=2. He that entereth in by the door the same is a shepherd of the sheep.= Not, as in our English version, _the_ shepherd. The definite article is wanting. Christ does not declare that the evidence that he is the Shepherd consists in the fact that he entered through the door, for he is himself the door. He declares to the Pharisees, who reject him as their Messiah, that there is a double test of the religious teacher: (1) he must enter into the church by the way by which he directs the sheep to enter. There is not one salvation for the teacher and another for the taught; the door is the same to all; and (2) he must enter by the one only door, Jesus Christ. Whoever comes in the name and with the authority of Jesus Christ is a shepherd of the sheep; whoever comes to preach any other Gospel, comes to rob the sheep of their Saviour and salvation (Gal. 1:8, 9; 2 John, ver. 10). 3 To him[390] the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth[391] his own sheep by name and leadeth[392] them out. [390] Rev. 3:20. [391] Ezek. 34:11; Rom. 8: 30. [392] Isa. 40:11. =3. To him the porter openeth.= “The Holy Spirit is especially He who opens the door to the shepherds; see frequent uses of this symbolism by the apostles (Acts 14:27; 1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 2:12; Col. 4:3); and instances of the porter shutting the door (Acts 16:6, 7).”--(_Alford._) There is the implication here of a truth elsewhere abundantly taught in Scripture, that the teacher has access to the heart of the church only through the influence of the Spirit of God, who opens and closes the heart of the hearer (1 Thess. 1:5; 2:1), and the door of opportunity (Acts 4:7, 8; 16:9; 17:10, 11).--=And he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.= This figure exactly corresponds with the actual facts of shepherd life in the East. “As we eat and looked, almost spell-bound, the silent hillsides around us were in a moment filled with life and sound. The shepherds led their flocks forth from the gates of the city. They were in full view, and we watched them and listened to them with no little interest. Thousands of sheep and goats were there, grouped in dense, confused masses. The shepherds stood together until all came out. Then they separated, each shepherd taking a different path, and uttering, as he advanced, a shrill, peculiar call. The sheep heard them. At first the masses swayed and moved, as if shaken by some internal convulsion; then points struck out in the direction taken by the shepherds; these became longer and longer, until the confused masses were resolved into long, living streams, flowing after their leaders. Such a sight was not new to me, still it had lost none of its interest. It was, perhaps, one of the most vivid illustrations which human eyes could witness of that beautiful discourse of our Lord recorded by John.”--(_Porter._)