📖 Biblical Definition
The Broad Way is Christ’s phrase for the wide, easy, well-traveled road that leads to destruction: "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: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). The broad way is found by many; the narrow way is found by few. The teaching is unambiguous and uncomfortable: the majority is not the measure. Popular religion, cultural Christianity, and consensus piety lead to destruction by default. The Christian must deliberately find and enter the narrow way — and that finding requires the Holy Spirit to draw the heart.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
BROAD, a.
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Wide; extended in breadth. The broad way — in Christ's Sermon on the Mount, the easy road that leads to destruction.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 7:13 — "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat."
Matthew 7:14 — "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Proverbs 14:12 — "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Luke 13:24 — "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often counts the crowd; Christ counted the few.
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Christ's strait-gate teaching destroys two cherished modern intuitions. The first is majoritarian: most people cannot be wrong. Christ says they can be and are. The broad way that leads to destruction is the most-traveled road; the narrow way that leads to life is the least. The second is comfortable: if it is hard, God is not in it. Christ says hard is precisely the marker. The strait gate is hard to enter; the narrow way is hard to walk; few find it.
Modern Christianity often counts the crowd. Megachurch metrics reward broad-way appeal; viral content rewards lowest-common-denominator reach; cultural Christianity polls well and saves few. Christ counted the few. Be one of them. Walk the narrow road. The destination is worth the loneliness.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek platus (G4116), broad; hodos (G3598), way.
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Usage
"Modern Christianity counts the crowd; Christ counted the few."
"The broad way is most-traveled; the narrow way is least; the destinations are unequal."
"Hard is the marker, not the absence, of the gospel road."