=11, 12.= With these verses Christ gives a new direction to the preceding parable. He has thus far spoken of religious teachers in general, and of himself as the _door_ by which they alone can enter in to feed the flock, and by which alone the flock can enter in to find safety. He now speaks of himself as the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls (1 Pet. 2:25), under whom are all the shepherds, and in contrast with whom are the hirelings.--=I am the Good Shepherd=, more literally the _beautiful_ Shepherd; but this word (καλός), though strictly speaking esthetic, was used by the Greeks to designate moral beauty, and referred to the most symmetrical and perfect goodness. Throughout the O. T. the church of God is regarded as a fold, Israel as a flock, and Jehovah himself as the Shepherd (Ps. 23; Isa. 40:11; Ezek., ch. 34; Jer., ch. 23; Micah 5:3; Zech., ch. 11). It is impossible but that Christ’s auditors should have understood him as claiming to be this Shepherd of Israel. Observe the difference between the phraseology here and in verse 2; here _the_ good Shepherd; there _a_ Shepherd.--=The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.= This is not a prophecy, equivalent to, I am about to die for my sheep; it is the enunciation of a general principle by which every good shepherd can be distinguished from the hireling; for every good shepherd is ready to sacrifice his life for his sheep because they are his; the hireling flees when danger threatens, because he is an hireling and has no real interest in the sheep. Neither is the expression _to lay down the life_ a circumlocution for _die_. Christ rarely uses circumlocution of any kind. The good shepherd may or may not be called on to die for his sheep; but he always lays down his life for them. To lay down the life is to consecrate it, devote it to the flock; as a mother, who is always ready to die for her children, but who, living or dying, belongs to her children and surrenders herself to them. So we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16), though comparatively few are ever called on to die for them. Wickliffe and Luther as truly laid down their lives for the flock as Huss and Tyndale. The sacrifice of Christ consisted not merely in his death--which was indeed in its mere physical aspects the least part of it--but in his whole incarnation. His entire life from his advent to the grave was laid down for his sheep. This laying down of his life includes his death; but it includes much more. The whole thirty years was a living sacrifice for sinful humanity (Phil. 2:5-8).--=But he that is an hireling, not being a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth.= Every clause in this sentence must be carefully weighed by the student; for every clause is full of weighty significance. There is nothing in the sentence, if the whole be considered, adverse to a paid ministry. Not every one who is hired is an hireling (1 Tim.