MALACHI MEETS SOCRATES REVELATION CONFRONTS CULTURE Paul E. Grant Published in “Poetry & Missions” www.GlobalMissiology.org Jan. 2009 PROLOGUE Malachi lived not long before the period of Greek (Hellenistic) culture. Within a little more than 100 years Alexander the Great would conquer the Persians and rule over the Middle East from Egypt to places close to India. Its language would become the medium for the New Testament writings. Egypt was under Greek rule. Alexandria was a university city of world renown. From there the Old Testament was translated into Greek – the Septuagint. In the third century before Christ three great philosophers emerged as men who would influence world thought for centuries from then until now : Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Exiled Jews had returned to Jerusalem and Israel and rebuilt the Temple. They faced many difficulties and in many ways compromised their faith. Their failures occasioned the stern correction, and later, promise of ultimate blessing that would come through Christ. Paul the apostle knew Greek worldview and language. He would have known the famous philosophers and their ways of thinking. He wrote : In the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him (1 Cor. 1:21). But he also said : … you are in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God (1 Cor. 1:30). It intrigues me to think that before the time of the apex of Greek power, God raised up a prophet who would foretell the coming of John the Baptist and then Jesus. Then, later, he raised up Paul to show us that as great as Greek culture was (and other cultures too), it was deficient in that key area of bringing to people, universally, the true knowledge of God. Yet God would use the Greek language (not Hebrew) to spread the Gospel, orally, and by print (parchments). This poem is an attempt to underscore the fact that cultural worldviews by themselves are simply unable to present to us an adequate knowledge of God. That their forms need the transformative power of the Gospel and the revelation of the Holy Spirit if they are to function for their destined effectiveness. And finally, that in the general sense, all thinking capabilities must be made obedient to Christ (2 Cor- inthians 10:5). That it is the Holy Spirit, who, if given entry, becomes the divinely designed “operating system” for our thinking mechanisms. Finally, I am intrigued that God, who knows all things and pre-planned the world’s history and its climax, should show us that in himself, as the Triune God, there is the one and only way so perfectly expressed in Jesus’ own claim : I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). Revelation Confronts Culture by Paul E. Grant March 2007 Page 1 http://www.globalmissiology.org/ REVELATION CONFRONTS CULTURE PART 1 Intelligence and the power to reason Is a reflection of the Creator, Whose original intent holds true To be our heavenly navigator As software is to the computer So Word and Spirit to thinking, They both enlighten and enliven To bring a special discerning Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Proposed, reasoned, and questioned, Initiating new ways of conceiving And knowledge that excelled Their philosophies established A foundation for Western thought, And over these two milleniums On this basis we have been taught The question and answer method, Analysis and definitions, Concepts, logic, and debate, And critical disputations Inquiring minds probed ever further Learning must have no end, Why we are here and who we are Challenged the human to comprehend Yet this wisdom was frustrated. In its avid search for meaning, Intelligence alone was just unable To discover the secret of living Four hundred years after their time Jesus brought a new dimension, The apostle Paul showed that Christ had come To set up our redemption This unique redemption package At its core brought wisdom, No cultural heritage could match, Revelation Confronts Culture by Paul E. Grant March 2007 Page 2 Its insights uniquely awesome PART 2 If wisdom seeks to make a claim To show itself superior It must align with revelation From the biblical criteria Socrates’ role in teaching Encouraged his pupils to question, To find wisdom within themselves By means of introspection He challenged people to rigorous thought An eminent facilitator, The Bible however makes it plain True wisdom is from the Creator Paul refers to the wisdom of the wise And the intelligence of the clever1, But for grasping the knowledge of God Their mechanisms failed to deliver Reason needed something else, A mysterious Spirit power To possess its potentiality If God’s knowledge was to flower Paul spoke of a wisdom that was hidden2 The wisdom of Holy Spirit, When the mind consents to his Lordship This wisdom we inherit Paul goes further when he says The mind of Christ directs us3, Human thinking is thus transformed And wisdom comes to its fullness God’s revelations transcend reason Yet reason under God’s rule, Animated and enlightened, Becomes irresistible In a merger that only God could create Spirit and reason participate, 1 1 Corinthians 1:19 2 1 Corinthians 2:7 3 1 Corinthians 2:16 Revelation Confronts Culture by Paul E. Grant March 2007 Page 3 Reason submits and communicates A knowledge that authenticates Authenticity is in more than the words Of a culture’s imagination, The authentic mind of God is conveyed By the Spirit’s illumination Revelation must descend into reason And there it becomes its carrier, Reason delights in the Spirit’s possession To display God’s own insignia PART 3 So I am intrigued that the finest thinking When surrendered to God, its admission Becomes so wonderfully transformed, Its cultural destiny reaches fruition Greek thinking needed a cleansing, Then following, a conversion as well, Its riches free of sin’s baggage Would be fitted for the Gospel to tell Greek thought, Greek words, Greek notions Became instruments of the Divine, Becoming free of self-serving interests They gained a celestial shine Cultural worldviews need conversion Thinking and language are gifts from God, When these are saved and sanctified They pass the test of his measuring rod First Corinthians Chapters One and Two Stress the importance of revelation, Thinking and words when so possessed Exceed all human invention Why? They are words taught by the Spirit4 No eye has seen, no ear has heard No mind has conceived these things5, Carried along by the Spirit-driven Word When culture gate-keepers of our lands Yield to the Spirit’s revelation 4 1 Corinthians 2:13 5 1 Corinthians 2:9 Revelation Confronts Culture by Paul E. Grant March 2007 Page 4 The mind of God will be known to all, The focus will be on Christ’s exaltation Paul E. Grant March 2007 Brisbane, Australia Published in the special issue “A Memoriam of Paul G. Hiebert” www.globalmissiology.org April 1, 2007 Revelation Confronts Culture by Paul E. Grant March 2007 Page 5 http://www.globalmissiology.org/