The Narrow Gate

#biblestudy #newtestamentgreek #whatjesussaid

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 13 -14

you have undoubtedly noticed some people obsess on scriptural inerrancy and other people on textual criticism.

Here's the literal translation for study purposes

in-enter (compound verb where English uses a prep) thru the narrow gate
hoti as a causal particle so translated for rather than that
wide the gate and easy/broad the road the one away-leading into the destruction
and many they are those who income / enter thru it.

verse 14 starts with TI  in some greek texts and oti in others!

this doesnt change the meaning in any major way so if you see people invalidating the bible because there is textual variants  well avoid extremism ... read scripture sensibly ...

if the verse starts ti  then it reads WHAT or HOW or

maybe this way

 how narrow the gate and difficult the road that leads into or towards the life
 and few they are the ones who are finding it.

if the verse starts oti then

for narrow the gate and ...

see don't get hung up on scriptural inerrancy or textual variants

most of the differences are minor

in this case some scribe probably dropped an o!

The meaning is simple

enter through the narrow difficult gate to life

Having said that though bear in mind the road widens beyond the gate and if you're on the wrong road its possible to detour and cut cross country onto the right one!

Next wednesday back to Heracles!