Lord, will only a few be saved?

Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He replied, “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail." Luke 13:22-24

When reading this exchange, the narrow door has been prominent in my mind. Until this morning, I didn't think of the question, whether it was a good or fair one, or what the intent of the person asking. My bible commentaries mostly frame it with that perspective and have opened up a new way to think about it for me:

Do they not but too plainly perceive that it is something, which they have no disposition to do, and is not this the secret of their fault-finding? -W. Nevins, D. D.

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Silence of Scripture on irrelevant questions

Thus, a Government sends forth a colonist; hut gives him just information enough to enable him to perform his particular work. A general charges an inferior officer with a special duty; but here, too, there is silence as to whatever does not belong to this duty. To enlarge the official directions given in either case, so as to include all the knowledge the superior may possess, would perplex the agent and withdraw his attention from that which concerned his work to that which did not concern it. And if we are to expect such silence in a parent’s dealings with a child, and in a Government’s dealing with a subaltern, how much more reason have we to expect it in the dealings of God with man! God knows all things, and endures from eternity to eternity! Man comes into the world knowing nothing, lives at the best a life which endures for a few years, and in this short life is charged with the momentous work of preparing for the eternity to come. Silence, then, on all irrelevant questions is what we would expect in the revelation of an all-wise God, and of the irrelevancy He is the sole Judge. -Biblical Illustrator

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Since, then, God is just, He will make none miserable farther than they deserve; since He is good, He will both pardon and reward in such degree as is fit; and since He is wise, what appears disorder and confusion to our short sight will appear in the end perfect regularity and proportion. But why was our nature formed so liable to fall short of it, in the sad degree that we often do? -BI

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REFUSE TO GRATIFY THE QUERIST’S CURIOSITY, AND RETURN AN ANSWER ENTIRELY PRACTICAL that it was not the business of mankind to pry into what God had hid, but mind what He had revealed, and to master another kind of difficulty, that of fulfilling His commands; that multitudes indeed, who professed religion, would finally appear to have professed it in vain. -BI

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The number of the saved

A natural question to any one who thinks seriously of the destiny of human life.

1. Probably prompted in this instance merely by curiosity. This Jew, educated from childhood under a creed in which the most rigid aspects of the doctrine of election were taught, came to Christ in the hope that he might get some authoritative statement of the mystery of predestination from this One whom he regarded as a prophet of God. Christ replies, “Strive,” &c. Whether there be few or many saved is no business of yours; what you have to do is to make your own calling and election sure; that cannot be accomplished by indulging in idle speculations about other people, but by struggling yourself with your whole energy, to enter into and be within the narrow door that leads to salvation. Not easy work, but difficult; not a question about your opinions, but a question of action. Agonize as wrestler, and be content with nothing but admittance.

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THE SPECULATIVE TENDENCY OF THE MIND IS ANOTHER BROAD ROAD TO FORMALISM. The philosophic formalist is like a man standing on the bank of a stream, whose passage is his only salvation; but he has no thought of crossing. He is engaged in calmly trying the depth of the channel at different points. He surveys the scenery of the opposite shore with a critical eye. He measures the swiftness of the current, and carefully estimates its force per cubic foot. He notes the colour and density of the water, and asks with considerable interest about how many make the crossing safely. All this information he shuts away in his note-book, and seems rather well content with the result. It would seem farcical if it were not sadly true that multitudes of men and women, in our own day, imagine this to be religion; or more exactly, they live and die in the hope that through these processes of inquiry they are drawing nearer to a rational faith. The progress of the intellectual formalist is a sheer delusion, tie only circles round and round the holy mystery. He is ever learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.

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3. The gate is not only one gate, and narrow, but a deadly effort is required to pass it. Strive to enter in. A better word would be “agonize.” Agonize to enter in at the strait gate. -J. B. Clark.

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agōnizomai

ag-o-nid'-zom-ahee

From G73; to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or generally (to endeavor to accomplish something): - fight, labor fervently, strive.

Total KJV occurrences: 7

--Strongs

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Thayer Definition:

1) to enter a contest: contend in the gymnastic games

2) to contend with adversaries, fight

3) metaphorically to contend, struggle, with difficulties and dangers

4) to endeavour with strenuous zeal, strive: to obtain something

--Thayer

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Strive

Used only by Luke and Paul, except Joh_18:36. Originally to contend for a prize in the public games; and thus conveying a sense of struggle. The kindred noun, ἀγωνία, agony, is used of Christ's struggle in Gethsemane (Luk_22:44). Compare 1Ti_6:12; 2Ti_4:7. -Vincent's Word Studies

Me: No surprise here--agonize is very much a Paul-sounding word. Faith is a verb that requires engagement, struggle, agony. Looking through the Timothy passages, it lends evidence to Paul as the author.

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Many fail to find their gate because they are looking for the grandly difficult rather than the humbly difficult. -T. T. Lynch.

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Or take the account which the Scriptures give of what a Christian ought to practise. Is it not a constant warfare, a continual effort, to mortify the flesh, to renounce the world, and to resist the devil? It is when we fail, to renew the contest; when we faint, to recover strength; when we succeed, still to press forward; to seek ever more and more excellent gifts; and to run as in a race, every day of our lives, unto the very hour of death, that we may win the prize. Is this a hard saying? Is this view of our duty as Christians difficult and discouraging? It may be so. But the question is not whether it be a difficult one, but whether it be the true one. Could it be the true one, unless it were difficult? Could any view of the way to be saved be correct, unless it pointed to a narrow path, to a strait gate, and bid us strive, in order to enter in? -C. Girdlestone, M.A.

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Lessons:

1. Christ ever raised the practical above the theoretical. So should we.

2. Christ ever raised the spiritual above the secular. So should we.

3. Christ ever raised the substance above the form.

4. Christ here reveals the reason of men’s aversion to true godliness.

5. Christ here plainly declares the irretrievable misery to which such aversion inevitably leads. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

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Would He address such language as this to the sinner if there were no difficulties in his way, or if He expected to remove them all Himself? By no means. The truth is, God does not propose to take one of these difficulties out of the way. He simply offers to help the sinner to overcome them.