THE GATES OF HADES
Simon is
called Petros because, in virtue of his confession of Jesus as Messiah,
he is “of (the) petra.” He is named “Peter” after the petra of
Jesus whom he confesses just as Christians are called “Christians” after the
Christ in whom (they) believe, Jesus thus tells him: “You are Petros =
of (the) petra, and on this petra = on myself I will build my
church (ekklēsian), and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it [autēs].”
But a further question arises at this point. What is the “it” (autēs)
against which the gates of Hades will not prevail?
The apparently
most natural reading for many is that “it” refers to the church. This is
because “church” is the nearest relevant noun to which “it” could refer. But it
is also possible in principle for the pronoun to refer to the feminine noun petra.
Such a reading does indeed have some historical precedent. For example, Origen
speaks of “Peter, against whom the gates of hell do not prevail” (On First
Principles 3, 2, 5). Veselin Kesich notes this and a few other passages in
which Origen makes a similar remark. (55) This interpretation admittedly
identifies Simon with the petra, but it is remarkable for implying that
the autēs against which the gates of Hades will not prevail is the petra
rather than the ekklēsian. Suppose then that one identifies the petra
with Jesus. It is therefore possible to say that the gates of Hades will not
prevail against the petra which refers to Jesus. But are there any
reasons for reading the text this way? Indeed there are.
This would
make sense in light of the New Testament’s way of speaking about things. Jesus
is twice put in connection with Hades as its conqueror in the Bible. First,
Simon refers to Jesus in his Pentecost sermon as the Holy One whom God would
not abandon to Hades (Acts 2:27, 31). Second, Jesus himself in Revelation says
the following: “I was dead, yet behold, I am alive unto the ages of ages, and I
have the keys of death and of Hades” (Rev 1:180. Jesus is thus the conqueror of
Hades because he rose from the dead. Yet Simon and the church are never said to
have conquered Hades in Scripture; they are never even mentioned in connection
with Hades in the whole of the New Testament. This was apparently not a common
way of speaking in the apostolic generation of Christians. It therefore seems
better to think that the “it” against which the gates of Hades will not prevail
is Jesus the petra. This is a sentence about Jesus’s imminent death and
resurrection as a conquest of Hades. And it is not coincidental that Matthew
will go on to mention in the verses that immediately follow that Jesus begins
to teach about his impending death and resurrection (Matt 16:21).
A case can
therefore be made that the “it” (autēs) against which the gates of Hates
will not prevail is Jesus the petra, who will die and rise again. He
will conquer Hades and thus prevail over its gates by the resurrection. This is
also how the church can be built on him as its foundation. (Steven Nemes, Theological
Authority in the Church: Reconsidering Traditionalism and Hierarchy [Eugene,
Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2023], 47-48)
