At first glance, the question may seem absurd. Don’t all Christians agree that Christianity is a saving faith? When you believe in God as the Creator, His Son Jesus Christ as the atoner for your sins, and the Holy Spirit as the sanctifier of the church, according to the Apostles’ Creed, you are saved. So what is the problem?
“Lord, is it true that only a few are saved?”
There are an estimated 2.6 billion Christians in the world (2025). But are they all really followers of Jesus and heirs of eternal life? Let’s see what Jesus said about the number of his followers. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said even more clearly, “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14)
So Jesus himself said that he has few followers. But perhaps he was only referring to his own time, because they were few indeed back then? However, the Bible does not support this view. If we read on from Jesus’ speech described above, we first notice the warning about false prophets. Then he says clearly that not all Christians will be saved.
He said: “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.’” (Matthew 7:21)
According to the latest estimates, the number of Christians will increase in both absolute and relative terms, reaching 3.3 billion by 2050. But while waiting for the second coming of Christ, we may wonder what he meant when he asked, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
Why are only a few saved?
According to Jesus, those who do the will of his heavenly Father will be saved. He said it is the will of God that they “believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:29), that is, Jesus. But don’t all Christians believe in him? If we were to ask any Christian, he would say that he believes in him. Then why are so few of them saved?
Among Christians, one of the most common sins is the sin of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness as a word is rarely found in the Bible (see e.g. Romans 10:3 and Philippians 3:9), but as an anti-God phenomenon it appears numerous times in both the Old and the New Testament. Self-righteousness is a false righteousness, a sin that springs from a person’s own heart and is based on the illusion that we can, by our own actions, please God even a little or contribute to our salvation. Of course, the sin of self-righteousness does not only apply to Christians. If it were a religion, it would be the most widespread religion in the world.
Such self-righteous Christians teach that you can choose to turn your life around, accept Jesus into your life and begin to live a better life, and as a result you will be saved. They say that to be saved you must attend church, go to Mass, pray and be baptized. They say that if you do good and help your neighbour, Jesus will be with you. They tell you to avoid sin and praise Jesus. They tell you to forgive your neighbour, so that God will have mercy on you if you ever fall into sin. They tell you what you can do to become free from sin.
According to the Bible, it is sin for man to try to earn righteousness, or salvation, by their works. Man has nothing that is acceptable to God, not even the smallest thought. Paul testifies, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.“ (Romans 3:10-12)
Jesus taught that righteousness can only be obtained through the narrow gate of repentance. The only way to get through it is by believing in His atoning work of the forgiveness of sins by pure grace. The gate is narrow for anyone who would like to help even a little in his own salvation, because you can only get through the gate if all your own works, merits and opportunities have been stripped away. Repentance is therefore not a change of mind of one’s own accord, but a sense of sin opened by God and the forgiveness of sins by His grace, which a believer can proclaim. This is how “repentance” takes place.
Passing through that gate requires humbleness, and humbleness cannot be achieved by man’s own power. Many walk trusting in their own efforts, but the few who rely on grace alone will be saved. According to Jesus, it is harder for a spiritually rich, self-righteous person to enter the kingdom of God than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25). But God can show a man how sinful he is and allow him to pass through the narrow gate.
So who are they who will be saved?
God has a plan to save His own from sin and unbelief and guide them into the home of heaven. Only God knows profoundly every person He has chosen. What we do know is that compared to the number of the damned, the number of God’s elect is small.
The “holy Christian church” to which we refer in the Apostles’ Creed is still on earth. Its members have a living faith, which is more than just acceptance of the biblical revelation as true. The members of that group have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and He has opened an understanding of the true faith to them. It is among them that the forgiveness of sins is preached to all those who regret their sins, and it is they that make up the communion of the saints, as John writes: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35).
In his explanation of the Third Article of the faith, the reformer Martin Luther explains the role of the Holy Spirit in this way: “He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.”
The true church is where Christians who have the grace of God forgive sins empowered by Jesus Christ. Anyone who rejects as sin all their own attempts to please God can fully own this forgiveness. Whoever hears it and believes it personally becomes a member of the church of Christ and will be raised through resurrection into a new body on the last day and will have eternal life with God in heaven.
Author: Antti Halonen