Enter in through the narrow gate, for wide the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and many are they who enter in through it.
Two gates stand open in front of every person, and the Lord tells His hearers which one to walk through. The words are short. But they raise three big questions: what makes one gate narrow, why the crowd prefers the other, and where each road ends.
A Command, Not a Suggestion
The verse opens with a command. It calls for a choice, and it names what is at stake.
The Lord calls for a decision: to enter through the narrow gate and walk in the narrow way of obedience that leads to life. It is much easier to follow the masses through the wide gate, on the broad way of disobedience. But it is disastrous, because this leads to destruction! The word used for "destruction" in this passage signifies eternal damnation.
The Gate Is a Person
So who is this gate, and why is it narrow?
The gate (door) and the way is Christ Himself. "I am the door of the sheep... If anyone enters by me, he will be saved" (John 10). "I am the way... No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14). And why then is the gate narrow? The reason is not that there are hard conditions and terms to meet. It is that man does not want to give up his own righteousness. Still clinging to his miserable, filthy rags, he refuses God's way and God's door of salvation, which is Christ and Christ alone.
Why Nothing of Self Fits Through
A narrow gate limits what a person can carry through. So what must someone leave behind?
The gate, road, or way is open at present, and it is narrow. The real entrance is faith in Christ and conversion to God. Striving to enter does not mean effort that earns entrance as a reward. It means a man throwing himself on the grace of God in Christ. A man cannot bring anything of himself through such a gate. All that belongs to self must stay outside for ever.
Why does one gate repel and the other attract?
You refused the narrow gate, because it let in neither self-will nor fleshly lust. You loved the wide gate and the broad way, because you set your heart on what you called liberty, seeking and doing what you liked in defiance of God's will. You found the narrow gate repulsive, because it forced you to stoop to God. Your pride and your passions both resented that. To enter through it, you had to meet God on your own and face Him alone about your sins. If you had been in earnest, you would have seen that He is our Saviour God, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The Crowd Is Not an Argument
The verse says many go in by the wide gate. Does a crowd make a road safe?
Follow the multitude, as it follows the wise according to the flesh, the mighty, and the noble, and you are lost. Public opinion may be well enough for things of this life; but it is never founded on God's word.
The wide gate attracts because it sets no limits. But where does its road end?
On this way there are no restrictions. For everything is allowed on this way. But it ends in eternal destruction. The inviting, wide entrance blinds and misleads many. They shut their eyes to where they will end up. Most people do not board a train or plane without knowing when and where the journey is meant to end. But when it comes to the most important journey, the journey of life, multitudes never think about the end or their destiny. They lull themselves into a false sense of security.
What Follows the Gate
The gate opens onto a road. What kind of road is it?
The "Narrow Way" begins at the "Strait Gate." (Matt. 7:13-14). The Greek word here for "Narrow" is thlibo, meaning 'compressed.' It is also translated 'afflicted' (2 Cor. 1:6); 'suffer tribulation' (1 Thess. 3:4); 'troubled' (2 Cor. 7:5)… The Bible makes it unmistakeably clear that the "Narrow Way" is a way of tribulation.
False Teaching and the Gate
What does false teaching do with this gate?
There is a moral connection between the two things. One main mark of what is false is this: it tries to make the gate large and the road broad. It denies the special way in which God calls souls to know Himself.
The danger here is not a closed door. It is a road taken by mistake.
The point here is not that the door is shut. It is that men mistake which road is which: they take the broad way of destruction for God's narrow way of life.
Summary
- Decision — The verse is a call to decide, and the destruction it names is eternal.
- Door — The narrow gate is Christ Himself: "I am the door of the sheep."
- Dropped — Nothing of self passes through; all that belongs to it stays outside for ever.
- Deceived — The crowd is the trap, not the proof; public opinion is never founded on God's word.
- Destination — The wide road allows everything and ends in destruction; the narrow road is a way of tribulation that leads to life.