ithink intro

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His son…” Gal 4:4 (NASB)

What was it about the Mediterranean world two thousand years ago that made it the “fullness of time”? Why was that time ripe for the next stage in God’s plan of salvation? Part of the answer to that is the Greco-Roman culture that dominated the time. As Chesterton said (paraphrased), the Romans may have been pagans, but not all pagans were created equal. Rome’s defeat of Carthage is one the most important events in history. Carthage worshiped Moloch in what was probably a continuation of the Baal worshipping cults of the Old Testament, and the sacrifice of first born infants was a common ritual.
The Romans is many ways carried on where the Greeks left off. Certain Greeks had developed a strong desire for Truth, which they carried as far as they could without divine revelation. Salvation is certainly from the Jews, but the influence of Greek thought is pervasive throughout Christian thought. Even the doctrine of the Trinity, central to Christian theology yet never explicitly articulated in that way in the Bible, was developed using ideas that the Greek mind was comfortable with but were foreign to the Hebrew mind. I have heard it said that it is impossible to explain the Trinity to someone without invoking Plato’s idea of essences, whether you know you are doing it or not. Plato, in fact, was so good at the pursuit of truth that CS Lewis speculated that perhaps he was a believer, and Lewis would not have been surprised at all to see Plato in heaven. While I think that idea is certainly debatable, the Greeks do deserve credit for taking the pursuit of truth as far as possible without divine intervention.
We could go on with many more examples of ways in which the ancient Mediterranean world was “the fullness of time.” If anything is true it helps us understand more about God. Fortunately, God has given us direct, special revelation in the Bible. There are truths that no one can discover without that special revelation. That is why the things of Bible, namely the crucifixion, are ‘foolishness to the Greeks’. But that doesn’t change the fact that some of the Greeks had a way of understanding reality that was indispensable for the full development of Christian thought. What about after the Greeks and Romans? Alfred North Whitehead said that the history of philosophy is merely footnotes on Plato. The impact of the Greek thought on philosophy and Christian theology is indisputable. That is why I am looking forward to this group.