Luke 13:23,24 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Lord, are there few that be saved? &c.— Our Lord was now travelling by slow journies towards Jerusalem, beingon his way to Jordan, from the north-east parts of Judea. Somewhere on the road, probably soon after he had described the success of the gospel by the parables of the mustard-seed and the leaven, his opinion was asked concerning the number of those who should be saved. The person who proposed the question, seems to have heard the parables above mentioned; if he had, his notions of the kingdom of God, being such as the Jews at that time entertained, he perhaps meant a temporal salvation, by admission into the Messiah's kingdom: but as no secular kingdom was to be erected by their great deliverer, Jesus answered the question in its spiritual meaning. Or we may suppose that this Jew inquired concerning the eternal salvation of men; for though he could easily believe that all his brethren were to be saved, yet he could not so easily bring himself to believe that salvation was not confined to his own nation: wherefore, having a high opinion of Jesus as a teacher, he proposed his doubts to him. But, in whatever sense we understand this question, our Lord's answer contains an exhortation, which implies that only a small number of the Jews of that generation would be saved. He said, strive to enter in at the straight gate. By inquiring thus curiously, into the state of others, you seem to be at ease with respect to your own salvation; I must therefore tell you, that, though as Jews you have great advantages, the gate to life is still strait; and that if you would be saved, you must exert yourselves to the utmost. Of this you will be the more convinced, when I assure you, that many of your brethren, who, because they trusted to their privileges as Jews, lived all along securely, shall be for ever excluded from heaven: For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able; that is to say, shall seek to enter in at an improper season, namely by importunate intreaties, after the period of their trial is concluded, and their state finally and irreversibly determined as is evident from the next verse. The word αγωνιζεσθε, rendered strive, imports the act of contending, in the most ardent and resolute manner, with antagonists in games, or in war, and may well intimate, that the strait gate is beset with a variety of enemies, through which, if we aspire to a crown of eternal glory, we must, through grace, break and force our way; a representation equally just and awakening! See 1 Corinthians 9:25-27. Colossians 1:29. 1 Timothy 6:12. 2 Timothy 4:7 and the Inferences and Reflections.