Are There Few That Be Saved?

As the Savior journeyed with some disciples, one of them asked Him: “Lord, are there few that be saved?” He did not directly answer the question as far as we have it recorded, but He said this: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are.” This first part suggests perhaps the answer is indeed only a few will be saved, with many who try to enter but cannot. But the subsequent explanation suggests the opposite: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:24-29). There will be people from all over the world—not just the literal descendants of Israel—who will enter into the kingdom of God. To me this language suggests a large and not small number who will be saved.

Another statement of the Savior’s, repeated multiple times in the scriptures, says this: “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work” (3 Nephi 27:33). What does it mean that “few there be that find it”? Is that the same as suggesting that only a few of God’s children are saved? In our dispensation the Savior used similar language in a revelation to Joseph Smith about exaltation that perhaps clarifies this: “For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:22). This suggests, I think, that there are relatively few—when compared to the whole of the human family—who will receive the greatest blessings of the Father in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. We must fully receive Him and abide by His law to obtain this, but His children will only “enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:32). So it may be that if we mean “saved” to refer to the very greatest of the Father’s blessing—to receive all that He hath—many will not be saved.

But if we consider to be “saved” in a more general sense, then nearly all of the human family will indeed be saved. Of course, we know that literally all will be resurrected and brought back into the presence of the Father, overcoming thus physical and spiritual death for every person who has ever lived. Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants outlines three kingdoms where God’s children may ultimately end up. Those in the celestial kingdom will “dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever.” Others in the terrestrial kingdom will “receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father.” And those in the telestial kingdom will have “the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial.” In each case a member of the Godhead will be present—they will still obtain a kingdom of glory and this section considers all three places as being saved. The only group described in this section which do not receive a kingdom of glory and be saved are the sons of perdition. The scripture explains that Christ “glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands, except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him. Wherefore, he saves all except them” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:43-44,62,77,86). However we define the idea of being saved, what is important, and what I believe Christ was trying to emphasize when He answered the question about how many would be saved, is what we are personally doing to work out our own salvation: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” Whatever the final allocation of the children of men to their eternal reward, our focus should be on our own efforts to enter in at the gate He as provided.