Hell in the New Testament - Gospels and Jesus' Direct Teaching, Part 5

By Bart Breen

The fifth note looking at passages in the Gospels where Jesus mentions or refers to Hell, the passage in question is:

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Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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Whom speaking to:  Jesus is speaking with His Disciples in a private conversation as they were arriving in Caesarea Philippi.  In particular, with this specific passage, Jesus is speaking to Peter who had just declared that Jesus was the Christ, or the Messiah (anointed one) and the son of the living God.

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Word translated hell:  Hades, which tends to speak more of the underworld where spirits go as opposed to the idea of torment which is contained more within the word "Gehenna.".

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Immediate Context:  Jesus is questioning His disciples asking them who people say He (Jesus) is.  The other disciples answer in general that people see Him as John the Baptist (returned to life or replaced as John has already been killed by Herod) or a prophet of old, such as Jeremiah or Elijah.  Jesus presses them further however and asks them who THEY (the disciples say that he is.)  Peter responds (either on his own or as a representative of all of them) and declares that Jesus is the Christ (which Christ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah) or "anointed one" and in particular the Son of God.  Jesus confirms this declaration and we're told later that from this point on, Jesus begins to prepare His disciples for what is going to come in terms of his suffering and death.  This is a pivotal moment in the ministry of Christ and His relationship with His disciples.  The declaration of the "gates of hell" is something of a symbolic statement.  The gates of a city or a kingdom are symbolic of the power of that kingdom both for the power that comes out from them (troops for example) and the declarations being sent abroad outside of that kingdom.

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Here in Matthew, Jesus has already done combat with Satan at the beginning of His ministry (the temptation).  We see even following this that Satan is still influencing as almost immediately after Jesus makes His declaration, Peter follows up with a suggestion of how to make things easier for Him (just like Satan at the Temptation) and Peter is rebuked strongly by Jesus who (not coincidently in my opinion) refers to Peter, or at least what Peter said as Satan Himself. 

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Satan in this regard is present both at the start, here at this transition and presumably at the end as well as Jesus makes major transitions in His ministry and mission.  This is perhaps a strong clue as to who the power behind the gates of Hades are.  This doesn't mean that Satan is "in charge" of hades (like Pluto in Greek mythology) but as the powers that stand against Christ, Satan figures prominently.

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Thoughts:  Jesus speaks frequently of the Kingdom of God that He has come to usher in.  The Kingdom of God is not, as many commonly believe, just the idea of heaven as a future place where believers go, but it is rather the remaking of this world and implementation of the order of God to be implemented here on earth.  We will get very confused in Scripture if we confuse the Kingdom of God with eternity in heaven as they are not exactly the same things.

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Just as the Kingdom of God has (and will have) a system of power (radically different than how the world sees things; see the Beatitudes for example) there are powers standing against that are their own kingdom of sorts with the accouterments of power such as "gates".  There is a battle taking place that is playing out within Jesus' ministry and will continue to play out following Christ's death, resurrection and ascension.

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The use of "Hell" here is different then the sense of eternity as well.  This is speaking of the system that stands against the kingdom of God, not in the sense that Hell in the future will stand against Heaven.  It's not completely in this passage but I think it bears mentioning that whatever view one adopts of "Hell" as in the sense of Gehenna, it will not be a place that Satan runs.  If anything, it will be the place of his ultimate defeat and imprisonment.  Hell in the eternal sense of punishment, cannot be seen as a base of operations so this is something different here. 

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Conclusion: This is not referring to a place of power for Satan at all in an eternal sense but is instead juxtaposed against the Kingdom of God.  In that regard, this mention of Hell or Hades in this passage doesn't add anything to a doctrine of Hell comprehensively.