"Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard,and there are few people who find it. " (Lk 13.24)

Can someone tell me
What is " the narrow gate " ? And
Why "few people find it " ? And
How to "find it " ?

Thank you all in advance !

Blue Letter Bible - Commentaries

Just one interpretation;

I always thought it meant to lead a life of [the cardinal ] vitrtue vs one marked by [ the seven deadly ] sin.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"

He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'

But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'

Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'

But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'

There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
As long as you are still alive you have a chance to turn to Christ, (Those who are last will be first). And some who have always been with Christ will turn away from Him and follow false prophets (Those who are first will be last). But if you are a Christian, like the last group, you always have a chance to repent and return to Christ.

The line "and few find it." Few people will find heaven because they choose to follow false teachers instead of the one true God.

Jesus spoke in terms people of that time would understand,

They had walled cities, and the city would have a main large gate, and there would be major roads leading to it, maybe even have signs. So you could find that road. But often there would be smaller gates in the side or back parts of the city, some only large enough for a person to walk though, not bring a cart in. They may open into a side street of surrounding village, or they may be only found by a small foot path.

So as he told this story, people then could see in their minds the gates. And the walk ways and understood.

My answer was deleted. Maybe I was wrong.

The comparison of the gates is a metaphor on how individuals may find peace and happiness(heaven).

The wide gate signifies how most people proceed... seeking happiness down the wide road of satisfying the ego or sating the senses or whatever... the narrow gate is the road of seeking enlightenment and wisdom and spirituality.

The wide gate is the road to destruction (hell). This signifies that there will be lots more people lost to hell than there will be people saved to heaven. Because the people who will enter the gate of heaven are the followers of the teachings of Christ. Most people want to take the easy road in life and follow the teachings of false prophets. People whose teachings are not right but very easy to fit into our self-centered lives. Getting to heaven may not seem easy to some, but it sure is worth the effort.

The narrow gate is the life that is committed to obedience to Christ. The life that chooses to obey Him even when those around you do not. The life that chooses to obey Christ even when our senses and the "facts" cry out for us to self-preserve. The life that chooses to obey Christ even if it means humilitiation in the eyes of the world. Obedience in the face of trials and tribulations and believes and perseveres in the midst of a culture that denies the existence and reality of the One True God. This is the narrow gate and few find it because it means dying to my rights and choosing to obey even when I am inconvenienced and it seems like my life will end if I obey. This is the narrow gate that few choose to go through. It is death to self.

... few there be that find it.

Choux: saying and being are two different things.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pmh383388

"Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard,and there are few people who find it. " (Lk 13.24)

Can someone tell me
what is " the narrow gate " ? and
why "few people find it " ? and
how to "find it " ?

Thank you all in advance !

---

It is much easier for us to live our lives the way we want to live it and hard for us to live our life the way God expects us to live it. But if we can overcome our want and way in doing things then we have done the hard thing... walked the hard road. Not many people will choose to walk the hard road and because of it, the road they choose to take will not lead to the gate of life, but rather will lead to hell's gate.

The narrow gate represents the true Religion.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dark_crow

The narrow gate represents the true Religion.

---

Can I ask you what you mean by 'true religion', do you mean following the word of God and God only? Having Jesus Christ as your Savior? Because this is 'true religion."
Doing God's will is true religion. And by doing God's will He will guide our lives through the narrow gate, away from the road to destruction.

May be it's not a real 'gate', but may be it is. None of us will know until the judgement day. But whether it is a real gate or not it has a very real meaning. Fewer souls are going to be saved than are going to destruction. The road to destruction is wide.

Donna Mae

I mean that to find the gate requires a diligent study of the Holy Bible, and that Christendom (An allegiance between Christianity and Government), despite its many religions, has not entered the narrow gate. With Pontifex Maximus, an apostate Christianity came into favor with the political government, it became more and more a part of this world, of this secular system, and drifted away from the teachings of Jesus Christ; resulting in false doctrines and practices—the Trinity, immortality of the soul, hellfire, purgatory, prayers for the dead, use of rosaries, icons, images, and the like.—Compare 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. A Christian must have no part….

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dark_crow

—Compare 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. A Christian must have no part….

---

So very true Dark_crow.

This can be interpreted in many ways it will depend on the individual ,their up bringing and which ever following that they belong to, so let's make it easy...

In laymens terms:- when we are young and growing up we generally have no worries are parents watch out for us, feed clothe and protect us from all manner of nasty things in the world.
We know no fear, apart from things that may develop as a child but they are soon forgotten as we learn and grow in the safe hands of our family.

Time passes we become more independent no longer relying totally on our parents but exploring what life has to offer- the world is our oyster - but at this point life could be extremely dangerous for one so impressionable and so young.

You will now realize that to have anything in life you have to earn it by means of working,
Should you decide against this then your only option is to acquire the things you need for daily life by dishonest means, for which when caught you will be punished, so...

Do you do the decent thing which is how your parents have raised you, find a job with which comes respect and dignity to pay your way in life, maybe find some good fortune along the way... or

Do you listen to maybe a mate , a friend of a mate, the guy sniffing whatever around in the back alley who just happens to have on the latest gear and is driving a car to die for who offers you a chance beyond your wildest dreams, no more getting up at some ungodly hour to open a shop maybe that you hate working at... but it does pay the bills.


My first answer demonstrates the narrow gate that you speak of... honest ,descent and good, a very hard path to follow should you fall on hard times in you life and most of us do, but we always get up and carry on feeling proud of our achievement at the end of each day... The right pathway

My second answer demonstrates the wide gate you also refer to... when you are at that time in your life where you have no money, no food, maybe no roof above your head then it will be this gate that will beckon you tempting you to that back alley that bloke with the fancy clothes and sporty number that you'd just love to drive and after all you'll tell yourself it's not going to hurt anyone, just the once or it's just until I get back on my feet... that's when your caught temptation for all the things a young person wants starting in life will be too much... don't do it... This pathway is the wrong one

This has always been my interpretation of the narrow and wide gate

Meaning that the easiest is not always the best

The idea of the gate was a comparison to the gates in the City of Jerusalem. It is also used in the story of getting a camel though the "eye of a needle" the eye of the needle was also a very small gate that was not on the normal road of travel

So when using the word gate, it was a reference to things that people of those day could understand and would have automatically known.

The term of a freeway or interstate and a local road may have been a term used today.

So the idea is that for people to enter a large gate was easy, but the small gate was hard to fit though, in fact a camel would have to be on its knees to fit though

So it is saying that salvation was not easy, that salvation was not the path most people take, and from reading posts on here we see how easy that is to see. People want by nature to do their own things, ( their own path) but the path that Jesus demands is not the easy one

In the final revelation of ALMIGHTY GOD, THE QURAN, tells us about heaven and hell and it's rewards and punishments respectively. The last prophet who came after jesus, Mohammed told us that hell has 7 gates whereas heaven has 8 gates, also mohammed told us that when God (Allah, in arabic) created Heaven, He asked Angel Gabriel to go and take a look at it. So he went and looked at the Paradise and at all that Allah had prepared for its inhabitants. Then he said: "O My Lord! By Your Honor, No one who hears about this place would stay away from it."

Then Allah surrounded the Paradise by difficulties and hardships and asked Jibreel again to go and take another look. Jibreel went again and after looking at it came back and said: "O My Lord! By Your Honor, I am afraid now that no one will be able to enter it." Then after Allah created the Hell, He asked Jibreel to go and take a look. When Jibreel came back he said: "O My Lord! By Your Honor, no one who hears about it will ever enter it." Then Allah surrounded the Hell by all kinds of lusts and desires and asked Jibreel to take another look. This time after looking at it Jibreel said: "O My Lord! By Your Honor, I am afraid that no one will be able to avoid it."

And the way to avoid the narrow gate of hell and to enter heaven is to obey and worship the one ALMIGHTY GOD alone with no partners, and the way to do that is to read ALMIGHTY GOD's final revelation the quran, believe in it and to follow it, any queations, email me at [email protected]