Why is the way that leads to life said by Jesus to be narrow?

Question

Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."

Answer 1

Because to takes faith to follow Jesus. Not to follow takes no effort.

Answer 2

Enter ye in at the straight gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way , that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because straight is the gate , and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. This is because even though we have the bible, few want to read it or follow it and go to heaven. Many want to do their own thing or try ti find another way , but it doesn't work like that.

Answer 3

For Christians trying to live like good people, the rules are few but sometimes difficult to follow because there are too many temptations along the way. Try living your life according to the ten commandments or according to Christ in the New Testament and you will find it hard, to love your enemy, to give your tunic when someone wants to steal your mantle, to give all your earthly belongings to the poor and to follow him, that kind of stuff. That is why it's called the narrow path.

On the other hand the broad one is to do exactly the opposite of what the commandments and Jesus tell you to do. We lie, we cheat, we steal , we are greedy, ambitious, we harm others and care nothing about it, we care only about pleasing ourselves, we humilliate people, we force people to do things they do not want to do, we worry more about being beautiful, rich, young, popular, and the like...that sort of stuff.

Hope this helps, but you could ask your priest or pastor to explain further, or join a Bible study class. We tend to underestimate the Bible and while I don't exactly agree with everything it says there are some things that are worth looking into.

Answer 4

By its very nature, something narrow is hard to find and hard to keep yourself balanced upon. Because it's a harder gate to get through (and ultimately a harder road to keep on), the majority are likely to take an easier road. It takes discipline and prayer to keep on the narrow way which Jesus says leads to life, but it's well worth the journey.

Another way to look at this is Jesus' testing of us: how many of us are REALLY willing to follow Him through thick and thin and not take the easy way out?

Answer 5

Very good question John. The word 'narrow' in this passage is said to mean 'to press (as with grapes to make wine), to press hard upon'. in the original Greek word "thlibo {thlee'-bo}". The life as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a hard one. We are always going to be hated by some, persecuted by another and sometimes simply considered to be ignorant, weak people. But we are called to be strong in our faith and stand tall for Jesus in a trail and tribulation. Some people can't take that and end up turning their backs on God. That's why Jesus said, many are called but few are chosen. The way to walk with Jesus is hard, it's like we're being pressed out of our old nature and and being made new. That's the narrow way.

It's so much more in-depth then that and can take many hours of study and prayer to find the whole truth concerning the narrow way. I pray that since the Lord put it in your heart to examine this that you'll achieve this goal with His help. God be with you.

Answer 6

The road less traveled. Look at life as a highway, it keeps speeding up. Bigger highways (belief systems) built, they look good and are easy to follow. Getting on them is easy, and just go go go.

The road less traveled (True faith), it is a journey, it has twists and turns not expected. It isn't always easy to follow but it has a clear where the faith leads. It's not easy to follow so the highway look great. It requires time, study, and blind faith to follow.

The narrow gate is the gate of faith in Jesus. Many will reject it and few will truly follow it.

That is basically what it means.

Answer 7

"Life" here means more than just eternal life, it is also the abundant life in the here and now that Jesus so often talks of.

The narrow way is through Jesus as your righteousness.

It is narrow because it can only be through One Person, Jesus.

It is narrow because it is only by believing in Him.

The broad way is through your own good works, which is self-righteousness.

It is broad because there are so many going by a multitude of ways except through Jesus (literally from the verse).

The word difficult here is mis-translated.

Difficult in Greek is duskolos. The prefix "dus-" is also added to words that infer difficulty, eg. dusermeneutos means hard to explain (Heb 5:11), dusnoetos means hard to understand (2 Pet 3 :16), dusbastaktos means hard to bear (Luk 11:46).

The Greek word used in this verse "thlibo" means tribulation or persecution.

And Jesus said in Matt 5:10 that we will be persecuted for righteousness' sake - His righteousness that is.

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Read the following commentaries:

F W Grant, The Numerical Bible, Loizeaux Bros. New Jersey NB 5.99 - compiled by John Greenhalgh -

"Enter ye in at the strait gate" The Lord affirmed himself to be the door and the way:- Joh 10.9 14.6 The narrow way is Christ himself. Men miss the way of life, not because the terms are hard or He so unapproachable, but because men, glorifying themselves as good moralists, refuse the gracious Saviour of sinners, and seek out other ways. The gate is "strait" because here is indeed an absolute condition: "no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.":- Joh 14.6 Self-righteousness must come down; Christ must be the absolute and complete Saviour, which He alone can be: too strict conditions for multitudes to submit to.


Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke written in 1832 -

Joh 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

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.

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In biblical numerics and some theological studies, "four" represents the Gospel (Jesus' finished work on the cross) as well as the righteousness of Jesus (in relation to mention of four cubits in the bible).

You can find additional info at : http://www.newasiarecords.com/gospel.html

Answer 8

Because the path to the heavenly kingdom is narrow - based upon our deeds here on earth. The gate to destruction has no boundaries, as the devil seeks only to destroy. With the amount of evil upon this earth - it is easy to go to hell. Jesus said... "I will make you fishers of man..." Therefore, when was the last time you lead someone to God? When was the last time you felt responsible for the teachings of Christ to another? How many people have you taken with you to Church?

Answer 9

jesus ate a lot of fish which kept him slim, he also walked everywhere he went. Fat people who eat too much junk food and sit around the house all day on the computer not exercising die early of diabetes or heart attacks!
every sunday morning go to the gym and i'm sure that will keep you on the path of the righteous and slim so you will be able to fit through that gate when your time comes (if you believe in that sort of thing).
or..... just do what i do and put more of your concentration and effort into something else other than that novel your quoting from!

Answer 10

The gate is narrow because you cannot bring all the junk of the world (sin) into heaven with you. Broad is the path to destruction because those who are taking the fast road to hell are loaded down with sin and it takes a broad highway to accommodate them. Sin is not allowed in heaven because God cannot tolerate sin; therefore those of us who desire to get to heaven my divest ourselves of sin. Because of our human nature, however, we cannot. This is why God manifested himself on the earth in the form of Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins and pay the penalty price that God demands for sin (death), so that we would not have to do so. To be truly saved is to be covered in the blood of Jesus. When you are covered in the blood God sees you as perfect, and thus you are ready to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you sin again (and we all do) God is just to forgive you, if you ask. Salvation is not a license to sin, and repeated offenses of sinning can cost you your reward in heaven (see 1 Corinthians 3:11-15). The narrow gate is found through the cross and the blood of Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes unto the Father, but by me." Jesus loves you.

Answer 11

From the world view we have a right do what ever we want , and we have a desire to do so , no matter who it hurt , we are a careless people now a day. A lot of us we end up in hell because we do not love the Lord or our brother or sister, in a way that please God. The world is fill with a form of Godliness. Jesus ask a question How do you know my disciple , is by the way they love one another. The pride in our heart keep us away from the way that Lord would have us to go.