Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
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A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian
AD 255
Hes of poverty, whoever he may be, that, forsaking the Church of Christ, with his darkened reason does not shrink from being turned to those rash leaders of schisms and authors of dissension, whom John calls antichrists, whom the Evangelist likens to chaff, whom the Lord Christ characterizes as thieves and robbers, as He Himself declares in the Gospel, saying that "he who entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but goeth down by some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."
Or thus: Many go under the name of good men according to the standard of the world, and observe in some sort the commandments of the Law, who yet are not Christians. And these generally boast of themselves, as the Pharisees did; Are we blind also? But inasmuch as all that they do they do foolishly, without knowing to what end it tends, our Lord said of them, Verily, verily, I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Let the Pagans then, the Jews, the Heretics, say, “We lead a good life;” if they enter not by the door, what avails it? A good life only profits, as leading to life eternal. Indeed those cannot be said to lead a good life, who are either blindly ignorant of, or willfully despise, the end of good living. No one can hope for eternal life, who knows not Christ, who is the life, and by that door enters into the fold. Whoso wishes to enter into the sheepfold, let him enter by the door; let him ...
1. Our Lord's discourse to the Jews began in connection with the man who was born blind and was restored to sight. Your Charity therefore ought to know and be advised that today's lesson is interwoven with that one. For when the Lord had said, For judgment I have come into this world; that they who see not might see, and they who see might be made blind,— which, on the occasion of its reading, we expounded according to our ability—some of the Pharisees said, Are we blind also? To whom He replied, If you were blind, you should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; [therefore] your sin remains. To these words He added what we have been hearing today when the lesson was read.
2. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. For they declared that they were not blind; yet could they see only by being the sheep of Christ. Whence claimed they possession of the light, who were acting as thie...
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth. "Then the Lord says in explanation, "I am the door of the sheep."
Verily, verily (that is in truth, most truly and most assuredly), I say unto you, He that entereth not, &c. He puts forth this parable to show who He Isaiah , and who are His rivals and adversaries. The occasion for it was because the Pharisees had cast out of the synagogue for his confession of Christ the blind man whom He had healed. By doing this they signified that Jesus was not the Messiah, but a false prophet; and consequently that they who believed in Him, as the blind man who had been cured did, erred in their belief, and wandered away from the synagogue, and were apostates from their own Church. Christ therefore puts forth the parable of the door of the sheepfold; to show by it, that so far from His being a false prophet, all others who enter not by Him as the door of the sheepfold into the Church of God, are deceivers and counterfeits. And that consequently the synagogue of the Pharisees was not the synagogue of God, but of Satan. Whereas the true Church of God is the Christi...
Very probably it may seem to those who listen carelessly that the language of the parable before us is not introduced very appositely: because after a discussion on blindness and recovery of sight, we straightway come upon statements about sheep, and a fold, and a door. But he in whom dwells a wise mind, which hastens more diligently to compare the ideas, will perceive here also that the argument proceeds so to speak straight forward, and swerves not at all from what is right and fitting. And here I will once more repeat what I have said many times before. It was the custom of the Saviour Christ, when any came unto Him, to reply not merely to the words which they expressed through their voice, but to speak with reference to their inward thoughts also, since He sees both heart and reins; for to Him all things are naked and laid open, and there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight. Wherefore also He saith to one of the saints: Who is this that hideth counsel from Me, and hath...
And when He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, He leads them out from the darkness of ignorance into light, while He goes before in the pillar of cloud, and fire.
Observe the marks of a robber; first, that he does not enter openly; secondly, not according to the Scriptures, for this is the, not by the door. Here also He referrs to those who had been before, and to those who should be after Him, Antichrist and the false Christs, Judas and Theudas, and whatever others there have been of the same kind. And with good cause He calls the Scriptures a door, for they bring us to God, and open to us the knowledge of God, they make the sheep, they guard them, and suffer not the wolves to come in after them. For Scripture, like some sure door, bars the passage against the heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all that we desire, and not allowing us to wander; and if we undo it not, we shall not easily be conquered by our foes. By it we can know all, both those who are, and those who are not, shepherds. But what is into the fold? It refers to the sheep, and the care of them. For he that uses not the Scriptures, but climbs up some other way, that i...
Our Lord having reproached the Jews with blindness, they might have said, We are not blind, but we avoid you as a deceiver. Our Lord therefore gives the marks which distinguish a robber and deceiver from a true shepherd. First come those of the deceiver and robber: Verily, verily, I say to you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. There is an allusion here to Antichrist, and to certain false Christs who had been, and were to be. The Scriptures He calls the door. They admit us to the knowledge of God, they protect the sheep, they shut out the wolves, they bar the entrance to heretics. He that uses not the Scriptures, but climbs up some other way, i.e. some self-chosen, some unlawful way, is a thief. Climbs up, He says, not, enters, as if it were a thief getting over a wall, and running all risks. Some other way, may refer too to the commandments and traditions of men which the Scribes taught, to the neglect of...
Or, the Holy Spirit is the porter, by whom the Scriptures are unlocked, and reveal the truth to us.
He alludes to Antichrist, who shall deceive for a time, but lose all his followers when he dies.
