Matthew 7:14

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. BECAUSE STRAIT IS THE GATE, AND NARROW IS THE WAY, WHICH LEADETH UNTO LIFE (IN OTHER WORDS, THE WHOLE COURSE IS AS DIFFICULT AS THE FIRST STEP); AND (SO IT COMES TO PASS THAT) FEW THERE BE THAT FIND IT. The recommendation of the broad way is the ease with which it is trodden and the abundance of company to be found in it. It is sailing with a fair wind and a favourable tide. The natural inclinations are not crossed, and fears of the issue, if not easily hushed, are in the long run effectually subdued. The one disadvantage of this course is its end-it "leadeth to destruction." The Great Teacher says it, and says it as "One having authority." To the supposed injustice or harshness of this He never once adverts. He leaves it to be inferred that such a course righteously, naturally,...

12-14 Christ came to teach us, not only what we are to know and believe, but what we are to do; not only toward God, but toward men; not only toward those of our party and persuasion, but toward men in general, all with whom we have to do. We must do that to our neighbour which we ourselves acknowledge to be fit and reasonable. We must, in our dealings with men, suppose ourselves in the same case and circumstances with those we have to do with, and act accordingly. There are but two ways right and wrong, good and evil; the way to heaven and the way to hell; in the one or other of these all are walking: there is no middle place hereafter, no middle way now. All the children of men are saints or sinners, godly or ungodly. See concerning the way of sin and sinners, that the gate is wide, and stands open. You may go in at this gate with all your lusts about you; it gives no check to appetit...

Verse Matthew 7:14. _BECAUSE STRAIT_ IS _THE GATE_] Instead of οτι _because_, I should prefer τι _how_, which reading is supported by a great majority of the best MSS., _versions_, and _fathers_. How _strait is that_ gate! This mode of expression more forcibly points out the difficulty of the way to the kingdom. How strange is it that men should be unwilling to give up their worldly interests to secure their everlasting salvation! And yet no interest need be abandoned, but that which is produced by _injustice_ and _unkindness_. Reason, as well as God, says, such people should be excluded from a place of blessedness. He who shows no _mercy_ (and much more he who shows no _justice_) shall have judgment without mercy. James 2:13....

ENTER YE IN AT THE STRAIT GATE - Christ here compares the way to life to an entrance through a gate. The words “straight” and “strait” have very different meanings. The former means “not crooked;” the latter, “pent up, narrow, difficult to be entered.” This is the word used here, and it means that the way to heaven is “pent up, narrow, close,” and not obviously entered. The way to death is open, broad, and thronged. The Saviour here referred probably to ancient cities. They were surrounded with walls and entered through gates. Some of those, connected with the great avenues to the city, were broad and admitted a throng; others, for more private purposes, were narrow, and few would be seen entering them. So, says Christ, is the path to heaven. It is narrow. It is not “the great highway” that people tread. Few go there. Here and there one may be seen - traveling in solitude and singularity...

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 7:1 (2) As anxiety about the things of this life hinders us Godwards (Matthew 6:19), so does censoriousness manwards (Matthew 7:1), our Lord thus tacitly opposing two typically Jewish faults. Censoriousness—the personal danger of having it (Matthew 7:1, Matthew 7:2), its seriousness as a sign of ignorance and as a hindrance to spiritual vision (Matthew 7:3), even though there must be a r

BECAUSE STRAIT IS THE GATE, AND NARROW IS THE WAY,.... And so, difficult to enter in at; and when entered, the way is unpleasant to the flesh to walk in, being hedged up on each side with afflictions and tribulations; and moreover, is like the "narrow place", or στενος τοπος, "the strait place", as the Septuagint in Numbers 22:26 render it; in which the angel that met Balaam stood; and in which there was no turning to the right hand or the left; and such is the way to eternal happiness. The great encouragement to walk on in it is, because it is that way WHICH LEADETH UNTO LIFE: unto eternal life: it certainly leads thither; it never fails of bringing persons to it; believers in Christ, all that walk in Christ the way, though they are said to be "scarcely" saved, by reason of their afflictions and trials, they meet with in their way to the kingdom; yet they a

While we are reading, let us also be adoring at the same time, for the. words of Christ have a gracious divinity about them; they are infinite; they are omnipotent. There is a kind of life in them; a life which communicates itself to those who hear them. Our Saviour did not preach sermons: he preached texts; all his sermons are full of golden sentences, not hammered gold leaf, like those of men, but they are ingots of solid gold, and the gold of that land is good, the most fine gold; there is none like it. Thus he preaches in the seventh chapter of Matthew. Matthew 7:1. _Judge not that ye be not judged._ Set not up for critics, especially in the act of worship. Probably there. is no greater destroyer of profit in the hearing of the word than is the spirit of carping criticism. Mat

MATTHEW 7:14 ti, {B} Besides having wide external support the reading ti, also has strong internal probabilities in its favor. There is no reason why the familiar o[ti, if original, should have been altered to ti,, used here to represent the Semitic exclamation hm' (“how!” compare Psalms 139:17). 16 On the other hand, copyists who did not perceive the underlying Semitism would have been tempted to assimilate ti, to the preceding o[ti of ver....

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Judgment of Righteousness.(Matthew 7:1 .) 2. Warning against False Prophets.(Matthew 7:15 .) 3. Warning against False Professors. (Matthew 7:21 .)_ The chapter which follows contains the last words of the great discourse of our Lord. The contents of this chapter are very instructive and form a most fitting end of the declaration of the King. The first few verses contain a warning against judging. We have in the beginning of the chapter something which is altogether different from the last section of the sixth chapter. There we saw the heir of the Kingdom in the midst of the world, how he is to trust in and depend on the Father and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, h

EPILOGUE. Warnings and exhortations close the new Law, like the old (Exodus 23:20 ff.). MATTHEW 7:13 F. THE TWO GATES AND THE TWO WAYS (Luke 13:24). The picture is based on Jeremiah 21:8, and is frequent in Jewish and Christian writings. The way that leads to life (the word has eschatological force) involves difficulties and tribulation (_cf._ Acts 14:22). MATTHEW 7:15. FRUIT THE TEST OF PROFESSION. Lk. ...