intermission: greek philosophy and the nt

Intermission: Greek Philosophy and the NT

Plato (428–348 BCE)

Plato’s Academy (388 BCE)

Aristotle (384–322 BCE)


Plato (428–348 BCE)Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE)


Hellenization: Greece’s cultural conquest of the western world

Key #2: Jewish communities in different places having different values have different ways of reacting to Hellenization in general and Greek Philosophy in particular

Key #1: even though the political landscape changes constantly and the Greek empire eventually comes to an end, Greek culture and philosophy never leave the Mediterranean world


Middle Platonism

Early Platonism/Old Academy

(3rd century BCE to 1st century BCE)

Neoplatonism(3rd century CE)

Transcendence of God Immanence of God

Middle Platonism(1st and 2nd centuries CE)

Platonism+

Stoicism+

Neopythagorianism


Middle Platonism


1. Hierarchy of being:God

Intermediary beings (e.g., angels)

Humanity

Animals

Inanimate physical objects


Middle Platonism


1. Hierarchy of being

2. Logos as divine reason, natural law, the ordering principle of all reality


Alexandria, Egypt: a city with a large Jewish population that is also a center of Greek philosophy


Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE–50 CE)


Philo’s Goal: to present his Jewish faith in the best light possible within his context

Political Context: his Jewish community has minimal political clout, so Philo becomes an ambassador to Rome

Philosophical/Religious Context: the Jewish religion is foolish in the eyes of the Greek philosophers, so Philo presents Judaism using the categories of Middle Platonism


Middle Platonism

Early Platonism/Old Academy

(3rd century BCE to 1st century BCE)

Neoplatonism(3rd century CE)


Middle Platonism(1st and 2nd centuries CE)

Philo (20 BCE – 50 CE)



1. Allegorical Interpretation of the OT: avoids the accusation that the Jewish Religion is too physical, and the Jewish God too closely connected to his physical creation




2. Defense of Moses: Moses is the ideal Greek philosopher, and the Jewish Torah is the ideal Law because Moses had direct access to God, and because even though it wasn’t given to Moses until Sinai, it is actually based on natural law




2. Defense of Moses: Moses is the ideal Greek philosopher, and the Jewish Torah is the ideal Law because Moses had direct access to God, and because even though it wasn’t given to Moses until Sinai, it is actually based on natural law

3. The Jewish place of worship corresponds, thanks to Moses, to the “form” of God’s own dwelling place in heaven


Exodus 25:40

“See that you make [the items in the tabernacle] according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”

Philo, Allegorical Interpretation 3.102–103

Moses saw the real tabernacle and wrote down the instructions for it; Bezalel saw only the instructions and so built the shadow tabernacle

On the one hand, Philo acknowledges the physicality and therefore the limitations of Israel’s place of worship. On the other hand, he insists that Israel’s tabernacle was directly connected—because of Moses—to the real thing in heaven.

Hebrews, Part II

But what does this have to do with HEBREWS?

Hebrews, Part II


1. Some of Hebrews’ language and use of the OT sounds a lot like Philo

Hebrews 8:1–5

Now the point of what we are saying is this: we have a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; so it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he [Jesus] were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying “see that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”

Hebrews, Part II



Hebrews 9:22–24

It was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but for the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Hebrews, Part II



Hebrews 10:1

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Hebrews, Part II


2. Does this mean the author of Hebrews is a Philonic Middle-Platonist disguised as a Christian?

Hebrews, Part II



Hebrews 10:1

The law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.

NO—Hebrews associates the Law with the shadow rather than the form

Hebrews, Part II



Hebrews 1:3, 2:5

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs . . . For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we have been speaking.

NO—Hebrews argues that Jesus’ physically resurrected existence is superior to that of the angels

Hebrews, Part II



Hebrews 9:23

It was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

NO—Hebrews suggests that even some heavenly realities are impure and impermanent

Hebrews, Part II



NO—Hebrews is aware of both vertical (spatial) and horizontal (temporal) dimensions of reality

Hebrews, Part II

The main theme of Hebrews: our access to God through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews, Part II

Question: What does it mean to have access to God?

Option #1: spiritual access to God right now

Option #2: physical access to God when he establishes his kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth

Hebrews, Part II

Question: What does it mean to have access to God?

Option #1: spiritual access to God right now

Option #2: physical access to God when he establishes his kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth

Which of these does Hebrews have in mind when it talks about “access,” “drawing near to God,” “entering his rest,” etc.?

intermission: greek philosophy and the nt

Documents

greek empire

greek philosophers

greek culture

nt intermission

bce intermission

context intermission

jewish faith

jewish god