Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Steven Nemes on Matthew 16:19 and the Gates of Hell

  

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)

 

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