09 Human Philosophy versus the Gospel
Human philosophy versus the gospel
If we would learn something of the difference between the gospel and human philosophy we need to first consider the nature of New Testament Church, the ministry, and the gospel itself. It is by comparing those three with what otherwise passes for the church, the ministry and the gospel that the difference between philosophy and the gospel- between Calvinism and the gospel -becomes apparent. The hallmark of the gospel is simplicity. Paul tells us, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to youward” (2 Corinthians 1:12)
Again he says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:9). In those two sentences Paul summarized the warfare that has gone on in the church for almost two thousand years now. On the one hand there is the simplicity and godly sincerity of the gospel message. On the other hand there is the fleshly wisdom, and philosophy of men. That has not changed for two thousand years. Till this day there is the godly sincerity of true spiritual worship opposed by the arrogance and vain deceit of men’s traditions and rudiments, or rules.
It is significant that the gospel first went out during the heyday of Greek philosophy. The greatest of the Greek philosophers lived about 500 years before Christ. Their ideas had time to dominate the Roman world by the time of Christ and the apostles. It has been said the Romans conquered Greek armies; but Greek philosophers conquered Roman minds. The society of the first century A.D. was largely what Greek philosophy had made it. The first Christian ministers went out preaching the simple message of the gospel. Against the powerful background of Greek philosophy and Jewish tradition, they preached in the power of the spirit, and they gained converts by the tens of thousands. The gospel swept over the Roman Empire. The Greek philosophers were brilliant and well educated. They were cultivated, articulate and powerful speakers. They devoted their entire time to seeing and hearing some new thing, and they could overwhelm their audiences with their learning. With all their military might, even Roman armies stood in awe of them.
Christian preachers were none of those things. Most of them were tradesman, and laborers, and farmers, and fishermen. They knew little or nothing of philosophy or logic or rhetoric. They were very much like the people they preached to. They had to earn their own livelihood to feed their families. They were not polished speakers, and sometimes they butchered the language. But when they stood up with the fear of God in their hearts, tears in their eyes, and a tremble in their voice, they told the simple message that, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” They told of sin and salvation, of hope and redemption, of resurrection and a better day to come-and they reached the hearts of heaven born souls.
All over the Empire sinners were converted by the thousands, and the philosophers could do nothing but stand by, wide eyed and slack jawed. With all their fine spun eloquence they could not match that kind of preaching. The people deserted their pagan religions. About the year 107 A.D., Pliny wrote the Emperor Trajan that the pagan temples were almost desolate. The Judaizers and philosophers were left out; the people were leaving them in droves. They wanted to be part of the action; but they wanted no part of such preaching as that. It did not fit their idea of how people ought to receive instruction, and it left them more than a little embarrassed.
They had no idea it was that spirit-filled, Bible based, God-fearing, preaching that was emptying their temples. They were determined to be part of this new wave, but they would remake the gospel and the church in their own image. Their greatest success came in the year 180 A.D. In that year Pantaenus, a “converted heathen philosopher,” founded the Academy at Alexandria. Clement, another “converted heathen philosopher,” followed him in 189 A.D. The most famous of the Alexandrian teachers was Origen. He and Clement are two of the most often quoted of what the Roman Catholics call the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Origen headed the school from 202 until 232. The school operated for 215 years and closed in 395 A.D.
Hassell tells us, “The last teacher was Didymus, in A.D. 395. The two objects of this Alexandrian school were to prepare people, especially the young, for the church, and to prepare talented young men to preach. The number of students was very great, and it is said that many eloquent preachers were sent out from this school” (pg. 365). They were ashamed of what they considered to be a rough-hewn, uneducated ministry. That contempt for a God-called, spirit filled ministry in favor of polished, educated orators has marked the false church in every age of the church. And, by the same token, it is that kind of humble, heart-felt preaching that has been the hallmark of the church.
Paul tells us, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to youward,” (2 Corinthians 1:12). A person does not have to be a mental giant to understand the gospel, and rejoice in it. In its simplicity and godly sincerity the gospel is sufficient to feed, to edify, and to comfort any heaven-born soul.
Paul says again, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God,” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). That was Paul’s outlook, and he bids us to be followers of him (1 Corinthians 11:1). But the reformers at the Academy had no intention of following Paul. They were determined to be part of the action, but they would remake the church, and the gospel, to match the philosophy they had always known.