Socrates, as thieves and robbers, for they had no knowledge of Christ, and claimed no precedence above him.--=But the sheep did not hear them.= This has been eminently true of all teachers in the church who have put themselves above Christ; it is the preachers of Christ who alone have secured the world’s attention. This is illustrated by the history of Paul (2 Cor. 4:5), Luther, Wesley, and in our own times Spurgeon, Moody, and others. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. =9. I am the door; by me if any enter in, he shall be safe.= Christ is not only the door by whom the shepherd (the teacher) can alone enter in to feed the flock, he is also the door by which alone the sheep (the disciples) can enter into the church and into security (Acts 4:12). The extent and assurance of this safety is expressed below (vers. 28, 29). And observe, the promise is not merely _shall be saved_ in the future, but _shall be safe_, _i. e._, from the time of entering the door (ch. 3:18, 36; Rom. 8:1, 28, 31, etc.)--=And shall go in and out and find pasture.= To “go in and out” was a common Hebraistic phrase to denote the whole life and action of man (Deut. 28:6; Psalm 121:8). Here, therefore, the meaning is that he who thus enters the door, shall be blessed in all his ways. His pasture is the bread of life and water of life, promised in chaps. 4:14; 6:48-51. So that Christ is at once the door, the shepherd, and the pasture; the entrance, the guardian and guide, and the food of the disciple. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have _it_ more abundantly. =10. The thief cometh not but for to steal * * * * I am come that they might have life=, etc. A contrast between false religion and the true, heathenism or Pharisaism and Christianity. The false religion comes to deprive men of their liberty, their property, their earthly happiness, to kill their natural and free life, and to destroy, finally, the soul. The true religion comes first to give this present life more abundant development, and then through that to give eternal life. Hence, whatever form of religion tends to deprive mankind of its free, natural, and joyous life is anti-Christian; the constant tendency of Christ’s teaching and influence is to make the whole life, social, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, more abundant. 11 I[396] am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. [396] Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth[397] the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. [397] Ezek. 34:2-6; Zech. 11:17.