Archive for August 25th, 2006
The council and power of the hellish fiend
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. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 16:18-19a)
On the face of it, these words to Jesus are a strange choice for an “Anabaptist Bible thought of the day.” Peter is the first recorded follower of Jesus to take up arms against his enemies (we are, in theory, pacifists), and this verse is used to justify the papal structure as extended back to Peter as the first pope, and as extending over the church and kingdom (which the early Anabaptists, and all those subsequent Anabaptists) would deny. If Peter has the keys to the kingdom, then it is likely we are doomed to be outside the kingdom–and we strive to be kingdom people.
Certainly the Catholic church has been more powerful and successful than the Anabaptist sects.
But the Anabaptists have usually turned this on its head. The most famous Mennonite book is the Martelaersspiegel, or Martyrs’ Mirror, mostly read for its illustrations and stories of martyrdom–a typical chapter title is “Six Brethren Strangled At The Stake In Volewijk, Near Amsterdam, A. D. 1555“. In other words, the true kingdom is a “little flock” ruthlessly persecuted, but which, in the end, even the hell itself can not prevail. Jesus, not Peter, is the true foundation of the church. The Mirror discusses the true church is, in its chapter, “On the Church of God” (here is an older English translation of the original Dutch):
We then proceed to what Christ, the Son of God, Himself testifies concerning this matter. Matt. 16:18, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Christ, in another place, speaking by parable of a man who built his house upon the sand, adds the explanation: that the same was a foolish man; because such a foundation, and, therefore, also the building which is founded upon it, cannot stand before the floods, rains, and storms, which beat against it.
On the other hand, He commends him as wise and prudent, who built his house upon a rock; since the same, being well-founded, is able to withstand all dangers.
But the foundation of which the Lord speaks here, that He will build His church upon it, is much firmer than any material rock, for these must all pass away with time; but the foundation which is Christ Himself, remains, shall remain, and shall never decay: for “the foundation of God standeth sure” (II Tim. 2:19).
Yet not only the foundation, but also the building of the church shall not decay, though in nature it is otherwise; for a house, church, or tower, resting on an immovable foundation, but being not sufficiently firm or strong in itself, finally decays, yea falls to the ground; but here it stands so that no opposing agencies, not even the devil himself, can prevail against it, which is evident from these words, “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
In or under the gates councils were wont to be held; and the gates were the strength and power of the cities. Compare Zech. 8:16 with Ps. 147:13. Hence, by the words,”The gates of hell,” etc., we are to understand the council and power of the hellish fiend. Yet, according to the last mentioned place of Scripture these shall not prevail against the church of Christ; and, consequently, no other opposing agencies; for these are the most powerful and worst enemies.
