GATES OF HADES, OR SPIRIT WORLD
As to the period of
the final culmination of events marking the full triumph of the Church of
Christ against which “the gates of hell shall not prevail,” that declaration includes
the work of Jesus Himself and the gospel application made by His authorized
representatives to the complete triumph thereof in latter days. The word “hell”
in verse 18 is translated from the Greek word Hades, and means the unseen or
spirit world. Jesus said “I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.” It is unseemly distortion to say that the “gates” of
Hades (the invisible spirit world) would attack the Church. Such a claim is
clearly a false figure; an attacking city does not carry its “gates” with it.
Under the leadership of Christ, His Church is an aggressive force. Immediately
after His crucifixion He passed through “the gates of hell” into the spirit
world, and gave relief to the dead by bringing to them the resurrection. “The
gates of hell” did not prevent this liberation. The gospel was “preached to
them that are dead” (John 5:25, 28; 1 Peter 4:6) that they might receive its
benefits of salvation. Gospel ordinances, such as baptism for the dead, etc. (1
Cor. 15:29), are performed “according to men in the flesh.” When accepted by
those in the unseen or spirit world, salvation comes, and “the gates of hell”
cannot prevail against it; for they who obey the gospel in the spirit world “live
according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6). Truly the carrying of the gospel
past the gates of Hades, through the personal visit of Christ for the resurrection,
and the further works of His authorized servants for the redemption of the
dead, is of a character that no force can overthrow; and in the fulfilment of
that saving mission of the Church, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.” That is the plain, unequivocal declaration of Jesus, the divinely revealed
Christ, the Son of the living God, as set out in the Bible record. (James H.
Anderson, The Present Time and Prophecy: Being a Selection of Addresses Made
by Elder James H. Anderson Uniting this Subject with the Divine Testimony of
the Prophet Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: The Deseret News Press, 1933], 117-18)