Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
13. The broad and the narrow way, Luk 13:24-25. The illustration seems to be drawn from a mansion having a large portal at which many enter, and a narrow entrance known to few.
strait = narrow.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
( c) The narrow entrance to the Kingdom, 13, 14
These verses are linked to the preceding by the thought of prayer, for it is by prayer chiefly that the narrow entrance must be gained.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Enter ye in at the strait gate – Christ here compares the way to life to an entrance through a gate. The words straight and strait have very different meanings. The former means not crooked; the latter, pent up, narrow, difficult to be entered. This is the word used here, and it means that the way to heaven is pent up, narrow, close, and not obviously entered. The way to death is open, broad, and thronged. The Saviour here referred probably to ancient cities. They were surrounded with walls and entered through gates. Some of those, connected with the great avenues to the city, were broad and admitted a throng; others, for more private purposes, were narrow, and few would be seen entering them. So, says Christ, is the path to heaven. It is narrow. It is not the great highway that people tread. Few go there. Here and there one may be seen – traveling in solitude and singularity. The way to death, on the other hand, is broad. Multitudes are in it. It is the great highway in which people go. They fall into it easily and without effort, and go without thought. If they wish to leave that and go by a narrow gate to the city, it would require effort and thought. So, says Christ, diligence is needed to enter life. See Luk 13:24. None go of course. All must strive, to obtain it; and so narrow, unfrequented, and solitary is it, that few find it. This sentiment has been beautifully versified by Watts:
Broad is the road that leads to death,
And thousands walk together there;
But wisdom shows a narrower path,
With here and there a traveler.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 7:13-14
Enter ye in at the strait gate.
The strait gate not a shut gate
I. The faithfulness of a holy God. God has told us the way is difficult. It is against nature.
II. The tenderness of a merciful father.
1. There is a gate.
2. The gate leadeth unto life. If the pleasures of sin must be left behind, the pleasures of holiness await.
3. Those who enter neither make nor open the gate; they only find it. Men cannot make ways of peace for themselves; they cannot force, but find the way.
4. He who made the way, and keeps it open now, is glad when many go in thereat. (W. Arnot.)
Salvation: joy that the gate is open
If some of the Queens soldiers were taken prisoner by the enemy, and confined in a fortress far in the interior of a foreign land; and if an intimation were conveyed to the captives by a friendly hand that, at a certain part of their prison walls there is an opening to liberty and home, but that the opening is narrow and the path beyond it rough, their hearts would forthwith till with joy. They would feel already free. Strait gate! what do they care for its straitness?-enough for them that there is a gate. Ere that setting sun get round to gild the east again, many long miles will be between them and the house of bondage. Surer and safer is their outgate, if slaves to sin were as willing to be free. (W. Arnot.)
Salvation: the gate cannot be forced
Outside the frowning barrier swarm the multitudes of all kindreds and tongues, who strive to be their own saviours. One will give ten thousand rivers of oil. Another, more alarmed, and more in earnest, will give the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul. Another will waste or wound his own flesh at the bidding of a priest who will assure him of an entrance. Another, without the intervention of any human mediator, will, under the spur of an alarmed but unenlightened conscience, abandon this life to blank, slavish fear, not daring to enjoy any comfort or any hour, in order that he may more surely propitiate the judge, and finally make his way into heaven. It is all labour lost. There is no gate on that side, and you cannot make one. (W. Arnot.)
The supreme importance of personal salvation
I. The facility of attaining destruction. Will appear from the following considerations:-
1. Temptation to evil.
2. Mans susceptibility to temptation.
3. The large numbers who tread this way.
4. The needlessness of effort to tread this way.
II. The difficulty of attaining salvation. The attainment of salvation demands
(1) The resistance of temptation;
(2) The exercise of self-denial;
(3) The overcoming of difficulties.
III. The duty of striving to attain salvation.
1. Strive to trust in God.
2. Strive to watch and work. (William Jones.)
The difficulty of salvation
We wish not to discourage, but awaken Christians from their languor.
1. The figures Christ has employed set forth the difficulty of salvation. A warfare in which we must engage; a building we must erect.
2. Perhaps the places where Christ speaks without figures will be less severe. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
3. The exalted perfection of the law of Jesus Christ joined to the extreme weakness of man in the state of corrupt nature.
4. What shall I say of outward obstacles?
5. Those who have been influenced by sincere desire to work out their salvation have perfectly understood its difficulty.
6. Wily has God made the way to heaven so difficult?
(1) It does not belong to us to cult God to account.
(2) The difficulty comes from man, to whom God has given all necessary strength to do well.
(3) All good men have had other sentiments on this alleged difficulty, wonder that God for so few things should save His people.
(4) When a thing is not absolutely necessary difficulty may dishearten; but when of indispensable necessity, there is nothing that we ought not to surmount.
(5) Above all, we must have recourse to God with this prayer, Lord, save us, or we perish. (Cheminais.)
The strait gate and the wide; the narrow way and the broad
1. They all produce destruction of peace.
2. Some of its paths lead to destruction of character.
3. Some of its paths lead to destruction of health.
4. Some of these paths lead to the destruction of life.
5. They all lead to the destruction of the soul. (J. Gwyther, B. A.)
The broad way
I. The place they enter-wide gate.
1. Wide enough to admit spiritual ignorance.
2. Wide enough for inconsistency and sloth.
II. The road they travel.
III. The numbers which bear the ungodly company.
IV. The end to which they come. (D. Moore, M. A.)
I. A contrast with respect to the entrances-strait, wide.
II. Two ways contrasted-broad, narrow.
III. A contrast as to the number that journey in these ways.
IV. A contrast as to the ends to which these ways lead. (Garrard.)
I. The idea which our Lord gives of future misery-destruction. Although the powers of the soul will be preserved in all their might, yet the sources of sensual gratification will be destroyed. It is a positive penalty inflicted by the justice of God. The ruin is complete, often sudden, certain, eternal.
II. A confirmation of the statement made concerning it. The gate is wide, etc. The way of sin is broad, considering the ease with which it is found. Broad by its enticements. So broad as to admit persons of all descriptions, etc. What entering in at the strait gate implies. Inducements to comply with this admonition. (R. Treffry.)
I. The sinners imminent danger. Great, certain, near, hastening.
II. The sinners immediate duty. To search the Scriptures, self-examination, prayer, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The destruction of sinners will be charged to themselves. If you are in the narrow way be thankful. (Dr. J. Matthews.)
The way to life and the way to destruction unfolded
I. An exhortation and warning, how to direct our course for the other world, which this life is but the avenue to.
1. The safe course.
2. The unsafe course.
3. Our duty and interest with respect to these gates.
II. A reason for this exhortation and warning. That though the other gate is easy and much frequented, yet it is most dangerous. The nature of the gate opposite to that we are called to enter in by, and of the way of joining it.
1. It is wide.
2. It is broad. They are not hampered by conscience, Bible etc.
3. The use made of it. There are many dispositions of carnal men.
4. The end of it.
The safe way:-
1. The gate is strait.
2. The way is narrow. It is like a strait shoe that presses the foot. It is not easy walking in it. Afflictions and temptations beset it.
3. The ungrequentedness of it.
4. The happy tendency and end of it. (T. Boston, D. D.)
What makes the gate strait?
1. The mighty contrariety of our nature to it.
2. The various lusts hanging about the soul.
3. The keen opposition made by Satan to the souls entry.
4. The enmity of the world against religion.
5. The nature of the thing makes it a strait gate.
The entering in by the strait gate
What they enter into by it:
1. A new road (2Co 5:17).
2. A safe road (Pro 1:33).
3. Into a house all ease and comfort (Rev 21:7).
How do they enter in by this gate?
1 Coming out of themselves.
2. Coming to Christ in the free promise of the gospel faith.
3. Coming unto God by Christ.
What this entering bears
1. A discerning of the gate.
2. A finding of an absolute necessity of entering by it.
3. Resoluteness for a happy arrival.
4. A contentment to forego our present ease.
5. Nobody walking carelessly will get a safe arrival.
6. They must begin well who would end well.
The wide gate
1. It is a deceitful way.
2. It is an unprofitable way.
3. It is a trifling way.
4. It is a restless way.
5. It is a disappointing way.
6. It is easy to fall on it.
7. It is easy walking in it.
8. It is not easy to get off it.
This way leads to destruction
1. This is the constant voice of the word of God.
2. The rectorial justice of God demands it.
3. The nature of things manifests it.
4. The voice of the natural conscience confirms it.
The multitude in the broad way
1. Seen in the universal corruption of human nature.
2. The constant call to the multitude to repent.
3. The judgments God has sent on the world.
4. From our own observation.
5. It is the most agreeable way to the corrupt nature.
6. The blindness of the human mind.
7. Prejudices against the way.
8. The broad way is easiest.
9. Satan influences thereto it.
10. Example contributes to it.
11. Also want of consideration. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The facility with which sinners go to destruction
This will appear-
I. From the fact that it is agreeable to the nature of man to pursue a sinful course.
II. From the spiritual sloth of the transgressor.
III. The blindness of the carnal mind.
IV. The strength of unbelief, the allurements of the world, and the devices of Satan.
V. The effect of things present, compared with the influence of things distant.
VI. The imperfections and sins of professing Christians. VII. The example of the multitude. These obstacles must be overcome, or we inevitably perish. (W. Mitchell, A. M.)
The broad and the narrow way
I. The way of destruction.
1. The gate into it is wide.
2. The way itself is broad.
3. It is the way along which the great bulk of mankind are travelling.
II. The way of life.
1. The gate into it is strait.
2. The way itself is narrow.
3. It is a way little travelled.
III. Let us judge as to which way we are walking in. (E. Cooper.)
The two ways
I. The way of sin which we are directed to avoid.
1. The gate is wide. It requires no difficulty.
2. It is broad. It is lawless.
3. It is crowded.
4. Its termination.
II. The path of Christian holiness which we are to pursue.
1. Its entrance.
2. Its dimensions.
3. Its paucity of passengers.
4. Its blissful end.
III. Relections.
1. There is an inseparable connection between the present and the future.
2. There is no middle path in religion.
3. Never suffer the world to be your authority in matters of religion.
4. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. (J. E. Good.)
The narrowness of the gospel
I know nothing broader than Christianity; not one of the ideas of which it has taken hold that it has not enlarged in infinite proportions. Take the ideas of God, humanity, and destiny of man. Yet it is accused of narrowness. The cause not in any weakness, but in the gospel itself. It is narrow-
I. Because it is the way of truth. It can tolerate no other way. Truth alone is good. In science men prefer it: why not in religion? Because morally inconvenient.
II. Because it is the way of holiness. Each would like to retain his favourite inclination. It will not let our vices pass.
III. Because it is the way of humility. It is closed even to virtuous pride, to fancied merits.
IV. Because it is the way of love. The Divine love is narrow in that it rejects all that is contrary to it. Your love is narrow, and seeks the welfare of its object. But none can reject the privations of this narrow way. (E. Bersier, D. D.)
The gate of salvation too narrow for the self-righteous
See in the middle of the night a house on which fire has caught. Everywhere the flame breaks out with the rapidity of lightning. Cries of alarm are raised, for there is an unfortunate sleeper above this furnace which is going to consume him. He awakes, he turns his scared looks everywhere. Before him a single passage remains open, narrow, but sufficient to save his life. What does he do? With a grasping and feverish hand he gathers all that he can save of his goods, and laden with his treasures, bending under his burden, he arrives at this door which refuses to give him passage. For me, he cries then, for me! the door is too narrow. Ah! poor idiot! leave there thy treasures which will cost thee thy life, strip thyself of that which prevents thy progress, consent to sacrifice all; thy salvation is only at that price. You have understood me, brethren. This house which is falling in is our life; this devouring flame is the judgment of the holy God; this open door is pardon; and these treasures which will ruin you, are those qualities, those virtues, those merits, which you wish to preserve at all cost. Yes, the door of heaven is too narrow for the selfrighteous, and because of this the Gospel raises so much repugnance and irritation amongst them. (E. Bersier, D. D.)
Salvation: its difficulty argues its worth
The difficulty of obtaining shows the excellency; and, surely, if you consider but what it cost Christ to purchase it; what it costs Gods Spirit to bring mens hearts to it; what it costs ministers to persuade to it; what it costs Christians, after all this, to obtain it; and what it costs many a half-Christian that, after all, goes without it; you will say that here is difficulty, and therefore excellency. Trifles may be had at a trivial rate, and men may have damnation- far more easily. Conclude, then, it is surely somewhat worth that must cost all this. (Baxter.)
Salvation: its difficulty the law of entrance to it and all other kingdoms
Into what kingdom is it that you are anxious now to enter? Above all things you wish to enter into the kingdom of music. Very well. This is the New Testament doctrine concerning the kingdom of music. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto excellence in music, and few there be that find it. You have to study night and day, you have no time for yourself, you are at it, always at it, or getting ready for it, criticizing or being criticized, repeating, rehearsing, going over it again and again, still higher and higher. If that is the law of your little kingdom of music, why should it not be the law of the larger kingdom of life which includes all beauty and learning and music, and power? (J. Parker, D. D.)
The world way
All the world is a way. It is so broad that the whole generation for the time travel abreast upon it. (W. Arnot.)
The way of sin easy
You have nothing more to do than lie like a Withered leaf upon the stream, and without a thought or an effort you are carried quickly down. Sinners do not find it difficult to sin. (W. Arnot.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate] Our Saviour seems to allude here to the distinction between the public and private ways mentioned by the Jewish lawyers. The public roads were allowed to be sixteen cubits broad, the private ways only four. The words in the original are very emphatic: Enter in (to the kingdom of heaven) through THIS strait gate, , i.e. of doing to every one as you would he should do unto you; for this alone seems to be the strait gate which our Lord alludes to.
For wide is the gate] And very broad, , from , broad, and , a place, a spacious roomy place, that leadeth forward, , into THAT destruction, , meaning eternal misery; intimating, that it is much more congenial, to the revengeful, covetous heart of fallen man, to take every advantage of another, and to enrich himself at his expense, rather than to walk according to the rule laid down before, by our blessed Lord, and that acting contrary to it is the way to everlasting misery. With those who say it means repentance, and forsaking sin, I can have no controversy. That is certainly a gate, and a strait one too, through which every sinner must turn to God, in order to find salvation. But the doing to every one as we would they should do unto us, is a gate extremely strait, and very difficult, to every unregenerate mind.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our Saviour having in this sermon delivered many hard sayings to flesh and blood, here obviates a twofold temptation they might have to the neglect of them:
1. From their difficulty.
2. From the paucity of them who live according to these rules.
He here compares heaven to a house, a stately house, into which a
strait gate leadeth to a city, the way to which is a
narrow way. There is nothing more ordinary in holy writ, than to call a common course of mens actions a way. It is also compared to a
gate. The sum of what our Saviour here saith is this: There are but two ultimate ends of all men, eternal destruction and eternal life. The course that leadeth to destruction is like a broad way that is obvious to all, and many walk in that. That course of life and actions which will bring a man to heaven is strait, unpleasing to flesh and blood, not at all gratifying mens sensitive appetites, and narrow, (the Greek is, afflicted), a way wherein men will meet with many crosses and temptations; and there are but a few will find it. You must not therefore wonder if my precepts be hard to your carnal apprehensions, nor be scandalized though you see but few going in the right road to the kingdom of heaven.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Enter ye in at the straitgateas if hardly wide enough to admit one at all. Thisexpresses the difficulty of the first right step in religion,involving, as it does, a triumph over all our natural inclinations.Hence the still stronger expression in Luke (Lu13:24), “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.”
for wide is the gateeasilyentered.
and broad is the wayeasilytrodden.
that leadeth to destruction,andthus lured “many there be which go in thereat.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Enter ye in at the strait gate,…. By the “strait gate” is meant Christ himself; who elsewhere calls himself “the door”,
Joh 10:7 as he is into the church below, and into all the ordinances and privileges of it; as also to the Father, by whom we have access unto him, and are let into communion with him, and a participation of all the blessings of grace; yea, he is the gate of heaven, through which we have boldness to enter into the holiest of all by faith and hope now; as there will be hereafter an abundant entrance into the kingdom and glory of God, through his blood and righteousness. This is called “strait”; because faith in Christ, a profession of it, and a life and conversation agreeable to it, are attended with many afflictions, temptations, reproaches, and persecutions. “Entering” in at it is by faith, and making a profession of it: hence it follows, that faith is not the gate itself, but the grace, by which men enter in at the right door, and walk on in Christ, as they begin with him.
For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction; so that the one may be easily known from the other. There is no difficulty in finding out, or entering in at, or walking in the way of sin, which leads to eternal ruin. The gate of carnal lusts, and worldly pleasures, stands wide open,
and many there be which go in thereat; even all men in a state of nature; the way of the ungodly is “broad”, smooth, easy, and every way agreeable to the flesh; it takes in a large compass of vices, and has in it abundance of company; but its end is destruction. Our Lord seems to allude to the private and public roads, whose measures are fixed by the Jewish canons; which say p, that
“a private way was four cubits broad, a way from city to city eight cubits, a public way sixteen cubits, and the way to the cities of refuge thirty two cubits.”
p T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 100. 1, 2. Vid. Maimon. & R. Sampson in Misn. Peah, c. 2. sect. 1. & Maimon in Sabbat. c. 1. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By the narrow gate ( ). The Authorized Version “at the strait gate” misled those who did not distinguish between “strait” and “straight.” The figure of the Two Ways had a wide circulation in Jewish and Christian writings (cf. Deut 30:19; Jer 21:8; Jer 21:1). See the Didache i-vi; Barnabas xviii-xx. “The narrow gate” is repeated in verse 14 and
straitened the way ( ) added. The way is “compressed,” narrowed as in a defile between high rocks, a tight place like in Ro 8:35. “The way that leads to life involves straits and afflictions” (McNeile). Vincent quotes the Pinax or Tablet of Cebes, a contemporary of Socrates: “Seest thou not, then, a little door, and a way before the door, which is not much crowded, but very few travel it? This is the way that leadeth unto true culture.” “The broad way” () is in every city, town, village, with the glaring white lights that lure to destruction.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Strait gate [ ] . Rev., narrow. A remarkable parallel to this passage occurs in the “Pinax” or “Tablet” of Cebes, a writer contemporary with Socrates. In this, human life, with its dangers and temptations, is symbolically represented as on a tablet. The passage is as follows : “Seest thou not, then, a little door, and a way before the door, which is not much crowded, but very few travel it? This is the way which leadeth into true culture.”
Leadeth [] . Lit., leadeth away, from death, or, perhaps, from the broad road. Note that the gate is not at the end, but at the beginning of the road.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE TWO WAYS–STRAIT AND BROAD
V. 13-14
1) “Enter ye in at the strait gate,” (eisIthate dia tes stenes pules) “You all enter in through the narrow or restricted gate or entrance,” of your own will or choice; You are continually to choose the direction of moral and ethical conduct your life shall take, as Joshua chose for himself and his family, Jos 24:15. The term “strait gate” means “restricted entrance;” By or through Jesus Christ and the standards He had given, they were to go through Him and His way to glory, Joh 10:9; Joh 14:6.
2) “For wide is the gate, and broad is the way,” (hoti plateia he pule kai euruchoros he hodes) “Because there is a wide gate and a broad way,” a wide entrance, broad and roomy, expanded road, way or path; It is the way of humanism, let everyone do his own thing, go his own impulsive way; It was the way of Israel in the worst day of her decay when “Every man did that that which was right in his own eyes,” Jud 21:25.
3) “That leadeth to destruction,” (he apagousa eis ten apoleian) “Which is leading away into destruction.” It is the “broad-minded,” liberal way that leads to ruin, a way that offers “any god,” any choice of standard for morality or ethical conduct; It is, “the way”, through which many pass to death, as described Pro 14:12; Pro 16:25. These two courses of life are described, Psa 1:1-6.
4) “And many there be which go in thereat:” (kai polloi eisin hoi eiserchomenoi di’autes) “And many are those going on continually through it,” through the wide gate and broad way of Pro 16:25. The term “the way” was used regarding Jesus Christ as Savior, and His standards of conduct for man’s life, for one’s behavior while passing through life, Act 9:2; Act 19:9. In essence Christ is the restricted “narrow, or strait gate or door,” and “The Way,” that points or leads to life, even life more abundantly, Joh 10:10; Joh 14:6, in contrast with the broad, wandering, open, roomy passage and way that leads to ruin and abyss; Mr 10:23-27; Luk 13:24; Joh 10:7-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. Enter in by the strait gate As nothing is more opposed to the flesh than the doctrine of Christ, no man will ever make great proficiency in it who has not learned to confine his senses and feelings, so as to keep them within those boundaries, which our heavenly Teacher prescribes for curbing our wantonness. As men willingly flatter themselves, and live in gaiety and dissipation, Christ here reminds his disciples, that they must prepare to walk, as it were, along a narrow and thorny road But as it is difficult to restrain our desires from wicked licentiousness and disorder, he soothes this bitterness by a joyful remuneration, when he tells us, that the narrow gate, and the narrow road, lead to life Lest we should be captivated, on the other hand, by the allurements of a licentious and dissolute life, and wander as the lust of the flesh draws us, (469) he declares that they rush headlong to death, who choose to walk along the broad road, and through the wide gate, instead of keeping by the strait gate, and narrow way, which lead to life
He expressly says, that many run along the broad road: because men ruin each other by wicked examples. (470) For whence does it arise, that each of them knowingly and wilfully rushes headlong, but because, while they are ruined in the midst of a vast crowd, they do not believe that they are ruined? The small number of believers, on the other hand, renders many persons careless. It is with difficulty that we are brought to renounce the world, and to regulate ourselves and our life by the manners of a few. We think it strange that we should be forcibly separated from the vast majority, as if we were not a part of the human race. But though the doctrine of Christ confines and hems us in, reduces our life to a narrow road, separates us from the crowd, and unites us to a few companions, yet this harshness ought not to prevent us from striving to obtain life.
It is sufficiently evident from Luke’s Gospel, that the instruction, which we are now considering, was uttered by Christ at a different time from that on which he delivered the paradoxes, (471) which we have formerly examined, about a happy life, (Mat 5:3,) and laid down to them the rule of prayer. And this is what I have repeatedly hinted, that the instructions which are related by the other Evangelists, at different times, according to the order of the history, were here collected by Matthew into one summary, that he might bring more fully under our view the manner in which Christ taught his disciples. I have therefore thought it best to introduce here the whole passage from Luke, which corresponds to this sentence. While I have been careful to inform my readers, as to the order of time which is observed by Luke, they will forgive me, I hope, for not being more exact (472) than Matthew in the arrangement of the doctrine.
(469) (“ Comme facilement les appetits de la chair nous tirent en leurs filets;”) —(“as the appetites of the flesh easily draw us into their nets.”)
(470) “ Pource que les hommes se poussent les uns les autres au chemin de damnation par mauvais exemple;” — “because men urge each other on in the road to damnation by bad example.”
(471) “ Quand il a prononce ces sentences que nous avons veues par ci de-vant, monstrant tout au contraire de l’opinion commune;” — “when he pronounced those sentences which we have formerly seen, showing it to be altogether contrary to the common opinion.”
(472) “ Si je n’ay pas este plus scrupuleux ou curieux en conferant les passages tendans a un mesme poinct de doctrine;” — “if I have not been more careful or exact in comparing the passages relating to the same point of doctrine.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat. 7:13. Destruction.The word implies, not annihilation, but waste (Mat. 26:8; Mar. 14:4), perdition, i.e. the loss of all that makes existence precious. I question whether a single passage can be adduced in which it means, in relation to material things, more than the breaking up of their outward form and beauty, or, in spiritual things, more than what may be described as the wretchedness of a wasted life (Plumptre).
Mat. 7:14. Narrow is the way.Literally, pressed or hemmed in between walls or rocks, like the pathway in a mountain gorge (ibid.).
Mat. 7:15. Beware of false prophets.The sequence again is below the surface. How was the narrow way to be found? Who would act as guide? Many would offer their help who would simply lead men to the destruction which they sought to escape (ibid.).
Mat. 7:16. Thorns.Any land of prickly plant (Brown). Thistles.Rather caltrop, a prickly water-plant (Carr).
Mat. 7:22. In that day.The day of judgment. This is a forecast far into the distant future, when it would be worth while to assume Christianity, when hypocrisy would take the form of pretending to be a follower of the now despised Jesus (ibid.).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 7:13-23
True discipleship.The end of this passage may be taken as a kind of key to all its earlier part. What is said about beginning the journey in Mat. 7:13, must be compared with what is said of the result of it in Mat. 7:22-23. In that day there will be many men claiming to be the Saviours disciples, to whom He will testify that He never knew them, notwithstanding that claim. How are His true disciples to be distinguished from these? In three principal ways, viz:
1. By the decision of their choice.
2. By the carefulness of their judgments.
3. By the consistency of their lives.
I. The decision of their choice.See, for example, what such persons select. They select the gate which is strait (Mat. 7:13), in other words the gate which is easily over looked unless looked for; which can only be passed through with a good deal of effort; and which allows little more than the man himself to pass through. They select, also, the way which is narrow. In other words, the way of restriction, both on this side and on that; the way, therefore, from which much is shut out; the way of exactness; the way of limitation; and not, therefore (at any rate in appearance) the way of free will. Not many travel this road, for there is a broad way without these restrictions, which they can easily travel instead. Not many enter that gate; for there is a wide gate very much nearer, through which many are always entering; and which, therefore, as it were, thrusts itself on their notice. All the more manifest, therefore, is the earnest purpose of those who find that strait gate and pass through to its way. They are men, indisputably, even so far, who have made up their minds. See, also, what such persons refuse. They pass by that wide gate with all its facilities. They turn from that broad road, with all its allurements. They give up its apparent liberty; its many apparent enjoyments; its jolly companionships; its sure popularity; its resounding mirth; its appearance of ease. All this, and much more than this, which that strait gate will not allow to pass through, they leave behind when they begin this way. Doubly evident, therefore, is their resolution of purpose. Alike what they do not, and what they do; alike what others do, and what is done by themselves; prove that their minds are made up (cf. Gen. 5:22; Gen. 7:1; Jos. 24:15; Daniel 1; Daniel 3; Daniel 6; 1Ki. 18:21; Joh. 6:67-69, etc.).
II. The carefulness of their judgments.This goes, in great measure, with what we have said already. A man who is thus resolute and determined will feel it only right to be correspondingly careful. Careful, on the one hand, as to the guides he follows. He will be aware, as implied in Mat. 7:15, that there are many false prophets abroad in the world. The very conviction which has made him so decidedthe conviction that he is dealing with a matter of the intensest importancewill make him feel this to be true. The more valuable the coin, the more numerous its counterfeits. For the same reason he will be the more anxious to avoid being cheated by them. The more in value such counterfeits ought to be, the more he loses by accepting them. The more they look precious, the more they injure. As the Saviour here says, looking like sheep (Mat. 7:15), they are not only wolvesthey are ravening wolvesrejoicing to slay. On every ground, therefore, such disciplessuch true learnerswill desire to be taught only by teachers of truth. Every such true disciple will be equally careful, on the other hand, as to the kind of test he employs. How are teachers of truth to be known? This is what the great Teacher here teaches us next. They are to be known by their fruits. This is the beginning (Mat. 7:16), and this the end (Mat. 7:20) of what He says on the point. Nature, He reminds us, teaches us this (end of Mat. 7:16). Nature teaches us that this is always the case (Mat. 7:17). Nature teaches us that it cannot be otherwise (Mat. 7:18). Even the absence of good fruit on a tree is evidence enough, on the same authority, that it is only fit for the fire (Mat. 7:19). Every one who knows what godliness is will know this to be true, because he will know for himself what godliness does. He will know that it changes the life. Only, therefore, to teachers with changed lives will he look for his light. His spiritual instinctif he be a true manwill make him act thus.
III. The consistency of their conduct.What such a man looks for in others he will seek for himself; and will attain to, also, as a true scholar of the teachers of truth. Two great mistakes on this point are named, next, by our Lord. The true disciple will prove his consistency by avoiding them both. He will not mistake profession for practice. Saying Lord, Lord (Mat. 7:21), is only saying it, if there be nothing beside. Professing subjection is not subjection itself. To do homage is not of itself to be loyal. Merely to call the Saviour King is not to belong to His kingdom. There may be any amount of such calling without any result; any result but that of exposing the caller, and proving him nothing better than a traitor in heart, and, therefore, still outside the kingdom to which he claims to belong. The true disciple, the man within the kingdom, will know this to be so; and will, therefore, act accordingly in all that he does. Facta non verba, in shortdeeds not wordswill be the rule of his life. Also, he will not mistake work for obedience (Mat. 7:22)a more subtle form of deception. There are those who, besides saying Lord, Lord, besides always saying it, so the repetition may mean, really labour much for Christ in their way. They prophesy about Him; they prophesy for Him; they make Him known; they do so with diligence; they do so with power; they accomplish His work; they vanquish His enemies; they fill the world with surprise (Mat. 7:22). All this the Judge Himself does not appear to deny. Yet all this may be in combination with not doing His will; these works of power with works of iniquity, or direct opposition thereto. The true disciple will be aware of this, and will avoid this, of himself; for his chief desire will be, instinctively, to accomplish that will. For what is a disciple? Is he not one who learns? And what has he learned if he has not learned to put his Masters will first?
The one lesson to be laid to heart from this is that of keeping the heart (Pro. 4:23; Psa. 51:6). From the heart come our words and our deeds (Mat. 15:19). By the character of these will all be tested at last (Mat. 25:40; Mat. 25:45). Nothing can be more public than the issue of all (Mat. 25:31-32). It is wide as the sea (Psa. 104:25). Nothing more secret than the beginning of all. Far away inland, in the depths of the forest, in the solitude of the mountainsin the innermost manis the beginning of all. The beginning of search, thereforethe beginning of cleansing, the beginning of amendment, the beginning of life, the beginning of eternitymust be at that source (see Psa. 139:23-24).
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat. 7:13-14. The broad and narrow ways.
I. What is meant by the broad and narrow way.By the strait gate, and the narrow way, are meant the difficulties both of the first entrance upon a serious course of life, according to our Saviours precepts, and the difficulties of continuing steadfastly in it. And by the wide gate and the broad way, are meant this way of vice which offers itself and allures us both with a more easy entrance into it, and with its greater agreeableness to our corrupt inclinations.
II. How little company there is in the narrow way of duty, and how much in the broad way of sin.
1. The truth of this assertion.
2. The danger we run from the prevalence of evil example.Two duties are naturally consequent upon this observation:
(1) caution;
(2) courage.
III. The different ends to which these ways lead.
1. Destruction.When we speak of an enemys destroying a country, we mean only that he makes it very miserable by all the calamities of war.
2. Life.The union of the soul with God (1Jn. 5:12). It is called life by way of excellency, as signifying a happy life.
(1) The body will be greatly improved (1Co. 15:53-54).
(2) So will the soul.
(3) Such happiness shall be provided for us as shall answer the utmost capacities of such a perfect and glorified creature. These different states result from the different courses of life of good and bad menleadeth.
IV. The great duty here enjoined.Enter ye in, etc. See also Luk. 13:24.Jas. Blair, M.A.
The two ways.The way was one of the earliest designations for the Christian life. Our Lord here contrasts the two courses of discipleship and of worldliness in four particulars:
I. The contrast of the entrances.
II. The contrast of the ways.
III. The contrast of the ends.
IV. The contrast of the travellers.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Two gates and two ways.In all times and all languages human life has been likened to a journey. There is no difficulty in understanding that when Jesus Christ employed in His teaching the illustration of two gates and two roads, He meant to indicate two modes and tendencies of human life. In fact, He put vividly before His audience the same alternative which a great painter put on the canvas in the rival persuasions of Minerva and Venuswisdom and pleasureappealing from opposite sides to inexperienced and impulsive youth. It is a bold and comprehensive generalisation. As they appear to us, the paths of human conduct are very various; but under all the moral shades and circumstantial diversities of human life, our Lord saw two opposite lines of tendency, and only two.
I. A wide gate lying open invites your entrance, and a broad, smooth avenue gives promise of leading you to some mansion, castle, or pleasure-ground. Such is the gate, and such is the way of self-indulgence. The pleasure indeed is only for a season. The way becomes rough, and for one who continues on it smiling to the last you may find seven grumbling and out of humour. The road of pleasure is infested with stinging nettles of pain. Wounded pride, satiated appetite, foiled ambitions, disappointed plans, gnawing jealousies, spoil everything this world can furnish. It is one of the inducements to men to enter the wide gate, that many go in thereat. Men are very gregarious, and the crowd always draws a greater crowd. Leadeth to destruction. So said the faithful and true Witness. He did not set Himself to prove the statement, or enter into any argument to show that such is the necessary conclusion to a life of self-seeking and self-indulgence. He was not a reasoner, but a revealer. He saw the end from the beginning, and declared it with the calm authority of one who had complete cognisance of the issues of life in good and evil, in weal and woe. From this there is a possibility of escape; but at the beginning, not at the end. If one has unhappily entered the gate and proceeded on the way, he must, at the warning of Christ, be converted.
II. A narrow gate is overlooked by the crowd, or is avoided because it opens on a mere footpath closely hedged or walled in on either side. The presumption is that it leads to a poor mans cottage or a cattle-shed. True, that over the gate indicated by Christ those who believe His word may see an inscription, To the palace of the King. But the heedless multitude do not see this inscription; or if their attention is called to it, make light of it, persuading themselves that there must be much easier and more conspicuous avenues to the palace. Mark the entire frankness with which Jesus Christ proclaimed the difficulty of being one of His disciples and walking in the way of His steps. Evidently He was conscious of a right to command the allegiance of men at whatever cost, and of a power to recompense those who might suffer for His name and for righteousness sake. Yet what mournful words are these that follow! Few there be that find it. There are two mistakes opposite to each other, to be avoided:
1. That the saved of the Lord in every generation must be few. Christ stated a melancholy fact in regard to His own generation, who received Him not, but did not predict that the same state of matters would last throughout all generations.
2. They err on the other side who think it due to charity to suppose that all, or nearly all men are to be saved.D. Fraser, D.D.
The strait gate and the narrow way to the kingdom.The text is the beginning of the epilogue. The peroration begins by proclaiming the hearty, free, and universal invitation of the gospel to all to enter into the kingdom, and enjoy its privileges, and joyfully anticipate the glorious end. In other words, Jesus Christ earnestly presses His audience to lay hold of eternal life.
I. The two entrances.The gate suggests two important truths:
1. That the beginning of true discipleship is not easy to flesh and blood.
(1) The attainment of salvation is difficult. The gate can be none other than repentance.
(2) The attainment of salvation demands the exercise of self-denial. Everything good has its price.
(3) The attainment of salvation demands singularity. You must leave the multitude and follow the few.
(4) To attain salvation there is an inducement. Though the gate is strait it is always open. If some of Her Majestys soldiers had been taken prisoners by an enemy and confined in a fortress far in the interior of a foreign land, and if an intimation were given them by a merciful and friendly hand that at a certain point of the prison walls there was an opening, but it was strait and narrow, and the path beyond not very smooth, what do you think they would do? Would they mind the narrowness of the hole through which they might gain their liberty, or the roughness of the path beyond? Nay; they would leap for joy and push through, having the joy of liberty in prospect.
2. That the entrance to a sinful life is wide.Above the entrance there is written by the enemy of our souls, Do as you like.
II. The two courses of conduct.The narrow way and the broad way. From this we learn:
1. That there are but two ways for human conduct.There is no middle way; there is no such thing as neutrality.
2. There is only one way to eternal life.It is the way of Jesus Christ; the way of truth; the way of humility; the way of holiness. It cannot tolerate self-pride, self-righteousness, and sin; it is the path of practical obedience to God.
3. That there is but one way to ruin.the broad way. This is easy. The train will run down an incline without steam.
III. The two destinies.Life and destruction.J. Harries.
The narrowness of the gospel.You are surprised at the expression. The narrowness of the church, the narrowness of Christianssuch phrases excite no surprise, they are justified by facts; but the narrowness of the gospel? It is not narrowness you associate with the teaching of Christ, but breadth and breeziness, light and gladsomeness. It is true there is an extraordinary breadth in Christs teaching, but at the same time, and from another point of view, it is also true that there is an extraordinary narrowness in the gospel.
I. It is not easy to be a Christian.You cannot fall into the Christian life by chance. A strait gate faces you which you cannot enter save by effort and sacrifice and self-surrender. The great tasks of human life are accomplished not by triflers, but by enthusiasts, who know how to spend themselves on their work. To be a Christianthat is the hardest and greatest work that is set before you, and for it you need enthusiasm, devotion, and self-sacrifice. Christ knows what forces there are in your heart warring against His claim on you. The broad way is just the way where spiritual struggles cease. The narrow way is known by its aspirationsits aspirations after Christ and the life of Christ.
II. You have a choice to make.The narrow path is rough and steep; you will sometimes find yourself alone; Christ demands the devotion of your heart, and that devotion will cost you dear. It means that you crucify your evil passions, that you forego many a pleasure you love, that you let some of lifes prizes go past you, that you be willing to part with what the world counts success. The other path is easierat least, it seems easier at the start. It is easy to let passion master you, easy to yield to the love of pleasure, of excitement, of position, of money, of self. On the broad path there is no panting for breath, no straining of the muscle, and there is no lack of company. But on that path you will lose your lifein that way lies death.D. M. Ross, M.A.
Mat. 7:13. The wicket gate.(To children). At the great Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia there were a number of little turnstile gates by which people went into the grounds. These gates would only admit one at a time. Every time a person entered, the gate clicked and registered the number of persons; and in this way, at the end of the day, by counting up the sum total of all the numbers of the register of the gates, the officers in charge knew just how many people had been admitted for the day. But when the time came for closing the gates, the great fog-horn sounded, and then wide doors were thrown open on all sides, and the people within the grounds flocked forth by hundreds and thousands. People entered at the narrow gate, and went out at the broad way. It would have been impossible for them to have gone in at the wide doors and come out at the narrow turnstile gate, one at a time. Each person who wanted to go into the grounds had to take his turn at the narrow turnstile gate. Every one was registered as they went in. Now, our Lord, in His Sermon upon the Mount, told those who were listening to Him that they must seek to enter in at the strait gate, or the narrow gate. What our Lord meant by entering in at the narrow gate, was getting started right for heaven. And the right gate to begin the Christian life with, is the strait or narrow gate of obedience to the will of God. When we go with the crowd, and please only ourselves, we are walking in the broad way. In Bunyans story of Pilgrims Progress Christian is represented as beginning his journey to heaven by entering in at the wicket-gate. Before this he had not been considered as fairly on the way to the celestial city. The old motto says, Be sure youre right, then go ahead!
I. We must find out what this strait gate is.Our Lord Himself tells us, I am the Door. I am the Way.
II. We must find out why the gate is so narrow.Even Jesus found the way of submission to the will of God a strait or narrow way. Gethsemane. It is always a hard or narrow way when we have to give up our own wills for the sake of another.
III. We are to find out why it is that we must enter in at this gate.Just as surely as we must take the train south when we want to go south, and not the train for the north, just so surely must we enter in at the strait gate of obedience to Jesus Christ, if we want to get started right for heaven!Sermons for Boys and Girls.
Mat. 7:13-14. The great choice.In Xenophons Memoirs there is a striking story told by Socrates, the story known as the Choice of Hercules. The young Hercules, emerging from boyhood into manhood, is pondering how he is to shape his life. Two women appear before himone voluptuous in form and luxurious in dress, the other severe and strict in mien, and clothed in a simple white garment. The name of one is Pleasure, the name of the other is Virtue. The one promises to lead the young Hercules by the shortest road, and without any toil, to the enjoyment of every pleasure. The other beckons him along another patha path where he will meet labours and suffering, but where alone he will find a beautiful and good life worthy of his manhood. An old parable which is ever new, and an old parable which is made more meaningful by the words of our Lord.D. M. Ross, M.A.
Mat. 7:15-20. Trees and their fruit.The comparison of men to fruit-trees is a very obvious one, and of frequent occurrence in the Bible. Every tree brings forth after its kind. Every man acts according to his prevailing disposition and will. One of the chief dangers which beset primitive Christianity was the intrusion of false prophets. The Epistles are full of allusions to such men, as misleading the churches. The delusive professions of the false prophets and teachers were only so much sheeps clothing worn for a purpose. The early churches were required to protect themselves from the false teachers. Apostles could not be everywhere to test every one who claimed to address the Christian assemblies. So the brethren were to exercise a wise and necessary caution, and not hearken to every teacher or believe every spirit. The development of doctrine had not proceeded far when our Lord taught on the mount, and His reference to the fruit-trees indicates a practical and not a dogmatic test. See how it applies:
I. To the teachers of religion.We do not admit that there were no doctrinal tests in the apostolic times (see Gal. 1:8; 1Jn. 4:1). But the moral test was a primary one, and could be applied by any man with a correct sense of right and wrong, even though he might not be much versed in theology. And the Apostles followed their Master in urging on the churches the application of this moral test.
II. To religious systems.Religion, however taught, must stand or fall according to the moral effect it produces on those who embrace and obey it. On this principle Christianity may boldly invite comparison with any form of heathenism, with Mohammedanism, or with the negation of religion. The imperfection with which Christianity has been illustrated and obeyed by its own adherents may be cited as one of the proofs of its lofty origin. It is comparatively easy to be a thorough exponent and example of heathenism or Mohammedanism; but where can you find a perfect Christian? There is a consummate Christ, there are no consummate Christians. But in so far as men follow Christ and are imbued with His Spirit, they are good, virtuous, righteous. On the other hand, you cannot say that the more thoroughly heathen a man is, or the more intensely Mohammedan, or the more decidedly materialistic and secularistic in his convictions, the more sure he is to be good, virtuous, righteous. The same test will lead to just conclusions regarding the rival forms of Christianity, provided always that a sufficiently large induction of instances be taken, and that time enough has been given for the working out of genuine results.
III. To all men.In this sense the saying is often applied, and has become a sort of moral adageThe tree is known by its fruit. Application of such a text to our fellow men must of course be with caution and charity.
1. Let us be sure of our facts; then, if it is our duty to judge at all, let us proceed on those facts as the evidences of character. Let us look not at leaves, but at fruit. And let us not be too severe on youthful faults. Trees sometimes yield poor and even bitter fruit when they are young which give sweet and finely flavoured fruit when they come to maturity.
2. Some estimate of our fellow-men we must form in order to guide our own behaviour towards them, and to warrant our trust or distrust. Then let our estimate depend not on professions, words, or appearances, all of which may be deceptive, but on solid actions and the sustained tenor of life.
3. The same test may be used in self-judgment. An honest man, trying to prove and judge himself, may be perplexed. It is hard to know the predominant motive or to detect the relative strength of desires that have twined together in the mind. Then comes in well this practical test, What, on the whole, is the bent of the character and will? What are the ends for which one lives day after day?D. Fraser, D.D.
The true test of character in the kingdom of God.Our Lord has just said that there are a few that find the strait gate, and that walk in the narrow way which leadeth unto life. But having said that He proceeds to warn His hearers against such as might mislead them. Hence the cautionBeware of false prophets. The text suggests:
I. The true and false in human life.Beware of the false!
1. In all ages the false has followed the true.False money is never coined except where good money exists. Quack doctors obtain patronage only because there are true physicians. False remedies are sold only because there are good remedies. False diamonds could not be sold were there no real diamonds. Of course, the nearer the false approaches the true the more dangerous it is.
2. The Scriptures treat largely of the false, that we may be on our guard.
(1) False gods.
(2) False doctrines.
(3) False hopes.
(4) False teachers. What irony! A prophet false? Yes. Such are found all along and down the line of history. Mere talent, says Mr. Spurgeon, ought not to attract us. Carrion, well dressed and served on Palissy ware, is still unfit for men. As we would not be fascinated by the azure hues of a serpent, so neither should we be thrown off our guard by the talents of an unsound theologian.
3. Seek the good, the real, and the durable.There is a true God; there are true doctrines; there are true and blessed hopes and promises; there are true teachersthe chief of which is Jesus Christ; there are true Christians and true characters.
II. The infallible test by which the true and false may be distinguished, and therefore detected.Ye shall know them by their fruits, by the practical results of their life and teaching.
1. Fruit is the natural production of life.
2. Fruit develops according to the nature of its root.As in the natural world so in the spiritual, every species brings forth fruit after its kind.
3. Fruit may be seen as it tells on the future.J. Harries.
Mat. 7:16. The test of fruit.
I. There is a necessary distinction to be made between true and false teachers.
II. The making of this distinction falls within the duty and capacity of private Christians.Ye shall know them.
III. What fruits these are from which even private Christians may know the difference between true and false teachers.By their fruits, I think, must be meant the natural tendency and consequents of their corrupt doctrines, both on themselves and others, which are visible, and so may be easily known.Jas. Blair, M.A.
Mat. 7:20. By their fruits.One can hardly make this figure plainer than it is. It is by the produce of the tree only that its innermost nature is revealed. Appearances may deceive. The thorns to which our Saviour referred bore a small black berry, very much like the grape, and the thistles put forth a flower closely resembling that of the fig-tree. So far as the show of things went, the worthless plants indeed had the advantage. It was the ripe, rich fruit alone that proved the generous quality of the tree. And so, says Christ, are the false prophets to be known from the true, and thus are religious professions to be tested, and religious systems, and everything that either is, or pretends to be, of God. That form of Christianity which shows the largest proportion of strong, unworldly, self-forgetting lives is proved by that fact to have most of the mind of Christ. Our common Christianity must always depend upon this in the long run.
I. We are witnessing a deliberate attempt in many quarters to prove that the moral fruits of Christianity owe nothing to its beliefs.That were the creed of Christianity gone, its works might and would survive; that men of the most opposite schools, from the extreme Calvinist to the extreme agnostic, are equally lovable in character and equally great and generous in their devotion to self-denying aims and labours for human good; that men can be Christians in act and fact though they deny almost every truth which Christians have held sacred; and that, in fact, what we call religious beliefs may be put aside and yet leave all that is most attractive and generous in human nature. This is the insidious teaching of the books which are having a popular runRobert Elsmere, John Ward, Preacher, A Story of a South African Farm, and in a somewhat less degree Edna Lyalls worksall of them full of pure and tender thought, suffused with the finest Christian sentiment, and pointing to unexceptionable moral ideals.
II. There are a few who have cut themselves off from the original source of inspiration, yet carry with them still some, or all, of its moral effects, and unbelievers point to them and say: See what great and generous and true lives men can live without your Christian beliefs! But what was it that made those lives great and true? Many a man remains noble, though the mother who trained him to that nobility is dead. But is any one so foolish as to say that the mother had nothing to do with it because she is no longer present to influence that life? Last year one of my plum trees had a branch laden with fruit nearly smitten off by the storm. It hung on by a mere strip of fibre and bark, yet the fruit showed no decay. I gathered it a month afterwards sweet and ripe. But what insanity it were to suppose that the fruit owed nothing to its living connection with the tree. The effects of forces often remain long after the forces have ceased to operate. The locomotive does not suddenly stop when the steam is shut off; the tidal wave still flows for a while, though the attraction of the moon is no longer felt; and the glory of a summer evening lingers on, gliding into tremulous and beautiful twilight, long after the sun, which was the source of the illumination, has vanished below the horizon. The fruits of Christianity are often found in those who have drifted from Christian beliefs.
III. The instant Christianity and unbelief are brought face to face in this way and challenged to show their respective fruits, the question is settled beyond all doubt. Which of the two classes contains the high-minded and honourable members of the community? Who fill the positions of trust? Where do the active philanthropists come from except from the churches? Who are foremost in all educational matters? From what homes do the sober and industrious young men go forth, and the maidens who make the sweetest and the most helpful wives? Really, it is almost absurd to ask the question, because the answer is so self-evident. We are always confessing our inconsistencies as Christians, always lamenting that our churches are not sufficiently awake to their calling, that our church members fall far below their professions; and this is right. It is a necessity of our position. Our ideal is so great that the performance must always seem poor and incomplete. We are always apologising for the scantiness of our service, because we set it against the claim of a perfect Master. But set the church against the world and it has no need to apologise at all. If a Christian falls and becomes a scandal a thousand voices proclaim it. It was so unexpected there; yet the same thing is happening every day in the ranks of unbelievers, and the world takes it as a matter of course. No one looked for any particular fruits of righteousness there. So, also, we grieve over the want of unity in the church, over the jealousies and divisions in the church. Yet are there not more and far bitterer divisions, hatreds, and class alienations outside the church? And what brotherhoods are equal to those of the churchthe staunch friendships, the lovely sympathies, the care and interest for each other? And, finally, where do you find the happy, joyous, patient, and serene lives, rounded off with sweet content, and holy calm, and strong hopefulness?J. G. Greenhough, M.A.
Mat. 7:21-23. The true qualification for admission into the kingdom.
I. That true religion is not a mere profession.Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, etc.
1. True discipleship is not merely nominal.
2. True discipleship is not merely official.Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, etc. These words suggest,
(1) that teaching and active zeal for Christ is no guarantee for a holy life. Moreover, these words suggest
(2) a religion of merit. May we not merit the favour of God by what we have done? say many. The religion of merit is the religion of self-conceit, and self-deception.
3. True discipleship is not merely orthodoxy.We may be up in theory but down in practice. We may be thoroughly versed in the principles of music, and yet not able to perform a single note. We may be able to teach grammar and rhetoric, and yet be very feeble and clumsy speakers. A clear-headed doctor of divinity may be able to work out the stiffest truth in theology, as he would reason out a syllogism in logic or a problem in Euclid, but yet lack experimental knowledge of the truth. A brilliant poet may rhyme admirably the virtues of the gospel, and yet be himself sadly wanting in a virtuous life. A physician may prescribe to others and restore them, and yet die himself for the want of taking the same prescription. A preacher may preach to others, and yet he himself become a castaway.
II. That true religion is real and practical.He that doeth the will, etc.
1. Obedience to God is the sum of religion.
2. Obedience to God is faith in action.
3. Obedience is the test of love.A child was told to bring her fathers slippers, but she wanted to play. At length she does it, but unwillingly, saying, Is bing um, papa; but I guess you neednt say thank you, cause I only did it with my hands; my heart kept saying, I wont. Those who wish to see a splendid programme of a perfect obedience must begin at Bethlehem, and follow on the life of Christ to Calvary, obedient unto death.
III. The danger and doom of pretence and formality.Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, etc.
1. Deception exposed.I never knew you.
2. Deception denounced and doomed.Depart from Me. There are limits to Divine long-suffering and mercy.J. Harries.
Mat. 7:21. Solemn warnings.The gate to righteousness is a strait gate; the way to righteousness is a narrow way; it is the gate and way of obedience to the laws of God, for these are the laws of spiritual well-being. No man can violate the laws of health either in body or soul and preserve a strong constitution by morning and evening prayers. One of his contemporaries says of Cardinal Lorraine that he was avaricious, malignant, cruel, and deceitful, but full of religion. In no age of the world have there been wanting false prophets to tell men how they might have the Cardinals religion; how they might lie, cheat, rob, murder, how they might indulge their ambition, their avarice, their animal nature, and yet be secure of heaven. Sometimes these false prophets have told their hearers:
I. To pay the church and the ministry liberally. E.g., Tetzel.
II. To join the church.
III. That a mystic rite brings salvation.
IV. That since God is merciful He will bring into the kingdom of heaven, every one, whether he has sought or not.The condition of attaining the character of a child of God is twofold:
1. A high, spiritual aspirationa seeking of glory, honour, and immortality.
2. That aspiration made the impulse and motive of lofty and persistent practical endeavour, manifested in a life of patient continuance in well-doing.L. Abbott, D.D.
The great test.Alas, for many hearers of the word! Alas, for many admirers of the Sermon on the Mount! Where will they be when everything turns on the question Wert thou a doer of it?J. M. Gibson, D.D.
Mat. 7:22-23. Self-deception.
1. There is a day of judgment appointed for all men when Christ shall sit as Judges 2. Many build hopes of heaven upon great gifts and employments in the ministry, given to them with some success, who shall be rejected of Christ.
3. All men have need to beware lest they deceive themselves in the matter of their own salvation, when they hear that preachers and prophets and workers of miracles deceive themselves, and may be destitute of saving faith and sound repentance, which they do preach to others.
4. Such as Christ shall reject at the last day were never endued with saving grace, or accounted by Him for true believers, for He saith, I will profess unto them, I never knew you.
5. Such as are destitute of true faith and repentance, however specious their gifts and outward conversation seem to themselves or others, are in Christs account but workers of iniquity, and shall not dwell in His company in heaven.David Dickson.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN
(Mat. 7:1-27; Luk. 6:37-49)
5. THE DANGER OF CHOOSING THE WRONG WAY OF LIFE.
TEXT: 7:13, 14
13. Enter ye in by the narrow gate: -for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby.
14. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS
a. Jesus speaks of the road to Life through the narrow gate as found
by only a few, while He declares that the road to Ruin through
the wide gate is heavily travelled. Is this a hint of Jesus expectations concerning the outcome of Christian evangelizing clear down
to the end of time?
b. How does Jesus intend for His disciples to regard this statistically negative picture which He paints in the words many will be destroyed but a few will enter life? In other words, why would He say this to those who would be His disciples?
c. How did these relative percentages of humanity get to be this way? Can the percentages be changed? If so, how? If not, why not?
d. Does the low figure concerning those who enter into life represent a numerical defeat for God? Explain your response.
e. Why do you suppose Jesus describes the road to Life as through a narrow gate and of restricted passage? Did God want it to be that way so only a few could pass that way? Or so that few would go there? Or is the road straitened because the nature of what God expects of saints makes it that way?
PARAPHRASE
Enter in by the narrow gate, because the wide gate opens upon a super-highway that leads to destruction. Many are they who are entering in by it. But the narrow gate opens onto a narrow, confined road that leads to life. Only a few are even finding it.
SUMMARY
Many are called but few accept Gods invitation, The majority of humanity will be lost. Therefore, choose well which decision you will make!
NOTES
Mat. 7:13 The figure that Jesus uses is that of two final destinations under the form of two cities, Destruction and Life. Each city has a gate by which it is entered: one is wide and the other, narrow. Each city is approached by a road: one broad, the other restricted of passage.
Note that, for Jesus, there are only these two possible choices as live options, and as truly as any natural law, His word divides men into these two groups every time. (Cf. Mat. 12:30; Mat. 13:18-23; Mat. 13:38; Mat. 13:49; Mat. 25:32-33) Enter in by the narrow gate. The emphasis is not on the entering, as opposed to remaining outside since all of humanity is regarded as entering one gate or the other. Rather, the emphasis is upon the choice of the right gate, In light of the final destination of each of the two roads, the critical question is which gate to choose and the necessity of choosing with discernment. The sad reality about the multitudes is that so many seek only the broad entrance and the easy passage without a thought regarding the final destination of the road!
Wide is the gate, and broad the way. Some suggest that the terms wide and broad are intended to suggest that travelling this route permits the following of ones own inclinations, doing as one pleases and that the inviting breadth of the road promises greater liberties, However, Jesus may be only saying, It is the easiest thing in the world to destroy oneself, and the majority of the worlds people are doing just that. Many are they that enter in thereby. Here is another clue to the impending difficulties of Christian discipleship, (Cf. Mat. 5:10-12) This is a veiled warning that one must be prepared to go against convention, custom and the crowd, and be different even if it means walking alone. Men must not take their moral cue from others, because they too may be lost. Many will be destroyed who did not believe themselves on the broad way. Later Jesus will further illustrate these two basic divisions of humanity under the two parables of the two sons (Mat. 21:28-32; Luk. 15:11-32). The chief priests and elders of the Jews imagined that surely they of all people must certainly enter into life because of their superior religiosity. Hence they scorned the tax collectors, harlots and other sinners. But Jesus intends for us to see that the broad way is travelled just as much by the aristocratic elite because of their selfishness, unthankfulness, hauteur and inhumanity, just as much as by the vulgar throng.
Destruction (opoleia) describes the disintegration of all that was deemed important in the lives of the wicked, ALL of that for which they spent their lives was nothing but dust and ashes. They stand before the great judgment without friends, without influence, without wealth. without character-morally bankrupt in every respect. Here is the wretchedness of a wasted life, the necessary conclusion to every life lived out of harmony with the will of God. Jesus is revealing this fact as one who knows what He is talking about: He does not argue the point or try to demonstrate it. He presents Himself as one who knows perfectly the issues of life, lived either for God or for self. Perhaps He is picturing Himself as standing at the fork of the two roads, speaking in omniscient mercy, Enter ye in by the narrow gate!
Is fear a proper motive for obedience? Yes, for as Trench (Parables, 174) notes:
This fear does not exclude love, but is its true guardian; they mutually support one another; for while it is true that motives drawn from gratitude and love must ever be the chief incentives to obedience (Rom. 12:1), yet so long as our hearts are not made perfect in love, we must be presented with others also.
Mat. 7:14 Narrow is the gate and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life and that path gets the most wear along the edges! Some suggest that the terms narrow and straightened have reference to the difficulty of travel toward Life, a fact easily verified. (Cf. Mat. 10:34-39; Luk. 14:25-33; Joh. 16:33; Act. 14:22; 1Th. 3:3) Counting the cost of discipleship requires much long-range discernment, which is another important act of judging. It requires effort, sacrifice and self-surrender to enter into Life. (Cf. Mat. 19:16-22)
And few are they that find it. There is certainly no easy optimism in this sad declaration of Jesus. Jesus intends this statistically negative picture as a frank warning that makes His disciples realists who know what to expect in His service. He would have them make their decision wisely. The exuberant Messianic enthusiasm of the masses that surrounded Jesus must not turn the head of those who were serious a b u t their commitment to Jesus ideals, But is this declaration His practical estimate regarding the actual percentage of men who will finally be saved? Another man asked the Master this same question, (See Luk. 13:23 f) But the Master considered it an idle question and answered thus: You must struggle to get in by the narrow gate, because many, I tell you, will try to get in and they will not be able! Our obedience is more important than our knowing whether those who are saved be many or few! (But see also Mat. 22:14; Mat. 18:8; Mat. 24:12-13; Luk. 18:8.)
FACT QUESTIONS
1. Explain the allegory of the Two Gates and Roads. First, explain the imagery adopted: what is the picture Jesus has in mind? Then, give the meaning behind the symbols.
2.
List other Scriptures which teach the same message of these two basic divisions in the human race. List also those Scriptures which describe the principles on which this division is based,
3.
What is meant by life?
4.
What is meant by destruction?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(13) Enter ye in at the strait gate.The figure was possibly suggested by some town actually in sight. Safed, the city set on a hill, or some other, with the narrow pathway leading to the yet narrower gate, the needles eye of the city, through which the traveller entered. Such, at any rate, was the picture which the words presented. A like image had been used before, with a singular coincidence of language, in the allegory known as the Tablet of Cebes, the Disciple of Socrates: Seest thou not a certain small door, and a pathway before the door, in no way crowded, but few, very few, go in thereat? This is the way that leadeth to true discipline (c. 16). The meaning of the parable here lies on the surface. The way and the gate are alike the way of obedience and holiness, and the gate is to be reached not without pain and effort; but only through it can we enter into the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. A deeper significance is, however, suggested even by our Lords own teaching. He Himself is the way (Joh. 14:6), or with a slight variation of the imagery, He is the door, or gate, by which His sheep enter into the fold (Joh. 10:7). Only we must remember that His being thus the way and the gate does not mean that we can find, in union with Him, a substitute for holiness, but indicates simply how we are to attain to it.
That leadeth to destruction.The question, which has been much discussed lately, whether this word destruction means the extinction of conscious lifewhat is popularly called annihilationor prolonged existence in endless suffering, is one which can hardly be settled by mere reference to lexicons. So far as they go, the word implies, not annihilation, but waste (Mat. 26:8; Mar. 14:4), perdition, i.e., the loss of all that makes existence precious. I question whether a single passage can be adduced in which it means, in relation to material things, more than the breaking up of their outward form and beauty, or in spiritual things, more than what may be described as the wretchedness of a wasted life. The use of the cognate verb confirms this meaning. Men perish when they are put to death (Mat. 22:7; Act. 5:37; et al.). Caiaphas gave his counsel that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not (Joh. 11:50). The demons ask whether the Christ has come to destroy them (Mar. 1:24). The sheep are lost when they are wandering in the wilderness (Mat. 15:24; Luk. 15:6). The immediate context leads to the same conclusion. Life is more than mere existence. Destruction, by parity of reasoning, should be more than mere non-existence. On the other hand, the fact of the waste, the loss, the perdition, does not absolutely exclude the possibility of deliverance. The lost sheep was found; the exiled son, perishing with hunger, was brought back to his fathers house.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(3.) Enter the strait gate, avoiding false guides, Mat 7:13-20.
13. Enter strait gate wide the gate Strait and narrow here are the exact opposites of wide and broad. Like a close portal, from which a narrow path leads to a magnificent palace, is the Gospel way to everlasting life. Like a broad, open archway, through which a magnificent thoroughfare, well trodden and popular, leads to the precipice of destruction, is the way of sin.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Two Ways (7:13-14).
Jesus commences His closing exhortation by setting before them a choice as to which way they will take in the future. His words reveal that He is very much aware that among the group of disciples are some whose commitment is not genuine (compare Joh 6:66) for He knows men’s hearts (Joh 2:23-25). It is to them that these words are mainly addressed, although at the same time they are a reminder to all that the way of the disciple is a narrow and afflicted one, and that they are to examine themselves whether they are in the faith (2Co 13:5). They are to satisfy themselves as to whether they have entered through the narrow gate or not.
This passage parallels Mat 5:13-16 in the overall chiasmus of the Sermon. They were intended to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, but if they were to be so they must choose the right way.
The idea of a choice between two ways is a common one in the Old Testament. Moses informed the people as he was approaching his death, ‘see I have set before you this day life and good, (achieved by loving God and walking in His way), and death and evil’ (Deu 30:15). The same themes of life and destruction are found there as are also found here. A similar choice is found in Jos 24:14-15 at an official covenant ceremony, where he declares ‘choose you this day Whom you will serve’, although the reply expected of all there was that they would serve the Lord. It can be found in Psalms 1 where the blessedness of the man who delights in God’s Law is contrasted with the judgment on the wicked, and he finishes with the words ‘the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly will perish’ (Mat 7:6).
Furthermore in Isaiah the coming age was summed up in terms of a way of holiness in which the righteous alone would walk, a way that would lead them into everlasting joy, when all sadness and sorrow would flee away (Isa 35:8-10), and this in the context of the Messianic signs (Isa 35:5-6, compare Mat 11:4-6). And in that way they would hear a word behind them saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’ when they turned to the right hand or turned to the left (Isa 30:21). So the choice of a new way to walk in is in these terms an indication of the arrival of the Messianic age.
As so often with Jesus’ words we have here both a chiasmus, which centres on the judgment which is the theme of the whole passage, and a sequence which leads from the one aspect to the other.
Analysis.
a
b For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction,
c And many are those who enter in by it,
b For narrow is the gate, and hemmed in is the way, that leads to life,
a And few are those who find it.
In ‘a’ we have the narrow gate and in the parallel few will find it. In ‘b’ and its parallel we have the comparison between the two alternatives, and centrally in ‘c’ is the emphasis that the many enter the way of destruction, something which continues to be the emphasis in the Mat 7:19; Mat 7:23.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
a Enter you in by the narrow gate,
b For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction,
b And many are those who enter in by it,
a For narrow is the gate, and hemmed in is the way, that leads to life,
a And few are those who find it.
Jesus commences with the command to ‘enter by the narrow gate’. As elsewhere He speaks of ‘ entering the Kingly Rule of Heaven’ we may probably be seen as intended to see the one as resulting in the other (Mat 5:20; Mat 7:21; Mat 18:3; Mat 19:23-24; Joh 3:5; compare Mat 11:12). The ideas of ‘life’ and of the Kingly Rule of Heaven tend to go together (see Mat 25:34 with 46; Mat 19:16-17 with 23, 24).
The emphasis on the narrowness of the gate indicates that it is for the comparatively few, and that those who choose it must expect to find themselves with relatively few companions. It is not a gate to which men will be flocking. Being narrow it must be entered one at a time. Nor is it easy to find (only those who seek will find it – Mat 7:7-8, compare Mat 6:33) and only those who are in earnest and determined, and responsive to His words will do so. But if they wish to find life it is that gate by which they must enter.
The alternative is the wide gate and the broad way. That is where they will find the crowds. It is the popular way and does not have to be found. It is obvious to all. It is the way most people have chosen, for it is totally unrestricted, and on it you can think what you like, believe what you like, and do what you like, and there is plenty of room on it for all. But there is one problem connected with it. It leads to ‘destruction’.
Note on Destruction.
‘Destruction’ (apowleia) is, in the sense used in this verse, found only here in Matthew (it is used in Mat 26:8; Mar 14:4 of the ‘waste’ which resulted from pouring the valuable ointment on Jesus’ head instead of giving it to the poor). But it is found in Act 8:20, where Peter tells Simon, ‘your money be in Destruction (Perdition) with you’; in Act 25:16 where it simply means ‘to be put to death’; in Rom 9:22 where the vessels of wrath are fitted to Destruction; in Php 1:28 where it is the opposite of salvation; in Php 3:19 where it is the destiny of those whose god is their belly; in 2Th 2:3 where the Man of Sin is also ‘the son of Destruction’; in 1Ti 6:9 where the desire for riches results in foolish and hurtful longings which drown men in ruin (olethros) and Destruction (apowleia); in Heb 10:9 where those who draw back in the face of persecution do so ‘to Destruction’; in 2Pe 2:1 where ‘heresies of Destruction (such as denying the Lord Who bought them), result in swift Destruction for them; in the following verse in 2Pe 2:2 where their ways are ways of Destruction; in Mat 2:3 where their Destruction is fast approaching; in 2Pe 3:7 where the heavens and the earth are ‘reserved to fire against the day of judgment and Destruction of ungodly men’; 2Pe 3:16 where those who are unlearned and unstable wrest the Scriptures to their own Destruction; in Rev 17:8 where the beast who arises from the abyss is about to go into Destruction (to be cast alive into the lake of fire – Rev 19:20); and in Rev 17:11 where again the beast is to go into Destruction. Compare also the use of the cognate verb apollumi in Mat 10:28; Mat 18:11; Mat 18:14. But it is also used regularly simply of dying, compare Roman Mat 6:23. (In Plato’s work on immortality the use of apollumi clearly represents total annihilation).
‘Destruction’ is paralleled with Hades in Jewish literature such as Psalms of Solomon Mat 14:9 where it says that, ‘their inheritance is Hades and darkness and Destruction, and they will not be found in the day when the righteous find mercy’. And the same idea (although in LXX not apowleia) is found in Psa 16:10, where there is also a contrast of destruction with ‘life’ (Mat 7:11). The contrast between life and apoleia is also found in the Psalms of Solomon Mat 9:9 (Mat 7:5), ‘he who does righteousness lays up life for himself with the Lord, and he who does wrong forfeits his life to destruction’; and in Mat 13:9 (Mat 7:11), ‘for the life of the righteous will be for ever, but sinners will be taken away into destruction’.
Thus ‘Destruction’ indicates the awful end of the ‘unrighteous’, those who do not respond to God and His will.
End of note.
The narrow gate and hemmed in (restricted) way on the other hand leads to life. It is narrow, and demanding, and ‘hemmed in’ because of the troubles that they will face on it, and because those in it are not free to do just whatever they like. Their choice is restricted. They must do the will of the Father. But it is the only way that leads to life. Thus they must choose which way they will take.
Later in Matthew entry into ‘life’ is contrasted with being cast into everlasting fire or Gehenna (Mat 18:8-9). It is spoken of as referring to ‘eternal life’, the ‘life of the age to come’, both in the rich young man’s eyes (Mat 19:16) and in the words of Jesus (Mat 19:29 compare Mat 7:17; Mat 25:46). Both are there referring to entry into the eternal kingdom.
The poet spoke of a high way, and a low way, and an ‘in between’ way on the ‘misty flats’, which was neither the one nor the other. But in Jesus’ eyes those on that ‘in between’ way are in the broad way. For the basic fact is that every man is either in the narrow and afflicted way or he is not. And that way is the way of obedience (Isa 30:21). It is the way of doing the will of His Father Who is in Heaven (Mat 7:21).
So all must choose the gate by which they will enter and the way that they will take, whether the popular gate of man’s choosing, where anything goes, or the narrow gate of repentance and entry under the kingly Rule of Heaven, which must result in walking in God’s way as revealed by Jesus in this Sermon.
It is doubtful if we are intended to fill in the picture by deciding where the gates and ways, when looked on from a practical earthly point of view, lead (compare Isa 35:8), for Jesus may not have had any particular picture in mind. On the other hand it may well be that the idea of the broad gate and way did come from His own year by year memory of the pilgrims pouring joyously through the wide gates of Jerusalem on the road from Jericho, and sweeping towards the Temple, towards what they saw as the place where they could meet God, the place which was the centre of their life. They gave a great impression then of religious fervour and honesty. But the majority of them would never submit to Jesus and would therefore never find that life. Their religion was skin deep. In this case the narrow gate might be the wicket gate only used when the large gates were shut, and used especially in time of war when individuals would slip in and out, and it would open the way for those who entered into a place of affliction and tribulation. But this is all surmise.
However, what the narrow gate does indicate is the full response to Jesus of those who enter. They enter because they have heard His words. And the narrow way is the way of tribulation and worldly trouble which results from taking up their cross and following Him. It might also be seen as the way into God’s presence as described in Mat 7:7-8, as they seek Him and knock.
So what is really to matter to His listeners is as to where the ways lead. They lead finally to life or destruction. What they do indicate is an individual choice that has to be made for those who would enter the narrow gate, and a facing up to the need for a continuation in the way that they have chosen. This indicates the necessity for perseverance, and the recognition that such a way will not be easy (compare Mat 16:24-25).
There is also disagreement as to whether the gates in question open into the ways, or whether they are at the end of the ways (e.g. the gates of Hades – Mat 16:18). The order of the words strongly suggests the former, in which case the narrow gate is the gate of commitment to following Jesus and to walk in His way, and to enter under the Kingly Rule of God, but it is not conclusive enough to have convinced everyone. However, the importance that Christians later put on this general idea possibly comes out in the fact that later they were called the people of The Way (Act 9:2; Act 18:25-26; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22).
We cannot finish commenting on these words without stressing how important it is for each one of us to enter through the narrow gate of commitment to Christ, and to walk in the ‘pressurised’ way, the way of doing the will of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Exhortation to Choose the Right Way and Produce Good Fruit by Full Obedience to His Words So As To Enter Into Life and Avoid Destruction (7:13-27).
We now move on to the application part of the Sermon, and we soon find that it is applied with a punch. For from here to Mat 7:27, in contrast with His opening words in Mat 5:3-16, where it was solely God acting in blessing on His people that was emphasised, Jesus now puts what He has said against the background, first of calls to life (Mat 7:13-14; Mat 7:21), and then of warnings concerning the final judgment (Mat 7:19; Mat 7:23; Mat 7:26-27). For in the end all must be adjudged in the light of ‘that day’ (Mat 7:22). And He is calling them to a positive decision in the face of it, with a warning of what will result if they respond negatively. Thus having commenced the Sermon with huge encouragement, He now ends it with grim warning. And the question that each of His listeners would now have to face was how they would respond to it.
This final passage opens and closes with choices to be made between two options, the first example in Mat 7:13-14 demanding a choice of which gate to enter and which path to tread, and the final one demanding that they consider which foundation they will build on. And the stern warning is given in each case that while one of those choices will lead to life and security, the other will lead to final death and destruction.
And the central thesis of the whole passage is that men will be judged by the fruits that they reveal, whether in ministry or in life (compare Mat 12:36 and often). This too is presented in terms of differing alternatives, although in this central portion the emphasis is mainly on the wrong alternative which must be avoided. Thus:
False prophets will come who are like wolves dressed up as sheep. They are to be avoided.
There are good trees and bad trees. The bad will be destroyed.
Not all may enter the Kingly Rule of Heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father in Heaven.
Men will do things in His Name but will not be ‘known’ by Him because they work iniquity.
Not all who call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ will be accepted, for some will enter because they do His Father’s will, while others will be told to depart because they did not.
In the chiasmus of the whole sermon the themes here parallel those at the beginning:
His disciples being the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Mat 5:13-16) parallels the need to enter by the narrow gate and walk in the pressurised and afflicted way (Mat 7:13-14).
The persecution of the true prophets, and the coming persecution of His disciples on the same basis (Mat 5:10-12), is paralleled with the need to reject false prophets whose fruit will reveal them for what they are (Mat 7:15-23).
The beatitudes, which are the foundation on which their lives are built if they are true disciples (Mat 5:3-9), are paralleled with the need to choose between two foundations so as to ensure that they are based on those foundations (Mat 7:24-27).
We will now consider the analysis of this section.
Analysis of Mat 7:13-27 .
a
b They are to beware of false prophets who will lead them astray, they will be known by their fruits (Mat 7:15-16 a).
c Things that grow reveal their nature by the fruits that they produce. Those which are good produce good fruit, but those which are not produce inedible fruit, and are cut down and burned (Mat 7:16-19).
d By their fruits the quality of trees are known (Mat 7:20).
c It is not by saying ‘Lord, Lord’ that a man or woman enters the Kingly Rule of Heaven, but by the doing of the will of the Messiah’s Father in Heaven (Mat 7:21).
b For there will be many false prophets, false exorcisers and false wonder-workers who will use His Name, to whom He will declare that He never knew them, and whom He will cast forth as workers of iniquity (Mat 7:22-23).
a There are two ways open to men, the one of obedience and the other of disobedience, those who follow the one are like a man who builds his house on rock whose house will continue on, and those who follow the other are like a man who builds his house on sand and his house goes to destruction (Mat 24:27).
We note that in ‘a’ there is the choice of two options, and one lead to life and the other to destruction, and the same applies in the parallel. In ‘b’ comes the warning against false prophets, and in the parallel His judgment on false prophets. In ‘c’ trees are revealed by their fruits and in the parallel so are men and women. Centrally in ‘d’ all is known by its fruit.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Perseverance Amidst False Doctrines In Mat 7:13-20 Jesus places emphasis upon the need to persevere amidst false doctrines. In this passage Jesus teaches us about the dangers along our journey to Heaven. He tells us that the path is narrow and many will not make it (Mat 7:13-14). We are told that there are many detours to mislead us (Mat 7:15-20). Jesus will expound upon this topic in His fourth discourse about handling offences in the Kingdom of God (Mat 13:53 to Mat 18:35).
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Narrow Way Mat 7:13-14
2. False Prophets Mat 7:15-20
Mat 7:13-14 The Narrow Way to Life ( Luk 13:22-30 ) – When God saves a man, he purges him and deals with his heart to lay aside many activities of life that everyone else is actively involved in. God gives us a narrow path to walk with few things being morally right and God ordained. Many things become wrong. Many people of this world are walking paths of darkness, full of many kinds of vain activities.
If we contrast these two verses to the wilderness journey, we see that many of the children of Israel did not make it into the Promised Land. This point is stressed in Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:11.
Heb 4:11, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:13
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:14
Mat 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Mat 7:15-20 False Prophets ( Luk 6:43-45 ) In Mat 7:15-20 Jesus warns us of false prophets, who are those who appear to be righteous, but are there to deceive us. Along this narrow path to Heaven (Mat 7:13-14) there are many detours to mislead us. We are to learn the voice of the Father and do His will (Mat 7:21-23). Otherwise, we will fall by the wayside as many people will do and miss Heaven because of the voices of the “false prophets.” The voice of the false prophet can be used to test our true devotion to God.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:15
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:16
Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Mat 7:16 Comments – If someone has every studied plants and biology, they know the important of observing a plant’s fruit as a method of identification. Very often a particular plant cannot be easily identified by its leaves or bark alone, because many leaves are similar. The surest way of identification always lies in looking at its flowers or its fruit.
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 Mat 7:19 Mat 7:20 The Conclusion of the Sermon.
The two ways:
v. 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat;
v. 14. because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
The Lord has finished the sermon proper, but He here adds, as a conclusion, a few warnings and gives a few hints with regard to various offenses in doctrine and life which His disciples are apt to meet with. Two ways are briefly sketched, leading from the present life to that beyond the grave. And the two ways are contrasted, either one being described by its distinctive marks and by its end. The one way is indeed a common road, no one is excluded from it. But it is narrow, with no room for frivolous liberties on either side. And it finally leads through a strait and narrow gate, which has nothing to commend it outwardly. Only comparatively few find this way. It is so untrodden that it may easily be missed. On the other hand there is a wide, broad, spacious, roomy road, with many factors that invite, that lead forward on that road. And at its end is a wide, welcoming gate. But this way and this gate, with all the qualities that commend them, with all the invitation to indulge in the free, unfettered life of the world, leads to destruction; its end is everlasting condemnation. There is no special warning necessary for the disciples of Christ. They shun that broad, inviting way as the way of the flesh, of the world, and of the devil. But the other way, which in itself offers no alluring promises, on which no noisy, jostling crowd beguiles the tediousness, nevertheless is the Lord’s choice. For it leads to life, to the true life, to the only life worth living, to the life everlasting with Him whose way was just as much a narrow pass, a rocky defile, but who has entered into the glory of His Father. Enter in at this gate, is His loving call. Conquer, in His strength, all weakness of the flesh. Overcome through Him all assaults of the world and Satan, no matter in what guise they may appear. The end is worth a thousand battles, Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11.
Mat 7:13-14. Enter ye in at the strait gate That is, strive to enter. See Luk 13:24. By the figurative expressions used in these verses, our blessed Saviour gives us to understand how easy it is to enter into destruction, and how hard it is for proud man to come to him for salvation through the infinite merit of his blood and by the power of his almighty grace: intimating at the same time,that the generality of mankind tread in the wide paths of error, and follow their passions; while few, comparatively, find out truth, and adhere thereto, in opposition to all the obstacles and discouragements that they meet with in their way. See Pro 14:12-13. The reflections of Erasmus upon the strait gate are lively. How strait, says he, is the gate, how narrow the way, that leadeth to life! In the way nothing is to be found which flatters the flesh, but many things opposite; poverty frequently, fasting, watching, injuries, chastity, sobriety. And as for the gate, it receives none who are swollen with the glory of this life, none that are elated and lengthened out with pride; none who are distended with luxury. It does not admit those whose spirits are laden with the fardels of riches, nor those that drag along with them in affection the other implements of the world. None can pass through it but naked men, who are stripped of all worldly lusts, and sealed with the image of God. In order to reconcile what is here advanced with those passages which assert Christ’s yoke to be easy, and the ways of wisdom to be ways of pleasantness, &c. some think it necessary to suppose, that this text refers entirely to the case of persecution; and that the strait gate is a violent death, which lay at the end of the narrow way, and concluded the injuries and calamities which persecutors would bring upon Christians. See Hallet’s Discourses, vol. 3: p. 24, &c. But nothing is more certain than that Christ requires from all his disciples, in all ages and places, a life of mortification and self-denial; which, though it is mingled with and introductory to pleasures abundantly sufficient to counterbalance it, yet to corrupt nature is difficult. See Doddridge; and Whitby, Grotius, and Wetstein, for many parallel passages from heathen writers.
Mat 7:13 . There now follow some additional concluding exhortations and warnings, which in Luke are partly omitted, partly scattered and displaced (in answer to Calvin, Keim) and abridged. With Mat 7:13 comp. Luk 13:24 . The thought is one of the fundamental thoughts of the Sermon on the Mount.
] where the entering leads to is not stated till Mat 7:14 .
] assigning the reason e contrario .
] i.e. to eternal death , as being the punishment of such as are condemned in the Messianic judgment. Phi 1:28 ; Heb 10:39 ; 2Pe 3:7 ; 2Pe 3:16 . The opposite is , the eternal life of felicity in the kingdom of the Messiah. Wide gate and broad way; figures representing the pleasures and excesses of sin and wickedness. Strait gate and narrow way; representing, on the other hand, the effort and self-denial which Christian duty imposes. It is only when regenerated that a man comes first to experience the lightness of the yoke (Mat 11:29 ), and of the commandments (1Jn 5:3 ), and all the more the further progress he makes in the love of Christ (Joh 14:15 ff.).
. . .] refers equally to (Khner, II. 1, p. 70 f.), to which again the belongs. There is a similar construction in Mat 5:14 , where in like manner refers to .
DISCOURSE: 1331 Mat 7:13-14. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
AN idea of candour and philanthropy leads many to adopt sentiments directly repugnant to the Scriptures. They imagine that few, if any, perish; and that, though the bulk of mankind live in a total neglect of God, they find mercy at the last. But no pretence of candour should induce us so to contradict the plainest declarations of God. If there be any truth in the Scriptures, there are comparatively few who go to heaven. And we need to be awakened to a sense of our danger by the exhortation before us. We shall consider,
I.
The duty enjoined
The path of the ungodly is broad, and the entrance upon it wide The path of the godly is narrow, and the entrance upon it strait To enter upon this path is our bounden duty II.
The arguments with which it is enforced
No stronger arguments can be urged than those suggested in the text
1.
The broad way, however crowded, will infallibly lead us to destruction
[Every way of sin will destroy the soul: whether it be open and notorious, or secret and refined, it will surely bring upon us the wrath of God. Nor will the numbers of those who walk in any way at all affect the quality of their actions. Sin will be sin, though the whole world should countenance each other in the commission of it. The idolatrous compliance of the Babylonish nation was not the less sinful because it was sanctioned by numbers; nor was the nonconformity of the Hebrew Youths rendered less acceptable to God on account of the fewness of those who dared to follow the voice of conscience [Note: Daniel 3.]. Neither indeed will the end of any way be changed on account of the numbers who walk in it. The inhabitants of Sodom, and of the antediluvian world, were not exempted from punishment because they were many. They were overwhelmed, as examples of Gods vengeance to all future ages [Note: 2Pe 2:5-6.]. Should not this then make us cautious what path we follow? Should it not stimulate us to flee from the destruction to which we are hastening? O! strive to enter in at the strait gate [Note: Luk 13:24.].]
2.
The narrow path, however unfrequented, will surely lead us to glory
[God cannot but delight in holiness; and he will testify his approbation of it in the last day. Was Lot overlooked in Sodom, or Noah in the antediluvian world? So if there were but one faithful servant of God in the whole universe, he should in no wise lose his reward. Every step he took in the good way should be marked by God; and in due season he should arrive at his desired end. And, while tribulation and anguish should be assigned to the disobedient, his patient continuance in well-doing should be rewarded with glory and honour and immortality [Note: Rom 2:7-9.]. Should anyone then be afraid of singularity? Is it not better to be a persecuted Elijah worshipping the true God, than to be an applauded worshipper of Baal? Let the prospect of glory therefore encourage us to enter upon the narrow path; nor let us doubt but that the enjoyment of the end will amply compensate for the difficulties of the way.]
Address To those who are not yet entered in at the strait gate
[Perhaps you think that the multitudes by which you are countenanced, afford a reasonable hope that you shall not perish; but it is not possible for God to assert the contrary more strongly than he has done in the words before us, Will you then, in spite of this warning, hope that the saved shall be many, and the damned few? Or will you be contented to perish, seeing that you will have so many companions in misery? Alas! what comfort will it be to you to behold others as wretched as yourself? Will their torments assuage your anguish? O dare to be singular in the midst of a wicked world; and say with Joshua, As for me, and my house, whatever others may do, we will serve the Lord [Note: Jos 24:15.].]
2.
To those who are walking in the narrow way
[You, no doubt, are blamed for your singularity. But it is a small matter to be judged of mans judgment. To be reproached for righteousness sake is no new thing. Nor have you any reason to repine if it be your lot. You have rather reason to rejoice and leap for joy [Note: Mat 5:10-12. 1Pe 4:12-14.]. Remember, however, that you are not to affect needless singularities, and call them religion. If you bring persecution upon yourselves by such means, you bear your own cross, and not the cross of Christ. That alone which will be pleasing to God is, the following of his commandments. In that you cannot be too exact or resolute. But in indifferent matters it is desirable rather to manifest a meek and yielding disposition [Note: 1Co 9:19-23.]. Yet compliance may easily be carried too far. And, on the whole, it is expedient always to lean to the safer side. You are in continual danger of being turned out of the good path. Nor can you ever be safe except while you are looking to God for his direction and help [Note: Psa 119:117.].]
Nothing can be more interesting than what the Lord JESUS hath here said. And no form of words can be more decisive to mark the godly man from the hypocrite. I only detain the Reader to observe, how very awful those words of CHRIST are concerning false Teachers, in the great day of account. Preaching or prophesying in the name of CHRIST, and doing even miracles in the name of CHRIST, these are no proofs of the regeneration of the preacher’s own heart. And very awful will it be then found; if there be no union with CHRIST here, there can he no communion with CHRIST to all eternity. And observe, that the LORD JESUS doth not say that this will be the portion of a few, but many! Oh! for grace to be found among the blessed few who have CHRIST formed in their hearts, The hope of glory!
Chapter 26
The Straitness of the Gate Seeking and Not Entering the Eleventh Commandment the Exhortation
Prayer
Almighty God, our hearts know thee, and in their deepest love is thy name set as their one jewel and treasure. We cannot understand thee, but we can love thee; thou dost not come into our intelligence or sit down in our understanding, thou knockest at the door of our heart, and into its love thou dost come with all readiness, bringing with thee all heaven. Our hearts are towards thee to-day in great expectancy, we have assured ourselves that this is thy day, and that thou wilt make a temple of every heart, and sit down with every one of us, and make us see thy life. It is not to such expectancies thou dost return some cold reply, thou dost come with swiftness to hearts that are waiting, for the sigh is contrite and the groan is one because of heavy and intolerable sin: where the eyes of our hearts are set towards the cross of thy Son, thou dost come with wings outstretched, flying faster than the lightning, that thou mayest heal and comfort and mightily redeem. We come to thee with our love shaped into an earnest prayer, with our hearts crying after the living God with infinite desire.
We have tested the poverty of time, we have seen the little boundaries which encircle and imprison us, and our souls are filled with infinite discontent because of the meanness of space and time. We would look beyond, we would be drawn by mighty forces that are above, we would yield ourselves to ministries that have no sufficient name, plying the heart with subtle tenderness, luring the affections with mighty strength, promising our love and our whole capacity an ample and sweet satisfaction in regions beyond the line of time.
We bless thee for thy sacred Book, behold it is written with thine own finger; we see no human writing in it. Beyond the human scribe we see the divine inspirer, we hear in human words music that is not of earth, we see in the beauty of thy revelation a light that never fell from created suns. Help us to enter into the sanctuary of thy word and richly to enjoy thy revelation, and may our hearts abound with loving thankfulness to thee for putting into our speech something of the meaning and purpose of thine own heart. Help us to read thy Book wisely, save us from the narrowness and poverty of the mere letter, may the letter of thy Book be but as a door opening upon boundless spaces and liberties, and may we enter in and enjoy the heritage of a glorious and indestructible freedom.
Thou knowest our life: what is it but a breath in the nostrils, a flying shadow, a dying vapour, a post hastening on his way? behold we are as the grass that is consumed in the oven, and in our strength there is no duration, our joys are bubbles upon the stream that burst, and what we gather are but flowers plucked, and that must wither. Help us then to lay up treasure in heaven; may Christ be our wealth, may the Son of God be our chief possession; having him in the heart, dwelling in the mind, ruling the will, directing every step of our life, we shall be rich with inexhaustible treasures. Enrich us, thou Son of God.
As for our sin, who may name such blackness? But thou hast light enough to drive it all away. Who dare speak of guilt so deep and dark? But the blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all sin, so where great sin aboundeth grace doth much more abound; as in the darkness we see the stars, so in our great sorrow, when the tears big and hot fall from our reddened eyes, do thou therein shine upon them a divine light which makes them gleam with many a tender colour. O thou who dost forgive, who has paid a ransom for men, and whose delight it is to release from the torment and the shame of sin, come to every heart to-day with pardon and its attendant liberty.
Look upon those hairs that are grey, that are bent before thee with the reverence of age, and supply the old man with what he needs of grace and light and help. Thou bast chastened him with many an affliction, thou hast dug many a grave on his life path, thou hast startled him by many a fear now let the evening be quiet, take the storm out of the clouds and fill them with hopeful life. Look upon all the young men and women full of life and fire, whose every look is an expectation, whose every word is a vow of nobler life, and grant unto such increasing power of prayer, increasing energy to overthrow every temptation. Hide within young hearts thy living word, an eloquence that cannot be answered, a, reply to which the devil can return no answer. Look upon the busy man lest he be so busy as to let the King pass by, lest he seek in the dust and find nothing there but a pit for his body. The Lord help us all to earn our bread honestly, give us plenty of it, no more than is good for us; and as for our house, do thou keep the key of its principal door, and upon the windows pour the smiling light of thy blessing. Be with us in the cradle, be with us in the marketplace, be with us in the school and in the church and everywhere; may every step we take be a step in the right direction.
Bless the stranger within our gates, the heart that is far from home, between whose love and the objects of it there roll mighty seas or stretch innumerable miles; by the spirit of thy love make the fellowship complete, destroy all space and time, and give the joy of spiritual communion.
Send messages from thy heavens to our sick-chambers. Some whom thou lovest are sick, and thou lovest them to be sick because oat of their sickness thou wilt work a better health. The Lord be their Physician and their comforter, and a light above the brightness of the sun be in their darkened chambers.
The Lord will not forget the prodigal, the wanderer, the man of the hard heart, those who are invincible by any power of ours the Lord’s hand be upon them, not for destruction, but for salvation, and bring gladness into our hearts by the intelligence that they have arrived at home.
Dry our tears, make our poverty an occasion of thy coming to us, may our blindness be the reason of thine approach, and do thou dwell in us and make us living temples. Amen.
Mat 7:13-14
13. Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat 14. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
This is rather a mournful view, not only of human life, but of the kingdom of heaven itself; as if it would be thinly populated, and give us at last rather a representation of infinite failure on the one side than of red success and completeness on the other. That, however, would be a wrong exposition of the text. There is more light in it than seems to flash upon the eye at the first look. There is really nothing novel or unintelligible in the principle which is here laid down, namely, that, because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, few there be that find it. We know that to be a true principle in the common walks and ranges of life. It is the principle which applies at home, in the school, in the marketplace, everywhere in fact; the principle, that is, that according to the value of any kingdom is the straitness of the gate which opens upon it. If you will accustom the mind to that thought for a moment or two, you will not be struck by any novelty, certainly, by any harshness in the conditions which are attached to entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
Into what kingdom is it that you are anxious now to enter? Above all things you wish to enter into the kingdom of music. Very well. This is the New Testament doctrine concerning the kingdom of music. “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto excellence in music, and few there be that find it.” You have to study night and day, you have no time for yourself, you are at it, always at it, or getting ready for it, criticising or being criticised, repeating, rehearsing, going over it again and again, still higher and higher. If that is the law of your little kingdom of music, why should it not be the law of the larger kingdom of life, which includes all beauty, and learning, and music, and power? Show me any musician that is ever really and completely satisfied with his own attainment; in that proportion will he be no musician at all an amateur, easily satisfied with himself. When Handel composed his “Messiah,” and sat a long way off to hear it, he came again and again to some of the players upon the wind instruments, and said, “Loudaire;” and again he came and said, “Loudaire,” and away he went, and came again and said, “Loudaire;” and at last they said, “Where is the wind to come from?” He wanted all the winds of heaven, and all the thunders that slumbered in the clouds, and all creation to take up his Amen and sing it, till the universe vibrated with its infinite life.
What is the kingdom that you are most anxious to enter into? “I am,” say you, “most anxious to enter into the kingdom of painting, pictures, the mystery of colour, the language, subtle and infinite, that expresses itself through the medium of colour.” Is it easy? You shake your head in despondent reply, and say that you seem to get worse rather than better. At first you were rather pleased, and now you could tear up the canvas it vexes you by the vulgarity you write upon it with your clumsy fingers. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto art, and few there be that find it. My young friend, do not imagine that you can jump into eminence: if you can jump into it, you may easily jump out of it. Character must be a growth, long-continued and patiently cultivated. One of yourselves took me into his study the other day, and said, “I want you to look at this sketch.” Said I, “This lies a long way from your range of studies.” “Yes,” was the reply “my temptation is towards impatience; I get tired of things, and I at the last lump them and hasten them through, becoming utterly careless towards the close. I undertook this work to teach me patience, slowness, and. completeness of toil. How long do you think I was over that?” “I cannot tell how long.” “I spent upon that two hours every day, Sundays excepted, for two months.” A little thing about the size of the palm of your hand: he could have done it in half the time, but then he would have missed the direct purpose of his attempting to do it. He must straiten the gate and narrow the road, because he wants to go into a kingdom that is worth going into, and there is no kingdom worth having that you can snatch and pocket, and keep without equivalent toil or thought.
Do you want to enter into the kingdom of influence, do you want to be a man that shall be consulted in difficulties, to whom people shall come in hours of perplexed thought, to whom they shall state their cases, and for whose opinion they shall anxiously wait? Influence comes out of time, care, experience, and these things are not to be hurried. A man, well-known to most of us, is lying sick to-day, and a physician of renown was called in to see him not long ago; the doctors, having heard the opinion of this eminent man, declined, one and all, to give his own conception of the case. Why is it so amongst you that if a great physician gives his opinion, you will not give yours? “Yes there is no opinion after his.” The man grows to that do not suppose that you can dream yourselves to that. Inspiration there is in it, no doubt, but a man has to work for it, and pay for it, and climb his way to it, one round of the ladder at a time. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto supreme influence, and few there be that find it.
I have troubled you with these illustrations, just to show that really there is nothing novel, extraordinary, or harsh in the principle that, according to the value of any kingdom that you aim to reach, is the straitness of the gate and is the narrowness of the road leading unto it. It is my wont bear me witness if you please always to speak a word for the weak man. Have I ever put out a finger and laid it upon any soul as a burden that was trying to be better? Cheer me by telling, what is only the truth, that I may have erred in excess of charity, never in excess of severity. Comfort me with these words, tell me you have so understood me, and I shall preach to you with a broader and warmer love. I want to do so with peculiar tenderness just now.
Enter ye in at the strait gate or, as we read elsewhere, strive to enter in at the strait gate, seek to enter in, labour to enter in, agonize to enter in. The fear is that some of you may imagine that striving is conquest, and you may visit upon a man who is merely, though with all his heart, striving to enter in, the judgment that you would accord to him after he had passed the gate, and had walked long miles up the heavenly steep. You have been cruel to some of your friends, you have taunted them with bitter mockery when they have been striving to enter in; you thought they had already professed to have entered, and you have mocked them with bitterness; you have asked them if that was their goodness, you have taken up little specks of their life, and said, “Aha, is this a sample of your piety?” It was only a sample of their agony, it was only a pattern of their striving. It was not to be picked up as a trophy of conquest, but to be referred to as an incident in the great agony of striving to enter in.
When the young Christian slips and falls, don’t mock him; when a man is labouring, even in agonistic earnestness, to be better, and when in the midst of it all he gets tripped up, and somehow or other falls down as he were dead drunk at your feet, he may be a better man than you are: you never got wrong socially you may be the worst man alive for anything I know to the contrary, you proud Pharisee, you whitewashed sepulchre, you trick undiscovered take care lest ye be wounding good men who have the true seed in them, but who, peculiarly constituted, fall twenty times a day, and have the devil’s iron teeth crushed crushed through them, all over. I do not defend their vices, I sympathise with their weakness; I have known the prayers of such men, and to no other prayers have I ever added so cordial an Amen prayers that had blood in them, and music subtle and far brought and far sounding, prayers of the very inmost soul; and I did not judge them harshly, I saw they were striving to enter in, seeking to enter in, agonizing to enter in, and the measure of their earnestness was the measure of the diabolic assault upon them. If I speak to such hearts now, when possibly I may do so, let my word be one of the broadest cheer, a great sun-like word, brightening upon their lives with infinite hope. Still strive to enter in, and God will be pitiful to you.
But we read that some will seek to enter in and shall not be able. That we read in another gospel than the one we are now expounding. How singular it is then that some shall seek to enter in and shall not be able. Is not this a mockery of human effort? How many persons have been puzzled by that expression, and have gone to their pastors and teachers with it, as men would go with a great pain, ana said, “Can you heal this mortal agony? I am discouraged because it says some will seek, yea, many will seek, to enter in and shall not be able. I may be one of the many God help me. Tell me if it is so: I feel this thought darkening upon me like a cloud of thunder.” O distressed one, shall I call thee Fool and slow of heart to believe all that the Speaker spake when he uttered these words that give thee trouble? The answer is in the very next verse When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open unto us,” and he shall answer and say unto you, “I know you not whence ye are.” The seeking and the knocking referred to take place when the day of mercy is no more. When the good man of the house has risen up and gone to rest, when Christ is risen from the mediatorial seat and has delivered up the kingdom unto God and his Father, then the shout of agony shall die in space, and the cry of despair shall be the awful music of hell.
The words, therefore, do not apply to you at all. The good man of the house has not risen and shut the door, the Son of God has not completed his priestly ministry, Jesus Christ is still able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, God still waits to be gracious, the door is set wide open, and, therefore, the verse which before was a burden to you and a great darkness may now be lifted off your shoulder and chased away, to the last shadow of it, from your life path, for it never referred to any man who earnestly sought the Lord while he might be found, and called upon him while he was near. What say you to seeking now, and striving? What if we make this day the most memorable day in our life by sending the heart out like a living bird to such a rest in God? Let thine heart fly Godward, poor soul; do thou gather thyself up into one flaming prayer, and say, “God be merciful unto me a sinner,” and thy joy shall be too great for words, thy rapture shall leave even music behind it, as the lark leaves under his wings the clouds of the smoking city. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.
“Few there be that find it.” Do not judge success by numbers. It is always pleasant to see great numbers gathering round the standard you set up, but always remember that quality is better than quantity, the audience may be fit though few. They are strong men who gather themselves around Christ, for they have nothing to rest upon but inspiration; no property, no ancestry, no fine clothing, no parchments, nothing but the grace of God. Jesus Christ never sought to make his kingdom popular in the sense of bringing into it any and everybody that casually applied for admission. A young man once came to him and said, “I would like to enter in at the gate;” and Jesus Christ said, “Why not? This gate is a strait one, and thou knowest the commandments.” Said the young man, “All these have I kept from my youth up.” A commandment that can be kept is by necessity a very narrow one; a commandment must always overflow its own letter, if it is really a revelation of the highest morality. The young man measured off the commandments, ten in number, and he said he had kept them, letter by letter, every one, from his youth up. Jesus Christ, closing his eyes that he might see the better, said, “There is an eleventh commandment; sell all them hast and give it unto the poor, and come and follow me;” and the young man went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. He thought the gate was broad enough surely to admit him and all his wealth-burden; and Christ said, “You cannot all get through: there is room only for the soul, and not for these poor perishable holdings that are of no use on the other side of the gate.” So Jesus did not add to his numbers rashly.
Another man said to him, “Lord, I will follow thee, but ” Christ said, “No, that word but must be dropped, there must be no qualifications; let the dead bury their dead, come thou and follow me.” On another occasion he said, “If any man will follow me, let him take up his cross and come after me. Let a man deny himself and follow me. Except a man deny himself he cannot be my disciple.” You do not wonder therefore that very few people attached themselves livingly and lovingly to a man whose conditions were so precise and severe. His conditions ought to make us all tremble. Have I denied myself? Where? Have I taken up my cross? What weight is it? Can men see it? Do I feel it? Why, Christianity has been my maker: by the grace of God I am what I am. Christianity, every one of us may say, has made me respectable; I owe all I have to Christianity: I have been a receiver what have I given? I have held out both hands, what have I returned? Do I not encourage every whim, do I not cultivate every prejudice, do I not give scope to every antipathy, am I not harsh in judgment, uncharitable in feeling, pharisaical in self-sufficiency, scribe-like in my obedience to the mere letter of the law, whilst I neglect its infinite spirit? Such questions as these I could inflict upon myself until I destroyed every whit of comfort and solace that I now enjoy. There is no cross-bearing in being a Christian of the nominal sort: what cross-bearing there would be in being a Christian of the real sort, who can tell? If any man will live godly in Jesus Christ he shall suffer persecution.
When I go into trade and arrange all my business, I say I have arranged this business on the principle that I must live. Then it is a false principle, for there is no need for you to live. Did that thought ever strike you? There is a great need that every man should be honest, but not the slightest necessity in the world that any man, either in the pulpit or out of it, should live an hour. “In making my arrangements and dispositions of energy, and talent, and time, I have always had in full view the fact that I must have subsistence.” There is your error: that is the fallacy in your practical logic. What is your subsistence? Who wants that mechanism of bones you call yourself to stand upright for five minutes longer? What do you mean by subsistence? You must have infinite capacity of eating and drinking. Subsistence for how many years? On what scale? Do not even the publicans the same is not that pagan talk do not the heathen write such maxims upon their papers and hang them up in their business places as their only Bible? Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but labour for the bread that endureth unto everlasting life.
This is the high gospel of Christ. Who can live it? I cannot, I do not. How then can we classify ourselves? As those who are striving to enter in. Sometimes I have tried for a day or two, but with such ample reservation that it destroyed my action so far as I claimed it. to be one of faith. Sometimes I have said, “Now I will try the sea.” I have gone down to it, and waited till it was very quiet, and then have touched it with one timid foot, and called that trusting the sea with a friend holding my hand and my other foot well on shore. I have gone down to touch with reluctance that little foaming wavelet that broke on the golden sand. That is not sea-faring, that is not sea-going but that is my religion in Christ, too much. I speak of myself, lest I should offend any by unnecessary harshness for if any man has gone a mile out into the water, thank God for him, and let him go a mile further still. Yet I feel as if going down to the water was moving in the right direction, and perhaps some day who can tell? I may boldly throw myself on the great wave and be caught by Christ’s hand and led to the better land.
Do not let us give up our striving and our seeking and our persevering in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not. Try once more, go again what seest thou? Nothing. Go a third time what seest thou? Nothing. A fourth time, and a fifth, and a sixth what seest thou? A cloud about the size of a man’s hand. Hasten that cloud will spread faster than thou canst run, and presently there will be a plash of descending rain, and the earth shall rejoice in the baptism of the divine blessing.
This is the great lesson of striving, and seeking, and trying, and persevering. “Though faint, yet pursuing” be that thy motto, my poor soul. The discouragements are innumerable, but the promises are many and large. “He giveth more grace.” Try again! Let me summon your utmost hopefulness into exercise, for when we fear we go down in the volume and quality of our being. Hope is power. Hope is inspiration. Hope is one of the guarantees of its own fulfilment. The great and loving One is watching you from his bright heaven, nor will he spare his angels, even should twelve legions be needed, to give you victory and rest. My soul, hope thou in God, and wait for him until his brightness drives the gloom for ever away.
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Ver. 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate ] Our Saviour having hitherto pointed out the right way of well doing, and showed how to steer a straight course to the haven of happiness; now gives warning of certain dangerous rocks (against the which divers have dashed, to their utter destruction, and are therefore) carefully to be declined. Of these, the first he nameth is, the following of a multitude to do evil, the joining hand in hand with the rude rabble that are running apace toward the pit of perdition, which is but a little before them; the doing as most men do, which is to be utterly undone for ever. a The wicked (though never so many of them) go down to hell, and whole nations that forget God, Psa 9:17 . Hence the gate thereto is grown so wide, and the way so well beaten. But none that go that way return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. “Enter therefore in at the strait gate,” saith our Saviour. b Vive ut pauci, &c. Live as those few live that enter into life eternal, saith Cassianus; for if you will needs imitate the multitude, saith Austin, ye shall not be numbered among the living in Jerusalem, Isa 4:3-4 “Save yourselves from this untoward generation,” saith St Peter; shine amidst them as lamps, saith St Paul, as Abraham’s lamp that shone out in the smoky furnace; as the wise men’s star, that showed itself in the midst of darkness; like the moon that holds on her course, though the dogs bark at her never so long, never so loud; like the sun that rejoiceth as a bridegroom to run his race, though the Atlantes (a certain people) curse him at his rising, because scorched with his heat; or rather like God himself, who then doth his best works when men are worst, overcoming our evil with his good, and not suffering men’s perverseness to interrupt the course of his goodness. Swim not down the stream of the times as dead fishes do; neither be carried along by the swing and sway of the place you dwell in. c Let not your lips be polluted by living among a people of polluted lips with Isaiah, swear not with Joseph, curse not with Peter, comply not with the common sort, learn not the manners of the mad multitude. d The worse they are, the better be you; the more outrageous they, the more courageous you, violent for heaven, and valiant for the truth; therefore walking exactly, and therefore “redeeming the time, because the days are evil,” and most men walk at all adventures. To walk with God (saith Bishop Babington) is a precious praise, though none do it but myself; and to walk with man, with the world, with a town or parish, in wicked ways, is a deadly sin, though millions do it besides. And it matters not (saith Nicholas, Bishop of Rome) how small the number be, if godly, nor how great, if ungodly. e Noah condemned a world of wicked people by his contrary courses, “and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith,” Heb 11:7 , while he continued righteous, even in his generation, and kept himself unspotted in so foul a season. The apostle telleth us that to live according to the common course of the world is no better than to be acted and agitated by the devil, Eph 2:2 . But God hath promised to take this unclean spirit out of the land,Zec 13:2Zec 13:2 . Fiat, Fiat. Do it, Do it. And when Christ bids us enter in at the strait gate, we must know that his words are operative, to cause us to enter, as when he said, “Lazarus, come forth,” and in the creation, “Let there be light.” His word and Spirit go together. He works all our works for us, Isa 26:20-21
For wide is the gate ] It may fitly be called the dismal gate, as that porta scelerata gate of wickedness, in Rome, so named because 300 gentlemen going out thereby to fight with some neighbouring enemies, perished.
And broad is the way, &c. ] A dolorous way, as that way is at this day called, whereby our Saviour went bearing his cross to Calvary.
a Infernus ab inferendo dicitur, quia ita inferuntur et praecipitantur, ut nunquam ascensuri sint.
b Per viam publicam ne ingredere. Pythag. Si turbam imitari volueritis, inter paucos angustam viam ambulantes non eritis. Aug.
c Argumentum turpissimum est turba. Seneca.
d Isa 6:5 . , , Col 2:20 .
e Numerus, pusillus non obest, ubi abundat pietas, nec multiplex prodest, ubi abundat impietas.
13 27. ] THE CONCLUSION OF THE DISCOURSE: setting forth more strongly and personally the dangers of hypocrisy , both in being led aside by hypocritical teachers , and in our own inner life . The stands at the end of the , as in the remarkable parallel in the Table of Cebes, c. 16: , , , : .
Mat 7:13-14 . The two ways (Luk 13:23-25 ). From this point onwards we have what commentators call the Epilogue of the sermon, introduced without connecting particle, possibly no part of the teaching on the hill, placed here because that teaching was regarded as the best guide to the right way. The passage itself contains no clue to the right way except that it is the way of the few . The allegory also is obscure from its brevity. Is the gate at the beginning or end of the way, or are gate and way practically one, the way narrow because it passes through a narrow doorway? Possibly Christ’s precept was simply, “enter through the narrow gate” or “door” ( , Luke’s word), all the rest being gloss. , the large entrance to an edifice or city, as distinct from , a common door; perhaps chosen by Lk. because in keeping with the epithet . , etc.: explanatory enlargement to unfold and enforce the precept. : two ways are contrasted, either described by its qualities and end. The “way” in the figure is a common road, but the term readily suggests a manner of life. The Christian religion is frequently called “the way” in Acts (Mat 9:2 , Mat 19:9 , etc.). The wrong road is characterised as and , broad and roomy, and as leading to destruction ( ). The right way (and gate, , is to be retained in Mat 7:14 , though omitted in Mat 7:13 ) is described as , narrow and contracted, and as leading to life. , a pregnant word, true life, worth living, in which men realise the end of their being the antithesis of . The one is the way of the many, .; the other of the few, . Note the word “finding”. The way is so narrow or so untrodden that it may easily be missed. It has to be sought for. Luke suggests the idea of difficulty in squeezing in through the very narrow door. Both points of view have their analogue in life. The practical application of this counsel requires spiritual discernment. No verbal directory will help us. Narrow? Was not Pharisaism a narrow way, and the monastic life and pietism with its severe rules for separation from the “world” in amusement, dress, etc.?
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 7:13-14
13″Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. 14For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Mat 7:13 Does this verse imply (1) entering a gate and then walking on a path; or (2) walking on a path which leads to a gate; or (3) is it an example of Hebrew parallelism? The fact that the gate appears first and then a way implies that this is referring to one’s coming to know God in a personal way through Jesus’ teachings and then living a new kingdom life. Some of the confusion here can be attributed to the threefold aspect of biblical salvation: (1) initial faith and repentance; (2) lifestyle Christlikeness; and (3) eschatological culmination. This parable is paralleled in Luk 13:23-27. See Special Topic: Use of “Door” in the NT at Mat 6:6.
“the narrow gate” This type of proverbial truth has traditionally been known as “the two ways” (cf. Deu 30:15; Deu 30:19; Psalms 1; Pro 4:10-19; Isa 1:19-20 and Jer 21:8). It is hard to identify to whom Jesus was speaking: (1) to disciples, (2) to Pharisees, or (3) to the crowd. The general context would imply that the verse relates to Mat 5:20 and Mat 5:48. If so, then this would imply that the restricted nature of the gate was not rules, like Pharisaic legalism, but lifestyle love flowing out of a relationship with Christ. Christ does have rules (cf. Mat 11:29-30), but they flow from a changed heart! If we place this verse in relation to a Jewish-Gentile context (cf. Mat 6:7; Mat 6:32), then it relates to belief in Jesus as Savior (gate) and Lord (way).
Starting with Mat 7:13-27 there is a series of contrasts related to religious people.
1. the two ways of performing religious duties (Mat 7:13-14)
2. the two types of religious leaders (Mat 7:15-23)
3. the two foundations of a religious life (Mat 7:24-27)
The question is not to which group of religious people Jesus referred, but to how religious people respond to their understanding of God’s will. Some use religion as a guise to gain immediate praise and rewards from men. It is a ” me” and “now” focused lifestyle (cf. Isa 29:13; Col 2:16-23). True disciples order their lives in light of Jesus’ words about the present and coming Kingdom of God.
“for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction” “Way” can be (1) a metaphor for lifestyle and (2) the earliest title of the church (cf. Act 9:2; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22; Act 18:25-26). This verse implies that salvation is not an easy decision which fits in with the mainstream of culture, but a decisive change of life which issues in obedience to the principles of God. The fact that one way leads to destruction shows the ultimate outcome of those who live lives independent of God. Often they seem very religious (cf. Isa 29:13; Mat 7:21-23; Col 2:23)!
This phrase has a typical Greek manuscript variable. In the first of the verse it says, “enter by the narrow gate,” but in the second half “the gate” is omitted in the uncial manuscript *, some old Latin manuscripts, some Vulgate manuscripts, the Diatessaron, and the Greek texts used by Clement and Eusebius. It is present in the uncials cf8 i1, B, C, L, W, and some old Latin, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic manuscripts. So the question is, “Was it inserted for balance” or “fell out by accident?” The UBS4 gives the longer text (i.e., its inclusion) a “B” rating (almost certain). However, its inclusion or exclusion does not change the meaning of the text. This is true of the vast majority of the NT variations in the 5,300 Greek New Testaments in existence today! See Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, p. 19.
Mat 7:14 In a day of “easy-believeism” this is a needed balance! This is not saying that Christianity is dependent on human effort, but rather that the life of faith will be filled with persecution. “Narrow” in this verse shares the same root word as “tribulation” or “persecution” in other NT passages. This emphasis is the exact opposite of Mat 11:29-30. These two verses could be characterized as the “gate” and the “way.” We come to God through Jesus as a free gift of God (cf. Rom 3:24; Rom 5:15-17; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-9), but once we know Him, it is the pearl of great price for which we sell all that we have to follow Him. Salvation is absolutely free, but it costs everything that we are and have.
The phrase “few they are that find it” should be compared with Mat 7:13 and Luk 13:23-24. The question is “are more going to be lost than saved?” Is the verse teaching this numerical distinction?
Enter ye in, &c. Repeated on a later occasion. Luk 13:2.
at = through, or by means of Greek. dia.
strait = narrow.
wide. Greek. platus. Occurs only here.
broad = extensive. Greek. euruchoros. Occurs only here. the way. For “the two ways”, see Deu 30:15, 1Ki 18:21. 2Pe 2:2, 2Pe 2:15.
leadeth = leads away.
to = unto. Greek. eis.
go = enter in.
thereat = through. Greek. dia. App-104. Mat 7:1.
13-27.] THE CONCLUSION OF THE DISCOURSE:-setting forth more strongly and personally the dangers of hypocrisy, both in being led aside by hypocritical teachers, and in our own inner life. The stands at the end of the , as in the remarkable parallel in the Table of Cebes, c. 16: , , , : .
Mat 7:13-14. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Be up and on your journey. Enter in at the gate at the head of the way, and do not stand hesitating. If it be the right road, you will find the entrance somewhat difficult, and exceedingly narrow; for it demands self-denial, add calls for strictness of obedience, and watchfulness of spirit. Nevertheless, enter ye in at the strait gate. Whatever its drawbacks of fewness of pilgrims, or straitness of entrance, yet choose it and use it. True, there is another road, broad and much frequented; but it leadeth to destruction. Men go to ruin along the turnpike road, but the way to heaven is a bridle-path. There may come other days, when the many will crowd the narrow way; but, at this time, to be popular, the road must be broad broad in doctrine, in morals, and in spirituals. But those on the strait road shall go straight to glory, and those on the broad road are all abroad. All is well that ends well: we can afford to be straitened in the right way rather than enlarged in the wrong way; because the first endeth in endless life, and the second hastens down to everlasting death. Lord, deliver me from the temptation to be broad, and keep me in the narrow way, though few find it!
Mat 7:15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
We have need of our judgments, and we must try the Spirits of those who profess to be sent of God. There are men of great gifts who are false prophets. These affect the look, language and spirit of Gods people, while really they long to devour souls, even as wolves thirst for the blood of sheep. Sheeps clothing is all very fine, but we must look beneath it and spy out the wolves. A man is what he is inwardly. We had need beware. This precept is timely at this hour. We must be careful, not only about our way, but about our leaders. They come to us; they come as prophets; they come with every outward commendation; but they are very Balaams, and will surely curse those they pretend to bless.
Mat 7:16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Their teaching, their living, and their effect upon our minds will be a sure test to us. Every doctrine and doctrinaire may thus be tried. If we gather grapes of them, they are not thorns; if they produce nothing but thistle-down, they are not fig-trees. Some object to this practical method of test; but wise Christians will carry it with them as the ultimate touchstone. What is the effect of modern theology upon the spirituality, the prayerfulness, the holiness of the people? Has it any good, effect?
Mat 7:17-18. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every man produces according to his nature; he cannot do otherwise. Good tree, good fruit; corrupt tree, evil fruit. There is no possibility of the effect being higher and better than the cause. The truly good does not bring forth evil; it would be contrary to its nature. The radically bad never rises to produce good, though it may seem to do so. Therefore, the one and the other may be known by the special fruit of each. Our King is a great teacher of prudence. We are not to judge; but we are to know, and the rule for this knowledge is as simple as it is safe. Such knowledge of men may save us from great mischief which would come to us through associating with bad and deceitful persons.
Mat 7:19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Here is the end to which evil things are tending, The ax and the fire await the ungodly, however fine they may look with the leafage of profession.
Only let time enough be given, and every man on earth who bears no good fruit will meet his doom. It is not merely the wicked, the bearer of poison berries, that will be cut down but the neutral, the man who bears no fruit of positive virtue must also be cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
It is not ours to hew or to burn, but it is ours to know. This knowledge is to save us from coming under the shadow or influence of false teachers. Who wants to build his nest upon a tree which is soon to be cut down? Who would choose a barren tree for the center of his orchard? Lord, let me remember that I am to judge myself by this rule. Make me a true fruit-bearing tree.
Mat 7:21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
No verbal homage will suffice: Not every one that saith. We may believe in our Lords Deity, and we may take great, pains to affirm it over and over again with our Lord, Lord; but unless we carry out the commands of the Father, we pay no true homage to the Son. We may own our obligations to Jesus, and so call him Lord, Lord; but if we never practically carry out those obligations, what is the value of our admissions? Our King receives not into his kingdom those whose religion lies in words and ceremonies, but only those whose lives display the obedience of true discipleship.
Mat 7:22-23. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
An orthodox creed will not save if it stands alone, neither will it be sure to do so if accompanied by official position and service. These people said, Lord, Lord, and, in addition, pleaded their prophesying or preaching in his name. All the preaching in the world will not save the preacher if he does not practice. Yes, and he may have been successful successful to a very high degree and in thy name have cast out devils, and yet, without personal holiness, the caster-out of devils will be cast out himself. The success boasted of may have had about it surprising circumstances of varied interest and in thy name done many wonderful works; and yet the man may be unknown to Christ. Three times over the person is described as doing all in thy name; and yet the Lord, whose name he used so freely, so boldly, knew nothing of him, and would not suffer him to remain in his company. The Lord cannot endure the presence of those who call him Lord, Lord, and then work iniquity. They professed to him that they knew him, but he will profess unto them, I never knew you. How solemn is this reminder to me and to others! Nothing will prove us to be true Christians but a sincere doing of the Fathers will! We may be known by all to have great spiritual power over devils, and men, and yet our Lord may not own us in that great day, but may drive us out as impostors whom he cannot tolerate in his presences.
Mat 7:13. , enter ye in) Make it the object of your constant and earnest endeavours (Id agite) really to enter.[318] This presupposes that they are attempting to walk on the narrow way. Observe the antithetical relation between , enter ye in [in the first], and -they which go in [in the last clause of this verse].-, strait) sc. of righteousness.-, the gate) This is put before the way; the gate therefore in this verse signifies that, by which a man begins in any manner to seek for the salvation of his soul; as in the next verse the gate is that, by which true Christianity is received.-, which leadeth away) from this short life. So also in the next verse.-, many) See 2Es 9:15; 2Es 9:17.- , they which go in) There is no need that they should find it, for they spontaneously fall into destruction. Cf. v. 14.- through it) sc. the gate.
[318] Into life, into the kingdom of heaven.-V. g.
Seeking Life; Testing Leaders
Mat 7:13-23
The world is full of shams. Counterfeit coins circulate; paste jewels are worn. Let us take heed against a counterfeit religion. It betrays itself thus:
(1) It does not involve the denial of self. Our Lord compares this to entrance by a strait gate and walking on a narrow path. It is the way of the Cross. We must say No to the I life which is seated in our soul and which must be ruthlessly denied. We must say of it as Peter did of Jesus, I do not know the man. The way of self-indulgence begins on a primrose path and ends in a wilderness. The path of self-denial is steep and difficult at the start, but leads to a paradise of joy.
(2) It does not produce good fruit. The worth of the gospel has been attested all down the ages by the characters which it has produced and which have been the worlds salt and light. No other teaching has produced such results. Here is the supreme test. There are many new systems of theology, many nostrums are being loudly advertised, but the one test of them all is in the fruit they bear.
The King teaches his Servants to Discern and to Distinguish
Mat 7:13-14. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Be up and on your journey. Enter in at the gate at the head of the way, and do not stand hesitating. If it be the right road, you will find the entrance somewhat difficult, and exceedingly narrow; for it demands self-denial, and calls for strictness of obedience, and watchfulness of spirit. Nevertheless, “enter ye in at the strait gate.” Whatever its drawbacks of fewness of pilgrims, or straitness of entrance, yet choose it, and use it. True, there is another road, broad and much frequented; but it leadeth to destruction. Men go to ruin along the turnpike-road, but the way to heaven is a bridle-path. There may come other days, when the many will crowd the narrow way; but, at this time, to be popular one must be broad-broad in doctrine, in morals, and in spirituals. But those on the strait road shall go straight to glory, and those on the broad road are all abroad. All is well that ends well: we can afford to be straitened in the right way rather than enlarged in the wrong way; because the first endeth in endless life, and the second hastens down to everlasting death.
Lord, deliver me from the temptation to be “broad’ and keep me in the narrow way though few find it!
Mat 7:15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
We have need of our judgments, and we must try the spirits of those who profess to be sent of God. There are men of great gifts who are “false prophets.” These affect the look, language, and spirit of God’s people, while really they long to devour souls, even as wolves thirst for the blood of sheep. “Sheep’s clothing “is all very fine, but we must look beneath it and spy out the wolves. A man is what he is inwardly. “We had need beware. This precept is timely at this hour. We must be careful not only about our way, but about our leaders. They come to us; they come as prophets; they come with every outward commendation; but they are very Balaams, and will surely curse those they pretend to bless.
Mat 7:16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or Jigs of thistles?
Their teaching, their living, and their effect upon our minds will be a sure test to us. Every doctrine and doctrinaire may thus be tried. If we gather grapes of them, they are not thorns: if they produce nothing but thistle-down, they are not fig-trees. Some object to this practical method of test; but wise Christians will carry it with them as the ultimate touchstone. What is the effect of modern theology upon the spirituality, the prayerfulness, the holiness of the people? Has it any good effect?
Mat 7:17-18. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every man produces according to his nature; he cannot do otherwise. Good tree, good fruit; corrupt tree, evil fruit. There is no possibility of the effect being higher and better than the cause. The truly good does not bring forth evil; it would be contrary to its nature. The radically bad never rises to produce good, though it may seem to do so. Therefore the one and the other may be known by the special fruit of each. Our King is a great teacher of prudence. We are not to judge; but we are to know, and the rule for this knowledge is as simple as it is safe. Such knowledge of men may save us from great mischief which would come to us through associating with bad and deceitful persons.
Mat 7:19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Here is the end to which evil things are tending. The axe and the fire await the ungodly, however fine they may look with the leafage of profession. Only let time enough be given, and every man on earth who bears no good fruit will meet his doom. It is not merely the wicked, the bearer of poison berries, that will be cut down; but the neutral, the man who bears no fruit of positive virtue must also be cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
It is not ours to hew or to burn; but it is ours to know. This knowledge is to save us from coming under the shadow or influence of false teachers. Who wants to build his nest upon a tree which is soon to be cut down? Who would choose a barren tree for the centre of his orchard?
Lord, let me remember that I am to judge myself by this rule. Make me a true fruit-bearing tree.
Mat 7:21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
No verbal homage will suffice: “Not every one that saith.” We may believe in our Lord’s Deity, and we may take great pains to affirm it over and over again with our “Lord, Lord”; but unless we carry out the commands of the Father, we pay no true homage to the Son. We may own our obligations to Jesus, and so call him “Lord, Lord” but if we never practically carry out those obligations, what is the value of our admissions? Our King receives not into his kingdom those whose religion lies in words and ceremonies; but only those whose lives display the obedience of true discipleship.
Mat 7:22-23. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will 1 profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
An orthodox creed will not save if it stands alone, neither will it be sure to do so if accompanied by official position and service. These people said, “Lord, Lord”; and, in addition, pleaded their prophesying or preaching in his name. All the preaching in the world will not save the preacher if he does not practise. Yes, and he may have been successful,-successful to a very high degree, “and in thy name have cast out devils”, and yet, without personal holiness, the caster-out of devils will be cast out himself. The success boasted of may have had about it surprising circumstances of varied interest-” and in thy name done many wonderful works “; and yet the man may be unknown to Christ. Three times over the person is described as doing all “in thy name “; and yet the Lord, whose name he used so freely, so boldly, knew nothing of him, and would not suffer him to remain in his company. The Lord cannot endure the presence of those who call him “Lord, Lord”, and then work iniquity. They professed to him that they knew him; but he will “profess unto them, I never knew you.”
How solemn is this reminder to me, and to others! Nothing will prove us to be true Christians but a sincere doing of the Father’s will! We may be known by all to have great spiritual power over devils, and men, and yet our Lord may not own us in that great day; but may drive us out as impostors whom he cannot tolerate in his presence.
Choosing a Road
Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many be they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.Mat 7:13-14.
1. There is a certain inevitable movement of human beings implied in the whole of this passage. Our Lord regards the multitudes around Him as all in motionnone quiescent, none fixed and centred. This transiency and mutability of human life can neither be doubted nor denied. We are not dwellers, we are travellers. We are all on the way, staff in hand, loins girt, the dust on our sandals.
And the myriad feet are echoing that trod the way before
In a vague and restless music evermore.
Ahead of us there is the cloud of a vast company travelling; behind, the clamour of those who follow in our track; each one pressing forward, never resting, not in sleep, not in daytime, not in stillest night.
2. Similarly, moral progress is also constant. This is a far more serious and important kind of progress. If we could stay our spirits amid this universal vicissitude, and keep them in fixed conditions, the outward change would be of less moment. But the moral progress is as constant as, and infinitely more important than, any change that can be apprehended by the senses. This is the tremendous thing, that each one of us is being saved or lost, that each one is putting on the image of God, the eternal beauty, and wearing more and more the everlasting strength, or losing both, falling into vileness and weakness, although it may be by slow or even imperceptible degrees. It is a solemn thought that the one process or the other is going on in every one of us, without the intermission of a day or an hour. Our souls as well as our bodies are on pilgrimage; our spirits as well as our feet are on the way. And here the question arises: What way? How many are there to choose from? Two; only two. The way of the many or the way of the few.
I
The Way of the Many
The world speaks of numerous ways. It specially favours a via media. But here our Lord, with more than a touch of austerity in His tone, declares there is no middle way. He puts the antithesis sharply and nakedly. There is a wide gate, and there is a narrow gate; there is a broad way, and there is a straitened way; and there are just two ends, destruction and life. At one or other of these ends every man shall arrive, and what end it will be depends upon the road he travels.
1. The entrance is wide.We have taken the broad way first, if for no other reason than that it is the broad way. It is the most manifest and obtrusive, and the nearest to us naturally. Let us begin at the beginning of it. It has a gate. A gate is a place of entranceto a city, or a field, or a country. As a religious term it means the beginning of a course or onward career. Being a figure, there is no need to attach to it a narrow inelastic meaning, but it does point to the great moral truth that there are critical and decisive points in life to which men come. There are gates of decision, narrow or wide, through which they pass into the course that lies within. It might indeed be said that we enter upon the broad way when we are born: that birth is the wide gate, and natural life the broad way. There is truth in that; but it is only a half truth. It is also true that we may be born in the narrow way, may pass, as it were, through the strait gate in our nurture as infants; we may tread the narrow way in our Christian training, and leave it only by our own act and choice. Manifestly, our Lord is not entering here upon that question. He is speaking to reasonable and responsible men of their acts of choice, in the decisive times and places in life. He is speaking of the entering in at either gate of those who know that they so enter. And yet the knowledge may not be very express or clear. From want of reflection, from want of observance of the real character and consequences of things, men may go on from youth to age without being aware that they pass through gates at all. They live as they list, or as they can. They take life as it comes, and they are not conscious of points of transition. They see no gates in life, pass through none to their own consciousness. To-day is as yesterday, and to-morrow will be as to-day! All this is consistent with the spirit of the passage wide is the gate. One may go through it and hardly know it is there. No one needs to jostle another in passing through. No one needs to ruffle his garments or to lay anything aside or to leave anything behind; no one needs to part from his companions; all can enter together, for the gate is wide.
The pangs of pity which Dantes sensitive soul feels for the forlorn and tormented spirits in the Inferno serve to show how intense is his conviction that nothing can set aside the laws of eternal right. Francesca will arouse in him infinite and overwhelming compassion, but Francesca must face the withering tempest which her fault has aroused against her. Mr. J. A. Symonds expressed his wonder that Dante should be so hard and pitiless in his judgment upon the weaklings who hesitated to identify themselves on either side in the great battle of all time. Others may have felt that the harsh contempt expressed by the poet was out of proportion to a fault which might be called weakness, but never vice; but to Dante the cowardice which refused the call of high duty or noble ideal was sin almost beyond forgiveness: it revealed a spirit dead to righteousness through the paralysing influence of self-interest.1 [Note: W. Boyd Carpenter, The Spiritual Message of Dante, 33.]
2. The way is broad.If there is amplitude even at the entrance, or at the critical points of life when the gates are passed, we may well expect that there will be space, and allowance, and freedom in the way. All kinds of persons may walk in it. The man of the world may work out his schemes, gather his money, and achieve his position. The pleasure-seeker may eat and drink and dance and sleep and sing. The sensual man who kills his moral life and vilifies the Divine image within him may pass on unchecked. The formalist may count his beads and say his prayers. The Pharisee may draw his garments away from the sinners touch. The sceptic may think his doubting thoughts; and the crowds of persons who never think, who live without a purpose, who do good or evil as the case may be, may all find a place here.
There is a wide gate. It opens into a broad way. But the broad way leads to destruction. The idea of an enclosure, a place enclosed within a wall, lies at the basis of the representation. One might have supposed, from the spacious entrance, that the way would conduct to some magnificent home, a palace of beauty and of bliss. But no. It leads to destruction, to some kind of everlasting death. What may this broad way be, with its wide gate? It is doubtless the way of self-licence, of that self-gratification which is determined to take a wide berth for itself, spurning Divine prohibitions, and laughing at the limits of a strict and narrow morality. It is the way of things that is counter to the way and will of Christ. There were many in Christs day entering in through it. There are still many. The multitude still goes that way. He who would be a Christian must still be somewhat singular in his habits and manner of life.1 [Note: James Morison.]
3. It leads to destruction.All who journey upon the broad way come at last to its conclusion. And what do they find? Life? Happiness? Peace? They find destruction. Destruction! Destruction of our higher sentiments, of the peace of our conscience, of the life of our spirit! Destruction of our faith, our love, our hope, of our character, of our soul. Destruction! The pains of the final condemnation of God, of banishment from His presence into the darkness unutterable, into the penal fires of self-reproach and remorse.
By a natural law man leans towards destruction. It may be called the gravitation of a fallen being. Let a man only be at ease in himself, satisfied with what he is, and consent to the usurping customs of the world, drawing in the unwholesome breath of refined evil, and letting his moral inclination run its natural course, without check or stay, and he will most surely tide onward, with an easy and gentle motion, down the broad current to eternal death. Such a man is seldom strongly tempted. The less marked solicitations of the tempter are enough. The suggestion of a great sin might rouse his conscience, and scare him from the toils. We may take this, then, as a most safe rule, that a feeling of security is a warning to be suspicious, and that our safety is to feel the stretch and the energy of a continual strife.
There is an extraordinary confirmation of His teaching about the broad way in the attitude of those who among ourselves have rejected Christ and His laws. Their thought tends to Pessimism; and so far as they believe anything, they believe in extinctioni.e., the broad path leading to destruction. What is the attitude of Nietzsche or Max Nordau in Germany? or of Daudet, Loti, Guyau in France? or of Bjrnsen and Ibsen in Norway? The way of Jesus is surrendered or rejected, and blank destruction stares the thinker in the face.1 [Note: R. F. Horton, The Commandments of Jesus, 227.]
There is in man an instinct of revolt, an enemy of all law, a rebel which will stoop to no yoke, not even that of reason, duty, and wisdom. This element in us is the root of all sin. The independence which is the condition of individuality is at the same time the eternal temptation of the individual. That which makes us beings makes us also sinners. Sin is, then, in our very marrow, it circulates in us like the blood in our veins, it is mingled with all our substance. Or rather I am wrong: temptation is our natural state, but sin is not necessary. Sin consists in the voluntary confusion of the independence which is good with the independence which is bad.2 [Note: Amiels Journal.]
But two ways are offered to our will
Toil, with rare triumph, Ease, with safe disgrace;
Nor deem that acts heroic wait on chance!
The mans whole life preludes the single deed
That shall decide if his inheritance
Be with the sifted few of matchless breed,
Or with the unnoticed herd that only sleep and feed.
II
The Way of the Few
In reading the Gospels one is often struck with what, for lack of a better term, one might call Christs frankness. He makes no secret of the conditions of discipleship. He does not attempt to deck the Christian life out in gay and attractive colours. On the contrary, He scores and underlines and emphasizes its hardships and difficulties. He wants no man to follow Him under the impression that he is going to have a pleasant and easy time of it. And so at the very beginning He confronts him with the narrow gate of an exacting demand. If any man would come after me, He said, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Self-denial and the crossthese constitute the narrow gate by which a man enters upon the service of Jesus Christ.
1. The entrance is narrow.Like the broad way, this way of the few has, at its outset, a gate. It is a narrow gate and may be taken as expressing the initial act of repentance and the commencement of a life dedicated to Christ. The entrance into the Christian life may aptly be described as a narrow gate, for it is a definite and decisive act into which one is not likely to drift with a multitude by chance. Like a narrow gate, it may easily be overlooked; and the main difficulty of the Christian life is perhaps that it escapes notice altogether. Multitudes of people seem not to have so much as heard that there is a Christian life. They follow the broad path because it is broad, and they never notice that unostentatious entrance into the way of life, repentance and faith. But, while it is narrow, the gate is broad enough for entrance, always provided that one is content to enter stripped and unburdened.
The entrance into the way of life is by the strait gate of penitence and renunciation. If men could carry the world along with them, if young people could carry their love of pleasure along with them, multitudes would crowd into the gate of the Kingdom. But to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof is too hard a command. To put away the old man with his deeds is more than they can bring themselves to do. The gate is narrow. That is why Christ added that solemn word, Few there be that find it.
Thou didst send for me, said Savonarola to Lorenzo the Magnificent, the tyrant of Florence, as he lay on his dying bed. Yes, said Lorenzo, for three sins lie heavy on my soul, and then he told the monk how he was tortured by the remembrance of the sack of Volterra, and his robbery of a bank whereby many poor girls had lost their all and been driven to a life of shame, and the bloody reprisals he took after a political conspiracy against him. God is good, replied Savonarola, God is merciful. But, he at once added, three things are needful. What things? asked Lorenzo anxiously. First, a great and living faith in Gods mercy. I have the fullest faith in it, replied the dying man. Secondly, you must restore all your ill-gotten wealth. At this Lorenzo writhed, but at last he gave a nod of assent. Lastly, said Savonarola to the cowering prince, you must restore to Florence her liberty. And Lorenzo angrily turned his back upon the preacher and said never a word. The gate was too narrow.1 [Note: J. D. Jones, The Unfettered Word, 106.]
2. The way also is narrow.The word used by the Revisers here is straitened. The figure contemplated is that of double-dykes. There is a path between two properties, each measured off with its wall. Both walls approach as closely and compressingly as possible to the centre of the thoroughfare, which is the public right of way. The double-dykes almost meet, and there is, at points here and there, bulging on either side, while all along loose stones have fallen down, and make the way inconvenient, so that the traveller can only painfully and with trouble pick his steps as he moves along. It leads, however, to life, that is, to everlasting life, to the home of everlasting bliss. Being a narrowed way, it will not admit of latitudinarianism of demeanour. Neither will it admit of accompanying parade and pomp. It would not be possible to drive along it in a coach and six. When kings would go by it they must step out of their coaches and walk. Princes and peasants must travel there on an equality. What is this narrow way? When we get down, through the envelopments of imagery, to the real base or essential substrate of the representations, we hear the voice of Jesus Himself saying, I am the way; no man cometh unto the Father (or to the Fathers house) but by me (Joh 14:6). As the martyr Philpot said, The cross-way is the high-way to heaven. There is no other way.
The word Strait, applied to the entrance into Life, and the word Narrow, applied to the road of Life, do not mean that the road is so fenced that few can travel it, however much they wish (like the entrance to the pit of a theatre), but that, for each person, it is at first so stringent, so difficult, and so dull, being between close hedges, that few will enter it, though all may. In a second sense, and an equally vital one, it is not merely a Strait, or narrow, but a straight, or right road; only, in this rightness of it, not at all traced by hedges, wall, or telegraph wire, or even marked by posts higher than winters snow; but, on the contrary, often difficult to trace among morasses and mounds of desert, even by skilful sight; and by blind persons, entirely untenable unless by help of a guide, director, rector, or rex: which you may conjecture to be the reason why, when St. Pauls eyes were to be opened, out of the darkness which meant only the consciousness of utter mistake, to seeing what way he should go, his director was ordered to come to him in the street which is called Straight.1 [Note: Ruskin, Fors Clavigera, Letter 59 (Works, xxviii. 441).]
(1) How is the way straitened? Did God make it so? The Bible recording that the one way is narrow and the other broad does not make them so, any more than a medical book recording smallpox makes smallpox to exist. The fact is, God has done His best to reverse these terrible facts. God has striven to make the way to the good broad, and the way to the evil narrow.
When I was a young man, says Dr. Albert Goodrich, I taught in the ragged schools of London. On one Sunday I had this passage for my lesson. I say, teacher, merrily sang one of those sharp, ragged boys, it says, dont it, the way to the good is narrow and the way to the bad wide? Yes, it does, I replied. I know thats true, he said, with a knowing wink; but, he added, dropping his voice, is it fair? Oughtnt God have made them both the same width? Hed have given us, then, a fair chance.
(2) Who or what, then, makes the two ways so different? It is not the will of God; it is the sin of man. Mans injustices to man, mans inhumanity to man, narrows the way. By hardness, by provoking one another, by tempting one another, we make the way narrow. Employers make it narrow to their employees; employees make it narrow to their employers. Children make it narrow to their parents; parents make it narrow to their children. What need there is to consider one another, lest we make the way to life even more narrow than it is.
What is it, Augustine asks, which makes this gate so strait to us, and this way so narrow? It is not so much strait in itself, as that we make it strait for ourselves, by the swellings of our pride;and then, vexed that we cannot enter, chafing and impatient at the hindrances we meet with, we become more and more unable to pass through. But where is the remedy? how shall these swollen places of our souls be brought down? By accepting and drinking of the cup, wholesome though it may be distasteful, of humility: by listening to and learning of Him who, having said, Enter ye in at the strait gate, does to them who inquire, How shall we enter in? reply, By Me; I am the Way; I am the Door.1 [Note: R. C. Trench.]
3. The narrow way leads to life.Life! The mind alive in truth, the heart alive with full affection, the conscience alive in the vision of duty, and the enjoyment of peace, the soul alive in joyous communion with God. Life! The activity of our finer faculties, the consciousness of their expansion, the enjoyment of achievement, of progress, of laying up imperishable treasure, the sense of wealth and power in truth and in God, the enjoyment of service with God for the coming of the Kingdom, the hope of the crown of life, of life regal, imperial, in and with God for ever. That is worth an effort to attain. That is worth the striving needful to walk the narrow way.
Jesus here quotes an idea whereof the ancient moralists had made great use and which had passed into a commonplace, almost a proverb. It is as ancient as the poet Hesiod; and it appears in Kebes quaint allegory The Tablet, a sort of Greek Pilgrims Progress, purporting to be an account of a pictorial tablet which hung in the temple of Kronos and emblematically depicted the course of human life. Kebes saw it and had it explained to him by an old man who kept the temple.
What is the way that leads to the true Instruction? said I. You see above, said he, yonder place where no one dwells, but it seems to be desert? I do. And a little door, and a way before the door, which is not much thronged, but very few go there; so impassable does the way seem, so rough and rocky? Yes, indeed, said I. And there seems to be a lofty mound and a very steep ascent with deep precipices on this side and on that? I see it. This, then, is the way, said he, that leads to the true Instruction.
The allegory of the Two Ways had passed into a sort of proverb, and Jesus here applies it to the great business of salvation throwing His hearers back on the broad principles of life. It was recognized that, if a man would attain to Virtue or Wisdom, he must face a steep and toilsome way, and climb it with resolute heart. All noble things, said the proverb, are difficult; and salvation, being the noblest of all, is the most difficult. It can be attained only by resolute endeavour, and every man must face the ordeal for himself. It is folly to stand gazing at the height and wondering whether few or many will win it. There is the narrow gate! cries Jesus; yonder is the rugged path! Enter and climb.1 [Note: D. Smith, The Days of His Flesh, 302.]
While the writers of the New Testament vary in their mode of presenting the ultimate goal of man, they are at one in regarding it as an exalted form of life. What they all seek to commend is a condition of being involving a gradual assimilation to, and communion with, God. The distinctive gift of the gospel is the gift of life. I am the life, says Christ. And the Apostles confession is in harmony with his Masters claimFor me to live is Christ. Salvation is nothing else than the restoration, preservation, and exaltation of life. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. More life and fuller is the passion of every soul that has caught the vision and heard the call of Jesus. The supreme good consists not in suppressed vitality, but in power and freedom. Life in Christ is a full, rich existence. The spiritual man pursues his way through conflict and achievement towards a higher and yet a higher goal, ever manifesting, yet ever seeking, the infinite that dwells in him. All knowledge and quest and endeavour, nay, existence itself, would be a mockery if man had no forever. Scripture corroborates the yearnings of the heart and represents life as a growing good which is to attain to ever higher reaches and fuller realization in the world to come. It is the unextinguishable faith of man that the future must crown the present. No human effort goes to waste, no gift is delusive; but every gift and every effort has its proper place as a stage in the endless process.
There shall never be one lost good! What was, shall live as before.2 [Note: A. B. D. Alexander, Christianity and Ethics, 128.]
Choosing a Road
Literature
Bersier (E.), Twelve Sermons, 19.
Blunt (J. J.), Plain Sermons, i. 337.
Campbell (J. M.), Sermons and Lectures, i. 41.
Chafer (L. S.), True Evangelism, 54.
Dods (M.), Christ and Man, 200.
Goodrich (A.), in The Sermon on the Mount, iii. 195.
Gunsaulus (F. W.), Paths to the City of God, 70.
Hutton (J. A.), At Close Quarters, 181.
Jones (J. D.), The Unfettered Word, 101.
McAfee (C. B.), Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 163.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Matthew i.viii., 342.
Macpherson (W. M.), The Path of Life, 64.
Manning (H. E.), Sermons, i. 77.
Matheson (G.), Messages of Hope, 42.
Morison (J.), A Practical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, 110.
Parker (J.), The City Temple, ii. 169.
Pearson (A.), Christus Magister, 264.
Pierson (A. T.), The Making of a Sermon, 54.
Raleigh (A.), From Dawn to the Perfect Day, 62.
Smith (W. C.), The Sermon on the Mount, 308.
Southouse (A. J.), The Men of the Beatitudes, 203.
Stuart (A. M.), The Path of the Redeemed, 1.
Tait (A.), The Charter of Christianity, 565.
Thorne (H.), Notable Sayings of the Great Teacher, 49.
Wilson (R.), The Great Salvation, 185.
Christian World Pulpit, xliii. 6 (D. M. Ross); liv. 136 (M. Dods); lvii. 113 (J. Stalker); lix. 171 (C. Gore).
Clergymans Magazine, 3rd Ser., xi. 20 (W. Burrows).
at: Mat 3:2, Mat 3:8, Mat 18:2, Mat 18:3, Mat 23:13, Pro 9:6, Isa 55:7, Eze 18:27-32, Luk 9:33, Luk 13:24, Luk 13:25, Luk 14:33, Joh 10:9, Joh 14:6, Act 2:38-40, Act 3:19, 2Co 6:17, Gal 5:24
for: Gen 6:5, Gen 6:12, Psa 14:2, Psa 14:3, Isa 1:9, Rom 3:9-19, 2Co 4:4, Eph 2:2, Eph 2:3, 1Jo 5:19, Rev 12:9, Rev 13:8, Rev 20:3
that: Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46, Pro 7:27, Pro 16:25, Rom 9:22, Phi 3:19, 2Th 1:8, 2Th 1:9, 1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:18, Rev 20:15
Reciprocal: Gen 18:24 – there 1Ki 18:22 – Baal’s prophets Ezr 10:13 – the people Job 31:3 – destruction Psa 1:1 – way Psa 1:6 – way Psa 88:11 – in destruction Psa 119:104 – false way Pro 2:9 – General Pro 14:12 – General Pro 15:9 – The way Isa 5:14 – hell Jer 44:15 – all the Mat 7:24 – whosoever Mat 20:16 – for Mat 22:14 – General Mar 8:34 – Whosoever Act 16:17 – the way Heb 4:11 – Let
AVOIDING THE WAY OF THE MANY
Enter ye in at the strait gate, etc.
Mat 7:13
Our Lord here gives us a general caution against the way of the many in religion. It is not enough to think as others think, and do as others do. It must not satisfy us to follow the fashion, and swim with the stream of those among whom we live.
I. The two ways.He tells us that the way that leads to everlasting life is narrow, that few travel in it; He tells us that the way that leads to everlasting destruction is broad, and full of travellers: Many there be that go in thereat. These are fearful truths! They ought to raise great searchings of heart in the minds of all who hear them.Which way am I going? By what road am I travelling? In one or other of the two ways here described, every one of us may be found. May God give us an honest, self-inquiring spirit, and show us what we are!
II. The religion of the multitude.We may well tremble and be afraid if our religion is that of the multitude. If we can say no more than this, that we go where others go, and worship where others worship, and hope we shall do as well as others at last, we are literally pronouncing our own condemnation. What is this but being in the broad way? What is this but being in the road whose end is destruction? Our religion at present is not saving religion.
III. The little flock.We have no reason to be discouraged and cast down if the religion we profess is not popular and few agree with us. We must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in this passage: The gate is strait. Repentance, and faith in Christ, and holiness of life, have never been fashionable. The true flock of Christ has always been little. It must not move us to find that we are reckoned singular, and peculiar, and bigotted, and narrow-minded. This is the narrow way. Surely it is better to enter into life eternal with a few, than to go to destruction with a great company.
Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Illustration
Not very long ago I was in the Lake District, and made the ascent of Helvellyn. As I went up Striding Edge I could not help thinking that it was a terrible journey to make. Striding Edge is a long ridge of rock by which you approach the summit of the mountain. The pathway is so narrow that you would suppose it almost impossible to step along it and keep your footing, and when you come to the point along Striding Edge where a stone is placed to commemorate the death of one who lost his life through slipping over the ridge, you suppose that this is indeed a way of peril. But here is the fact, that the difficulty of Striding Edge is of such a kind that, if you keep your head and go quietly to work, there is not a single point where there is any difficulty at all. You go from point to point with one rare view after another, and all the forces of the mountain and of nature seem to be encouraging you along your narrow and apparently perilous way. And when you have once made the ascent, you prefer that way to any other way of approach to the great mountain. It is a narrow rather than a difficult way. It is clearly marked out, but it is not at all hard to follow if you go where the marks of the feet are, and along the path which has been trodden by generation after generation.
7:13
A companion passage to this is Luk 13:23-30 where the connection shows the subject is eternal salvation after the judgment day. Enter ye in, therefore, means to enter into eternal life. Jesus first describes the way that leads to destruction. Gate and way are used figuratively, because there is no specific route established for the purpose of taking people to eternal death. It means that the opportunities for entering or starting on this evil way are many and the kind of life that will lead to death of the soul is so easy that it is compared to a wide or roomy one; that is the reason that many go that way. It is the universal practice of man to follow the course of least resistance in this life. Such is the way of sin because there are only a few people who will oppose a man who wishes to follow a life of sin.
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
[Broad is the way.] In these words, concerning the broad and narrow way, our Saviour seems to allude to the rules of the Jews among their lawyers concerning the public and private ways. With whom, “a private way was four cubits in breadth; a public way was sixteen cubits.” See the Gloss in Peah.
Mat 7:13. Enter ye in by, or through, the narrow gate. The gate is mentioned first; the way afterwards. It is the entrance gate at the beginning of the journey of life (the way), not the gate of heaven at the close. Bunyans Pilgrims Progress is the best commentary on all such figures. Explanations: Repentance, faith, humility, self-denial, poverty in spirit (Mat 7:3), the righteousness of Christ; the last is probably the best sense, in contrast with the self-righteousness of the Pharisees (the wide gate).
For wide is the gate and broad the way, etc. More attractive, more easy to find, and to follow. A reason (for) why we must be exhorted to enter in by the narrow gate. To follow our natural tendencies is to pursue the broad way.
Destruction. The way leads to this; in one sense it is this already. Carnal Judaism led to the destruction of Jerusalem. Carnal Christianity passes on to similar judgment.
Observe here, 1. That every man is a traveller in a certain way.
2. That there are but two ways in which the race of mankind can travel;
the one strait and narrow, that leads to life and salvation;
the other broad and wide, which leads to hell and destruction.
3. That because of the difficulties in the way to salvation, and the easiness of the way to hell and destruction, hence it is that so few walk in the one, and so many in the other.
4. That Christians having the strait way to heaven revealed to them, in and by the word of God, should choose rather to go in that way alone to life, that to run with the multititude in the road way which leads down to the chambers of death and hell.
5. That the metaphor of a gate denotes our first entrance into a religious course of life, and its being strait denotes the difficulty that attends religion at first; evil habits to be put off, old companions in sin to be parted with; but when faith and patience have once smoothed our way, love will make our work delightful to us.
Mat 7:13. Enter ye in at the strait gate The gate of true conversion, of self-denial, mortification, and universal holiness; the gate in at which few, comparatively speaking, are inclined to enter. How strait, says Erasmus, in his paraphrase on the place, is the gate, how narrow the way that leadeth to life! In the way, nothing is to be found that flatters the flesh, but many things opposite to it, poverty, fasting, watching, injuries, chastity, sobriety. And as for the gate, it receives none that are swollen with the glory of this life; none that are elated and lengthened out with pride; none that are distended with luxury; it does not admit those that are laden with the fardels of riches, nor those that drag along with them the other implements of the world. None can pass through it but naked men, who are stripped of all worldly lusts, and who, having, as it were, put off their bodies, are emaciated into spirits, which is the reason that it is sought after by so few. For wide is the gate The gate of impenitence and unbelief, of carnal affections and fleshly lusts. This gate is obvious to all, and there is no need to seek it: men come to it of course; and broad, , spacious, is the way Of vanity and sin, of evil dispositions, words, and actions; and many there be which go in thereat Many, yea, the greater part of mankind, evidently appear to enter in at that gate, and to walk in that way. Because strait is the gate Here our Lord assigns the reason why so many enter in at the wide gate, and walk in the broad way: it is because the other gate is strait, and the way narrow, therefore they do not love either the one or the other; they prefer a wider gate, and a broader way; a gate which is entered without difficulty, and a way in which men may walk without either self-denial or taking up the cross, and in which they find abundance of company.
XLII.
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.
(A Mountain Plateau not far from Capernaum.)
Subdivision J.
THE TWO WAYS AND THE FALSE PROPHETS.
aMATT. VII. 13-23; cLUKE VI.. 43-45.
a13 Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. 14 For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it. [The Master here presents two cities before us. One has a wide gateway opening onto the broad street, and other a narrow gate opening onto a straitened street or alley. The first city is Destruction, the second is Life.] 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. [From the two ways Jesus turns to warn his disciples against those who lead into the wrong path–the road to destruction. Prophets are those who lay claim to teach men correctly the life which God would have us live. The scribes and Pharisees were such, and Christ predicted the coming of others ( Mat 24:5, Mat 24:24), and so did Paul ( Act 20:29). Their fate is shown in Mat 7:21, Mat 7:22. By sheep’s clothing we are to understand that they shall bear a gentle, meek, and inoffensive outward demeanor; but they use this demeanor as a cloak to hide their real wickedness, and so effectually does it hide it that the false prophets often deceive even themselves.] 16 By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth [266] forth evil fruit. c43 For there is no good tree that bringeth forth corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree that bringeth forth good fruit. a18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. c44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. a19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. [It is a law of universal application that whatever is useless and evil shall eventually be swept away.] 20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. c45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. [Teachers are to be judged by their conduct as men, and also by the effect of their teaching. If either be predominantly bad, the man must be avoided. But we must not judge hastily, nor by slight and trivial actions, for some specimens of bad fruit grown on good trees.] a21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. [To say, “Lord, Lord,” is to call on the Lord in prayer. While it is almost impossible to overestimate the value of prayer when associated with a consistent life, it has been too common to attribute to it a virtue which it does not possess. The Pharisees were excessively devoted to prayer, and they led the people to believe that every prayerful man would be saved. The Mohammedans and Romanists are subject to the same delusion, as may be seen in their punctilious observance of the forms of prayer, while habitually neglecting many of the common rules of morality. It is here taught that prayer, unattended by doing the will of the Father in heaven, can not save us. Doing the will of God must be understood, not in the sense of sinless obedience, but as including a compliance with the conditions on which sins are forgiven. Whether under the [267] old covenant or the new, sinless obedience is an impossibility; but obedience to the extent of our possibility amid the weaknesses of the flesh, accompanied by daily compliance with the conditions of pardon for our daily sin, has ever secured the favor of God.] 22 Many will say to me in that day [the final judgment day], Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? [Jesus here prophetically forecasts those future times wherein it would be worth while to assume to be a Christian. Times when hypocrisy would find it a source of profit and of honor to be attached to Christ’s service. In these days we may well question the motives which induce us to serve Christ. High place in the visible kingdom is no proof of one’s acceptance with God. Neither are mighty works, though successfully wrought in his name. Judas was an apostle and miracle-worker, and Balaam was a prophet, yet they lacked that condition of the heart which truly allies one with God ( 1Co 13:1-3). Jesus says the number of false teachers is large. We must not carelessly ignore the assertion of that important fact. We should also note that Christ will not lightly pass over their errors on the judgment day, though they seem to have discovered them for the first time. Such truths should make us extremely cautious both as teachers and learners.] 23 And then will I profess [better, confess] unto them, I never knew you [never approved or recognized you]: depart from me [ Mat 25:41], ye that work iniquity. [This indicates that false teachers filled with a patronizing spirit toward the Lord, and with a sense of power as to his work, will be deceived by a show of success. Through life Christ appeared to them to be accepting them and approving their lives, but he now confesses that this appearance was not real. It arose from a misconception on their part and on that of others. Many works which men judge to be religious really undermine religion. The world esteems him great whose ministry begets Pharisees, but in Christ’s eyes such a one is a worker of iniquity.] [268]
[FFG 266-268]
Mat 7:13-27. Epilogue.Warnings and exhortations close the new Law, like the old (Exo 23:20 ff.).
Mat 7:13 f. The Two Gates and the Two Ways (Luk 13:24).The picture is based on Jer 21:8, and is frequent in Jewish and Christian writings. The way that leads to life (the word has eschatological force) involves difficulties and tribulation (cf. Act 14:22).
Mat 7:15-23. Fruit the Test of Profession.Lk. (Luk 6:43-46; Luk 13:26 f.) speaks of unreality in personal religion; Mt. adapts the sayings into condemnations of false teachers, who profess to guide men to the way of fife, while really seeking their own advantage. For the proper sequence of thought read Mat 7:19 (cf. Mat 3:10) after Mat 7:20.A corrupt tree: the papyri show that the word corrupt does not here mean rotten, but unfit for food (cf. Mat 13:48, of fish). Evil as such cannot produce good (cf. Mat 12:33 ff.). As a complement to this teaching we have instances where Jesus saw the possibilities of good in bad people.
Mat 7:22 f. The character of the false teachers will be revealed in that (last) day, a common eschatological expression. Attempts to exorcise by the name of Jesus were both successful (Mar 9:38) and unsuccessful (Act 19:13-16); unworthy Christians preached Christ (Php 1:17), and miracles of healing were probably wrought by the use of His name as a magical formula (MNeile).
Mat 7:24-27. The Two Foundations (Luk 6:47-49).The conclusion of the whole sermon. Note the greatness of the claim involved in these words of mine. For the rock as a metaphor for a state of safety cf. Psa 27:5; there is no connexion with Mat 16:18. The differences between Mt. and Lk. point to the free use of the parable by preachers in the early Church.
7:13 {5} Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
(5) The example of life must not be taken from the multitude.
4. The false alternatives 7:13-27
To clarify the essential choices that His disciples needed to make, Jesus laid out four pairs of alternatives. Their choices would prepare them to continue to get ready for the coming kingdom. Each of the four alternatives is a warning of catastrophic proportions. They all focus on future judgment and the kingdom. This section constitutes the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount.
The two paths 7:13-14
The Old Testament contains several references to diverging ways that force the traveler to choose between two paths (e.g., Deu 30:15; Deu 30:19; Psalms 1; Jer 21:8). The AV translation "straight" is a bit misleading. That translation reflected the Latin strictum meaning narrow, and it probably contributed to the common idea of "the straight and narrow." However the Greek word stene clearly means narrow as contrasted with broad. The word "small" (Mat 7:14, Gr. tethlimmene) relates closely to the Greek word thlipsis meaning tribulation. Thus Jesus was saying that the narrow restricting gate has connections with persecution, a major theme in Matthew’s Gospel (cf. Mat 5:10-12; Mat 5:44; Mat 10:16-39; Mat 11:11-12; Mat 24:4-13; Act 14:22). [Note: See also A. J. Mattill Jr., "’The Way of Tribulation,’" Journal of Biblical Literature 98 (1979):531-46.]
The narrow road leads to life, namely, life in the kingdom (cf. Mat 7:21-22). The broad road leads to destruction, namely, death and hell (cf. Mat 25:34; Mat 25:46; Joh 17:12; Rom 9:22: Php 1:28; Php 3:19; 1Ti 6:9; Heb 10:39; 2Pe 2:1; 2Pe 2:3; 2Pe 3:16; Rev 17:8; Rev 17:11). Few will enter the kingdom compared with the many who will perish. Jesus clearly did not believe in the doctrine of universalism that is growing in popularity today, the belief that everyone will eventually end up in heaven (cf. Joh 14:6). Entrance through the narrow gate onto the narrow way will eventually lead a person into the kingdom. The beginning of a life of discipleship (the gate) and the process of discipleship (the way) are both restrictive and both involve persecution.
"Gate is mentioned for the benefit of those who were not true followers; way is mentioned as a definition of the life of the disciples of Jesus. This is why Matthew uses the word ’gate’ (pule) while Luke employs the word ’door’ (thura, Luk 13:24). Luke is concerned primarily with salvation. Here the King desires subjects for His kingdom, so He uses a word which implies a path is to be followed after entrance into life." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 116.]
Only a few people would find the way to life (Mat 7:14). As we noted earlier, Israel’s leaders were lethargic about seeking the Messiah (Mat 2:7-8). Many of the Jews were evidently not seeking the kingdom either.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
THE STRAIT AND NARROW WAYS
[There is no difficulty at all in entering upon an ungodly life; we need only, follow our natural bent and inclination. Nor will they who frequent the broad road at all interfere with each other. The gross sensualist, the proud Pharisee, and the specious hypocrite, may have ample scope for their respective pursuits. Sin may be indulged in ten thousand shapes; and all may go astray, every one in his own way [Note: Isa 53:6.].]
[The way of Gods commandments is that to which the godly are confined: and the entrance upon it is by conversion. A man must have seen the evil and danger of his former ways: he must have come to Christ who is the door [Note: Joh 10:9.]; and, renouncing every other hope, he must cleave unto Christ with full purpose of heart. Having thus entered, he must go forward in an uniform course of dependence upon Christ, and devotedness to him. This is indeed a strait and narrow way. A partial repentance, a divided trust, a reserved obedience, will not suffice: our contrition must be deep, our faith unfeigned, and our dedication of ourselves to God entire, or we shall only deceive our own souls.]
[God never intended that men should follow the imagination of their own hearts. He calls us to himself, and invites us by every argument that can affect a rational being. Nor will he leave us to fail for want of strength. If we will exert ourselves in earnest and cry unto him for help, nothing shall be impossible unto us. Difficult as the duty is, it has been performed by many in all ages. We therefore should exert ourselves without delay. We must not stand aloof, doubting and hesitating whether we shall enter upon this way or not; nor must we put off the time of entering upon it to some more convenient season. The command of God is clear and universal, Enter ye in at the strait gate.]
We shall see the importance of this duty if we attend to,
1.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
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Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)