I know we will find that some of us have a different understanding of what the Narrow Gate actually is, and maybe even a few different understandings. Please post what you personally understand that expression to mean, with the supporting verses that you base your understanding on.
Here is my understanding, and I know some will label me a Lordship Salvationist, but so be it, as I know no other way to Enter the NARROW GATE:
Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)
[SUP]13 [/SUP] "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
[SUP]14 [/SUP] "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
First of all in what many call the Parable of the Gates, I believe that unbelievers are NOT EVEN MENTIONED. Everyone entering either the Narrow Gate or the Wide Gate, thinks they are Christians. The MANY are deceived into entering the Wide gate, and they are the same MANY as we find in Mat. 7:22-23.
I believe that Narrow Gate, is where you enter when out of LOVE FOR HIM, you genuinely cry out for forgiveness, and submit to HIM, receiving Jesus Christ as LORD, which means MASTER. NO that is not works righteousness because NO ONE can say they received Him as LORD as a CONFESSION, except that the Holy Spirit IS at work in your heart. YES, that truly is a work of the Holy Spirit, and not something I figured out and did in my own intellect. This also is an act of LOVE for Him, which was not possible until the Holy Spirit entered our hearts and POURED God's Love directly into our hearts.
1 Corinthians 12:3 (NIV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP] Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
John 1:12-13 (HCSB)
[SUP]12 [/SUP] But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name,
[SUP]13 [/SUP] who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
RECEIVED HIM AS WHAT?
Colossians 2:6 (NIV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP] So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
It is NOT a Confession, if it has not already happened in your heart, it would only be a profession and not a confession, if you have not already received HIM. The word LORD means MASTER, so anything less than surrendering to His Lordship, would not be a confession either. Like I said, none of that can happen only in the human intellect, it has to have happened BY the power of the Holy Spirit, before you can say it as a CONFESSION.
Romans 5:5 (NIV)
[SUP]5 [/SUP] And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
John 14:21 (YLT)
[SUP]21 [/SUP] he who is having my commands, and is keeping them, that one it is who is loving me, and he who is loving me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.'
1 John 4:7-8 (NIV)
[SUP]7 [/SUP] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
[SUP]8 [/SUP] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John 15:9-10 (NRSV)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
1 John 4:19 (NASB)
[SUP]19 [/SUP] We love, because He first loved us.
No, I do not believe keeping His commandments earns any part of our SALVATION, but we who are SAVED are those who show our love for Him by keeping His commands, because HE loved us first and SAVED US.
Romans 5:8-10 (NASB)
[SUP]8 [/SUP] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[SUP]9 [/SUP] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
That is what I believe is the very beginning of genuine Christianity, which is what we call Entering the Narrow Gate.
Here is my understanding, and I know some will label me a Lordship Salvationist, but so be it, as I know no other way to Enter the NARROW GATE:
Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)
[SUP]13 [/SUP] "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
[SUP]14 [/SUP] "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
First of all in what many call the Parable of the Gates, I believe that unbelievers are NOT EVEN MENTIONED. Everyone entering either the Narrow Gate or the Wide Gate, thinks they are Christians. The MANY are deceived into entering the Wide gate, and they are the same MANY as we find in Mat. 7:22-23.
I believe that Narrow Gate, is where you enter when out of LOVE FOR HIM, you genuinely cry out for forgiveness, and submit to HIM, receiving Jesus Christ as LORD, which means MASTER. NO that is not works righteousness because NO ONE can say they received Him as LORD as a CONFESSION, except that the Holy Spirit IS at work in your heart. YES, that truly is a work of the Holy Spirit, and not something I figured out and did in my own intellect. This also is an act of LOVE for Him, which was not possible until the Holy Spirit entered our hearts and POURED God's Love directly into our hearts.
1 Corinthians 12:3 (NIV)
[SUP]3 [/SUP] Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
John 1:12-13 (HCSB)
[SUP]12 [/SUP] But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name,
[SUP]13 [/SUP] who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
RECEIVED HIM AS WHAT?
Colossians 2:6 (NIV)
[SUP]6 [/SUP] So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
It is NOT a Confession, if it has not already happened in your heart, it would only be a profession and not a confession, if you have not already received HIM. The word LORD means MASTER, so anything less than surrendering to His Lordship, would not be a confession either. Like I said, none of that can happen only in the human intellect, it has to have happened BY the power of the Holy Spirit, before you can say it as a CONFESSION.
Romans 5:5 (NIV)
[SUP]5 [/SUP] And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
John 14:21 (YLT)
[SUP]21 [/SUP] he who is having my commands, and is keeping them, that one it is who is loving me, and he who is loving me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.'
1 John 4:7-8 (NIV)
[SUP]7 [/SUP] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
[SUP]8 [/SUP] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John 15:9-10 (NRSV)
[SUP]9 [/SUP] As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
1 John 4:19 (NASB)
[SUP]19 [/SUP] We love, because He first loved us.
No, I do not believe keeping His commandments earns any part of our SALVATION, but we who are SAVED are those who show our love for Him by keeping His commands, because HE loved us first and SAVED US.
Romans 5:8-10 (NASB)
[SUP]8 [/SUP] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[SUP]9 [/SUP] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
[SUP]10 [/SUP] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
That is what I believe is the very beginning of genuine Christianity, which is what we call Entering the Narrow Gate.