“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
All of the teachings of Jesus could be summarized to this one teaching. But what the narrow gate actually means? Andy why Jesus said that only few will find it?
When we look at the modern Christianity and the main teachings, depending on different denominations of course, Christianity teaches that in order to obtain salvation, we need to believe in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift from God that can only be obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. The faith in Jesus Christ is of course very important, however this is the first step. There are also other steps that churches seems to forget to mention about. Why would that be? To answer this we would need to look at the brief history of the church.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Paul’s started to teach Gentiles, who were outside the covenant with God, that gave birth to Christianity. Jews were the original chosen nation, whom God made covenant with. Jews were following the Torah, the God’s Law and their interpretation of the Law or following the Law was often questionable. That is why Jesus’ main part of the ministry was to get into the heart of the Law and present it from the different angle so that they would come to God with their hearts rather than rituals. Paul started to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles which sparked some uneasiness among the Jews:
“ I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.” Romans 11: 11-14
Gentiles started to observe the Sabbath and the feasts, following the teachings of the Torah, however the division between the Jews and Gentiles started to be quite evident. The early Christianity followed the Law and teachings of Torah while also believing in Jesus, however Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and this only increased the division between the two faiths.
“If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Acts 11:17-18
In 321 AD, Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor, accepted Christianity as a main religion. Up until then, Roman empire was very much a pagan country following many different gods, however Constantine conversion sparked confusion and hostility towards Christianity. We could also question the sincerity of Constantine conversion. Constantine had a vision of the cross before the battle and a voice saying: “by this conquer”. Constantine decided to follow the vision and used cross as a symbol on the breastplates of his soldiers. He won the battle of Milvian Bridge, which was convincing to him to this conversion. He took it as a sign, but the decision came only through some sort of “gain”, rather that genuine willingness to be changed and be with God. Constantine was a devoted sun god worshiper, which he never truly dropped. People also didn’t have a choice, the conversion was forced unto them and for people it was difficult to fully drop their previous traditions completely. Therefore some of the pagan practices were incorporated into Christianity, some hidden under different labels… and this is how a mixture of Christian and pagan practices emerged.
Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe during the period known as the Dark Ages in the 11th century. This was truly a dark time for people, because they were forbidden to read the word for themselves but only relay on what the church was feeding them. And this is when the true power of the church emerged, that turned into political and economical manipulation. Church as an institution had a power over people and therefore many practices and doctrines that were outside the Bible couldn’t be questioned. Church started by be filled with greed, material gain and pride of the power it held.
When in 1539 people started having access to the Bible, this is when they started to wake up and their eyes started to open up. And that’s how new religious movement began, known as Protestant Reformation in the 16th century started. That movement led to the creation of Protestantism, a branch of Christianity and the division of the church. Martin Luther, a theology professor, posted a thesis where he expressed concerns about Catholic Church practices that were outside the Bible. The Reformation led to the rejection of Catholic Church doctrines that weren’t directly mentioned in the Bible. It also resulted in the reformulation of some basic Christian beliefs. And that’s how many more branches of Christianity started to occur.
When we look at the Christianity today (with Christianity containing different denominations), it actually consist of 31.6% of global population in 2022:
This shows that Christianity is a dominant religion in the world right now. Why then Jesus said that this would be the narrow gate? If the belief in Jesus is enough, all those people should be accepted to the Kingdom of God, why then “only a few find it.”
To answer quickly, because the modern Christianity is mixed with lies, therefore not 100% based on the truth that God requires.
When you think that the enemy Satan is the ruler of this world, do you think that Satan would allow for Christianity to be dominant religion and for majority of people to be accepted to the Kingdom of God? The answer is no, that is why Satan very early on started to sow tares into the faith and mixing truth with lies. As soon as Jesus died and was resurrected, Satan made sure the truth wouldn’t be fully out in the open and started his work. Have you ever wondered why there are so many different denominations since there is one Bible? Andy why modern Christianity focuses on the teachings of Paul in the New Testament over the words of God in the Old Testament? And why everyone is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ since not everyone believes? Those questions you need to ask yourself early on and come to conclusions that you will not get the truth from the church unfortunately. You have to understand that the church has been tainted long, long time ago and the teachings have been strategically placed so that people would not come to the full truth.
So what do you do when you actually realize that modern Christianity is not based on the truth?
The first and obvious answer is to go back to the Bible and read it from the start, from the first book of Genesis. In order to understand God you need to understand the beginning. Read the Bible for yourself and pray to the Holy Spirit for understanding of the scripture. Don’t relay on people, pastors feeding you knowledge because this is how you can accidently absorb false teachings or wrong understanding. You have to be able to unlearn everything you have learnt at the church and treat is as a new religion. What God really wants from us? What was about the old covenant? Why sacrifice was needed? What about sacrificing Jesus? Treat is as a new project, read every book and study your understanding. You will then understand why the Law was never abolished, you will believe in the words of God more over the teachings of the church, why Israel was failing God and why God will save Israel regardless… everything will be much clearer. With that in mind, you will also understand what God also requires of us.
So what God requires of us?
When Jesus was on earth he was teaching from Torah, however he summarized the Law into two commandments: love God with all your heart and all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself – where in the 10 commandments we can find it? Well this is actually from the Torah:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5
When we look at the 10 commandments, we can see that the first 4 commandments focuses on God, therefore this can be a summary of the love towards God:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15
The second commandment Jesus gave was to love your neighbor as yourself, which can also be found in Torah:
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:18
This is also summaries in the 10 commandments from the 5th to the 10th commandment. That is why Jesus, instead of listing all, mentioned those two as the main commandments, which are not actually listed in the 10 commandments but are found in Torah, highlighting that we should not forget about the Law. I have also explained the importance of following the Law in my other posts.
Another important aspect that God requires from us is repentance. Repentance is required in order to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repentance brings you back to God.
What God really wants from us is to come back to him, acknowledge our wrongdoings, repent and this is where He will bless us with the gift of the Holy Spirit and other spiritual gifts that come with the Holy Spirit. God does not require anything physical from us, only honesty and integrity:
“For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.” Psalm 51 :16-17
“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So tear your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.” Joel 2: 12-13
God asks us to tear our hearts and not our garments, leave anything physical and return to him with your hearts while there is still time. There will be a time where it will be too late to come back to God and too late to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the time to fully repent, give your heart to God and then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What about the works that some denominations preach about? Should we just relax and believe in Jesus? Should we work for the salvation?
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” James 2:14-22
Does that mean we should all go and preach? Of course not, not everyone is here to preach or to prophesy, however the gifts of the Holy Spirit are distributed across people in different areas. We are not obliged to all start preaching to people, however as possible in our own abilities to share the message in the way we can:
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:6-8
Therefore you are not justified by works and you cannot obtain salvation through works, however you can’t be a passive Christian if you have the gift of the Holy Spirit. The works and love towards God and God’s commandments is a fruit of the spirit, is just a natural progression from changed heart.
You need to “take up your cross” – what does that actually mean?
“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Luke 9:23-25
This is where we have to deny ourselves, our passions, dreams, goals, pleasures and hobbies. This is the part where you realize it’s not about you, it’s not about your life, because:
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2: 20-21
When you look at the state of modern Christianity and how people live, can you really say all those people with the label Christian can be saved based on the faith in Jesus? As the scripture says – “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Therefore the cost of the narrow gate means going against the current, going against the masses. Not only the world but also questioning modern Christianity. It’s the cost of detaching yourself from the world and detaching any importance previously put on the world. It’s a life filled with the Holy Spirit and cultivating the fruits of the spirit as well as practicing spiritual discipline, going against the trends and against the pressure of people. It’s a cost of realizing that this world is designed to take you away from God, not to help you get closer to God, because the ruler of this world is an enemy of God. That is why you really have to go back to the truth, to the Bible and not be afraid to detach yourself, even if that would mean criticism from people and family. This is the road that leads to life.
By Dagmara Z.