Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV) “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
As Jesus nears the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), He describes a series of choices His listeners must make. The first is between the narrow gate which opens to a more difficult path and the wide gate which opens to the easy path. While this analogy is purposefully simple, it carries several layers of meaning.
In part, Jesus is referring to those who will continue to follow the teaching of Israel’s religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees. Their legalistic teaching about the Law required from Israelites no change of heart, only outward, self-promoting obedience to a long list of rules. This is “easier,” in a sense, because it only requires a person to pretend to be righteous. Jesus warned His followers that this was a too-easy road that would ultimately lead to eternal destruction. The alternative, given in verse 14, is a path that requires more submission and leads to a seemingly tougher experience. But the end destination of that gate is eternal life.
In verse 14 Matthew uses a different Greek word for “narrow”. Here the Greek term “thlibo” (2567) is used. This word carries a broader meaning than the Greek word used for “narrow in verse 13 (stenos) which simply means small or narrow. The original Greek word in verse 14 carries a meaning of pressed upon, persecuted, distressed, or troubled.
Once one repents and is baptized into the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) one steps onto the narrow road and that road often passes through trouble, distress, and persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. This doesn’t always mean major persecution, like we read about in Scripture, though it sometimes does. But those who enter onto the narrow road will, at different times, experience some level of persecution.
But the narrow road does not lead to persecution. Much like the valley of the shadow of death the psalmist passed through in Psalm 23, we pass through persecution along the narrow road, but it is not the final destination. The final destination for those who enter through the narrow gate and travel the narrow road is eternal life with Christ Jesus.
But for those who enter through the wide gate and travel down the broad road, they may have easy travels until they reach the end of the road. And at the end of that broad road is eternal destruction, eternal separation from God. The narrow gate, though, opens to the hard way of following Jesus. This gate is “narrow” because there is only a single means of salvation, which is Christ. And only a single means of entry, baptism by immersion into the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). And the path will not always be easy because those of us who are committed and not just involved, those of who are “ALL IN” will be persecuted. But it is the way committed followers of Christ must travel.