Mt16:18 "18And 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."
In this verse we see four main keywords "Peter...Rock...Church...The gate of hades".
Peter:
JESUS uses a metaphoric words in this verse Mt16:18,already the name of the disciple Jesus was talking to is named "peter" he recalled the name "Peter"
"and i tell you that you are peter....." (Gk petros,meaning a small stone),but goes on to say "on this rock..."(Gk petra,meaning a massive rock or a rocky clift) "I'll build my church..." that is he will build his church base on Peter's solid confession on Mt16:16.
Rock:
It is JESUS CHRIST who is the rock, the first and great foundation of the church(1Co3:11).Peter states in his first letter that JESUS is the "living stone,... a chosen and precious corner stone.... the stone the builders rejected"(1Pe2:4,6-7).At the same time,Peter and all other christian are living stones who became part of the structure of the spiritual house that GOD is building(1Pe2:5)nowhere in scripture is it stated that peter would be the supreme and infallible authority above all other disciples(compare Ac15; and Gal2:11).Nor is it stated that Peter should have infallible successions who would represent Christ and function as the official head of the Church.
THE GATES OF HADES WILL NOT OVERCOME IT:
The "gates of hades" represent all the demons and evil strategy that Satan can marshal in an attempt to destroy the church or to withstand it's mission in the world.
a) this passage does not mean that any particular believer,local church,fellowship of church, or denomination will never fall away in doctrinal error or otherwise be overcome by sin or Satan's snares.JESUS himself warned believers and churches of possible spiritual deception and failure(Rev2:5,12-29;3:1-6,14-16;1Ti4:1).
b)What this passage does mean is that in spite of Satan doing his worst,the church that JESUS CHRIST is building cannot,in the end be overcome by Satan.God's true church will rise up in faith,authority andi f the power of the holy spirit to righteously assault Satan's kingdom and domain of darkness by delivering people from sin,diseases,bondage and oppression.The church that JESUS is building can never be destroyed nor successfully be resisted by Satan(Mt16:19 ).
In these paragraph above CHRIST promises to build his church in the truth of Peter's and the co disciples confession that JESUS is CHRIST,the son of the living GOD.(Mt16:16).
Her we've seen the meaning of the three main keywords of JESUS "peter....rock...the gates of hades" in the (Mt16:18).We are going to venture to understand the fourth keyword"the church" in my next post.
Dear Readers:
What other thing does this passage of Mt 16:18 "peter...rock...church...the gates of hades " mean to you ?.
What could be the spiritual meaning behind the metaphoric answer of JESUS to Peter ?.
Peter:
JESUS uses a metaphoric words in this verse Mt16:18,already the name of the disciple Jesus was talking to is named "peter" he recalled the name "Peter"
"and i tell you that you are peter....." (Gk petros,meaning a small stone),but goes on to say "on this rock..."(Gk petra,meaning a massive rock or a rocky clift) "I'll build my church..." that is he will build his church base on Peter's solid confession on Mt16:16.
 |
| Petros(meaning a small stone) |
 |
| Petra(A massive Rock) |
Rock:
It is JESUS CHRIST who is the rock, the first and great foundation of the church(1Co3:11).Peter states in his first letter that JESUS is the "living stone,... a chosen and precious corner stone.... the stone the builders rejected"(1Pe2:4,6-7).At the same time,Peter and all other christian are living stones who became part of the structure of the spiritual house that GOD is building(1Pe2:5)nowhere in scripture is it stated that peter would be the supreme and infallible authority above all other disciples(compare Ac15; and Gal2:11).Nor is it stated that Peter should have infallible successions who would represent Christ and function as the official head of the Church.
 |
| JESUS CHRIST the Rock of the church |
THE GATES OF HADES WILL NOT OVERCOME IT:
The "gates of hades" represent all the demons and evil strategy that Satan can marshal in an attempt to destroy the church or to withstand it's mission in the world.
a) this passage does not mean that any particular believer,local church,fellowship of church, or denomination will never fall away in doctrinal error or otherwise be overcome by sin or Satan's snares.JESUS himself warned believers and churches of possible spiritual deception and failure(Rev2:5,12-29;3:1-6,14-16;1Ti4:1).
b)What this passage does mean is that in spite of Satan doing his worst,the church that JESUS CHRIST is building cannot,in the end be overcome by Satan.God's true church will rise up in faith,authority andi f the power of the holy spirit to righteously assault Satan's kingdom and domain of darkness by delivering people from sin,diseases,bondage and oppression.The church that JESUS is building can never be destroyed nor successfully be resisted by Satan(Mt16:19 ).
 |
| The gates of Hades. |
In these paragraph above CHRIST promises to build his church in the truth of Peter's and the co disciples confession that JESUS is CHRIST,the son of the living GOD.(Mt16:16).
Her we've seen the meaning of the three main keywords of JESUS "peter....rock...the gates of hades" in the (Mt16:18).We are going to venture to understand the fourth keyword"the church" in my next post.
Dear Readers:
What other thing does this passage of Mt 16:18 "peter...rock...church...the gates of hades " mean to you ?.
What could be the spiritual meaning behind the metaphoric answer of JESUS to Peter ?.
