The Man of Athens – The Man of Jerusalem

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean?” Acts 17:19-20 NASB

Strange things – Over a decade has passed since I started writing about the difference between our typical Western worldview and the Semitic worldview of Scripture. We have experienced a lot of corrections in our ways of thinking since then. Maybe we’re like those Greeks on the Areopagus, asking a Jewish rabbi to explain these xenizonta, which means “foreign,” or “what is received from a guest,” not necessarily “strange.” So I’ve decided to revisit the beginning (found in the opening chapter of Spiritual Restoration, Vol. 1) and make some changes and additions. Let’s see what we can receive, what’s foreign to our ears. Here we go. (Sorry, it’s a bit long.)

One of the reasons that we have such a hard time putting our faith into practice in the everyday life is that we have never taken time to understand our own roots. We are part of a heritage that reaches back to ancient Greece; hundreds of years before Yeshua walked the pathways of Israel. We are also part of a society that was reshaped by Judeo-Christian influences from two millennia before we were born. As a result, we are the product of a cultural clash.

The world of the Greeks was not like the world of the Hebrews. The Greeks are the fathers of western thought. The Hebrews are from eastern backgrounds. The Greeks were a culture of city-states, a government of the rule of social law, a population of diverse ethnic groups and an intellectual history of logic, scientific measurement and theory. The Hebrews were a genealogy of tribal descent, a government by God’s revealed character, a culture of nomadic wanderings and an intellectual history of prophetic wisdom and cultic ritual.

We are the product of both of these streams. Our problem is that we haven’t taken time to see what these two great influences mean for us. We haven’t listened to the difference between the Greek and Hebrew answers to the biggest questions of life. And since we have not realized that there is a very big difference, we have all sorts of problems when we try to practice a belief in God based on the Hebrew culture within the framework of the world based on the Greek culture.

These two cultural streams answer our fundamental questions of life very differently:

What is Man?

What is the nature of the universe?

Who is God?

Any significant differences in answers to just one of these fundamental questions will cause problems, but when you put all three together at once, confusion and chaos follow.

The Greeks would answer our questions like this:

1. Man is unique in the world because he is the only creature who can exercise logical reason. Logos is the true measure of what it means to be Man. Logos is more than just the human capacity to think. It is a direct connection between Man and the divine order of things.
2. Man has a spark of the divine within him. His connection to the spiritual world is the part of him that shares logos with the divinity of the cosmos.
3. Man can know the universe through his reason. Because Man’s intellect is in alignment with the divine order of the world, it is open to his investigation and analysis.
4. Knowledge is power. To know is to be able to predict and control.
5. Societal institutions are extensions of Man’s knowledge and abilities. Man elects to participate in society. He does not need to participate in order to be who he is.
6. Man is capable of solving the world’s problems. Intelligence, correctly applied, is the key to understanding the world and understanding the world will bring it into alignment with its destiny.
7. Man has no cognitive limits. Everything is open to his investigation.
8. Self-sufficiency is the only attitude needed to accomplish whatever can be imagined.
9. The destiny of Man is to control his world. This does not need to be exploitation, but it does mean that the world was made for Man to use for his ends.
10. Belief in a personal God is unnecessary. The cosmos itself is the display of the divine nature of all that is. A belief in a personal God who has a personal agenda is a projection of human emotion based on the fear of the unknown. Once Man understands the nature of all things, he will enjoy his role in the divinity of all things.

How would the Hebrews answer these questions? They might say something like this: (pardon me if we use a Greek technique to do this).

1. All creation begins and ends with God.
2. Man’s uniqueness is a result of God’s choice to gift him with borrowed authority. Man is the steward of God’s creation and is dependent on God for his existence. God’s image in Man is functional, not ontological.
3. Man shares fundamental aspects with all of creation but none of these make him a participant in the divine by birthright. He must choose to follow in the character of His maker.
4. Man is completely dependent on God even if he does not acknowledge this dependence.
5. Every aspect of Man’s life is under God’s sovereignty and control even if God chooses to allow Man the capacity to act as a free agent.
6. Man has chosen to rebel against His creator. The consequences of these choices lead to disruption, destruction and chaos in the world, but rebellion is not necessary.
7. Man is not a spark of the divine. His nature is to choose between his inclination toward self-fulfillment and his inclination toward fulfilling the calling of God.
8. Man cannot solve his most fundamental problem on his own. He needs direction from outside the box of the world system.
9. Human societal institutions need the instruction of God and the willingness of men in order to bring about harmony and peace. They are necessary for Man to be what he was intended to be. Man discovers the fullness of who he is in community.
10. God will judge Man’s deeds on the basis of His expectations for His creation. What a man does in this world is of enormous consequence.
11. Knowledge, self-reliance and self-sufficiency are vanity and folly with regard to Man’s real problems. They must all be directed by God’s agenda.
12. God’s truth is power, but power is not God’s default way of operating in the world.
13. Wisdom is the application of God’s truth as revealed by the prophetic tradition.

This helps us see how completely different these two views of Man really are. Fundamentally, the Hebrew view is that God is the principal player in this universe. Everything revolves around Him, His purposes, His will and His control. The Greek view is that Man is the central player on the world’s stage. Man’s goals, creations, abilities and decisions are the most important elements in this world.

These two approaches are simply not compatible. Their differences make compromise impossible. We can picture some of these thematic differences with the following word pairs: 

Greek                                                 Hebrew 

Believe correctly             vs.             Behave correctly

Education                         vs.             Submission

Knowledge                         vs.             Wisdom

Reason                         vs.             Revelation

Mind                                     vs.             Heart

Material                        vs.             Spiritual

Outer recognition             vs.             Inner/Outer Harmony

Fulfilled                         vs.             Fruitful

Psyche                         vs.             Person (nephesh)

Enlightenment             vs.             Repentance

Destiny                         vs.             Purpose

Of course, there are overlaps in concepts. Whenever entire cultures are reduced to a dozen words, many of the nuances are lost. But in general, we can see the striking differences between these two views. The differences are not just about the nature of Man. They are different in their outlook regarding history, purpose, epistemology (how you know what’s true), ethics and religion.

How many times have we been frustrated in our spiritual growth or the application of our beliefs in our everyday circumstances because we have been trying to fit a Hebrew peg into a Greek hole? Look over the lists above. How much of your own belief system is really Greek? Ask yourself these questions to see if you aren’t making Greek assumptions about the world.

1.  Do you place a higher value on gaining knowledge than you do on submitting to God’s wisdom?

Perhaps you will say, “Oh, no. I don’t do that. I want to serve God’s purposes”. But the truth is usually found in our actions, not our words. How often have you shortened your time studying God’s word so that you could get to the gym? Do you tell your children that the way to success is by getting a college degree? How much emphasis do you and your family put on understanding God’s precise purpose for your daily life? Is spirituality a “part” of your life or the core of your existence?

2. Do you think that hard work and education will solve your problems?

Here’s another example. The last time you made a job change or took a promotion, did you pray asking God to show you what was best for you, or did you go for the status and money? When you face financial difficulties, do you put in overtime or do you spend more time on your knees? When you are in conflict with your spouse, do you ask to pray together before you begin arguing, debating or justifying?

3. Do you measure achievements according to the standards of your career or your peers instead of according to God’s revelation?

I have many college degrees. They are displayed on my wall. Do you think that they make me a better person? When you meet people, do you judge them by their accomplishments before you know if they have submitted their lives to God? If someone asks you what you do, is God’s purpose part of your answer?

4. Do you listen more to your mind than to your heart?

When you face a really stressful problem, where do you turn first, to your own mental resources (trying to figure out how to make things work) or to God (asking Him for His guidance)? When bad things happen to you, whom do you blame? Why do you blame anyone at all? Do you believe that God is using these things in your life for His purposes?

5. Are you shaped more by your outward circumstances than by your inner reflection?

When you are under stress, are you able to see God’s hand in every circumstance? Do you know the inner tranquility that Yeshua promised (“my peace I give to you”) or are you anxious and you just can’t let go?

6. Do you look for outward approval by men instead of inner recognition by God?

Does your reputation count more than your quiet service before God? Do you look for recognition from others? Do you keep “score”?

7. Are you struggling to find your destiny or are you striving to bring about God’s purposes?

If you wrote down the top three desires for your life, where would devotion (not service) to God be?

8. How hard is it for you to admit your mistakes, genuinely ask for forgiveness and make amends?

Once you answer these questions, you may find that you are much more Greek than you are Hebrew. That might explain why you find frustration in your spiritual life. When Paul tells us that we must become like the Messiah by the renewing of our minds, he is speaking about much more than just changing our religious beliefs. We need to start seeing the world from God’s perspective, and that perspective does not come from the top of Mt. Olympus.

Today’s cultural orientation is based on Greek thinking and assumptions. If we are going to express our faith in this Greek world, we need to know when we are facing fundamental differences in viewpoints. This does not mean that we can’t be believers in the workplace, in civil and social settings or in education. Obviously, God is the God of all creation and sovereign over every circumstance. God expects us to behave like His son in every situation.

But we usually try to do the right thing without even knowing how to make the changes in our own minds first. We need to get God’s viewpoint regarding our situation before we can put His purposes into action. That means taking a serious look at what we really believe by looking at how we act, not what we say.

For example, we teach our children that success in life is the result of education. We tell them that knowledge and study is the way to happiness. This program is thoroughly Greek. God’s way is quite different. First, life is not measured by material gain and success. Secondly, life is not about education; it is about wisdom. Thirdly, knowledge is valuable only if it produces a submissive attitude toward God. Degrees on the wall, sales awards, career promotions and corporate titles mean nothing if they are not part of God’s purpose for us. This does not mean that we take an anti-educational stance. It means that we take a position that looks beyond this culture by acting on the basis of eternal values. We do what makes sense for a much bigger picture. We are not limited by the society’s horizon.

Do you see how easily our Greek perspective shows itself? Do you see how hard it is to make sense of life when your Greek-based assumptions thwart your attempts to be a good Hebrew-based believer?

It’s time to unmask the enemy. Our minds are fertile ground for all sorts of self-defeating behavior. As Pogo said in that favorite cartoon, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Other Greek – Hebrew paradigm shifts include:

Greek                                                                         Hebrew

Individual                                     vs.             Tribe (Community)

Education = information            vs.             Education = right living

Names as labels                         vs.             Names as identity – essence

Personal Worth: Commodity            vs.             Value granted by God

Money, Effort                                     vs.             Devotion, Dependence

Organization                                     vs.             Community

Hierarchy                                     vs.             Family

Religion as ritual                         vs.             True worship

Fate and luck                                     vs.             Sovereign Direction

Balanced life                                     vs.             Centered Life

Desire for control                         vs.             Dynamically Powerless

These pairs only scratch the surface of the shift in perspective, but they may be useful by helping us with the concept of opposing paradigms. As we explore these differences, we will discover that a great many of our presuppositions about life are really built on the sandy foundation of Greek thought. That should come as a warning. Every past civilization that attempted to build on this kind of foundation failed. It was swept away by time and tide. God’s eternal kingdom does not originate in the thinking of this world.

It does not operate on the same principles that we find in the Greek perspective. If we try to live according to the worldview that is built on this beach, we too will be washed away. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t even aware that we are building on sand. It’s time to look at what’s really under our feet.

There we are. Done so far. Maybe this reminder with corrections will help us focus our efforts.

Topical Index: Greek and Hebrew thinking, paradigm, strange things, Acts 17:19-20, xenizonta