Thanks for responding.
I don't wish to make excuses for the fire insurance Christians, or in fact to give them any hope for staying in their current condition, and I'm familiar with the wide gate/narrow gate analogy, but I ask, who is the "someone" in 1 Cor. 3:15 "But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire."?
Could not the loss of "someone's work" be ALL of their work? They escape the burning house with nothing, not even the clothes on their back? This passage refers to rewards and not salvation but it could indicate that this "someone" gains salvation but has never built upon the foundation with other than wood, hay or straw:
1 Cor. 3:10-14
10
According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, 11 for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.
12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire (itself) will test the quality of each one's work.
14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.
I too believe that "few" means few and that many are decieved. I just don't know how to reconcile these two parts of scripture. Is the "someone" in 1 Cor. 3:15 someone other than the "minimal Christian"? If so, who?
This is a very important topic in the church today! More than ever in the history of the American church, we have adopted what people have coined "easy believism". This has done more harm to the modern church than any other, in my opinion.
Certainly there are differing rewards for different believers. I am still studying this topic to determine to what degree this is true. But there are also many people who have professed Christ yet have not truly repented. It is essential that we understand the distinction as it is no minor matter - the difference is heaven and hell!
The difficulty is enhanced because we cannot really know the heart of those with which we worship and fellowship. We can normally distinguish blatant sinners from true Christians, but dividing the wheat from the chaff within the church is not nearly as straight forward.
At this time, I am resolved to accepting both that there will be different places for God's children when the new heavens and earth come and that many other people will say "'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'" (Matt 25:11)
As children of a Holy God who says "Be ye holy, for I am Holy", we should concentrate much more on the side of obedience and making our election sure!!!
As brothers and sisters in Christ, it would behoove us to error on the side of exhorting others to obedience. When we fail to be vocal about the sins of our brothers, we do them a huge disservice.