The Gates of Hell

“we will wear compassion, we will wear it on our chests, and the gates of Hell won’t stand against us, we will wear compassion, we will wear it on our chests, and the gates of Hell won’t stand against us.” -As Cities Burn

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” -Matthew 16:18

For a long time, I have understood this passage to mean that no matter how bad the world might become or how bad things may seem; take heart because the gates of Hell will never overcome the Church. Even through the darkest night, the Church would remain. Satan and his army may attack us and rail against us, but we will not be overcome. We will stand firm and remain. Last night, I heard a different take on this idea. A friend of mine was sharing how we often have a wrong few of this verse. We think what I thought, Satan will attack us but we will not be overcome. He went on to say that the verse says the gates of Hades will not overcome us. Gates by nature and definition are defensive structures. Gates are not used for attack. They are used to keep invaders out, not to take an invasion to someone. He said this verse is about the Church being on the offensive. If we are going out to places where there is wrong being done, where injustice is rampant and fight against it, the gates of Hell will not be able to prevail against us. We will have the victory.

The problem in our world today is that the Church has become too defensive, afraid of the gates of Hades, when we are called to be more than conquerors. The Greek term for gate backs this idea up. It is a defensive structure for keeping invaders out. The Jews would have understood Jesus teaching to mean that the Church on the offensive would prevail against the gates of Hell. Hades was not seen as a place from which evil powers emerged to attack humans. It was a place where the gates prevented escape and barred invaders. Jesus is saying his Church will invade the domain of Hell and the gates will not be able to prevail against us. They will not stand against us. I am not advocating we go on the warpath against Satan. I am saying we must be on the offensive to fight social injustice, economic injustice, racial injustice, and moral injustice in our homes, our communities, our country, and our world. We must actively fight against evil and if we do, the gates of Hell will not stand against us.