Bible Study on Matthew 7, verses 12 to 14, few there be that find it

 

Matthew 7:12 ¶  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

 

We use the word strait today as a narrow body of water or a straitjacket which confines a person so they cannot harm themselves or others. The contrast in the passage between strait and narrow versus broad and wide should define it for us.

 

Verse 12 gives us the famous Golden Rule as a summation of the Law and the Prophets. The modern businessperson might use something they created called the Platinum Rule saying that you should do unto others as they want you to but that is pure rubbish and an artefact of Cultural Marxism. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is Godly and reasonable and doesn’t call for you to accept or encourage another’s sin like the Platinum Rule does.

 

Luke  6:31  And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

 

The popular version of this is “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

 

This is a fundamental expression of the emphasis of the Old Testament Law’s admonition to love one’s neighbor as oneself as we will see much later in Matthew.

 

Matthew 22:34 ¶  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it,

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

Here also is a fact that few will choose the free offer of salvation that only the God of the Bible can give.

 

In different contexts the sentiment that many are called but few chosen will be used twice in Matthew later on. And here we see God’s perfect will even though His permissive will allows that not all will be saved.

 

1Timothy 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

 

The way to God is exclusionary only inasmuch as an individual adult must receive Christ as their Saviour believing in His Resurrection and trusting in His righteousness and not their own for salvation. It is a narrow path and the vast majority of those who saw the light of day and grew to an age whereby they could understand to receive Christ as their Saviour will willingly descend into Hell.