Ask the Pastor #52

Why is the teaching of Jesus better than Socrates?

The word philosophy comes from a Greek word which is literally, the love of wisdom. Our Western thought comes from the Greek philosophers beginning with Socrates and his student Plato and his student Aristotle. There are no writings of Socrates, all that we know of his philosophy is what we learn from Plato. Therefore, it is not known how much is the thoughts of Socrates or of Plato. Socrates began what is now known as the Socratic method, which is a way one can discover truth by asking questions and through a process of deductive reasoning, arrive at the right conclusion. This is a system which was actually formulated by Aristotle and it is now the basis for Western thinking. There is a famous play written by Plato which shows the death bed scene of Socrates who had been falsely accused and condemned by the government. He was willing to accept his death by poison because he believed that there was an after-life of some kind. Our Lord Jesus used questions to cause His listeners to stop and think, but there was no need for Him to ask questions to discover the truth, because He is the truth. Our Lord was also falsely condemned and executed by the government. However, His death paid the wages of our sin that we might have life. The best way for a person to arrive at truth is to study the Bible which is the Word of God and to place one’s faith in the Lord Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Have questions about the Bible? Send them to Dr. Greg Koehn at gak4850@gmail.com and read the answer here in this article.