The Man of Athens – The Man of Jerusalem
One of the reasons that we have such a hard time putting our faith into practice in the everyday work world is that we have never taken time to understand our own roots. We are part of a heritage that reaches back to ancient Greece; thousands of years before Christ walked the Palestine pathways. We are also part of a society that was reshaped by Judeo-Christian influences from two millennia before we were born. We are the product of a cultural clash.
The world of the Greeks was not at all like the world of the Hebrews. The Greeks are the fathers of western thought. The Hebrews were from eastern backgrounds. The Greeks were a culture of city-states, a government of the rule of Law, a population of diverse ethnic groups and an intellectual history of scientific measure and theory. The Hebrews were a pure genealogy of tribal descent, a government of God’s Law, a culture of nomadic wanderings and an intellectual history of 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 streams mean for us. We haven’t listened to the difference between the Greek and Hebrew answers to the questions. And since we don’t know that there is a very big difference, we find all sorts of problems when we try to practice a belief in God based on the Hebrew culture in a view of the world and Man based on the Greek culture.
These two cultural streams answered the fundamental questions of life very differently. Those big questions are:
What is Man?
What is the nature of the universe?
Who is God?
Any one of these cultural differences would lead to significant differences in answers to life’s fundamental questions, but when you put them all together at once, confusion and chaos follow.
The Greeks would answer our questions like this:
- Man is unique in the world because he is the only creature who can exercise reason
- Man has a spark of the divine within him
- Man can know the universe through his reason
- Knowledge is power
- Societal institutions are extensions of Man’s knowledge
- Man is capable of solving the world’s problems
- Man has no limits
- Self-sufficiency is the only attitude needed to accomplish whatever can be imagined
- The destiny of Man is to control the world
- The world can be fully understood through scientific investigation
- Religion and belief in God is not-scientific and capable of scientific proof but may be acceptable for those who cannot embrace completely logical conclusions
How would the Hebrews answer these questions?
They might say something like this: (pardon me if we use a Greek technique to do this).
- All creation begins and ends with God
- Man’s only uniqueness is a result of God’s choice
- Man shares fundamental aspects with all of creation
- Man is completely dependent on God even if he does not acknowledge this dependence
- Every aspect of Man’s life is under God’s sovereignty and control
- Man is essentially and fundamentally a being who chooses to rebel against His creator
- Man is not a spark of the divine but rather a wicked and disobedient violator of God’s moral law
- Man cannot solve his most fundamental problem
- God is responsible for human societal institutions
- God will judge Man’s deeds on the basis of absolute holiness
- God is the central focus of all creation, not Man
- Knowledge, self-reliance and self-sufficiency are vanity and folly with regard to Man’s real problem
- God’s Truth is power
- Wisdom is the application of God’s Truth
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 are so far apart that no compromise can even be imagined.
We can picture some of these thematic differences with the following word pairs:
Believe correctly vs. Behave correctly
Education and knowledge vs. Submission and wisdom
Reason vs. Revelation
Mind vs. Heart
Material vs. Spiritual
Outer recognition vs. Inner reflection
Fulfilled vs. Fruitful
Psyche vs. Soul
Enlightenment vs. Repentance
Man’s destiny vs. God’s purposes
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. And the differences are not just about the nature of Man. They are different in their outlook on 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 Christian 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 a training class for work? 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 or do you “assume” it while you rush to get to work or school?
2. Do you think that hard work and understanding will solve all 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 with 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 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 someone, do you judge him or her 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 know that God is using these things in your life?
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 Jesus promised (my peace I give to you) or are you anxious and you just can’t let it all 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 service to God be?
8. How hard is it for you to admit your mistakes, genuinely ask for forgiveness and make apologies?
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 Christ 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 world of work and business 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 Christian in the workplace. Obviously, God is the God of all creation and sovereign over every circumstance. So, 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 on our situation before we can put His purposes into action. And that means taking a serious look at what we really believe by looking at how we act, not what we say.
For example, if we teach our children that success in life is the result of education, that knowledge, college and study is the way to happiness, we are acting on beliefs that are 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-education position. It means that we take a position that looks beyond this world by acting on the basis of eternal values.
Do you see how easily we become Greek? Do you see how hard it is to make sense of life when your Greek-based assumptions stand behind your attempts to be a good Hebrew-based Christian?
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 culture parallels
Greek Hebrew
Individual Tribe
Education to each person Education – through the head of tribe to
the tribe father to family
Words as labels – not essence Word as identity – reveals essence
How much of our cultural view of men as providers and women as nesters is in the underlying assumptions of the Greek culture?
Worth – measured as commodities vs. Worth – granted by God – independent of Money and Time and human effort
Church – organization – order – hierarchy vs. Hebrew – modeled after tribe where we find religion as ritual and obeisance within the family, unity without hierarchy
The role of fate and luck, appeasement in the Greek model
TIME – linear, contingent on change vs. Hebrew – time a measure of constancy and stability, patterns without attention to the linear progression
GREEK – balanced life: ME at the center – desire for control, the assumption that control must go from the center to the edges. Focus on individual = focus on power and responsibility
vs.
Hebrew – concurrent circles one inside the other, Center circles are what I really control – my body, mind, spirit – everything else is diminished control as I move further away. Center is God in me. Outside a boundary is NO CONTROL
