The Gates of Hell understood using commentaries

My pastor referenced matthew 16:18 in a sermon yesterday where he explained the reference to "the gates of hell" as signifying the Church overcoming death. I have heard this phrase explained in a different way in the past. I have been taught that the gates of hell refer to the spiritual forces of evil, namely Satan, demons, and every argument, image, or attraction that is contrary to the rule of Christ.

So, I decided to research the meaning using the resources available to me to learn for myself the best way to understand this passage. The sources I used for my initial research include commentaries by, John Gill's Exposition of the Bible(JG), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible(MH), and Jameson, Faussett, and Brown's Critical and Explanatory Commentary(JFB). I used crosswalk.com to view the of these commentaries online.



Jameson, Faussett, and Brown

and the gates of hell--"of Hades," or, the unseen world; meaning, the gates of Death: in other words, "It shall never perish." Some explain it of "the assaults of the powers of darkness"; but though that expresses a glorious truth, probably the former is the sense here.


Matthew Henry

The gates of hell shall not prevail against it; neither against this truth, nor against the church which is built upon it. (1.) This implies that the church has enemies that fight against it, and endeavour its ruin overthrow, here represented by the gates of hell, that is, the city of hell; (which is directly opposite to this heavenly city, this city of the living God ), the devil’s interest among the children of men. The gates of hell are the powers and policies of the devil’s kingdom, the dragon’s head and horns, by which he makes war with the Lamb; all that comes out of hell-gates, as being hatched and contrived there. These fight against the church by opposing gospel truths, corrupting gospel ordinances, persecuting good ministers and good Christians; drawing or driving, persuading by craft or forcing by cruelty, to that which is inconsistent with the purity of religion; this is the design of the gates of hell, to root out the name of Christianity (Ps. 83:4), to devour the man-child (Rev. 12:9), to raze this city to the ground. (2.) This assures us that the enemies of the church shall not gain their point. While the world stands, Christ will have a church in it, in which his truths and ordinances shall be owned and kept up, in spite of all the opposition of the powers of darkness;


John Gill's

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Jews speak of the gates of hell: sometimes of the gate of hell, in the singular number; and sometimes of the gates of hell, in the plural number. They say, that

``(Mnhygl vy Myxtp hvlv) , "hell has three gates", one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem.''

They talk of

``an angel that is appointed (Mnhygd yert le) , "over the gates of hell", whose name is Samriel; who has three keys in his hands, and opens three doors.''

And elsewhere they say, that

``he that is appointed over hell his name is Dumah, and many myriads of destroying angels are with him, and he stands (Mnhygd axtp le) , "at the gate of hell"; and all those that keep the holy covenant in this world, he has no power to bring them in.''

Our Lord may allude to these notions of the Jews, and his sense be, that all the infernal principalities and powers, with all their united cunning and strength, will never be able to extirpate his Gospel, to destroy his interest, to demolish his church in general, or ruin anyone particular soul that is built upon him. Again, the gates of "Hades", or hell, sometimes seem to design no other than the gates of death, and the grave, and persons going into the state of death; see (Job 38:17) (Isaiah 38:10) where the Septuagint use the same phrase as here; and then the sense is, that neither death, nor the grave, shall finally, and totally prevail over the people of God, and members of Christ; but they shall be raised out of such a state, and live gloriously with him for ever. By it here is not meant Peter himself; though it is true of him, that Satan, and his posse of devils that beset him, did not prevail against him, so as to destroy his grace, hurt his estate, and hinder his salvation: nor could death, in all its frightful appearances, deter him from holding, and preaching, and maintaining the doctrine of Christ; and though death, and the grave, have now power over him, yet they shall not always detain him: but rather, it designs the doctrine Peter made a confession of; which, though it may be opposed by hell and earth, by Satan, and his emissaries, by the open force of persecutors, and the secret fraud of heretics, it may be brought into contempt by the scandalous lives of professors; and though the true professors of it may die off, yet truth itself always lives, and defies the power of death, and the grave: or else the church in general is meant, and every true believer. These words do not ascertain the continuance of anyone particular congregated church, but secures the church universal, which will continue as long as the sun and moon endure, and the perseverance of everyone of God's elect; and assure that death, and the grave, shall not always have the dominion over the saints, but that they shall be rescued from them. Once more, this "it" may refer to Christ the rock, who, though he was brought to the dust of death, by the means of Satan, and the powers of darkness, yet to the ruin of him that had the power of death; and though death, and the grave, had power over him for a while, yet could not hold him; he rose victorious over them, and ever lives, having the keys of hell and death, to open the gates thereof, and let his people out when he thinks fit.

I have used these commentaries in the past to great benefit. On this small portion of Scripture JFB and MH disagree while JG presents both understandings and some basis for each. At this point in my search for understanding, it seems that honest disagreement is possible since both interpretations reflect truths that are supported elsewhere in Scripture.

I'll need to look into this further. The sources that I intend to research next include

1) Bible dictionaries
2) Different English translations of the Bible
3) Strong's
4) An interlinear bible
5) Writings and/or sermons from history regarding this passage, especially from the Church Fathers if they can be found.