What About the Narrow Way?

An extremely common objection to the optimistic view of Postmillennialism (the view that the Gospel will be victorious in the conversion of mankind and that the world will be largely converted by the second advent) is the passage that speaks of the narrow way. The assumption made in this objection is that this passage speaks of an extremely limited number of mankind that will actually be saved in the scope of history. This text is used in a prophetically biased way that applies this text to all of mankind for all of time.

I think that if we examine this passage carefully, we will see that it is actually better proof for a Postmillennial view. First, let's look at the main passage:

Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. "When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from,' "then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' "But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. "They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. - Luk 13:23-29

A parallel passage also exists in Matthew 7:13-14. For the sake of space we will only examine the passage in Luke as it contains more information. However, I think the same argument could be made in Matthew if careful reading of the text is done.

First, let recognize that a question is posed to Jesus: “Are there few who are saved?” Many translations render this something in terms of what appears to be the future, yet the passage seems to be more concerned with the way things are at the moment the question is asked. The argument doesn’t hinge on this observation, but it's worth mentioning. The important thing to notice is that Jesus is being asked a question regarding the number of saved individuals.

Jesus answers the question by using the (now) well known image of a narrow gate. He goes on to tell them that there are a group of people who will knock on the master's door after he has closed it. They claim to know the master, they have eaten in his company, he has walked in their streets; yet the master is sure that he doesn’t know them. Twice he confirms this, and the second time he labels them as workers of iniquity and banishes them to weeping and pain.

I think this testifies to the Jewishness of Jesus’ answer. Jesus isn’t talking about Gentiles, and he isn’t talking about people who were saved and “lost” their salvation. Jesus says “I do not know you,’ not, “I knew you but you left me…”

The narrow gate does not speak to the volume of those saved, it speaks to the exclusivity of the path. Nobody enters the master's house unless he opens the door. You cannot climb through a window, nor can you jump the fence. The Master alone has the ability to open the gate. And he will not open up to people He doesn’t know.

These strangers go on to explain that the Master has dined with them, and that He has taught in their streets. What people did Jesus dine with? Whose streets did he teach in? Jesus’ ministry was confined to Judea and the surrounding area and I think the people listening to this answer would have understood who Jesus was describing. These are workers of iniquity, not lost sheep. These were those which heard the Messiah preach the good news of the Kingdom, and yet rejected him. These are those who had profaned the temple and turned it into a den of thieves.

This is made perfectly clear when Jesus then says “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.”  Jesus isn’t mincing words here. He makes sure he uses thoroughly Jewish language in describing the patriarchs. The Master knows Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, these sorts of men are allowed to enter the Masters house. The contrast is that their fathers will be allowed in, but “yourselves thrust out.” The faithful are brought in, and the faithless are cast out.

Then the final zinger comes in:

“They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.” Jesus is now describing something else. He is switching from the people he described as workers of iniquity to a new group of people, people that come from all corners of the globe. These people are allowed into the Masters domain, the Kingdom of God alongside the faithful patriarchs. The version in Matthew 8 says many will come.

So, in summation, Jesus is asked “are there few that will be saved?” Jesus essentially answers, “Here and now? Yes. Of the Jews there are only a few that I know. However, in the future there will be many that come from all over the globe and they will populate the kingdom of God.” 

Are there few that were saved in the first century? Yes, they were few in number.

Are there few that are saved for all time? No, many will come and fill the kingdom of God.