In Matthew 16.18 Jesus tells Peter that "the gates of hell will not prevail" against the rock that is the church. Many of us imagine that what Jesus meant was that the forces of hell (i.e. the devil and his demonic hordes) will never be able to overcome the church. The devil and his demons will try but the rock-like church will withstand their onslaught. The problem with this interpretation is that the word translated as 'hell' in the King James Version is the greek word Hades, which meant simply the land of the dead. In this light his statement seems rather odd. Is Jesus saying that the dead will not be able to destroy the church? The statement makes more sense when we realise that usually gates don't move. They are normally to be found in a fixed spot keeping people out, or in. So, Jesus is saying that the gates of death's kingdom will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the church! Jesus is not painting a picture of his church under siege, but rather of the church triumphant, breaking down the doors of death and proclaiming the hope of resurrection to those within. However much the church might enjoy living under a siege mentality, the reality is that the church is invested with great power, the power of the gospel to utterly transform the landscape of human existence. If we can rid ourselves of the unbiblical and medieval notions of 'hell' and understand what Jesus really meant the church might reclaim it's confidence in the power of Christ's resurrection to overthrow the reign of death with all its terror, despair and hopelessness. "So, when people read or heard Jesus telling Peter that to him and the church has been given dominion over the gates of Hades, they would have had a clear understanding of what Jesus meant. Now, the eschatological fulfillment had arrived. These were the last days, the days of the defeat of death, the end of the darkness which had become the paramount enemy of God and of his purpose of life. It is not a text about Satan, the powers of evil or "spiritual conflict". It is not a text about a place called hell. It is a text about resurrection, triumph and the gates of death/Hades being burst open. It is a text about the hope for a world in which there is no more mourning and no more tears." Many people in the church believe that the church and hell represent two dominions, two hostile kingdoms at war, the one, the kingdom of God (the church) ruled over by God and Christ, the realm of goodness and holiness, the other, hell, ruled over by Satan. The agents of hell (the demons and devils) wage war on the agents of the kingdom of God (the followers of Christ). Supporters of this (unbiblical) view sometimes quote a verse in Matthew's gospel in support of their view where, at least according to the King James translation of the bible, Jesus says to Peter. 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. Matthew 16.18 King James Version This text appears to be a promise that the church will withstand the worst that the forces of hell can throw at it. The faith of the church is stronger than the power of hell. In other words, Jesus is telling Peter that his faith (or faith like his) will sustain the church it in its fearsome battle against Satan and the demonic forces of hell when they assault the church. The church - under siege or on the move?Popular as it may be, I don't accept this interpretation, and this is for two reasons. The first problem with this interpretation is that even if you accept that Jesus is referring to a place called hell, the dominion of Satan and his cohorts (which is a completely unbiblical idea!) it gives the church too passive a role and makes the forces of evil too dominant. Gates usually don't move. The church pictured here by Jesus is not under attack by the forces of hell, rather the other way round. The gates of hell are due to be stormed by Peter and the church! Of course it plays well in many evangelical/conservative circles to imagine the church as a small remnant fiercely assailed by the forces of darkness! Unfortunately that does not fit the New Testament emphasis on the power of the Kingdom bursting into and shattering the power of the evil one and his forces. The church is the one doing the attacking. Satan is the one defending! (Luke 10.17-20) Hades is the Land of the DeadBut the real problem with this interpretation, is that the Greek word translated by the King James version as 'hell', Hades, doesn't refer to hell at all, at least not hell in the sense that the above interpretation demands. Jesus is not talking here about the dominion of Satan, nor is he talking about the realm of the ungodly dead. He is using the word in its usual sense of the underworld, the place where the dead go when they die. The verse is accurately translated by the NRSV as follows And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Matthew 16.18 NRSV Jesus is not talking here about the dominion of Satan, nor is he talking about the realm of the ungodly dead. He is using the word in its usual sense of the underworld, the place where the dead go when they die. He is saying to Peter that God's great and final victory over death, promised in the Hebrew bible and referred to time and again in subsequent biblical and non biblical religious texts is now placed into the hands of Christ's church. Hades stand here for death. Death, says Jesus, is defeated. It's gates stand open. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Revelation 1.17-18 NRSV The church, inspired by the same faith that Peter has shown in the role and power of Jesus, (recognising that he is the Christ, the Messiah), will save people from the power of death and lead people to resurrection life. Ultimately, the work of Christ's church as it reaches out to every nation with the gospel will hasten the coming of the end when at last Hades will be destroyed. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; Revelation 20.13-14 NRSV Death the EnemyThe idea that death itself will be destroyed might sound strange to modern ears in an age when we see death very much as part of the natural process of life and death. All living things, we are told by science, age and die. It seems that the ageing-dying thing is built into the very mechanisms of life itself. Organisms seem programmed to age and die. For that reason those dealing with death often speak of trying to find the "good death". Death itself is not an evil thing, rather death can be good, i.e. peaceful, pain-free and with the necessary work of endings accomplished, or it can be otherwise, violent, painful, with tasks unfinished. To some extent something similar can be seen in those parts of the Hebrew bible where it was accepted that Sheol was the common fate for all. Death was not welcomed and I am pretty sure that no one would have talked about a "good" death, but some accounts indicate that when a life was well lived, when it lasted a long time and when the effect of that life was a positive on there could be a peaceful "lying down" in death. Such a death was to be contrasted with death that was violent, untimely or where the life left a legacy of wickedness. However in the later writings of the Hebrew bible and especially in the prophetic books, death is depicted as an enemy to be feared and ultimately to be destroyed by God in His eschatological restoration of all things to their intended norm. Particularly striking is the imagery in Isaiah. In 5.14-15 death is pictured as a living beast opening its mouth which devours Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite Later in 25.6-8, where the prophet looks forward to God's ultimate salvation and renewal of all things we read that he will take away from his people the shroud that has overshadowed them, he will destroy death itself. On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples The imagery is striking. The shroud becomes an image of death itself. In God's new age it will be taken away and destroyed. There will be no more need or use for shrouds in the new age which God is bringing into being. It will be obvious to readers of the New Testament that this passage stands as the basis for the famous passage at the end of the book of Revelation (21.1-4) where the end-times fulfillment of God's purpose is described like this: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Death is pictured in Isaiah and Revelation as the opposite to God's life giving purpose. In the new creation there will be no more death, and consequently, no more mourning, sadness or tears. All of this depends on Christ's victory over death in his resurrection. It is as the Risen One that he holds the keys of death and Hades, and it is in anticipation of that resurrection that he affirms to Peter that the faith he has expressed is the power by which the kingdom of death (Hades) will be defeated. Through the Gates of DeathThat Hades had gates would not surprise any Greek or Jewish listeners or readers in the first century AD. In Greek thought Hades was properly, the God of the underworld, the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. The three brothers had divided up the world by casting lots. Poseidon won the sea, Zeus the heavens and earth, and Hades the underworld. The underworld then came to be referred to as the "house of Hades", and inevitably "Hades" came to refer to his dominion, the place itself. Obviously, a house or a kingdom of a god had gates. Every house had doors or gates. But these gates also served a purpose. They kept the dead locked in. It was one of the functions of places of the dead in ancient mythologies to keep the dead separated from the living. The dead could be troublesome and bothersome. It was important to keep them happy and at arms length, so they they couldn't come and go at will. And in the Greek version of afterlife mythology the realm of the God Hades had gates which permitted no return to the land of the living, except occasionally in the dreams of the living. Hades bears many similarites to Sheol. Both are the common destinations of all the dead. Neither is seen primarily as a place of punishment. Both are gloomy and those who inhabit them are pale reflections of their former selves. And both have gates! So Isaiah records Hezekiah's prayer when he faced death, in this way A writing of King Hezekiah of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: He faced the prospect of death which he describes as facing the "gates of Sheol". He is not worried about being sent to hell, or facing Satan and his legions, he is worried about dying. To face the gates of Sheol is no longer to commune with God in the land of the living. There are similar references in Psalm 9.13-14 and 107.17-20. In these passages there is an echo of the imagery of the book of Job. In Job 38 God answers Job's complaint by asking Job if he (Job) had created the world? The point is to show Job that God's wisdom is beyond questioning, that Job's sense of what is right and wrong (i.e. it is wrong that he a righteous man should be punished) can never be used to judge God. One of the questions God asks of Job is whether Job has seen the gates of death. God asks; ‘Have you entered into the springs of the sea, In a direct echo of this passage the writing known to us as 4 Ezra (which also forms the main part of the apocryphal writing 2 Esdras) the legendary biblical priest and leader Ezra questions God about the justice of allowing his people to suffer at the hands of foreign powers and is told (by the angel Uriel) Then the angel that had been sent to me, whose name was Uriel, answered and said to me, ‘Your understanding has utterly failed regarding this world, and do you think you can comprehend the way of the Most High?’ Then I said, ‘Yes, my lord.’ And he replied to me, ‘I have been sent to show you three ways, and to put before you three problems. If you can solve one of them for me, then I will show you the way you desire to see, and will teach you why the heart is evil.’ So, just like Job, the seer's lack of awareness of the gates (or entrances and doors) of the underworld, the land of dead, render him so unlike God, that his questioning of God become irrelevant. Only God has mastery of these deep and mysterious places. Only God has knowledge that goes so deep, knowledge of the reality of death and its kingdom. In another apocryphal book, the Wisdom of Solomon, the writer praises God as the only One who can create/save life. People can kill, but only God can bring people back from the gates of death/Hades. For you have power over life and death; The Triumph of LifeSo, when people read or heard Jesus telling Peter that to him and the church has been given dominion over the gates of Hades, they would have had a clear understanding of what Jesus meant. Now, the eschatological fulfillment had arrived. These were the last days, the days of the defeat of death, the end of the darkness which had become the paramount enemy of God and of his purpose of life. It is not a text about Satan, the powers of evil or "spiritual conflict". It is not a text abut a place called hell. It is a text about resurrection, triumph and the gates of death/Hades being burst open. It is a text about the hope of a world in which there is no more mourning and no more tears. It should remind us (as I am sure it did those first hearing or reading it) of the magnificent passage in Isaiah 65. For I am about to create new heavens You might also be interested in . . .
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April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
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