The Narrow Door of Salvation

Most of what we call parables of salvation are obvious parables. The parable of the narrow door, recorded in Luke 13:22–30, should probably be called a borderline parable, if it is one at all. I mean that it is not truly a story. It is more a response of Jesus to a question He was asked. He answered by an illustration that became a story, though it did not start out to be one. Jesus was asked whether only a few people would be saved, and He responded by telling His questioner, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (v. 24). He then told how the owner of the house was going to get up and close the door, and created some dialogue to go along with the setting.

The reason for considering that amplified illustration as a parable is that it is an important picture of our Lord’s teaching about salvation and thus occurs in many places, even as a part of other parables. The Sermon on the Mount has a similar illustration. As the Lord came to the end of that address He admonished His listeners, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:13–14). In that passage, the narrow door is contrasted with a broad one, and a broad and a narrow path are added to the basic image.

The same idea occurs toward the end of Matthew in the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. There the bridegroom comes, and the door is shut. No amount of crying on the part of the foolish maidens gets the bridegroom to open the door again (Matt. 25:1–13). The image is also found in John in the portrait of the sheep and their shepherd: “I am the door of the sheep,” and “I am the door” (John 10:7, 9).

Of those varied settings in which the illustration of the narrow door occurs, none is as interesting as that of Luke 13. The reason is the question that begins the section: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” I do not know what kind of an answer you might have expected the Lord to give to that question if you had been there, but I imagine you would have expected a simple yes or no. “Are only a few people going to be saved? Well, what is it, Lord? Is it going to be few or many? Tell us. We want to know.”

But Jesus did not answer the question that way. The reason He did not is that it was mere theological speculation. As far as Jesus was concerned, the answer was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was whether the questioner himself would be among the number of the saved, whether small or large. So the Lord answered the question by not answering it. He said instead, “Your duty (and the part of wisdom) is to get through that door. You can worry about the size of the heavenly hotel later. Right now your exclusive and compelling concern should be to get through that door so you will be on the right side when it closes and judgment comes.”

That is what Jesus says to us also. That is the message of this parable. I break it down into three parts: 1. there is only one door, and it is a narrow one; 2. that door is now open, though it will one day close; and 3. our duty is to enter it.