NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SEVEN

Part III (con’t)

Verse 14: But our Lord wanted them to know what was at the end of this narrow path. “But the gate that opens the way to true life is narrow. And the road that leads there is hard to follow. Only a few people comprehend its true meaning.”

Here Jesus draws a line between why God’s people live and act the way they do, and how selfish people live and respond the way they do. Those who adhere to the teachings of Jesus are on the right path. He defines that opening to this path as having a narrow gate, while the gate to the road uncaring people travel is wide. This is a metaphor for identifying the number of those who actually go through these gates. One reason for the confined space on the pathway and the narrow gate at the end may also be figures of speech to infer that when one is giving and caring, they tend to carry far fewer things with them through life, while those who have no time for others are weighed down with all the things they’ve accumulated and do not want to share it with anyone.

Years ago I attended a personal evangelism seminar in Amsterdam, Holland where an American leader of Christian outreach on college campuses calculated how to win the world for Christ with this formula: If each one of us present were to win two new converts to Christ, and then those two were to each win two more, for a total of four, and then those four each won two etc., etc., that we could win accomplish that goal before the year was over. I found that out-of-line not only with what Jesus says here, but the fact that no one is led to Christ and converted unless the Father chooses them and Jesus accepts them. The only thing we are responsible for is spreading the good news, then God through the Holy Spirit will take care of the rest when it comes to how many respond.

In the Scriptures we hear Wisdom say: “Leave your old, foolish ways and live! Advance along the path of understanding.”¹ Isaiah also sent out a call: “Evil people should stop living evil lives. They should stop thinking bad thoughts. They should come to the Lord again, and He will comfort them. They should come to our God because He will freely forgive them.”² Of course, the prophet was appealing mainly to those within Israel who had strayed from the true path.³ We also see a similar passage alluded to in the case of the soothsayer Balaam: “The angel of Adonai moved ahead and stood in a place so tight that there was no room to turn either right or left.”⁴ This of course was to signify that a decision had to be made of either going ahead or going back.

Even in David’s day he was forced to declare, “But everyone has gone the wrong way. Everyone has turned bad. No one does anything good. No, not one person!”⁵ And the prophet Isaiah points to God’s grace and mercy, “If the Lord All-Powerful had not allowed a few people to live, we would have been destroyed completely like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And that almost happened!”⁶ Solomon likens God’s path to “Wisdom”, and the world’s path to “Waywardness”. So he says that those who follow the world’s path, “Is a road to it leads straight to the grave.”⁷ This prompts him to further say: “There is a way that seems right to people, but that way leads only to death.”⁸

We find that Jesus’ teaching about this narrow way certainly echoes what Solomon said elsewhere: “Keep your eyes on the path, and look straight ahead. Make sure you are going the right way, and nothing will make you fall. Don’t go to the right or to the left, and you will stay away from evil.”⁹ But we don’t walk this narrow way alone, Isaiah tells us, “If you wander from the right path, either to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘You should go this way. Here is the right way.”¹⁰ The prophet explains later what this narrow way is called, “There will be a road there. This highway will be called ‘The Holy Road.’ Evil people will not be allowed to walk on that road. No fools will walk on it. Only good people will walk there.”¹¹

This led God to speak through the prophet Jeremiah, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask where the old road is. Ask where the good road is, and walk on that road. If you do, you will find rest for yourselves.”¹² In one discussion between Rabbis concerning the wisdom of their fellow Rabbis, one noted Rabbi said: “Go forth and see which is the good way to which a man should adhere…and which is the evil way which a man should shun.”¹³ Of course, this echoes what was said through Jeremiah: “And here is what you are to tell this people: ‘Adonai says: ‘Look! I am presenting you with the way of life and the way of death’.”¹⁴

The emphasis here was not necessarily just on the two ways, but the exercise of man’s will to do God’s will. In fact, in one apocryphal writing we find: “For there are two ways of good and evil, and with these are the two inclinations in our hearts discriminating them.”¹⁵ But now Jesus warns His listeners that not all voices will be encouraging them to follow the correct path. Even among the dedicated Jews there was the concept that the ways of Zion were followed by a thin line of true believers who were few in number. In a copy of Jewish verbal traditions one Rabbi asked: “What is the meaning of the verse, ‘When it concerns the scorners, He scorns them, but as to the humble He gives grace?¹⁶ Said Resh Lakish, “If a man comes to purify himself, they assist him; but if he comes to defile himself, they open the door for him. Because the Holy One, blessed be He, says, If a man repents I will set a crown upon him, because when it comes to the righteous, there are very few.”¹⁷ This shows that just as those among His listeners knew what the thinking was about those covered by the first covenant, so He wanted them to know the thinking about those covered by the new covenant. And since finding the narrow path was hard, our Lord sent out a warning.

Verse 15: “Be careful of false prophets. They come to you disguised as sheep. But underneath they are really dangerous wolves.”

There is no reason to think that Jesus was referring to non-Jewish or pagan prophets, but those who came in the name of Yeshua. Jesus had already had run-ins with them and disputed over the path to salvation through the Law and the road to salvation through grace. They are much like the cult leaders that have led so many astray down through the centuries. Moses warned of the same false prophets, “Don’t listen to them, because the Lord your God is testing you. He wants to know if you love Him with all your heart and all your soul. You must follow the Lord your God. Respect Him. Obey His commands and do what He tells you. Serve the Lord your God, and never leave Him.”¹⁸

Isaiah found the same problem in his day, “Their guides are leading them the wrong way, so those who follow them will be destroyed.”¹⁹ The prophet Jeremiah also had to put up with such misleading teachers, so the Lord sent him this word, “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Jeremiah, those prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or command them or speak to them. Their prophecies came from false visions, worthless magic, and their own wishful thinking. So this is what I, the Lord, say about the prophets who are speaking in my name. I did not send them.”²⁰ Also, when commenting on the Scripture that says: “When that day comes, each one of the prophets will be shamed by his vision when he prophesies. He will stop wearing a cloak made of camel’s hair in order to deceive people;” a highly respected Rashi noted: “So is the custom of those who entice or draw away the people, to wrap themselves with mantles as though they are righteous men in order that their lies be accepted.”²¹

So this practice of wearing a cloak of deception was already a phenomenon in Israel, used by false prophets when their visions did not come to pass as they prophesied. As one well-read Rabbi says: “There are some men who appear to be humble, and fear God in a deceitful and hypocritical way, but inwardly lay wait: this humility our wise men call , ‘wolfish humility’.”²² Over the years there have been many who came along as Christian teachers and leaders claiming to have a new light or revelation of God’s Word. Unfortunately, many people in the pew are so unfamiliar with God’s Word that anyone who seems to have a greater knowledge is accepted as being real, and they are unable to dispute anything they say. Jeremiah had to confront one of these prophets and told him, “Hananiah! The Lord did not send you.’”²³

Chrysostom may not only have had those whom Jesus warned against in His day in mind, but also some who were operation in his own era. We must keep in mind that this was Jesus’ teaching on how we should refrain from being judge and jury when critiquing our fellowman concerning their faults and failures; that we need to ask, seek and knock in order to find the wisdom and guidance necessary to deal with such issues. Our search will lead us to a narrow way contrasted by a broadway, and we should choose the narrow way because it leads to life everlasting. Walking the narrow way often requires that the seeker of wisdom and knowledge must put aside some things they brought with them in order to take hold of what they find.

Now Jesus warns that although we are on the narrow way, we may encounter those who try to persuade us differently than what He has told us about serving God in the beauty of divine righteousness and holiness. Chrysostom writes: “Behold, together with the dogs and swine another kind of ambush and conspiracy far more grievous than that will be encountered. For those [the dogs and swine] are recognized and easily spotted, but these are hidden in the shade. That is why, when He told His listeners to confront those who do their haranguing and harassing out in the open, but for this kind He charged them to watch out for with precise care, accepting the fact that they may not be see at first sight. That’s why when He said, “beware;” He intended to make us even more careful and alert as we watch out for them.”²⁴

Of course, this brings us then to acknowledgment that not all our opponents will be those who disagree with our teachings and doctrines to the point that they are willing to try and rip us apart or treat what we are saying as nothing more than the mud they are trampling in. In their minds, what we have to say deserves nothing more than to be treated with disrespect, leaving open the possibility and opportunity to try and tear down our character and reputation since they cannot destroy the word we deliver.

It is a warning that there will be some who come in like spies, planted among the brethren as lookouts and operatives to scout us out and make plans to bring us down. Not being any open and direct attack, but trying to redirect us to an exit off the path we are on, claiming it is a quicker route to our destiny. Also letting us know that we are carrying excess baggage that will not be needed on the road they will show us, while all the while claiming that this new direction leads to exactly the same destiny as the path we were following.

Not only are these wolves harder to spot, but we often seem less enthused and motivated to take them on for fear that we may ourselves be in the wrong, or that others in the fold may become discouraged because they don’t feel as threatened as we do with the false teachings they are bringing into the pen where the sheep gather. They can be compared to the worm-like larvae of the predatory ground beetle called, Epomis. These larvae entice amphibians, like frogs and toads, and then latch onto parts of their bodies. The larvae refuses to let go, feeding off the animal until it dies.

Or like the North American short-tailed shrew, Blarina brevicauda, that secretes venom from salivary glands in its lower jaw to paralyze prey. But the point of the paralysis is not to kill the prey, but to keep it alive for an extended period of time to allow for prolonged feeding. A tiny shrew can infect a mouse, for example, and then graze on it for days and days until it eventually succumbs to its physical injuries. They’ve also been observed to munch on immobilized meal-worms for up to 15 days. Shrews can eat their own body weight in earthworms, insects, nuts, and mice on a daily basis.

As such, Jesus is warning us about those who are not out to kill us or even for cancellation of our ministry, but to hang around until there is a weak moment of doubt, discouragement or despondency and then pounce when we are at our weakest point. That’s why we need to be observant and informed not only about our doctrine, but also about theirs.

Verse 16a: “You will know these people by the fruit they produce.”

Chrysostom has his view on what he sees as fruit produced by these counterfeit Christians. He writes: “By the metaphor here of “false prophets,” I think He is not speaking of those we call heretics, but it is a reference to those who live a corrupt life, while wearing a mask of virtue; whom the most people are prone to describe as impostors. That’s why Jesus states further: By their fruit ye shall know them. For amongst heretics one may often actually find goodness, but not among those I was just talking about, none at all. What can be said then, especially if we are told that even among heretics there are those who are as counterfeit as the others? I disagree, for such will be easily detected, since this is the way it works. For the way in which Christ commanded believers to walk, can be painful and irksome; but the hypocrite will not choose to deal with such pain, but do it for show only. As such, he is easily spotted. That’s why, inasmuch as Jesus said, ‘there will be few who find this narrow way,’ He thereby gets rid of those who claim they have found the way, yet are all the time pretending they did, and this is because He also told us to ignore those who only wear the masks, and only concentrate on those who in reality do find and pursue it.”²⁵

One more important fact to remember, is that we are not alone in this task. The Holy Spirit was also given to us for discernment. And such decisions need not be made alone. Certainly there are others in the congregation who have detected a foreign spirit and can agree to establish a group approach in ferreting out these disguised wolves. I encountered such an individual while conducting meetings for a pastor who invited me to be the evangelist at his church in central Germany. After the second night, a stranger came into the auditorium and sat towards the front. It appeared from the handshakes and greetings that he was known by many of the people attending. At the end of my sermon, just before I was to give an invitation to those who felt convicted by the Holy Spirit to come and receive forgiveness, suddenly this individual stood up and gave a message in tongues, and then immediately gave the interpretation. My spirit was not at peace with what happened, because the interpretation gave no confirmation to the message that had just been preached, and it clearly caused the spirit of repentance to evaporate.

I resisted saying anything, however, because I needed to find out if anyone else felt the way I did. The next night this same individual repeated the same thing. This time my spirit was more troubled than before. So after the service I spoke with the Pastor and told him of my reservations. The pastor agreed with me that he did not sense any harmony between his spirit and what this man did. The third night, it happened again. But this time I stopped the individual as he began his interpretation, and asked him to let the Holy Spirit use someone else to give the interpretation. He was shocked, but submitted to my request. There was no one who gave the interpretation. That’s when I told him the if his message in tongues was genuine, then I had enough confidence in the Holy Spirit that if He wanted us to hear what He said, He would have given someone else the interpretation. So then I rebuked the man in Jesus’ name and warned him not to do so again until we could all come to an agreement.

Needless to say, the man did not come back for any of the remaining service. And when the meetings were over and I was preparing to leave to go back home in Switzerland, I asked the Pastor if he expected to see this individual again. He smiled and said he didn’t think so, because the very next night after I confronted him, someone went to visit him to see if he was hurt by what I had said, and lo and behold they found him living with a woman who was not his wife. So that news spread very quickly and as far as the churches in that area were concerned, he had been exposed for who he was. So it is vital now for us to follow what our Lord has to say, so that we too can be better watchmen for the wolves in sheep’s clothing.