Written by Craig A. Carter |
Friday, January 21, 2022
Christian Platonism shares with Neoplatonism a hierarchical understanding of reality, the idea of teleology, and belief in a spiritual realm of reality on which the visible, material world depends. Modern philosophical naturalism rejects all these things. It insists that all that exists is what we can discover using our five senses and that our minds are not capable of knowing intelligible reality such as universals. It should be clear that Platonism has at least some things in common with Christianity and that Naturalism is the common enemy of both.

Everyone approaches the interpretation of Scripture with metaphysical assumptions, some of which may be held consciously and critically and others of which may be unconsciously assumed. A materialist will not be likely to see the soul as immortal, but a person who believes in a spiritual realm of reality beyond the material cosmos may be more inclined to entertain the idea. A person who assumes mechanism may see naturalistic evolution as possible; one who rejects mechanism will look for teleology and Divine directedness.
Throughout the history of the church and even during the second temple period as the Jews encountered Hellenism, the writing and interpretation of Scripture has been influenced by Greek metaphysical ideas. Greek philosophical ideas are visible in the New Testament just as they are in other Jewish writings of that period. The idea that the Bible is hermetically sealed off from the surrounding cultural influences is not an idea that most interpreters of Scripture historically have taken all that seriously. This is not to say that biblical writers uncritically incorporated ancient Near Eastern mythological thinking or that they uncritically incorporated Greek metaphysics into their writings. There is no reason to suppose them to be uncritical. And it is not to say that Divine inspiration did not cause them to modify or reject certain extra-biblical ideas. In fact, it seems clear to me that because the Bible is inspired it does so. The Old and New Testaments alike engage in polemical refutation and correction of pagan mythological and metaphysical ideas in their cultural contexts (e.g. 1 Tim 1:4, 7; 2 Tim 4:4; Tit 1:14; 2 Pet 1:16). (n.b. I discuss the OT polemical correction of ANE mythology in Contemplating God with the Great Tradition, 116-21.)
The pro-Nicene fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries certainly were influenced by Greek metaphysical thinking. For example, Basil of Caesarea studied in Constantinople and Athens and Augustine was famously influenced by Neoplatonic writings, probably those of Plotinus, which helped him come to faith. He talks about this in Confessions, Book VII. By late antiquity, the Platonic tradition was the mainstream philosophical tradition, and it was over seven centuries old. Plato was as ancient to Augustine as Aquinas is to us today.
Neoplatonism
The form of Platonism that was predominant in Augustine’s day has been called, since the nineteenth century, Neoplatonism. This was a mixture of Plato, Aristotle, and Stoicism as taught by Plotinus (204-70) and his disciples.
Neoplatonism was the most potent and influential form of Platonism at that time, and it was both a philosophy and a mystical religion. But it was not a religion for the masses; it was definitely an elite phenomenon, unlike Christianity. In Augustine’s day, Christianity and Neoplatonism were rivals and it was not yet clear which would become most influential in the future development of Western civilization. As things turned out, Christianity won that contest, but Neoplatonism went underground only to re-surface periodically in history.
When we talk of Augustine’s Christian Platonism, it is important that we grasp the fact that he lays out what he accepts and what he rejects in Platonism in The City of God. There is one main point at which the special revelation of Scripture corrects Platonism and two more points where biblical revelation adds entirely new content of central importance to what the Platonists knew.
1. Creation ex Nihilo
This is a huge difference between Neoplatonism and Christian Platonism. For the Neoplatonists, the universe is eternal so far as we know. The One emanates being from itself and this is where the universe originates. Matter is less pure being. There is no hard and fast Creator-creature distinction; the being of the world differs from the being of the One only by degree.
For Christianity, however, God is the transcendent Creator who brings into existence all things visible and invisible. This means that the being of God is eternal, necessary and self-existent, while the being of the creation has a beginning, is contingent and is not self-existent. The Creator-creature distinction is a difference in kind of being, not in degree.
Moreover, in Christianity, the Bible presents creation as an act of God’s will. God did not have to create, nor did he create unconsciously. He does not create as a function of his own existence. But in Neoplatonism the One emanates being without making a specific decision to do so. It is therefore more accurate to see the One in Neoplatonism as part of the cosmos, or on the same plane of reality as the cosmos, rather than as transcendent.
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In this sermon, Spurgeon speaks of and to “burden-bearers” of various sorts, comparing them to the Gershonites spoken of and to in the book of Numbers—a family in the tribe of Levi called to bear holy burdens and responsible for the moving of the priestly ornaments. As I’m presently one of these Gershonites—no longer bed-bound, but still in a daily state of suffering—it is not enough to view myself as “not worthless” but rather, to stand as a witness of God’s goodness in and through that suffering. This passage in Numbers 4 starts with the words, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying…” before going on to describe the service and the life the Gershonites were to live. They were not an afterthought, nor were they they “less than” but, rather, were directly appointed by God for their task.

In my last article, I shared some verses1 that the Lord has repeatedly used to encourage and sanctify me over the past few years. These verses were especially heartening during a prolonged period during which I was housebound, and largely confined to my bed. Lying there, in vast amounts of pain, unable to sleep or even to find a single comfortable position, I struggled against a persistent sense of pointlessness. The enemy would come and remind me of just how frail I was, and how useless I felt. My only visitors were the people who lived with us, and I had no pastoral support at the time.
I felt very alone.
It was not the first time I’d been seriously ill, and, therefore, I knew that the Lord would be perfecting my suffering for his glory and for the good of his people. There were times though—sometimes due to spiritual drought and other times because of the wretched medicine I had to take—that the truth became hard to hold onto.
During this time, I had continued to disciple a number of young men in the church, (albeit on Zoom…and horizontally.) One day, between one call and another, I brought my struggle before the Lord and asked:
“What is the point? What am I good for now?”
After I had prayed, I picked up a book of sermons that sat by my bedside, and I began to read. I’d love to tell you about the sermon I stumbled upon that day, and about how God used it to transform my suffering once more, to change my life, and to renew my mind. In addition though, I wanted as many people as possible to be able to access this sermon, and so, I have recorded the sermon in full so you can listen on YouTube.
Burdens and Bedsides
That day, whilst reading the sermon above, the following words were an answer to prayer and a warm embrace:
There lies, at Dundee, at this present moment, a man who has been confined to his bed, I think it is now fifty-six years. I have his photograph at home, and the friend who sent it to me wrote, “I send you the likeness of the happiest man in Dundee, and one of the most useful, too, for he is a great soul-winner though he cannot raise himself from a constantly prostrate position. He talks so sweetly of Christ and of the upholding power of divine grace, that he leads many to put their trust in Jesus Christ.
I was six months in to what would be almost a year spent mostly in bed—though I didn’t know it yet. In that moment, my prayer railing against my uselessness was replaced by one petitioning God to use my bedridden state; even if it was to last another fifty-six years. The truth is, that often when we’re in states of suffering, we’re the first to declare ourselves a lost cause, even when we would never do such a thing to others.
Spurgeon goes on to say:
All over this land…there are bed-ridden men and women who are the saintliest among the saints. It is an atrocious lie that some have uttered when they have said that the sickness is a consequence of the sufferer’s sin. I could not select, out of heaven, choicer spirits than some whom I know who have not for twenty years left their bed, and they have lived nearer to God than any of us, and have brought to Him more glory than any of us.
It is true that there are some out there who will blame suffering saints for their status, I’ve met some personally.
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Psalm 121 moves from questioning to proclaiming. For most of our distress-filled days, we also go back and forth between doubting and trusting. In this Psalm, God gives His people words to communicate both uncertainty and faith. This passage provides the freedom to acknowledge our struggles, but it also encourages us to have confidence in Him. 

What does distress sound like? Each of us expresses our anguish differently, but it frequently sounds like physical tossing and turning on our beds, pacing in the hallways, tears, and cries that pour out of our overwhelmed hearts.
While these are the instinctive ways we typically communicate the turmoil in our souls,  we sometimes neglect the most important way we can express our sorrow: to the Lord. If we do not call out to the Lord in our distress, we will feel distant from Him.
And yet, there are seasons when our sorrow is so great that we fail to find words. Our hearts are so broken, burdened, betrayed, and distressed that our words fail us. In these moments, we need help speaking to the Lord.
The Lord Gives Us Words
God, in His kindness, allows us to borrow His words when we struggle to know what to say to Him. Jesus did this in His agony. From the cross, He cried out to the Lord, expressing His anguish by quoting the words of Psalm 22:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” (v. 1).
Jesus, using the words given to Him in Scripture, articulated how He felt abandoned in His moment of need.
Did you catch that? Even He who knew the glorious redemptive purpose of His suffering expressed deep anguish as He went through it. He shared His heart with His Father. This should encourage us to speak directly to our Father even when we feel He has abandoned us.
The Lord Invites Our Questions
Similar to Jesus’ prayer based on Psalm 22, Psalm 121 can help us speak to God in the midst of our distress. It is a song of ascent, which means that it was sung by Israelite sojourners embarking on a long, perilous journey to Mt. Zion. They needed courage for the climb ahead. They started out in a valley and had an arduous journey before them. They were aware they might encounter robbers and challenging terrain along the way. They anticipated trouble.
Like us, when we are in a difficult or dangerous place, the Israelites were filled with fear, wrestling with uncertainty. Nevertheless, they knew they needed to head towards Mt. Zion to reach their temple.
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