Saturday, October 17, 2020

Barry Bickmore on "The Gates of Hades"

 

 

The Gates of Hades

 

Unwilling to accept the possibility that a total apostasy occurred, some mainline Christians often counter that Christ old Peter “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) To interpret this passage we must first define terms.

 

What is “the Church” (Greek ekklesia = “assembly”) that Jesus spoke of? The mainline interpretation suggests that it was “the Church” in its manifestation as an earthly organization. However, in a broader sense, “the Church” is much more inclusive. Two of the earliest post-New Testament Christian writings, The Pastor of Hermas and 2 Clement (both early second century) claimed that God created the Church even before he created the world. “She was created first of all . . . and for her sake was the world made” (The Pastor of Hermas, Vis. 2:4, in ANF 10:305). “Moreover, the books of the Apostles declare that the Church belongs not to the present, but existed from the beginning” (2 Clement 14:2, in Robert M. Grant, ed., The Apostolic Fathers, 6 vols. [New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1964-1968], 2:126). Paul wrote, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:3) The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews went on: “But we are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and in an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” (Hebrews 12:22-23). The message here is clear. “The Church” is not just an earthly organization—it existed before the foundation of the world, and it exists with the saints of all ages, both those who are on the earth and those who have passed on. Therefore, even if the Church as an earthly organization disappears and reappears periodically, the Church will always survive!

 

But is there any reason to believe Jesus was peaking primarily of the earthly Church? On the contrary, the text says that “the gates of hell [Greek hades = “the world of the dead”]) shall not prevail against it.” What are “the gates of αδης”? Hades it not hell—it is the underworld, and in early Christian and Jewish thought it was believed to be a place of waiting where the spirits of the dead, both the just and unjust, remained until the resurrection. (If Jesus had been speaking in Roman Catholic terms he might have said “the gates of Purgatory shall not prevail against it.”) Thus Tertullian (ca. 200 A.D.): “All souls, therefore; are shut up within Hades; do you admit this? (It is true, whether) you say yes or no . . .” (Tertullian, On the Soul 58, in ANF 3:234-235). The “gates of hades” then, represent the “powers of death” (The verse is actually rendered thus in some modern translations, notably the Revised Standard Version and the NEB), and “the sting of death is sin.” (1 Corinthians 15:56) Thus the text seems to be a promise of protection from the powers of death and sin for Christ’s assembly (ekklesia) of believers. For this reason Michael W. Winter, former lecturer in Fundamental Theology at St. John’s Seminary (Roman Catholic), in his excellent scholarly defense of the papacy, admits that “although some writers have applied the idea of immortality to the survival of the church, it seems preferable to see it as a promise of triumph of evil” (Winter, Saint Peter and the Popes, 17).

 

Furthermore, there are numerous allusions in the early Christian literature to Christ, when he died and went to hades, breaking down the gates of Hades and leading out the faithful to glorious resurrection/ For instance, Athanasius related the following tradition: “He burst open the gates of brass, He broke through the bolts of iron, and He took the souls which were in Amente [the Coptic equivalent of Hades] and carried them to His Father . . . Now the souls He brought out of Amente, but the bodies He raised upon on the earth . . .” (Discourse of Apa Athanasius Concerning the Soul and the Body, in E.A.W. Budge, Coptic Homilies [London, Longmans and Co., 1910] 271-272) Therefore it is clear what Jesus was talking about when he said “the gates of hades” would not prevail against the Church, and to apply this statement to the perpetuation of the early Church would make no sense (An alternate opinion was expressed to me by one of the reviewers of this book. In his view, this passage refers symbolically to the early Church, but the phrase, “the gates of hades shall not prevail against it” suggests that the Church would at some future time be located behind the gates of hades, but would not remain there. Thus the passage is actually a prediction of the future apostasy and Restoration). (Barry Robert Bickmore, Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity [2d ed.; Redding, Calif.: Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, 2013], 48-49)