I am
positing a theory here that other Christians have had. What if when Jesus says
"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."- Matt 16:18 he wasn't
talking about an onslaught from Hell, we are part of the church
militant, and gates don't attack, gates fortify. So, Jesus is saying
not that despite on slaught and heresies from the devil the church will
survive. That may be true, however; it seems the main point is that the Church
will over come to the Devil (see Revelation), that death will not overcome them
because, in fact, "The Gates of Hell" is a Hebrewism that means
"death."
"The
phrase pulai hadou (gates of hell) is a Jewish expression meaning “realm of the
dead.” The same two words appear in the Septuagint Version of Job 38:17: “Have
the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep
darkness [ puloroi de hadou]?” They appear again in Isaiah 38:10: “I said in
the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
[pulais hadou] for the rest of my years.” In both passages, pulai hadou is a
euphemism for death. Notice the parallelism in both passages. The first half of
each verse clarifies that the second half of the verse is not about hell but
about death. The gates of hell represent the passageway from this life to the
grave."- Kevin DeYoung
"From
that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to
rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord!e This shall never happen to
you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a
hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on
the things of man.” Matt 16:21-23
notably
just after Jesus speaks of the gates of Hell not prevailing he reminds his
disciples that he is about to die. Again this seems to point even more to Jesus
meaning that death won't overcome the confession of Jesus as Lord in fact, just
after this he says to follow him one must take up their cross! The message
seems loud and clear persecution is coming, Jesus will be handed over and
killed on the cross. "“(Jesus) speaks from this time lowly things, on His
way to His passion, that He may show His humanity. For He that has built His
church upon Peter’s confession, and has so fortified it, that ten thousand
dangers and deaths are not to prevail over it…” (NPNF Vol. 10, p. 494)- John
Chrysostom
But,
when the time comes where the disciples are terrified and think "This must
mean he isn't the Messiah" Jesus is, instead, conquering the gates of
Hell.
Ephesians
4:8 provides an even more profound look at this, "This is why it[a] says:
“When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his
people."
Here,
we see Jesus has over came death, he marched into enemy territory and took
captives to parade them and proclaim "I have trampled over death by
death." And he appeared to his disciples to proclaim the same. The
confession of Christ is at war and over coming death and hell for it will cast
both into the lake of fire. In fact, we know that "The last enemy to be
destroyed is death." - 1 Cor 15:26
