The Great Divide

At a glance

The chapter heading text (KJV)

“Enter ye in at the strait gate… for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat… By their fruits ye shall know them… Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Matthew 7:13–23 KJV

Summary

Bonhoeffer reads the narrow gate and the wide road as the Sermon's own summary of everything argued so far: the wide way is not obviously wicked or scandalous, only easy, requiring none of the costly, single-minded obedience the previous chapters have described, while the narrow way is simply discipleship itself, chosen because Christ's call has made it the only way to genuine life, however few find it because of what it costs.

He treats the warning against false prophets and the test ‘by their fruits ye shall know them’ as protecting the disciple community from being misled by impressive but hollow religious performance. Fruit, in this reading, is not a single dramatic accomplishment but the whole, sustained shape of a life — whether it actually does the Father's will, in exactly the sense the entire Sermon has been describing, or only talks about doing it.

The chapter's most severe moment, for Bonhoeffer, is Jesus' rejection of those who prophesied, cast out devils, and performed mighty works in his name and are nonetheless told, ‘I never knew you.’ He reads this as the definitive rebuttal of any Christianity that substitutes impressive religious activity, or even correct confession of Christ's name, for the actual doing of the Father's will — activity and orthodoxy alike can exist in complete isolation from real, obedient relationship with Christ.

He closes by tying the whole passage back to the Sermon's opening theme: the ultimate division running through humanity is not between the respectable and the disreputable, or even between the religiously active and the irreligious, but between those Jesus Christ actually knows, because they have followed him in costly, concrete obedience, and those he does not, however orthodox their words or impressive their works. This is why, for Bonhoeffer, the entire preceding argument about costly grace was never optional decoration on the gospel — it is the very thing this final, unavoidable division turns on.

Key points

• The wide road is not obviously wicked, only easy — it requires none of the costly obedience the Sermon has described; the narrow way is simply discipleship itself.
• ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’ tests the whole, sustained shape of a life doing the Father's will, not a single impressive religious performance.
• Jesus' rejection of those who prophesied and worked miracles in his name (‘I never knew you’) shows that religious activity and correct confession can exist without real, obedient relationship with Christ.
• The Sermon's ultimate division is not between respectable and disreputable people, but between those Christ actually knows through costly obedience and those he does not.
• Bonhoeffer ties this back to costly grace: the whole preceding argument turns out to be exactly what this final, unavoidable division depends on.

Related Scripture

• Luke 13:23–27
• Galatians 5:22–23
• James 2:14–17
• 1 Corinthians 13:1–3

For reflection and discussion

1. Where might you be relying on correct belief or visible religious activity as a substitute for actually doing what Christ has asked of you?
2. Bonhoeffer says the wide road isn't wicked, only easy. What is the ‘easy’ version of obedience you're tempted toward in a specific area right now?
3. How do you actually examine the ‘fruit’ of your own life — not a single achievement, but its whole sustained shape? What would that examination show right now?