Plato and Christianity

by Warren L Rogers

Plato was born in Athens or Aegina, around 428-427 B.C. He most likely came from a well to do family. He was a student of Socrates and most of what we know about Socrates comes from the writings of Plato. Plato left Athens and traveled for about 12 years of his life. Upon his return to Athens he began to teach near a grove sacred to the deity Akademos. Thus the buildings where he taught were called the Academy and even today most people do not associate the concept of academics with a Greek deity.¹

The Academy as Plato knew it changed its basic teachings as time passed. Dr. Ferguson has the Academy in three different divisions. The Old Academy lasted from about c. 407 to c. 270. After this period of time the new leaders and teachers became skeptics. Since one cannot know the answer to some questions the best thing to do is to suspend judgment. The "suspension of judgment" kept one from forming dogmas.²

The Skeptical Academy lasted from about 241 B.C. to 149 B.C. and was replaced by the Eclectic Academy. The Eclectic Academy made a full turn around from Skepticism, but accepted the philosophy of Aristotle and the Stoics on an equal basis with that of Plato. These combined teachings along with other trends in thought make up what is known as Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism.³ As time passed, the Academy and Platonic thought were moving toward Stoicism, while at the same time the Stoic lines of thought were moving toward Platonic thinking. This combination of philosophies may confuse the student of the New Testament, since a pure form of Platonism was not being taught by the time the New Testament was written.

The Academy was closed for good by Emperor Justinian in A.D. 529, thus marking the end of an ancient institution. Looking back from a historical perspective, Plato and Aristotle were the climax or summit of hundreds of years of Greek thinking, though the accepted father of philosophy in traditional Greek style is Socrates. 

     Socrates tended to search for answers to moral questions and Plato continued this through the dialectic process. The dialectic process is a philosophical argument used to gain insight to the truth.

Other thinkers of the era who influenced Plato were many. Among them was Heraclitus, (504-501 B.C. at Ephesus), who stated that all things were in a constant flux and the cosmos is a constant series of changes governed by a rhythmic change. This idea suggests that if knowledge or knowing is absolute, the answer cannot be found on this earth since all things on earth are forever changing.⁴

Parmenides (c. 474, at Elba) taught that reality (or Being) is one, since anything other than this is non-being, unreality is the existence of what cannot be conceived. This particular line of logic led Plato to his concept of Ideas or Forms. the Ideas or Forms are transcendent, eternal archetypes of things or properties found in the observable world.⁵

The Pythagorean school (founder: Pythagoras, born c. 580 in Samos) held that numbers are the ultimate constituents of things. An elementary form of geometry was being advanced that led these early thinkers to believe that knowledge of the world may be found in mathematics.⁶ These thoughts influenced Plato's desire to elaborate a theory of timeless knowledge. For Plato, philosophy was practical. The goal of philosophy was to answer the questions of every day life. The human encounter with common life experiences makes the beginning of all philosophical pursuits. Plato called this the "sense of wonder." Philosophy is nothing if not practical. Questions like what is justice, what is good, and what is evil, are common to Plato as well as how life ought to be lived.

Plato held that Reason is what sets humans apart from animals. Reason wants to know the answer to questions asked by philosophy. In this sense, philosophy is both natural and inevitable and is something that humans must do.

There are 28 dialogues in a standard volume of the writings of Plato. Generally speaking, these dialogues fall into three periods. The early dialogues most nearly approximate the Socratic method. Themes like self control and justice are typical. The Euthytro and Crito, and Protagoras as well as the Apology are examples of this.⁷ The middle group of dialogues are the Republic, Phaedo, and Symposium. These were dialogues at their highest form of art.⁸ The Republic is considered to be Plato's masterpiece. The Laws and Timaeus are from the late period.⁹ The late period writings had an impact on theology for many years past the first century.

Plato's major contribution to the backgrounds of Christianity was his concept of the soul.¹⁰ An examination of the early literature gives no hint that humans survive their bodies. In the Iliad and The Odyssey, we find that the Trojan war sent to Hades the punai of many heroes. They themselves were thrown to dogs and birds of prey. Homer describes the dead as a mere shadow with no memory. This shadow leaves the body with the last breath of life. The only thing that survives a man's physical existence is his name and that is kept alive by honoring his deeds.ⁱ

The first time we are told that a man will become immortal is in marital poetry and this is in relation to those who died (heroes) defending the polis. The individual who died in defense of the polis is immortal in the sense that as long as the polis is alive the name of the individual survives. In Plato's Symposium we notice a characteristic change. The warrior who died in defense of the polis is no longer entitled to this immortality. The lawgiver, the poet, the writer, the scientist, and the philosopher are immortalized by what they achieve for the entire human community. The ideas of these people are imperishable works. The next logical progression of this thought can only raise a question as to how we acquire the knowledge to act good. The answer to this question is to know good is to do good.ⁱⁱ The idea that pursuit of knowledge is foundational to human existence influences all Western Civilization to this very day.
Plato did not create the concept of the soul by himself. The Orphic religion, the Pythagorean ideal of the ascetic life, and the religions of the mysteries as opposed to the civic cult religions, all have a deep concern with the inner life of mankind.¹¹ In Orphic literature, the soul becomes the hero after three lives and ends either in its liberation and eternal rest among the gods or in eternal suffering. We might use the terms heaven and hell to explain the resting place of the soul. In this context we find for the first time the soul is unique from the physical body.ⁱⁱⁱ

Pindar is a 5th century poet who was fascinated with the Orphic religion.¹² There is another witness of the Orphic view in Empedocles of Agrigentum (middle 5th century), who claimed that man belongs to both spheres of reality in the world of ceaseless cycle of elements.¹³ Empedocles refers to daemon that dwells on earth in exile from God and this daemon lives in the body of others. The idea that souls go through an endless cycle and immortality is linked to the transmigration of the soul, "hence, Empedocles adopts the Orphic vegetarianism and strictly forbids the killing of any animal."¹⁴

In the apologies of Socrates, we find that Socrates thought that death may mean the end of man's existence. Because of his obvious uncertainty about the soul, it is plausible that Plato did not inherit his ideas from Socrates. However, there is the birth of a new religion in the Apology. Philosophy leads to salvation. In Phaedo, Plato concludes that the soul is indestructible.¹⁵

Since ideas are the only true being beyond the world of sense perception, and as Heraclitus had in mind when he said that everything is in a perpetual flux, the more Plato was led to believe that the knowledge of ideas which spring from the soul itself and not from our senses exist in the soul from a former life. This was probably borrowed from the Orphic idea that the soul lives several lives.¹⁶

The soul for Plato is the principle for all motion to the body (Phaedo, Phaedurs). This is the basis for his new theology found in the Timaeus and The Laws. This principle culminates with the idea of a world soul. It seems to be an expanded version of the Orphic transmigration of the soul.

For Plato, the soul has three divisions: the intellectual, the spirited, and the desires. The appropriate virtue for the intellectual is wisdom. For the spirited the virtue is courage and for the desirous, self control. When we have all three of these in harmony, there is justice.¹⁷ Even the novice philosophy student will recognize the above format in the philosophy of notables as Hegel, Darwin, Marx, and Freud.

Some believe that Plato had a doctrine of two souls. In the Timaeus (48a7) he states that in the process of creating the universe there are two causes. One is mind and the other is necessity, the latter being destitute of reason.¹⁸ There is a "receptacle" that all forms enter and this is most likely matter.¹⁹ It may be necessity or old nature is the principle of evil. The argument can be made that Plato's mind is good and necessity is evil. If that logic is followed, matter is also evil.^iv In Timaeus 69 cd, Plato mentions "the other kind of soul," the divine soul as opposed to the mortal soul. The mortal soul is full of lust and passion. Nevertheless, it is wrong to think that Plato taught that the body had two souls. In Timaeus, he taught that the individual soul is composed of the same ingredients as the world soul.

Plato made a distinction between that which is and called this Being, and that which is not, and called this Becoming. The Ideas and Forms were eternal, unchangeable, and intelligible, meaning they are capable of being grasped by the human mind. The observable cosmos is always Becoming and no eternal truths can be found by the senses. Only the mind can approximate the realm of forms.²⁰

For Plato, the realm of forms and the observable world participate with each other. The empirical world is a replica of the eternal world. A self moving soul participates in both realms and this moving soul makes the observable world a moving image of eternity. Thus for humans the task is to seek knowledge of the forms for eternal truths that do not change.

The Greek culture at the time of Plato was faced with a tremendous moral crisis. Wars with other nations and the constant changing of laws led many Greeks to believe that society invents its own sense of right and wrong. Power and influence were the most important, because if there was enough power or influence any societie's virtues could be changed. Plato however, rejected the idea that the majority is always right (in fact seldom right). No matter how large a majority may be, killing innocent people is always wrong no matter about public opinion. There are absolute standards of right and wrong regardless of opinion.²¹

Early church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) cited Plato as an example of philosophers who agreed with Christianity concerning the origins of all things and other moral convictions.²² It may be said that after the first century there was an effort to Christianize Plato. While is is hard to cite specific examples in the New Testament such as direct quotes, nevertheless there are several themes that Plato has in common with Christianity. It can be said that God's purpose for Plato and his writings was to prepare the pagan mind for Christ and Christianity.

Plato was deeply concerned about the human condition. He spent his youth in the shadow of the Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens (431-404 B.C.). This conflict brought an end to Athenian hegemony and marked the decline of the Greek civilization. During the final battles, the government became increasingly dogmatic. In 404 B.C., a governing body known as the Thirty seized control of the government. Some of these people were relatives of Plato. Plato rejected the offer to participate since he was overwhelmed by the violence that he saw. He became particularly angry when the Thirty tried to involve his teacher and mentor in the events. The Thirty lost control of the government and it fell in 404 B.C. leaving a very disordered society. Socrates was brought to court and executed. This shocked Plato because in his view, the most righteous man alive could be executed by a so called democracy. Plato envisioned a true and just society where that kind of thing cannot happen.

I was driven to affirm in praise of true philosophy, that only from the standpoint of such philosophy, was it possible to take the correct view of public and private right, and that accordingly the human race would ever see the end of trouble until true lovers of wisdom should come to hold political power or the holders of political power, should by some divine appointment, become true lovers of wisdom. (Republic 10)

In 367 B.C. Plato received an opportunity to make his dream come true. The rival city of Syracuse in Sicily had a new ruler named Dionysius II who fell in love with Plato's ideas on how to organize a society. The love affair between Dionysius and Plato was short lived. Dionysius ruled the city with an iron fist. On Plato's second trip to visit, Dionysius had Plato put in jail, and in the end, Plato's grand scheme as advocated in the Republic failed and the kingdom was overthrown. One might say what seems to be a good idea in the classroom does not measure up when subjected to reality. Nevertheless, the Republic is the result of serious political thought and people like Karl Marx later tried to use it for a model. In the Republic Plato discusses what rulers need to know and addresses the problem of how society obtains rulers who are just. It is in the Republic that we first have a glimpse of Plato's view on humanity. For Plato, society is man at large (a macrocosm), but the individual man is a microcosm involved in personal pursuits. There is an interconnection between the two. Plato believed that a state in its primitive condition resembled a community of pigs. It is not a stretch to classify Plato as the first Marxist.²³ Plato had three classes of people. The first class were the workers, the second class were the guardians or civilian force, and the third class were the philosopher kings. The philosopher kings were to be taken from the best educated of the guardian class. The individual was to remain where nature put him/her for their entire life. The exception to that was those kings taken from the guardian class. Plato opposed any idea that violates his principles of labor. These ideas may sound like those of a tyrant or a despot, but Plato advocated many ideas that are common to Christian thought. He often spoke of the need to suppress the gratification of our sensuous appetites. In Platonic view, the giving in to sensuous desires amounts to slavery as a human condition. A variation of this theme can be found in the New Testament generally referred to as the war between the flesh and the spirit.

Plato was often concerned about justice. The idea of justice for humanity is behind his writings in the Republic. Plato asserted that there must be an educational process that takes place in the class of people who govern to assure justice for all. Knowledge can only be gained by turning from the world of senses to the reality of the world of good.²⁴ Good is the highest form of knowledge and stands above justice and all other forms participate in it. Thus, anything good must come from the form of good.

Philosophy for Plato was a form of dying. One had to withdraw from the world of wealth and desires to find the power to participate in the Good. A true philosophical pursuit requires dying to the things of the world. According to the Symposium and the Phaedrus, love is sent from above. The purpose of love is to lead us away from the world of desires. That is a very unique explanation for the purpose of love, but the idea that loving God means forsaking the world is a New Testament Theme.

For Plato, no one is able to escape the consequences of his/her evil actions. This idea is clearly based on Plato's ideal's of justice and probably has much to do with his conviction concerning the immortality of the soul. If death is the end of the individual, the wicked escape punishment for their deeds. Clearly this is not a just concept. Therefore, evil deeds must be dealt with after death and likewise good deeds rewarded. Because of this idea of justice, in the Phaedo, Socrates goes to his death realizing the ideas he just gave for the immortality of the soul are weak, but justice must prevail.

Plato and human suffering are points of discussion in the Republic. He questions why a person must suffer in this life while the unjust tyrant may seem to be doing well. The answer is that the unjust or wicked person has become a slave to his/her own desires and therefore, the unjust person is suffering. Suffering therefore is universal and because of suffering there is no excuse to do evil.

What is a just community? Considering the plight of suffering humanity, Plato desired to alleviate suffering as much as possible by the organization of the just community. These ideas are found in the Republic and the Laws. There can be no doubt that the idea of a just community is central in the New Testament. There is constant emphasis on giving to the poor and taking care of those in need as well as the obligation to work. These are Plato's ideas we find expressed in the church.

There is considerable debate among scholars concerning Plato's influence on the New Testament book of Hebrews. The author of this short papercompletey rejects the idea. Plato's teachings had been modified by the time of the New Testament. Some scholars refer to this modification of thought as Middle Platonism. Then there are those who disagree with the idea. Middle Platonism is best exemplified by Philo. Philo was a Jewish philosopher and near contemporary with Christ. There is no doubt that Philo drank deeply from the well of Platonism.²⁵ Then other scholars actually claim that Plato was a moving force behind the writing of the book of Hebrews.²⁶ F.F. Bruce sees Platonic thought behind Hebrews 8:2. "The earthly sanctuary, where Aaronic priest ministered, is but a copy of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man."²⁷ The idea in this passage is that material and sensible things are not reality but are only copies of the true reality in heaven. The idea of the earthly sanctuary as a copy of the heavenly dwelling place goes back far beyond Plato's day."²⁸ Dr. Bruce also spends considerable time discussing Philo and his influence. He uses the terms "allegorical exegesis" to refer to Old Testament characters found in the book of Hebrews.²⁹ This method can be traced directly to the Alexandrian school and the illustrated works of Philo.³⁰

On the other hand, others have just the opposite view. That is, Philo's influence on the Book of Hebrews is greatly exaggerated and possibly nonexistent.³¹ I personally have always considered those endeavoring to put Philo behind the Letter to the Hebrews as engaging in mass speculation There is no clear evidence that Hebrews quotes anything from Philo.

Then there are others who attribute Platonic influences to the New Testament writings of Paul. In 1st Corinthians 12 there is a very familiar theme in Greek thought. In verses 12-15, the author is clearly trying to educate the readers as to the matter of the One and the Many.

From Parmenides, Plato inherited a linguistic problem in which expressions that conveyed nonexistence failed to be distinguished from expressions conveying otherness or a difference.³² This became a real problem for Plato since he could not put forth a statement concerning x is not y without some Sophist wanting to argue that x cannot exist because it is not.³³ When reading his Euthydemus and Sophist, one can see that Plato spent considerable time trying to resolve this problem. There must be a way to say that justice is not holiness but both justice and holiness are virtues, and the form of beauty is not the same as beautiful things, but both exit.³⁴

In 1st Corinthians 12:12, Paul states that one body has many members. He also asserts that the many members are one body. In verse 13 he speaks of how were baptized into one body and in verse 14 he claims that they are all different by saying that the body is not one member. In Plato's Meno there is a parallel passage. "For virtue taken as a whole is not one virtue, by many. If courage shall say, Because I am not justice, I am not virtue, is it therefore not a virtue.?" Paul was clearly using a form of the same type explanation as found in Meno(73f). In my view, I think Paul was defending the concept of one body with many members against descendants of Parmenides.

The Christian view of God must by means of logic claim that YHWH is a perfect being. A perfect being contains sufficient reason for His existence and needs no external cause for support. He is unlimited in power and good. God is both Immanent and Transcendent and is intelligent. The creation of the world and the universe was an act of choice and not mandated by some other cause or force which would contradict His complete autonomy. There is no internal necessity, neither natural nor moral since either would interfere with His perfection.

The freedom of God depends on the absolute perfection of God. the limited perfection of God was and is a fundamental error in the philosophical rantings of Leibnitz. We can't have God choosing the best without implying there is an imperfection in God.

The Christian must have a proper view of creation and nature. The cosmos was created ex nihilo. Plato's pre-existent matter is a problem for the Christian. The creation of the world or universe from pre-existent matter places matter on the same level with God. This then becomes a challenge to the sovereignty of God which restricts and limits God's freedom. All matter then is imperfect and Plato was correct when he said that only the Form was perfect. Flawed matter cannot be perfect or eternal.

December 6, 1994, by Warren L Rogers,                                                                    Department  of Theology         Abilene Christian University