Is Our Salvation Personal or Theoretical? (13:22–30)

Once again, Jesus took an abstract question and brought it down to concrete reality. The question is not “Are there few who will be saved?” but “Will you be among the saved?” The word strive means “to agonize like an athlete.” This does not imply that we are saved by our hard work, because we are saved by grace when we trust Jesus Christ. Rather, it warns us to avoid an easy, complacent, and theoretical attitude toward the eternal destiny of the soul. If we fail to take salvation seriously, we may find the door shut and somebody else taking our place at the feast! Those who think they are first (like the Pharisees) will find themselves last, while those who humbly think themselves last (the sinners) will find themselves first.


Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (pp. 179–180). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.