Ver. 1. Verily, verily, I say unto you] Amen is in Holy Scripture either prefixed to a discourse, and then it is a particle of certain and earnest asseveration, when it is doubled especially, as here: or else affixed; and then it is either of assent or assurance, or both, as in the end of the Lord’s prayer.
Ver. 2. But he that entereth in by the door] That is, called by Christ to the office of his undershepherd. In physicis aer non faeit seipsum ignem, sed fit a superiori, saith Aquinas. Is the shepherd of the sheep] To the which is required, that he be both learned and loving. This note ariseth out of the notation of the word here used. (Ποιμην quasi οιμην, of οις, a sheep, and μαω, to desire earnestly.)
Ver. 3. To him the porter openeth] That is, God approveth such, and usually seals to their ministry, Jeremiah 23:22, giving them a testimonial, 2 Corinthians 3:2.
Ver. 4. He goeth before them] According to the custom of shepherds in that country, not to drive their sheep, but to lead them, as David shows in his divine Bucolicon, Psalms 23:2.
Ver. 5. A stranger will they not follow] For they have senses exercised to discern good and evil, Hebrews 5:14 “yea, they have a spirit of discerning,” 1 Corinthians 12:10 “the mind of Christ,” 1 Corinthians 2:16; and though simple to evil, yet are wise in that which is good. They are sheep, but rational; their service a reasonable service, Romans 12:1; their obedience the obedience of faith, Romans 16:26; they try before they trust, they look before they leap, and so grow to such a certainty in that truth they hold, such a plerophory of knowledge, Colossians 2:3; that it is impossible for them to be fully or finally deceived, Matthew 24:24. False and heterodox doctrines they hate, Psalms 119:104; and all such impostors as seek to buzz doubts into their heads, Romans 16:17.
Ver. 6. But they understood not] So thick brained and incapable we are, till that vail be rent, Isaiah 25:7. Those that have a blemish in their eye, the more wishly they look into anything the less they see of it, as Vives hath it. So it is here. Lusciosi, si quando oculorum aciem intendunt, minus vident. (Vives in Aug. Civ. Dei. lxxxi. 6.)
Ver. 7. I am the door] Heaven door, so Christ is pleased to call himself, because “through him we have an access by one Spirit unto the Father,” Ephesians 2:18; and, “in him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him,” Ephesians 3:12. Why our Saviour compares himself to these ordinary and obvious objects of our senses. [See Trapp on “Joh 15:1”]
Ver. 8. All that ever came before me, &c.] Manes (that mad heretic) made an argument from this text against Moses and the prophets, as going before Christ. But Austin answereth, Moses and the prophets came not before Christ, but with Christ. Intruders, whether before or since our Saviour’s days, are these thieves and robbers. Ah, whoreson thieves, rob God of his glory! said Dr Taylor, martyr, in a dream, of the scribes and Pharisees of his time. The son of a whore, a bastard son; but commonly used as a coarse term of reprobation, abuse, dislike, or contempt; sometimes even of jocular familiarity. ŒD
Ver. 9. And shall go in and out, &c.] That is, shall live securely, and be fed daily and daintily, as David shows, Psalms 23, where he sweetly strikes upon the whole string through the whole hymn.
Ver. 10. The thief cometh not but for to steal] However so sly heretics seek to insinuate with their pithanology and feigned humility, whereby they circumvent and beguile the simple, it is deadly dealing with them. Shun their society as a serpent in your way, as poison in your food. Spondanus (the same that epitomized Baronius) gives his reader Popish poison to drink so slyly, saith one, as if he were doing somewhat else, and meant no such matter. Perniciosissimum Hildebrandinae doctrinae venenum lectoribus ebibendum, quasi aliud agens, propinat. And learned Billius observes the like of Socrates, the ecclesiastical historian, a cunning Novatian. Swenckfeldius, who held many dangerous heresies, did yet deceive many by his pressing men to a holy life, praying frequ ently and fervently, &c., by his stately expressions, ever in his mouth, as of illumination, revelation, deification, the inward and spiritual man. (Scultet. Annal.) Some are so cunning in their cogging the dice, as St Paul phraseth it, εν τη κυβεια, Ephesians 4:14; in the conveyance of their collusion, that, like serpents, they can sting without hissing; like cur dogs, suck your blood only with licking; and in the end kill you and cut your throats without biting. Muzzle them therefore, saith St Paul, and give t hem no audience. επιστομιζε, Titus 1:11 3:10. Placilla the empress, when Theodosius, senior, desired to confer with Eunomius the heretic, dissuaded her husband very earnestly; lest, being perverted by his speeches, he might fall into heresy. Anastasius II, Bishop of Rome, in the year 497, while he sought to reduce Acacius the heretic, was seduced by him. (Soremen, vii. 1.) A little leaven soon soureth the whole lump. One spoonful of vinegar will quickly tart a great deal of sweet milk, but a great deal of milk will not so soon sweeten one spoonful of vinegar. Error (saith a noble writer) is like the Jerusalem artichoke; plant it where you will, it overruns the ground and chokes the heart.