John 10:1, commentary and pictures

Christ Himself is the door into the sheepfold of God's people, so anyone who does not come in through Him but climbs in by another way stands exposed as a thief and a robber. Only by entering through faith in Him can a person be saved and find pasture and abundant life, and no ceremony, religious system, or substitute put in His place can give justification and peace with God. The Pharisees with the priests, rulers, and scribes were those thieves and robbers because they claimed shepherd-care over God's people while rejecting Christ, opposing His work, and leaving the flock without spiritual nourishment. The same warning reaches all false teachers, false religions, and self-seeking saviors in every age who turn people from Christ to another means of redemption and thereby rob God of His own and rob people of true hope and joy. To climb up another way is to seek heaven without Christ's way of loving, self-denying obedience to all of God's commandments, whether by excuses for disobedience, by profession joined to conformity to the world in conduct and vanity, or by presuming on mercy while refusing to do God's will.

The Door and Sheepfold

Verily, verily introduces a familiar pastoral picture that uses shepherds and flocks from daily life to teach unseen spiritual truth. Christ is seen in each faithful shepherd, and believers are seen as a helpless, dependent flock, showing the close, dependent relation in which He stands to the human family. The picture sets forth the work He came to do, to heal, as a missionary in every sense of the word. Drawn from facts of life and experience familiar to the hearers, it shows openness to the influences of nature and delight in gathering spiritual teaching from daily surroundings, with something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart, so that seeing such familiar things afterward reminded hearers of the teaching and the daily task instead of being a mere round of toil bereft of higher thoughts is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.

The sheepfold figures God's people and the door figures the rightful way of access. Anyone who does not enter by the door but climbs in by another way stands exposed as a thief and a robber. Christ Himself is the door of the sheep, and only by entering through faith in Him can a person be saved, go in and out and find pasture. All who came before Him in their own way are thieves and robbers whom the true sheep did not hear, while the thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy, but Christ came to give life more abundantly. Efforts to replace Him with ceremonies, religious systems, or anything else put in His place cannot bring justification or peace with God or abundant life.

Those who claim to shepherd God's people but try to enter by another way are thieves and robbers. The Pharisees, with the priests, rulers, and scribes, are those thieves and robbers because they claimed religious authority and shepherd-care while they had not entered by the door, which is Christ, but had climbed into the fold by another way. They showed this by rejecting Christ while claiming religious authority, opposing Him, and driving out a man whom Jesus was drawing to Himself, proving themselves unfit and ignorant shepherds unlike Christ, the true keeper of the flock. Because they entered in another way they were not fulfilling the work of the true shepherd, but destroyed the living pastures and defiled the well-springs of the water of life, and though they held religious authority they used it while leaving God's people without spiritual nourishment. Jesus is stronger than these false leaders and presents Himself as the true shepherd and the door through whom people are saved.

Whoever turns men away from Christ by offering some other means of redemption than Christ is the thief and robber. This includes philosophers and teachers in all ages, the great teachers and religious systems of every heathen nation, and all false teachers and false religions. It also identifies those who claimed authority over the sheep without entering by the appointed door, including people who claimed to be the Messiah for their own gain as deceivers, unlike Christ, whose coming fulfilled the prophecies and symbols that had foretold the Redeemer. Their work turns the eyes of men away from the Father's face, fills their hearts with fear of Him who has given them only blessing, robs God of that which is His own both by creation and by redemption, and robs man by binding millions under slavish fear and stolid indifference, toiling like beasts of burden bereft of hope or joy or aspiration here and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. Turning men from Christ turns them from the source of true development and defrauds them of the hope and purpose and glory of life, because only the gospel of the grace of God and the contemplation of the love of God manifested in His Son can uplift the soul, stir the heart and arouse the powers of the soul, since Christ came to recreate the image of God in man.

In contrast to the hireling who does not own the sheep and does not care for them, but flees when the wolf comes and lets the sheep be caught and scattered, Christ is the good Shepherd who knows His sheep and gives His life for the sheep. He lays down His life of Himself by His Father's commandment to take it again. His sheep know His voice and understand where He wants them to go, so when He calls they all press close together and follow Him without whip or force. He also has other sheep not of this fold whom He must bring to hear His voice, so there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Christ's people are sheep of His fold, and those who care for them must guard them and go after those who stray rather than leave them to perish, while the fold is a place Christ opens to welcome a sheep back, met with another chance rather than a closed door of hope.

Climbing Up Another Way

Trying to reach heaven or salvation by any way other than the one God has provided is climbing into the sheepfold by another way, and general obedience, good deeds, or excuses for disobeying even one requirement cannot make that way acceptable or remove the consequence of disobedience. Entering through the door means following Christ and returning to the fold by Him, while climbing up another way is rejected and is not the right way to heaven. Salvation is found only by entering through Christ's way of self-denial and doing God's will rather than living to please self, and those who take the Christian name and claim the privileges of God's children without living as Christ lived are climbing in another way and make themselves thieves and robbers who, unwilling to share His shame and reproach, will not see heaven. Christ's way is obedience to all of God's commandments, so refusing obedience while presuming on mercy is not a valid way to be saved, and claiming mercy while refusing obedience or selecting only some commands to keep departs from Christ who is the way. Obedience that belongs to eternal life springs from love for Christ and desire to please Him rather than merely seeking to gain heaven.

Professed Christians who imitate the world in dress and conduct are climbing up some other way rather than entering through the strait gate and narrow way, since their worldly vanity conflicts with the self-denying life that leads to heaven. Seeking heaven while conforming to the world in dress, speech, and actions is trying to enter by another way, for those who want heaven while avoiding a self-denying, humble life do not enter by the narrow way and straight gate. Those who seek heaven while refusing self-denial and separation from worldly conduct are like intruders climbing into the sheepfold by another way, and profession of faith does not make that way right unless Christian words, dress, and actions show a real distinction from the world and a life shaped by Christ. Claiming to be Christian while following the world's ways and wanting to reach heaven while dressing and acting like the world is climbing up some other way instead of entering by the proper way, whereas genuine faith in Christ's coming affects character and makes a clear distinction from the world through words, dress, actions, and righteous works that give a holy influence.

After the expected and definite time passed and tested professed Christians, many left the straight path Christ directed and tried to reach heaven by another path, and their profession did not make them true followers of Christ. Trying to reach heaven by a way other than following Christ is like climbing into the sheepfold instead of entering by its door, marking such seekers as thieves and robbers, and those who left the straight path were caught in Satan's snare.

The same exposure of improper entry warns against leaving the care of God's flock to self-reliant human leaders who may lead it into strange pastures, for God rather than men is the one to depend on, especially when satanic influences are joining with deceptive spirits and teachings that those who should resist them fail to oppose. Gaining access under false friendliness and then stealing what belongs to God's work, as when a man presents himself as friendly toward an institution but secretly draws away its trained workers by offering higher wages, is entering the sheepfold by another way. Deceptive conduct and trying to take another person's place misrepresents truth and brings shame and harm on the church, and is marked by entering by another way instead of the door as the act of a thief and a robber. Those who do not speak and act as Christ did are trying to enter heaven by a way other than the door.