We saw that in the
classical criticism of Jesus' behavior in Gethsemane, critics contrast the
behavior of Jesus with the behavior of Socrates.
Consider again Plato’s account of Socrates so-called courage. Realize this: as
Plato tells the story in Phaedo, he is attempting to prove Socrates’ doctrine of
the immortality of the soul. The execution of Socrates is prime material for his
argument.
To Socrates and Plato, the body is a prison for the soul. The body
tends to corrupt the soul. Socrates hopes for the purification of his soul by
separating it from his body. Death is the separation of the soul from the body.
The philosopher longs for the purification of the soul from the body which can
be hoped for in death.
That is why Socrates is not complaining at his impending
death. During bodily life, the philosopher attempts to effect the separation of
the soul from the body as far as possible by philosophy. The philosopher not
only practices for death; the philosopher practices death. All this is the
classical basis of a saying we often hear when someone dies: “He’s in a better
place.”
If that’s true, fine.
Creation Is Good
But for Jesus, the body is not the corrupter of the soul.
The material world, just by being material, is not evil. When God created earth
and the things in it, He kept saying it was good. (Genesis 1)
Incarnation is Good
When the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son, who
lived with the Father and Spirit from eternity, became a man by being conceived
in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and being born a man, born under the law, and
being fully human as you and I are, that incarnation, that being made flesh did
not corrupt the holy soul of Christ. (John 1) Our being human, our being partly material
is not what is corrupting our souls.
Not Death, but Ongoing Destruction
Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body and cannot kill the soul.
But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew
10:28 (NKJV). Jesus did not share the Platonic doctrine of the immortality of
the soul. He taught the soul’s destruction in hell. This is destruction not only
of the body but of the soul.
This destruction is not annihilation of the soul, as if the
soul then no longer exists and feels nothing. Hell goes on and on, and the
destruction of the soul in hell goes on and on. Jesus spoke repeatedly of hell
fire and the everlasting fire. Look again through your Bibles on the topic if
hell, and you will find that it is not the prophets or the Old Testament that
reveal hell. Jesus is the revealer of hell. Socrates did not face that. Jesus did.
Living and Dying in Denial
The pain of the soul’s destruction was too much for Socrates to even consider.
Instead of facing it and finding strength to face it, Socrates denied it. He
lived and died in denial. Like the thousand ways we poor sinners self-medicate
our pain and depression (alcohol, illicit sex, wealth, fame, power, drugs,
etc.), Socrates self-medicated with philosophy. He prescribed that medication
for Plato, and Plato prescribes that medication for you and me.
Medicated and Unmedicated Death
Once we know this, the comparison of Socrates and Jesus reaches the heights of
dramatic irony. Socrates died by medication, hemlock, while Jesus, the Great
Physician, refused medication as he was dying by crucifixion. “Then they gave
Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.” Mark 15:23 enski
says,
Myrrh was added to the wine in order to give it a stupefying effect. This was
not an evidence of mercy on the part of the executioners; it was quite the
opposite, for it was intended to make their labor of crucifying easier. A man
who had been heavily doped with this drink could be easily handled. After one
taste of this Jesus refused to drink more of this stupefying drink, and the
imperfect [tense of the original Greek word] reads as though he was repeatedly
urged to drink and as repeatedly refused. He intended to go through the final
ordeal with a perfectly clear mind; he intended to endure all without avoiding a
single agony.
Critics say Christianity is opium for the masses. Of course those in opium dens
believe opium is everywhere. Of course the self-medicating accuse the Great
Physician of medicating. Once more, accusers see their own faults in others.
A Slick Cop Out
Socrates self-medicated with a philosophy of denial, a doctrine of the
immorality of the soul, a dualistic dogma of the soul as inherently good and the
body as inherently evil. What a cop out. What a slick way to avoid
responsibility for what we do. Instead of saying, “The Devil made me do it,”
just say, “The body made me do it.”
In contrast, Jesus created the material world and called it good (Genesis 1),
and Jesus became man (John 1). He saw nothing inherently evil in matter or the
body. He saw the danger of the destruction of both the body and the soul in
hell. Jesus faced all this while Socrates denied it. Socrates made a life’s work
of cowardly denial.
Real Heroism
There is a difference between fear and cowardice. Ask a soldier, sailor, airman,
or marine. You’re an idiot if you are not afraid. A person who does not know the
danger is not afraid, but that is not bravery or courage. That is ignorance.
Jesus knew enough to be afraid, and was heroic enough to face it. Like every
good soldier, He was brave for his buddies — you and me.
So Jesus faced not only death, but the ongoing destruction
of both the body and the soul in hell. And still there are two more things He
faced that Socrates did not: my sin, and God's wrath on sin.
Socrates did not believe in God's wrath on sin, but Jesus
preached it, and faced it. He faced it for me, if we wish to speak of heroes.
Jesus not only faced my sin, but He bore it. What
is the sense of this word, "bore?" How did he bear my sins? We will look at that
in future posts, but for now we know this much; we know two things:
- Whatever the bearing of our sin by Jesus means, in no sense did Socrates bear our sin.
- The bearing of our sin by Jesus is a small matter only if we think our sin is a small matter.
Those who think Socrates such a hero and Jesus a coward
say, by taking that position, that their sin is little. Vanity lies at the root
of criticizing Christ.
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