quoted, when he said: "On this rock I will build my church." And that he means this church is plain from the words which follow: "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." For seeing that Christ is the rock of that church and also the foundation on whom she is builded in respect to predestination, she cannot finally be overthrown by the gates of hell, that is, by the power and the assaults of tyrants who persecute her or the assaults of wicked spirits. For mightier is Christ the king of heaven, the bridegroom of the church, than the prince of this world. Therefore, in order to show his power and foreknowledge and the predestination wherewith he builds, protects, foreknows, and predestinates his church, and to give persevering hope to his church, he added: "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Here Lyra says: "From this it appears that the church is not composed of men by virtue of any power of ecclesiastical and secular dignity, because there are many princes and high priests and others of lower degree who have been found apostates from the faith." This comment has its proof, in part, in the case of Judas Iscariot, both apostle and bishop, who was present when Christ said: "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." But he himself was not built upon the rock in respect of predestination and therefore the gates of hell prevailed against him.
From the aforesaid words of Christ it is evident that the church is taken to mean all, in a special sense, who after his resurrection were to be built upon him and in him by faith and perfecting grace. For Christ commended Peter, who bore [represented] the person of the universal church and confessed his faith in the words: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Christ said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah." This commendation befits Peter and the whole church, which from the beginning was blessed in the way, by confessing humbly, obediently, heartily, and constantly that Christ is the Son of the living God. This
