John 10:3

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

There are two extended metaphors in view here, the first ending with John 10:6, and the other extending through John 10:18. David Lipscomb's concise analysis is helpful:

In the first parable, Jesus is the Shepherd entering into the fold and calling his sheep. In the second, Jesus is the door by or through which the sheep enter the fold of God.[5]

Similarly, Christ is the door in two senses: (1) the door of access to the spiritual flock, and (2) the door of access for the sheep themselves into fellowship with God. This usage of the same symbols for diverse meanings, occurring sometimes in the same sentence, creates confusion unless this is taken into account. See John 10:9.

To him the porter openeth ... is an inert factor in the analogy. Efforts of expositors to assign some significance to the porter are proof enough that no spiritual meaning is clearly discernible. Thus, some hold that the Holy Spirit is meant;[6] some think the porter means Moses;[7] Lipscomb thought he was John the Baptist;[8] McGarvey said, "If he represents anybody, it is God";[9] Webster thought he stood for ministers and teachers in the church;[10] Wordsworth and others saw him as Christ, who is not only the door and the good shepherd but the porter also.[11] The view here is that the porter was just one of the facilities of the sheepfold, like the wall or the thorn hedge, or like the bag out of which the sower planted his field, in that parable, the bag not being mentioned but necessarily inferred.

THE ORIENTAL SHEEPFOLD

The shepherd led his sheep but did not drive them, and a very intimate and loving relationship existed between the shepherd and the sheep, even extending to the shepherd's habit of giving each sheep a name and teaching them to respond to his voice and commands. At night, he usually led them into a safe enclosure, often lying across the entrance and thus forming literally the door. Flocks from several shepherds often occupied the same enclosure, the separation taking place next morning when each shepherd went his way, calling his sheep to follow, the sheep invariably following their true shepherd. Such shepherds were devoted to their sheep, risking or even giving their lives in defense of them against marauding beasts or thieves and robbers. As Freeman said:

For the sheep live in their shepherd, the center of their unity, the guarantee of their security, and the pledge of their prosperity .... In the morning he goes before them to lead them out, and in the evening lies down in their midst .... This shepherd life is one of such loving devotion that it readily lends itself to religious impression .... Certain it is that David's spiritual nature owed much to his having been a keeper of Jesus' sheep[12]

Calleth his sheep by name, and leadeth them out ... and the sheep hear his voice ... etc. All such expressions become clear in the light of the above summary of the Eastern shepherd's relationship to the flock.

[5] David Lipscomb, A Commentary on the Gospel of John (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Co., 1960), p. 150.

[6] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan), I, p. 629.

[7] Ibid.

[8] David Lipscomb, op. cit., p. 152.

[9] J. W. McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Standard Publishing Company, 1914), p. 469.

[10] J. C. Ryle, op. cit., p. 629.

[11] Ibid.

[12] John Freeman, Life on the Uplands (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1924), p. 20.