Steve Ray Mis-identifies the Gates of Hell

Pilgrimage panderer Steve Ray has some video clips up at his site (link). In the first video (starting around 4:50 into the clip, with the key portion beginning at 7:00), you can hear Steve Ray discussing the idea that Jesus' reference to "the gates of hell" is a reference to a deep crevice near the mouth of a cave at the back of a temple. It was sad to see one of the members of the pilgrimage spouting back the idea that the cave was the "gates of hell." The folks on the pilgrimage do seem very sincere, and it seems clear that Steve Ray is misleading them.

Gustav Dalman’s “Sacred Sites and Ways: Studies in the Topography of the Gospels” (trans. Paul P. Levertoff, 1935) has this to say:

Caesarea Philippi (in Christian Palestinian Aramaic Ķesaron de-Philippos) was a city well known among the Jews under the name Ķesariyon (Little Cesarea). Tradition, however, has never connected the present Banias with any incident in the life of Jesus, although in the time of Eusebius a statue of Christ was venerated there, which the woman with the issue of blood (Mt. ix. 20), a native of this district, was supposed to have dedicated, and which the emperor Julian replaced by one of himself. So there is absolutely no foundation for the purely fanciful connection of the rock, the gates of hell, and the Church, of Mt. xvi. 18, with the mountain-wall above the Jordan spring, the wide grotto that is found in it, and the temple of Pan before it.

To the Jews the cave of Paneas with its supposedly bottomless pool was merely the source of the Jordan which gushes out below it, being therefore one of the "fountains of the deep" of Gen. viii. 2. Legend has it that Moses desired to enter Canaan by means of this subterranean cave, but God refused his request. Nor did the heathen look upon this dwelling of the god Pan as the abode of a sinister power of Hades, but rather as a cave inhabited by the protector of the flocks and herds on the mountains. Exuberant life comes from the spring and nature wears a smiling face, bestowing never-failing refreshment. This was (and still is) the impression that the Paneion left upon the beholder. Herod's temple to Augustas, which stood between the cave and the spring, the water of which was used for purification from the defilement caused by contact with a corpse (Para. viii. II), must have also meant to Jesus only a defiling of a God-given stream and not a symbol of men rallying round the Lord's Anointed.

(pp. 203-204, footnotes omitted, See this review of Dalman's work, if you have questions about the work.)

In Jewish Wars, Book I, Chapter 21, Section 3, Josephus describes the place this way:

3. And when Caesar had further bestowed upon him [Herod] another additional country, he built there also a temple of white marble, hard by the fountains of Jordan: the place is called Panium, where is a top of a mountain that is raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave opens itself; within which there is a horrible precipice, that descends abruptly to a vast depth; it contains a mighty quantity of water, which is immovable; and when any body lets down any thing to measure the depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient to reach it. Now the fountains of Jordan rise at the roots of this cavity outwardly; and, as some think, this is the utmost origin of Jordan: but we shall speak of that matter more accurately in our following history.

I tried to track down the work that Dalman was writing off as fanciful. Possibly he's referring simply to the tourist trade in the area of his time. I found numerous references to the place as a tourist spot in 19th century travel literature (although not with that specific claim), so it would not be particularly surprising if that were the source of the myth.

In other posts we have discussed the concept of the "gates of hell." We explained that they refer to the power of death (see the discussion here) and that this understanding is actually confirmed from the Apocrypha (see the discussion here).

There are more responsible tour guides. Here is an example of one:

The tour guide mentions something said by Hezekiah. I'm not sure what he has in mind, but I think he's referring to the kinds of statements we see here:

Job 38:17
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

Psalm 9:13
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:

Psalm 107:18
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.

That's what Jesus was referring to when he said the "gates of hell."  He was referring to the gates of death - Jesus' resurrection will free us from the gates of death - they will not hold us in, if we trust in Christ alone for salvation.

-TurretinFan

Gates of Hell in the Deuterocanon

In a previous post, I explained from the Scriptures why the "gates of hell shall not prevail" in Matthew 16:18 refers to the fact that the church, i.e. all believers, will be raised to eternal life.  In hindsight, I probably should have pointed out that this interpretation is also supported in the deuterocanonical book of Wisdom.

Wisdom 16:13
For thou hast power of life and death: thou leadest to the gates of hell, and bringest up again.

It has nothing to do with an institutional church weathering the storms of heresies, although a lot of people have mistakenly treated it that way.

-TurretinFan

The Gates of Hell shall not Prevail Against the Church

This phrase "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" is one I hear used often and misused often. The one point everyone seems to recognize correctly is that "it" refers to the church. Not any particular church, but the church: the body of Christ universal.

1. The "We will Survive" Error

The most frequent error I hear with respect to this verse is to imagine that the "gates of hell" are the battering rams of Satan attacking the church in this life. That's definitely not what the verse means, though one can even find this kind of view among the church fathers.

Gates are, as far as warfare goes, defensive only. They do not attack. When the enemy attacks the church he does so with firey darts, but not with gates.

2. Storming Hell? A potential error.

Oftentimes, someone who notices that the gates of hell cannot be offensive weapons of battle against the church assume that they represent the defenses of the kingdom of this world, and therefore interpret this verse as saying that the church will defeat the kingdom of this world, storming and plundering the kingdom of Satan.

This view is not completely out of the question. The basic concept is surely correct, that the church will and does (by the gospel) plunder and invade the kingdom of the world. There are two cities: the city of God and the city of man. We in the city of God are in constant spiritual warfare, and we should be engaged in the raiding parties necessary to bring souls out of the power of the kingdom of darkness.

3. Resurrection

But I think the best view of this verse is as pointing to the resurrection. The church, the body of Christ, all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, will be raised to eternal life. In this view, the "gates of hell" stand simply for the bands of death.

After all, while we usually use the term "hell" to refer to the place of the damned, the term "hell" in Scripture often refers simply to the place of the dead. I think one reason people turn to interpretation (2) above is from simply hearing interpretation (1) too much. They realize that (1) is wrong, but don't recognize that this is not a warfare analogy at all.

Instead, hell is like a prison, with gates that close in the dead, so that they cannot return to life. These gates are opened with keys. This, I think, is perhaps the most crucial (key? ha!) thing that permits us to properly understand the sense of the text.

Recall that John tells us that Jesus has the keys of hell and death:

Revelation 1:17-18
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Notice that we know this is Jesus: he is the first and the last, the one that lives although he was dead, and now lives eternally. It is through faith in Jesus that we escape death. Indeed, it is only by faith in Jesus that we escape the bonds of death. All mankind will be raised, but those who do not trust in Christ will be raised to the second death.

This all makes sense in the context, for the very next verse continues:

Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

What are these keys? There is debate by some over this, but the easiest explanation is that they are the gospel: they are the way in which we are freed from the gates of hell. Thus, even as here Jesus told Peter that Peter would receive these keys, so also the same promise (without mentioning the keys specifically) is given to the other apostles:

Matthew 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The apostles fulfilled this purpose. They preached the gospel and committed Jesus' teachings to writings: the scriptures of the New Testament.

It's important to recall that this is the metaphor of the key in Scripture: it is one of unlocking and locking. Thus, we see the lawyers criticized for essentially locking away the truth of Old Testament Scripture:

Luke 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

In contrast, Jesus is said to have the key of David, and to be able to shut and close without contest:

Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

(Quoting from: Isaiah 22:22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.)

So, what is it that the verse is saying? It is saying, as best I understand it, that death will not prevail against the church, but rather Jesus will raise us from the dead - and that Jesus did show this way of escape (these keys of the kingdom of heaven) by which we can be loosed from(if he have faith like Peter did) and be bound in (if we do not have the faith of Peter) death.

In my opinion, the final confirmation that this is correct comes from what immediately follow verse 19:

Matthew 16:20-21
20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

This is the victory over death and hell, and these are the keys that Peter freely gave us, recorded in Peter's sermon in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles:

Acts 2:23-28
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: 26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Notice how the pains of death are "loosed" because they could not "hold" him. Thus, Jesus was not left in the grave, in the place of the dead, but he was raised to eternal life, as will all those who repent of their sins and trust in him.

Dear reader, if you have not repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus, do so today. It is the only way that you will prevail against the gates of hell.

-TurretinFan