation of all. Thus a phrnse frequently used" to denote the frco the Lord fills up the meaning of the first use of an abode by one who is at home in parable by emphe.sizing another elcmeut in the house " (Deut. x.xviii. 6 ; xxxi. 2; Acts it. There may be many shepherd~ worthy i. 21). The believer who enters into fellow- of the name, but he alone justifies the de- Bhip with God, and is" saved," does not" go signntion ( of. Ps. xxiii.; Isa. xl. 11 ; liii. ; in and out" of that state, bnt can as a child Ezek. xxxiv.; Jer. xxiii.). This imagery has Bhare by turns the Divine repose of the inwrought itself into 0hristia.n literature and home, and tho hi~h privilege of his sonship art. The ee.rliest represente.tions of Christ in in the world. "He claims his shnre in the the catacombs depict him e.s "the good Shep- inheritance of the world, secure of his herd" (Tertullian, •De Fuga.,' c. 11; Hermas, home" (Westcott). • Sim.,' vi. 2) ; the earliest hymns and Ver. 10.-The thief oometh not, but that latest minstrelsy of the Church dwell fondly he may steal, and kill, and destroy. Christ, on the image which portrays his individue.l elaborating, evolving, what is contained in watchfulness, his tender co.re, his self-sa- the image of" thief," regards his rival as the crificing love. The good Shepherd le.yeth 1 thief of sou ls ; he whose pretension to be a down his life for the sheep; not only does way to God is based on no inwe.rd and eterno.l his work with his life in his he.nd, but he reality, who comes for no other purpose deliberatelyle.yadownhis life,e.ndconsciously the.n to m.e.ke the sheep his own, not to give divests himself of his life, and is doing it them pasture; to ee.cri.fice them to his seIBsh now. The Shepherd dies the.t the sheep may ends, t.o use them for his own purposes, not live (cf. l John iii. 16; eh. xv. 13). Else- to dee.I with them gre.ciously for theirs; bnt where Jesus se.ys, "The Son of man gives 1;o destroy, since in the pnrsuit of his seIBsh his life e. ransom for many" (Malt. xx. 28). ends Le wastes both life and pa&ture. A The thought is very grand, and is a strange terrible impee.chment, this,of all who have not addition to the claim to be the Shepherd of recognized the true Door into the sheepfold, Israel, and gives intense pathos to the lnn- who would shut up the way of life that they guage of our Lord to Simon Peter ( eh. :ui. 6)1 may exalt their own order, would diminish " Shepherd my sheep." The further de- the chances of l!OUls in order to secure their velopment of the pe.rable shows that in the own position. This forms the transition to metaphor he regards hisdeathe.s nodisastroua the second interpretation of the parabolic termination of the Shepherd's function, but words : for he adds, I oame that they might e.s an event in his career. Hence it is not have life, and that they might have it abun- just of Reuss(' Theol. Chretien,' ii.) to con- dantly; more even than they can possibly tend that our Lord does not here suggest a Wle. This is one of the grandest of our vice.rious or propitie.tory death on his po.rt. Lord's claims. He gives like God from over- This is a veritable death, which secures the flowing Btor€8 (Titus iii. 6). Those who re- life of the sheep, and does not arrest the ceive life from him have within them pe- Shepherd's co.re (see vers. 17, 18). rennial sources of life for others-fulness of being (see notes, eh. vii. 38; iv. 14). One 1 ll(•, D, and Vulgate read 1/lllootr111: but of the differentiai of "life" is "abundance" R.T., e.s well e.s T.R., Lachmann, Alford, of supply beyond immediate possibility of Tischendorf (8th edit.), Tregelles, M'Clelle.n, nee. Life has the future in its e.rms. Life r.ucl Westcott and Hort, ree.d ri611tr111, with ;prop&ge.u.a new life. Life he.s untold capa- ~•, D, L. Jfi, x. 1-12.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOUN, 45