“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. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
"In these verses notice the two ways (vv. 13-14), two trees (vv. 15-20), two professions (vv. 21-23), and two builders (vv. 24-29). The 'two ways' was a common teaching method in Judaism and the Greco-Roman philosophy." (Ryrie)
Enter by the narrow gate - "The gate (door) and the way is Christ Himself. 'I am the door of the sheep; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved (John 10). 'I am the way * * * no man cometh unto the Father but by me' (John 14). And why then is the gate narrow? Not because certain conditions and hard terms are to be fulfilled, but because man does not want to give up his own righteousness and clinging still to his miserable, filthy rags, he refuses God's way and God's door of salvation, which is Christ and Christ alone." (Gaebelein)
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. - "He is not warning us against a man who does not exactly express truth in the terms with which we are familiar; but He is warning us against the wolf in sheep's clothing; the teacher who affects the speech of orthodoxy, but lives a false life; not the man who hold a false doctrine, but the false prophet. His prophecy may be perfectly accurate, his preaching may be absolutely orthodox, but the man is false. That is the man who will lead farthest from truth. It is possible to pronounce the shibboleths of the Bible in the most accurate manner, and yet for the heart to be far away from their purpose and intention." (Morgan)
"Let us notice first of all that this warning has a special significance for the closing of the age, that is, the ending of this dispensation, the seven years of tribulation and sorrow in the earth. We only need to turn to the Olivet discourse (Matt 24) in which our Lord answers the question of His disciples concerning the consummation of the age. When they asked about this ending of the age they surely meant nothing else but the Jewish age, for of a Christian age they knew nothing. In answer our Lord gives, describing the events which fall into the seventieth week of Daniel, He says: 'And many false prophets shall arise.' These false prophets will make their appearance during the great tribulation, no doubt under the leadership of the false prophet, the Beast, so prominent in the book of Revelation. That there have been throughout this dispensation false prophets in sheep's clothing and that they are more numerous now than they have ever been before we need hardly mention, yet strictly speaking, the warning against false prophets concerns the Jewish remnant in the earth during the time of Jacob's trouble. Nowhere are we as believers warned against false prophets; we are warned against false spirits and false teachers, which of course, like the false prophets come in sheep's clothing. False prophets then, after the church is taken, to lead many astray; false teachers and false spirits now while the Church is still on the earth." (Gaebelein)
you will recognize them by their fruits - "We cannot make any appeal against such repetition as this, in which our Lord by affirmation, negation, question, and by renewed affirmation, stating the case from every standpoint, asserted this great truth; that the test of the prophet is the prophet's life." (Morgan)
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. - "That this has no reference to the Church is evident. The Church meets the Lord in the air, and every believer has in Christ's day to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. But at that judgment seat no mere professors of Christ's name will appear, and no 'Depart from Me,' will be heard from the lips of the Lord, the Head of the Body. Nor does this word here in Matthew refer us to the great white throne. When our Lord says 'in that day,' He means the day when the kingdom of the heavens is come by His return to the earth. Then many will be found but empty professors, who in spite of their works and using His name were none of His." (Gaebelein)
the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes - "The scribes had to rely on tradition for authority; Christ's authority was His own. It disturbed the Pharisees that He had no 'credentials' as an official teacher in their system." (Ryrie)
"The Scribes (Sopherim) date as a distinct body from the period of Ezra. The name is derived from sepher, or 'book,' and means 'Scripturalists' — those who explained and copied the Law; not from saphar, 'to count,' because they counted all the letters of it (Derenbourg, Hist. Pal. 25). Their functions were to copy, read, amend, explain, and protect the Law. It was in the latter capacity that they invented the 'fences,' which, under the title of Dibheri Sopherim, 'words of the Scribes,' formed the nucleus of the 'tradition of the elders' (Matt 15:2; Gal 1:14), or Oral Law (the Torah shebeal pi, or 'Law upon the lip,' as distinguished from the Torah shebeketab, or 'Law which is in writing'), any transgression of which is declared by the Mishna to be more heinous than a transgression of the words of the Bible (Sanhedrin, X. 3) ... Secondhandness, the slavish dependence on precedent and authority, is the most remarkable characteristic of Rabbinical teaching. It very rarely rises above the level of a commentary at once timid and fantastic. R. Eliezer actually made it his boast that he had originated nothing; and Hillel's grand position, as Nasi, or Preseint of the Sanhedrin, was simply due to his having remembered a decision of Shemaia and Abtalion." (Farrar)
"In these verses notice the two ways (vv. 13-14), two trees (vv. 15-20), two professions (vv. 21-23), and two builders (vv. 24-29). The 'two ways' was a common teaching method in Judaism and the Greco-Roman philosophy." (Ryrie)
Enter by the narrow gate - "The gate (door) and the way is Christ Himself. 'I am the door of the sheep; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved (John 10). 'I am the way * * * no man cometh unto the Father but by me' (John 14). And why then is the gate narrow? Not because certain conditions and hard terms are to be fulfilled, but because man does not want to give up his own righteousness and clinging still to his miserable, filthy rags, he refuses God's way and God's door of salvation, which is Christ and Christ alone." (Gaebelein)
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. - "He is not warning us against a man who does not exactly express truth in the terms with which we are familiar; but He is warning us against the wolf in sheep's clothing; the teacher who affects the speech of orthodoxy, but lives a false life; not the man who hold a false doctrine, but the false prophet. His prophecy may be perfectly accurate, his preaching may be absolutely orthodox, but the man is false. That is the man who will lead farthest from truth. It is possible to pronounce the shibboleths of the Bible in the most accurate manner, and yet for the heart to be far away from their purpose and intention." (Morgan)
"Let us notice first of all that this warning has a special significance for the closing of the age, that is, the ending of this dispensation, the seven years of tribulation and sorrow in the earth. We only need to turn to the Olivet discourse (Matt 24) in which our Lord answers the question of His disciples concerning the consummation of the age. When they asked about this ending of the age they surely meant nothing else but the Jewish age, for of a Christian age they knew nothing. In answer our Lord gives, describing the events which fall into the seventieth week of Daniel, He says: 'And many false prophets shall arise.' These false prophets will make their appearance during the great tribulation, no doubt under the leadership of the false prophet, the Beast, so prominent in the book of Revelation. That there have been throughout this dispensation false prophets in sheep's clothing and that they are more numerous now than they have ever been before we need hardly mention, yet strictly speaking, the warning against false prophets concerns the Jewish remnant in the earth during the time of Jacob's trouble. Nowhere are we as believers warned against false prophets; we are warned against false spirits and false teachers, which of course, like the false prophets come in sheep's clothing. False prophets then, after the church is taken, to lead many astray; false teachers and false spirits now while the Church is still on the earth." (Gaebelein)
you will recognize them by their fruits - "We cannot make any appeal against such repetition as this, in which our Lord by affirmation, negation, question, and by renewed affirmation, stating the case from every standpoint, asserted this great truth; that the test of the prophet is the prophet's life." (Morgan)
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. - "That this has no reference to the Church is evident. The Church meets the Lord in the air, and every believer has in Christ's day to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. But at that judgment seat no mere professors of Christ's name will appear, and no 'Depart from Me,' will be heard from the lips of the Lord, the Head of the Body. Nor does this word here in Matthew refer us to the great white throne. When our Lord says 'in that day,' He means the day when the kingdom of the heavens is come by His return to the earth. Then many will be found but empty professors, who in spite of their works and using His name were none of His." (Gaebelein)
the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes - "The scribes had to rely on tradition for authority; Christ's authority was His own. It disturbed the Pharisees that He had no 'credentials' as an official teacher in their system." (Ryrie)
"The Scribes (Sopherim) date as a distinct body from the period of Ezra. The name is derived from sepher, or 'book,' and means 'Scripturalists' — those who explained and copied the Law; not from saphar, 'to count,' because they counted all the letters of it (Derenbourg, Hist. Pal. 25). Their functions were to copy, read, amend, explain, and protect the Law. It was in the latter capacity that they invented the 'fences,' which, under the title of Dibheri Sopherim, 'words of the Scribes,' formed the nucleus of the 'tradition of the elders' (Matt 15:2; Gal 1:14), or Oral Law (the Torah shebeal pi, or 'Law upon the lip,' as distinguished from the Torah shebeketab, or 'Law which is in writing'), any transgression of which is declared by the Mishna to be more heinous than a transgression of the words of the Bible (Sanhedrin, X. 3) ... Secondhandness, the slavish dependence on precedent and authority, is the most remarkable characteristic of Rabbinical teaching. It very rarely rises above the level of a commentary at once timid and fantastic. R. Eliezer actually made it his boast that he had originated nothing; and Hillel's grand position, as Nasi, or Preseint of the Sanhedrin, was simply due to his having remembered a decision of Shemaia and Abtalion." (Farrar)
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