Rethink - Bible translation fail: Matthew 7:13-14 - the narrow gate

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.
Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.

The narrow door/gate comes up more than once in Jesus' teachings. We previously examined this as found in Lk. 13:23-30. But before we examine this Scripture, let's take a quick detour back to Luke first:

Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 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.’

26 “Then you will say, `We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, `I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 “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. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Here, Jesus was directly asked about salvation: Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?

We can say with certainty that this someone who questioned Him was not asking about gentiles. Jews considered the salvation of God to be for Israel only. So the question is a Jewish question. "Jesus, you have been preaching a new way, and we don't understand. Please explain. Are only a few of us going to be saved?"

The questioner was probably catching on to the idea that this gospel Jesus was preaching meant that not every Jew was going to be saved. This would be a startling revelation to the typical Jew, who would consider himself to be part of the chosen nation as a son of Abraham.

Jesus answered him, that the door is narrow, and many will try and fail to enter. Who are these that fail to enter? We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets. He was talking to and about Jews. They are friends, neighbors, and even associates, yet Jesus never knew them.

Jesus' countrymen will be told that He did not know them.

And crucially, He goes on to explain that from every corner of the earth the "last" (that is, the gentiles) will take their places at the feast, and Israel (the "first") will be the last.

Jesus tells us something that must have surprised His hearers: The most righteous-seeming Jews they knew of would not enter the Kingdom.

Mt. 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

 Ro. 9:6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 

So this was a teaching aimed at the Jews, who would largely reject Him and have their house left to them desolate (Mt. 23:38).

***

So we discover that Jesus was not explaining that only a few would be saved, which is the premise we want to extend to our subject Scripture, Mt. 7:13-14. We see the narrow gate once again:

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

What happens with this passage is one of the main reasons we embarked on our Doctrinal Rethink. We began to see that too often the Bible translators don't translate words correctly, which leads us to false doctrines and false teaching.

"Narrow" (the narrow gate) in verse 13 is stenos, which the NIV translators correctly render. But "narrow" (narrow the road) in the next verse is a different Greek word, thlibó, to press, afflict... I make narrow (strictly: by pressure); I press upon, (b) I persecute, press hard. To translate both words as "narrow" implies Jesus was describing the same thing, but He wasn't. The word thlibó carries a completely different thought. 

Some translations convey the thought better:

ESV For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

NKJV Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

NLT: "But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it."

CSB: "How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it."

The crux of our thesis is that Jesus is particularly talking about a difficult, afflicted road. And, the two words translated “narrow” in verse by the NIV are two different Greek words.

We think the NIV translators engage in an egregious mistranslation of the word, which changes the whole meaning.

The interlinear rendering is a little better, rendering the word "compressed:" 

13 Enter through the narrow gate, for wide the gate and broad the way leading to destruction and many are those who are entering through it. 14 For small the gate and compressed the way leading to life and few are those finding it.

Bur even that rendering does not convey the stark teaching of Jesus. As we just saw, the narrow road (thlibó) is the way of affliction and trouble. The narrow road is a difficult way, a journey that requires steadfastness and faith. But the broad way is easy and has no obstacles. 

Jesus gives reassurance for those who choose the afflicted road. Jn. 16:33:

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

So we would say that Matt. 7:13-14 teaches the same thing as Lk. 13:23-30 - - it's not about just a few being saved. Jesus is speaking to His contemporaries, He is addressing His audience; they are the ones who only a few are choosing the afflicted road. The "few" are those Jews who believed. 

Few are those...  "Are" is eiemi, the present tense. Few of His fellow Jews are traveling through the narrow door.

This is not a verse about a small remnant being saved at the Last Day, as many believe. Otherwise, how could Jesus claim:

Mt. 7:7-8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

The door will be opened for every single person who knocks. The issue is not many were knocking. But everyone who knocks gains entry. 

Jesus' heart was first for His people, the Jews, and they were rejecting Him. This is how we should understand the passage.