“Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.”
Therefore Jesus said again, 'I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep' — Jesus now abandons the parable form and makes an explicit I-Am statement (Ego eimi, the divine name formula in John), moving from the shepherd metaphor to an even more radical claim: He Himself is the gate through which all legitimate access to God comes. This is the first of two I-Am statements in this chapter and represents a fundamental Christological claim: there is no approach to God's people except through Him. The shift from shepherd to gate repositions Jesus as the necessary point of entry, not merely a leader within the community but the boundary-marker and pathway itself.
Church Fathers on John 10:7
Our Lord, to waken the attention of the Jews, unfolds the meaning of what He has said; Then said Jesus to them again, Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
let us enter, and let us enter with joy.
As if to say, The sheep hear not them, but Me they hear; for I am the Door, and whoever enters by Me not falsely but in sincerity, shall by perseverance be saved.
Read all 14 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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