The Jew thought that birth and the rite of circumcision were the door,
but the 'rehearsing' of the experiences of Paul and Barnabas on their
first missionary tour shattered that notion by the logic of facts.
Instead of that narrow postern another doorway had been broken in the
wall of the heavenly city, and it was wide enough to admit of
multitudes entering. Gentiles had plainly come in. How had they come
in? By believing in Jesus. Whatever became of previous exclusive
theories, there was a fact that had to be taken into account. It
distinctly proved that faith was 'the gate of the Lord into which,' not
the circumcised but the 'righteous,' who were righteous because
believing, 'should enter.'
We must not forget the other use of the metaphor, by our Lord Himself,
in which. He declares that He is the Door. The two representations are
varying but entirely harmonious, for the one refers to the objective
fact of Christ's work as making it possible that we should draw near to
and dwell with God, and the other to our subjective appropriation of
that possibility, and making it a reality in our own blessed experience.