What Does Matthew 16:18 Mean?
And I also say to you, You are Peter, the stone, and upon this bedrock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.THE KEY
Jesus binds Peter’s name to the rock in Greek, then says death’s gates cannot overpower the assembly built there.
THE MEANING
Peter’s name echoes the rock beneath the assembly Jesus builds. The promise speaks to the pressure of death: the gates of Hades do not overpower that assembly. Death’s gate is not its master.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that death has the final claim over the assembly Jesus builds.
THE ROOT
Πέτρος
Petros
GROWS FROM
πετρ-
petr-
Stone, rock; the shared Greek stem links Peter’s name with the rock.
“Peter, the stone” in this verse is Petros. The Greek keeps Peter and rock in a near-echo: Πέτρος (Petros, Peter) beside πέτρα (petra, rock). Their shared sound binds the named person to the foundation while preserving two distinct word forms.
ALSO GROWS
Petros: Peter’s name, formed from the Greek word family for stone or rock.
Πέτρος
The name’s sound is picked up by πέτρα, making the wordplay visible in the sentence.
petrōdēs: Describes ground characterized by stone.
πετρώδης
This related form shows the rock word-family describing the ground on which something stands.
ἐκκλησία
ekklēsia
GROWS FROM
καλέω (kaleō), with ἐκ (ek)
Καλέω means to call or summon; ἐκκλησία means an assembly.
The thing Jesus builds is an assembly of people, not a building. The word’s call-family adds the sense of people summoned together on this foundation.
ALSO GROWS
kaleō: To call or summon.
καλέω
This verbal family helps reveal the gathered people within the word for assembly.
klēsis: A call or invitation.
κλῆσις
The related noun keeps the sense of calling close to the assembly Jesus builds.
κατισχύσουσιν
katischysousin
GROWS FROM
ἰσχύω
ischyō
To be strong, have strength, or prove powerful; κατισχύω means to overpower or prevail.
“prevail” in this verse is katischysousin. The verb sets power in direct contest: the gates of Hades do not prove stronger than the assembly. The image names where the gates’ force fails.
ALSO GROWS
ischys: Strength or power.
ἰσχύς
This noun exposes the strength at stake in the claim that the gates will not prevail.
ischyros: Having strength or power.
ἰσχυρός
The related adjective sharpens the contrast between overpowering force and the assembly that remains.
THE PATTERN
Death’s realm cannot finally overpower what God builds.
He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe tears from all faces, and he will remove the taunt of his people from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.Where is your sting, death? Where is your victory, grave?I am the living one, and I became dead, and look, I am alive to the ages of the ages, Amen. And I hold the keys of death and of the unseen.THE THREAD
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.The rock here is the same Greek noun πέτρα (petra, “rock”) used in Matthew 16:18. Both verses picture what is built as resting on rock; here, the image extends from a house to the assembly.
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