Paul.lesson.3 greek.part.1
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•345 views
This document discusses the growth of ancient Greek society and philosophy. It describes how Greek city-states (polis) grew and established colonies around the Aegean Sea. It then outlines the development of Greek religion and early philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. While Plato and Aristotle made contributions to Western thought, their philosophies differed from Christianity in important ways, such as their views of God, morality, and the relationship of body and soul.
More Related Content
Similar to Paul.lesson.3 greek.part.1
Similar to Paul.lesson.3 greek.part.1 (20)
More from John Wible
More from John Wible (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (19)
Paul.lesson.3 greek.part.1
- 1. Lesson 3 Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts – The Greek Influence 10/25/15 1© John R. Wible
- 2. Paul, the Greek Influences 10/25/15© John R. Wible 2
- 3. 10/25/15 3© John R. Wible Growth of Ancient Greece – The Polis
- 4. 10/25/15 4© John R. Wible The Polis Grows - - Creating a Problem
- 5. 10/25/15 5© John R. Wible Solution – “You take the High Road . . .”
- 6. 10/25/15 6© John R. Wible Out-Migration (Emigration) Rise of Colonies
- 7. • We’ve seen the growth of Greek society; • The growth of the village into a polis; • The planting of the poleis in the whole Aegean Area. • What about the growth in Greek Thought? 10/25/15 7© John R. Wible Now Where Are We?
- 8. 10/25/15 8© John R. Wible Removing the “Stickies”
- 9. 10/25/15 9© John R. Wible Who am I, Who is God, What went wrong to separate us, and How do we fix this?
- 10. 10/25/15 10© John R. Wible Ancient Greek Religion
- 11. 10/25/15 11© John R. Wible The Greek Gods
- 12. Greek Religion Before “the Seven Sages” 10/25/15© John R. Wible 12
- 13. An Aside: The Babylonian Captivity 10/25/15© John R. Wible 13
- 14. Greek Philosophers – 470-322 BC 10/25/15© John R. Wible 14 •Socrates •Plato •Aristotle
- 15. Socrates (470/469 – 399 BC) 10/25/15© John R. Wible 15 Que • Socratic > Scientific Method • Questioning an hypothesis Why • Existence > function • Thing exists because it has function gods • God (g) arranges all for the best • Probably a polytheist, divine fatalist Ethics • Ethicist – Do the right, not the Expedient
- 16. • Founder of: Western Religion • Hypothesized Spirituality • Two realities: physical & “shadows” • Physical world mirrors the spiritual • Two heresies: asceticism & hedonism 10/25/15 16© John R. Wible Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC)
- 17. • Creator – God (however, subject “the Good”) • Truth and Morality are absolute (however, they exist outside God) • The unseen reality is of greater import (however, “dualism” denies the goodness of the Creation) • Immorality of the soul (however, Plato recognized “reincarnation”) • Materialism is the great enemy (however, the body is not a prison, as in dualism) 10/25/15 17© John R. Wible Platonism, a “Bridge” to Christianity
- 18. 1. God is supreme, not subject to the greater “Good.” God is good and “the Good.” Christianity’s God is infinite and “Omni-supreme” 2. God created all things good – they fell 3. The body was created good and has value, it is not a prison, it will be perfected, not discarded 10/25/15 18© John R. Wible Plato’s Underlying Difference with Christianity
- 19. • Tutor of Alexander the Great • Raised on Platonic dualism but changed to “”empiricism” • Knowledge is based on perception • Father of logical reasoning and gaining knowledge by observation of natural science 10/25/15 19© John R. Wible Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
- 20. • People of color were naturally destined to be slaves – Rome, later was 50% slave • Paul attacks idea directly, indirectly – See Galatians 3:27 and 28 – Galatians 4:6 and 7 – Philemon VV. 15-18 10/25/15 20© John R. Wible Aristotle and Slavery
- 21. “When . . . it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them . . . to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them . . . 10/25/15 21© John R. Wible American Heritage Hangover Declaration of Independence
- 22. Let’s Pray About It 10/25/15 22© John R. Wible© John R. Wible
Editor's Notes
- The Good Life and Hard Times of the Apostle Paul. Lesson 3A Greeks Introduction. How “Little Saul,” the Pharisaic Jew became “The Apostle Paul,” the flaming Christian evangelist. Before there was a Paul, there was Greece. Question: How did the Greeks become so diffuse?
- Paul had been raised in a Hellenistic (Greek thought, influence and customs) society. Acts 21 notes] that Paul spoke fluent [formal, as opposed to Koine] Greek to the Roman military captain, Lysias. . . . Barclay [says:] "The captain was amazed to hear the accents of cultured Greek coming from this man (Paul) whom the crowd were out to lynch." Paul was also fluent in Koine Greek, a Greek tongue commonly spoken in Tarsus, as well as being fluent in Classical Greek, which indicated to some that he had been exposed to Greek learning at the university level. Montague [states:] His mastery of the Greek literary technique of the diatribe and his occasional citation of Greek authors (Aratus in Acts 17:18; Meander in 1 Cor. 15:23; Epimenides in Tit 1:1) are considered by some as evidence that he frequented the Hellenistic schools of rhetoric. Here is the Acropolis dominated by the Parthenon in Athens where Paul argued using his Grecian learning.
- When we say “Ancient Greece,” we speak of the time from 800 BC to 500 BC. During this time, there was no “Greece,” there were only scattered small farming villages. As they grew larger, these villages began to evolve building walls and a marketplace (an agora) and a community meeting place. They developed governments and organized their citizens according to some sort of set of laws. They raised armies and collected taxes. And every one of these city-states (known as poleis) was said to be protected by a particular god or goddess, to whom the citizens of the polis owed a great deal of reverence, respect and sacrifice. (Athens’s deity was Athena, for example; so was Sparta’s.) Ancient Greece saw advances in art, poetry and technology, but most of all it was the age in which the polis, or city-state, was invented. The polis became the defining feature of Greek political life for hundreds of years.
- By about the seventh century B.C., the city-states had developed a number of common characteristics. They all had economies that were based on agriculture, not trade: For this reason, land was every city-state’s most valuable resource. Most had overthrown their hereditary kings and were ruled by a small number of wealthy aristocrats who monopolized political power and the best farm land. Aristotle said that because “the poor with their wives and children were enslaved to the rich and had no political rights, there was conflict between the nobles and the people for a long time.” What might be the solution?
- What happened when Abraham and Lot were confronted with the same problem? Read Genesis 13:1-9. 13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. 8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
- Emigration (outward migration) was one way to relieve some of this tension. Since land was the most important source of wealth it was obviously in finite supply. The pressure of population growth pushed many men away from their home poleis and into sparsely populated areas around Greece and the Aegean. Between 750 B.C. and 600 B.C., Greek colonies sprang up from the Mediterranean to Asia Minor, from North Africa to the coast of the Black Sea. By the end of the seventh century B.C., there were more than 1,500 colonial poleis. Each of these poleis was an independent city-state. In this way, the colonies of the Ancient period were different from other colonies we are familiar with: The people who lived there were not ruled by or bound to the city-states from which they came. The new poleis were self-governing and self-sufficient. Q: What has just happened? God has used man’s nature to “scatter seeds.” Q: What does Paul say about these “seeds?” Read 1 Corinthians 3:5-7. 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. In a few minutes we’ll see who “waters” these seeds of Greek colonies.
- We’ve seen the growth of Greek society; The growth of the village into a polis; The planting of the poleis in the whole Aegean Area. What about the growth in Greek Thought?
- As we said last week, we’re going through all this set up to see how God is unfolding history to accomplish His purposes using His ways. It’s a lot like the white board covered with sticky notes. God already has painted the picture on the board, now He is removing the notes one at a time to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways. Read Hebrews 1:1-2. 1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Now read Revelation 15:2-4. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. 4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- Pastor Alan likes to quote Professor Thom Wolf concerning the dawn of religion. According to Dr. Wolf, in the beginning, everybody knew there was God. But man soon realized that he was different fro God – not worthy to be around God. So, man realized that something separated him from God. We know that “something” was man’s sin, but early man didn’t know this. He just knew that he was separated. Over the years, this separation grow farther and farther until man lost touch completely with God. This was a problem. Pastor Alan says that everyone asks the same questions: Who am I, Who is God, What went wrong to separate us, and How do we fix this? Again, we know that we can’t fix it but God can – and did on Calvary. We know this because “the Bible tells me so.” However, in the time period of the ancient Greek – and Persians – and Chinese – and Indians and Meso-Americans, God had not yet revealed this. That leaves ancient man and in this case, the Ancient Greeks to come up with their own solutions to the problems. As in all cultures, Greeks in the ancient days were
- In the ancient Greek world, religion personal, direct, and present in all areas of life. With formal rituals which included animal sacrifices and libations, myths to explain the origins of mankind and give the gods a human face, temples which dominated the urban landscape, city festivals and national sporting and artistic competitions, religion was never far from the mind of an ancient Greek. While the individual may have made up their own mind on the degree of their religious belief and some may have been completely skeptical, certain fundamentals must have been sufficiently widespread in order for government and society to function: the “gods” existed, they could influence human affairs, and they welcomed and responded to acts of piety and worship. Life became about pleasing the “gods.”
- Polytheistic Greek religion encompassed a myriad of gods, each representing a certain facet of the human condition, and even abstract ideas such as justice and wisdom could have their own personification. The most important gods, though, were the Olympian gods led by Zeus. These were Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, Hermes, Hera, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ares, Artemis, Hades, Hephaistos, and Dionysus. These gods were believed to reside on Mt. Olympus and would have been recognized across Greece, albeit, with some local variations and perhaps particular attributes and associations. In the Greek imagination, literature, and art, the gods were given human bodies and characters - both good and bad - and just as ordinary men and women, they married, had children (often through illicit affairs), fought, and in the stories of Greek mythology they directly intervened in human affairs. These traditions were first recounted only orally as there was no sacred text in Greek religion and later, attempts were made to put in writing this oral tradition, notably by Hesiod in his Theogony and more indirectly in the works of Homer.
- The Greek polytheistic religion probably reached its zenith in about the 8th century BC with the works of the blind poet Homer. Until about the 3rd century BC, these were prevailing among the Greek-Speaking people. However around the 3rd century BC. The people began to wonder what the gods were doing and if they were in fact “gods” all. While the Greek pantheon of gods existed on into the 3rd century AD, the Greek religion lost much of its fire in the times just before the birth of Christ. We see in this picture the goddess Athena Nike adjusting her sandal. This is from a frieze around a parapet (retaining wall) in the Temple of Athena created about 410 BC. The significance of this piece is that it demonstrates that a goddess needs to adjust her sandal. Perhaps if she needs to adjust her sandals, maybe she is not a god. While this could easily be passed over as merely a beautiful work of art, it represents a cultural statement of the questioning by first the philosophers and then the general population of the gods themselves. The “Seven Sages,” named in the paper are commonly thought of as the philosophical ancestors of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. They held to the ancient polytheism and the pantheon of the gods whereas by the 3rd Century BC, these had come into question.
- Coterminous with this Greek questioning of the status of polytheism, in the 3rd century the watershed Babylonian captivity of the Jews took place. During this captivity, the rise of Judaism and its more modern form of monotheism began to gain traction and became prevalent to some extent under the leadership of the Scribe, Ezra as well. During this period in Babylon and in Jerusalem we had the three great prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Together they are referred to as the JED. Some theologians believe that during this time, their writings were propagated from Jerusalem and Babylon throughout the Grecian world and had an influence on Grecian religion as on other religions of other peoples.
- When one thinks of the great Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle come to mind. They were not the only ones of course. However, with Zeno, they have perhaps the greatest impact, if not Greek civilization in general, certainly on Paul as representatives of his Greek influences. We will also see others of note including Epicurus and Pyrrho of Elis.
- Problem - Socrates (470/469 – 399 BC) never wrote anything down. The “filter of his great pupil, Plato.” Plato wrote Dialogues Socrates. Principle contribution to Western thought (and Paul’s) - “Socratic method.” The teacher asks pointed questions to weeding out implausibility. The modern “Scientific Method” is based on Socratic thought. Believed all things were created because they have function thus “divinely ordained.” Probably a polytheist. Influenced ethics - Do the right, not the Expedient. Killed by drinking hemlock.
- Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was Socrates’ greatest pupil. Prolific writer. Perhaps the most famous quote concerning Plato: “Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. Founder of Western religion and spirituality. Influence on Christianity is a mixture of good and bad. Strong sense of the divine. Two “realities,” seen and. Unseen. Of the two, the real reality is that of the divine Makes a clear distinction between the two “realities.” This lead to a philosophy that has persisted for millennia.” He created the “world of shadows which holds that things that occur in the physical world are “shadows” of the things that occur in the spiritual world. The problem is that its natural progression leads to the heresies of asceticism and its converse, hedonism. The ascetic believes that since the physical world is not important, he should ignore it and try his best to get away from it. We see modern ascetism in monasteries both religious and non-religious. Over time, the spiritual is forgotten, i.e.. Modernism.
- I was also a Platonist. So ingrained in culture, it’s hard to shake. However, Platonism is at best a “bridge” to Christianity, not Christ in final form. Plato taught that there is a creator-god; however He is subject to “the Good” which controls all things. Truth and Morality are absolute (however, they exist outside God) The unseen reality is of greater import (however, “dualism” denies the goodness of the Creation) Immorality of the soul (however, Plato recognized “reincarnation”) Materialism is the great enemy (however, the body is not a prison, as in dualism)
- God is supreme, not subject to the greater “Good.” God is good and “the Good.” Christianity’s God is infinite and “Omni-supreme” not subject to the higher, principle of “the Good.” Genesis 1: 1, “In the beginning God . . .” Deut. 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one;“ God created all things good, however, man fell spiritually and took the Creation with him. Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good . . .” Gen. 3:16-19, “To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” The body was created good and has value, it is not a prison, it will be perfected, not discarded. This is one misconception that Paul addressed in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16, “13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
- Plato’s pupil, Aristotle (384 – 322 BC,) seen in the famous 1663 painting by Rembrandt, Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer, was most notably the tutor of Alexander the Great. This gave him the resources to crate great libraries and aid in the production of hundreds of books. Since he was a pupil of Plato, he was raised, philosophically, on Platonic dualism. However, later in life, his studies changed from Platonism to empiricism. He believed that all peoples' concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotle's views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works. Aristotle is viewed as the father of logical reasoning. Emanuel As teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle influenced the thought of all the conquered provinces with his emphasis on gaining knowledge from observation of the natural world. While this view gives a wonderful basis for the scientific method, it de-emphasizes, if not totally denies, the element of the spiritual in the cosmos. This leads us to rationalism that holds nature as god rather than God as God. We see this rationalistic idea in the basic documents of our American heritage.
- An unfortunate extension of Aristotle’s naturalistic views based in truth from that which can be observed is his view that people of color were naturally destined to be slaves. Paul indirectly, some say directly, attacks the truth of this view in Philemon, Galatians 3:27 and 28, Galatians 4:6 and 7 and a number of clearly indirect allusions. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female. . .” “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:6. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Paul indirectly, some say directly, attacks the truth of this view in Philemon vv. 15-16 and a number of clearly indirect allusions. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
- In the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence which is frequently omitted from quotation by political orators, we find this peculiar statement: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. Jefferson, Thomas, Declaration of Independence, Clause 1.