ld: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My
voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. Therefore doth
the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it
again. No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment received I from My Father."--JOHN x. 1-18.

This paragraph continues the conversation which arose out of the healing
of the blind man. Jesus has pointed out to the Pharisees that they are
affected with a more deplorable blindness than the born-blind beggar; He
now proceeds to contrast their harsh treatment of the healed man with
His own care of him, and uses this contrast as evidence of the
illegitimacy of their usurpation of authority and the legitimacy of His
own claim. It has been related (ix. 34) that the Jews had excommunicated
the blind man because he had presumed to think for himself, and
acknowledge as the Christ One regarding whom they had quietly enacted
(ver. 22) that if any one acknowledged Him he should be banished from
the synagogue. Very naturally the poor man would feel that this was a
heavy price to pay for his eyesight. Brought up as he had been to
consider the ecclesiastical authorities of Jerusalem as representing the
Divine voice, he would feel that this excommunication cut him off from
fellowship with all good men, and from the sources of a hopeful and
godly life. Therefore, in pity for this poor sheep, and in indignation
at those who thus assumed authority, Jesus explicitly declares, "I am
the door." Not through the word of men who tyrannize over the flock to
serve their own ends are you either admitted to or debarred from the
real sources of spiritual life and fellowship with the true and good.
Through Me only can you find access to permanent security and the free
enjoyment of all spiritual nutriment; "By Me if any man enter in he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

The primary object, then, of this allegorical passage is to impart to
those who believe in Jesus the truest independence of spirit. This our
Lord accomplishes by explicitly claiming for Himself the sole right of
admission or rejection from the true fold of God's people. He comes into
direct collision with the ecclesiastical authorities, denying that they
are the true spiritual guides of the people, and presenting Himself as
the supreme authority in matters spi