Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter through the narrow gate! For spacious is the gate, and broad is the way leading unto the destruction, and many are the ones entering through it. For narrow is the gate, and being afflicted is the way, the one leading unto the life, and few are the ones finding it.” (A literal rendering of Matthew 7:13-14 from The New Greek English Interlinear New Testament, UBS 5^th Edition, Nestle – Aland, 28^th Edition)

A passage of scripture often used to impugn Universal Reconciliation, this admonition of our Lord seems easy to explain once we understand two facts about the passage: (1) there is nothing in it that says anything about eternal punishment and, (2) both gates lead into a city.

So, addressing the first: the word “destruction” is rendered such from the Greek apoleian, from the root apollumi, both of which W. E. Vine says, “The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of wellbeing.” An indication exists of a waste of something: the marring of the wineskins (Luke 5:37), the perishing of food (John 6:27), and gold’s perishing making faith in it a waste (1 Peter 1:7).

Right off the bat, we have a problem if we believe that those going through the wide gate are marching into hell and eternal perdition. The word destruction, Annihilationists will say, implies the obliteration of the wicked and it was exactly this claim that Vine was countering when he said that the Greek apoleian and its root apollumi refer to ruin or loss of wellbeing.

Apollumi is also rendered lost, as in the one sheep of 99, the ten lost coins, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the lost prodigal, all of which were not permanently gone. Used to describe those who are lost would indicate a waste of a life and as such, being cast into the lake of fire to be refined of everything that would hinder belief in the gospel and purified by the blood of the Lamb upon repentance, the individual falling to their knees and confessing joyfully that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9-10).

(See Apollumi, Lost in Translation for a discussion about the rendering of this Greek word)

(See The Refiners Fire for a discussion about the lake of fire.)

So, whether “lost”, “perished”, or “destroyed” these words carry a meaning of more permanence in English than their Greek counterparts seem to. Whatever word is used, there is nothing eternal about them other than the presupposition and biased interpretation of the translator.

The second fact mentioned above about this passage is that both gates lead into a city. I say this for two reasons: first, it was quite common for cities to be fortified with walls and gates during the time of Jesus and the apostles. Thus, we have references to the gate of the city, Nain (Luke 7:12), the Beautiful gate of the temple (Acts 3:10), the city gates of Damascus (Acts 9:24), the city gate of Philippi (Acts 16:13), outside the gate of Jerusalem (Hebrews 13:12). The mention of gates in scripture typically refer to gates of a city.

Next, the gates referenced in the passage itself lead to the same place. We are to enter through the narrow gate because entering through the wide gate leads to destruction [again, loss of wellbeing]. It leads to the corrective action of the lake of fire prior to entrance into the city, but all eventually enter it.

Consider the treatment of the Greek pule rendered here as “gates”:

HELPS Word-studies

Pule 4439 (a feminine noun) – a large door; an entrance-gate to a city or fortress; a door-gate.

From a root to turn (Curtius, p. 715), a gate (of the larger sort, in the wall either of a city or a palace; Thomas Magister (p. 292, 4):

That both destinations in the admonition are a city, there can be no doubt. The translation of the Greek pule makes thatclear. The only eschatological city that fits the scenario is the New Jerusalem. Jesus certainly is not telling us to enter Babylon by the narrow gate or any of the cities of the seven churches of Asia Minor.

The New Jerusalem

And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:27 KJV)

Called the tabernacle of God, the Holy City, the city of God, the celestial city, the city foursquare, and Heavenly Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem is said to be, literally, heaven on earth. It is symbolic of both the presence and promises of God. The key here is that nothing that defiles, nothing that works abomination, or lies will enter into this magnificent city. So, those entering by either gate – narrow or wide – must have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Those entering through the narrow gate have been washed when they were converted in this life. Those entering through the wide gate will do so after they suffer corrective action by God in the life to come.

I spent many years reading into the scriptures an eternal punishment that just wasn’t there. My presupposition of eternal conscious torment blinded me to the real message of this and other passages that contain information about God’s punishment and ultimate restoration of the wicked. Don’t allow the same to happen to you any longer.