The cultures and religions surrounding the stories and writers of the Bible fascinate me. Just a basic, working knowledge of that stuff can really open up your eyes to why writers wrote the way they wrote, taking truths God inspired them with and writing them out in ways God's people, and the people around them, could grasp. Like any great preacher or author today, they just knew how to do it.
John, the disciple Jesus loved, is a pretty cool example of this. He wrote about things that Jews would understand from their history in order to explain present reality--such as all the sanctuary imagery you find in The Revelation of Jesus Christ (I try and use the whole title there so as not to forget what the intention of the book was). But he did pretty well at capturing the imagery of the surrounding cultures and religions outside Judaism as well. John 1 is a good example of this. In brief, as I've been studying it this week, here's how I am seeing this. I admit that Wikipedia has helped out with this some, so it bears noting that it's a good idea to look into this for yourself and broaden the research a bit, but here goes...
Stoic philosophy was something that developed in Athens in the 3rd century, BC. Stoicism taught the errors in judgment led to destructive emotions. A person of moral and intellectual perfection (or a "sage") would not put up with such destructive emotions. They were very concerned with the relationship between "cosmic determination" (fate) and human behavior. They were one in a long line of philosophies that placed a lot of emphasis on "logos.." This is a word that is literally translated as "word," or "knowledge." They defined it a step further as "reason." So, logos had to do with the reasons why people do what they do, and how it relates to "cosmic fate" (sort of).
The Stoics had this thing called "logos spermatikos," which was to them the generative principle of the universe (the creative reason that generated matter and life). This would one day heavily influence Neoplatonism, which taught that God is "supra rational," and could only be reached through ecstasy (not a drug) and perfection. He is the primeval source of being, the formless One, the cosmic force from which life and being flows.
The philosophies of the age also taught that darkness was but the absence of light, and that darkness, in and of itself, did not exist.
Sounds to me like George Lucas borrowed a bit of material for "Star Wars, but that's just my opinion. Of course, the "dark side" of the force was in opposition to the good side of the force, but I digress...
You might say that John knew something about this stuff too, but His departure from other philosophies was pretty dramatic.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (John 1:1-5)
John was great at this. His "son of thunder" reputation came out sometimes in his writings too. What he does here is say, to the Jews and to the prevailing and developing philosophies of his day, "JESUS IS WAY BETTER than that rot!"
"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:6-13)
You philosophers who know so much, you people who founded this Stoic movement or Platonism (or Neoplatonism)... there was this guy who preached in the desert and ate honey and tree-beans ("locusts" probably doesn't actually refer to bugs) and wore camel-skin clothes... he knew something you didn't even conceive of!
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
Greek philosophies didn't teach about the "life-generating force" becoming a human being. They didn't talk about God coming down. They didn't believe in the "supra rational" taking on a visible form! All they could think of was a formless God-force emanating life (might as well have been the "big bang" if you're going to buy that) and human beings working toward ecstasy and perfection to reach Him (or it... or whatever).
Jews taught of a the One true God. They knew of a coming Messiah. But they could but conceive of a savior that returned to them their earthly rule and riches, not the One that would bring peace between created people and a mysterious and perfect God.
Considering all he was surrounded by in his life, and his experience with Jesus, I can only come to the conclusion that John was writing something radical here. He knew the ancient Jewish teachings and the philosophies of pagans that were taking hold in his days. Rather than shouting them down, he showed how Jesus was greater.
Greater than the force. Greater than any other created human being. Greater than an earthly king. Greater than ecstasy and "achieved" perfection.
And get this... if you are to believe John, they actually were eyewitnesses of all of it... "we beheld His glory..."
Know that when you experience Jesus, you experience the greatest thing there ever was. Creator. Personal (not just a force). Fully God. The reason for existence.
Jesus. ALL.
Have you experienced Jesus in any of these ways?
I don't believe any of it changes the fundamental truths about God and His plan, but just how the writers approached communicating inspired truth. However, is there any other insight (new or corrective) you have on the relationship of culture, religion, history, and philosophy, and how it impacted the way Bible writers wrote?
