Can the rich enter Heaven? The answer is a resounding yes. Being rich does not make it impossible to enter Heaven. The confusion comes from Jesus words here:
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Here is this verse in context.
Matthew 19:16-30
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “`Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
19 honor your father and mother,’ and `love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
On close examination of this passage it is clear that Jesus never said that the rich man didn’t have eternal life. The rich man’s question was as follows: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life”?
Jesus Answered: “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments”. After a discussion on which commandments he needed to keep, it became clear that the rich man had kept these commandments. Case closed.
However, the rich man presses Jesus further and asks “What do I still lack?” Notice that he wasn’t saying what do I lack in order to obtain eternal life, The conversation had moved on. Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have reward/treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. The rich man went away sad because he had great wealth.
Jesus said that if the man wanted to be perfect, then sell all that he had. Jesus did not say this in reference to the earlier point about being saved. Basically the man was not sad because he was couldn’t bring himself to sell his possessions and thus be saved, but that he could not sell his possessions and be perfect so as to receive Heavenly reward on top of his salvation. This is also taught in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 where salvation and reward are two different but complimentary things and not all who are saved receive reward.
For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
So there you have it. Jesus was talking about two things here, salvation and reward.
Now back to Matthew 19:16-30 where I will discuss some other possibilities regarding Mathew 19. In verse 24 & 25 Jesus goes on to say that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. So difficult in fact, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Isn’t it impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle? According to a couple of views, the answer is no,
The first speculation goes back centuries even over a millennium ago. But there is no absolute proof that this is true. We know that the city of Jerusalem had a wall around it for protection. The wall had a number of gates where you could enter the city. These gates were closed at night except for one gate, called the ‘Eye of the needle”. This gate was half closed, i.e., the door came part way down and left a gap underneath with enough room to crawl under. The reason was so caravans (camel trains) could still enter the city at night, but marauders on horse back could not. Camels unlike horses could get down and crawl under the gate after their baggage was removed and obviously so could the men driving the camels, while horses could not. The view here is that Jesus was basically saying that a rich man must lower or humble himself if he is to enter the Kingdom. The next speculation is that he word ‘camel’ basically means ‘rope’ because some rope was made from camel hair, thus the passage is not talking about a literal camel. Who knows. There is no proof that any of these are right.
Whatever the case, Jesus says “that all things are possible with God”. Hence it is absolutely possible for a rich man to enter Heaven. In other parts of the Bible we see that the rich are instructed to be generous in this world. We also have to note that some great men of God were also rich such as Job, Joseph, David, and Solomon. Finally, Matthew 27:57-58 talks about a rich man who was also a disciple of Christ.
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
