Is Philosophy a Hinderance or Handmaiden to the Christian Faith?

Philosophy is the love of wisdom, making the lover of wisdom a philosopher, insofar as the etymologies go. But the term philosophy carries a range of different ideas. We can talk of philosophy as the simple pursuit of wisdom, like learning and applying proverbs for the sake of living better or developing an approach for efficient and effective accomplishment of a task. Philosophy can be spoken of as the things we value the most which set the course of our lives. When I went to college and seminary, I took courses in philosophy, which is the academic discipline exploring answers to ultimate questions in the arenas of logic, ethics (what is good?), metaphysics (what is real?) epistemology (what is true?), and aesthetics (what is beauty?). We use the word “philosophy” in a variety of different ways.

What then do we make of Paul’s admonition: “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ (Col. 2:8).”^[1]

The Problematic Philosophy at Colossae: Paul was deeply concerned about the spiritual well-being of the Christian communities at Colossae and Laodicea. He wanted them to be “knit together in love” and “to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ” (Col. 2:2). He wants this to happen to keep them from being deluded by “plausible arguments” (Col. 2:4), i.e., the fast talk or persuasive speech of false teachers. The apostle warns the Colossians about a rival system of beliefs and practices which really undermined the faith that Jesus Christ passed on to His followers through the apostles.

There were a variety of Greek schools of philosophy popular in the first century, such as Epicureans, Middle Platonists, Peripatetics, Stoics, and Cynics.^[2] Philo of Alexandria (30 BC to AD 45) was a popular Jewish philosopher. Flavius Josephus (AD 37-100) wrote of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes being “three philosophical sects among the Jews” (Wars 2.8.2).

Many philosophies (i.e., systems of beliefs) were around in Paul’s day. Nonetheless, the apostle never specifically names the “philosophy” that rivaled Christianity at Colossae. Nevertheless, the apostle does call out specific problems with the “philosophy” circulating in the Colossian marketplace of ideas that set for Christians a stumbling block:

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
                If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? (Col. 2:16-22).

The philosophy observed a sacred diet (“questions of food and drink”), holy days (festivals…new moon…Sabbath), asceticism, angelolatry, visions, basic principles (“elemental spirits”) and purity rules (“Do not handle…taste…touch…”). It bore religious elements resembling that of Judaism but there is likely more to it. In the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Terence P. Page indicates that “What Paul had in view here is not the ‘standard’ philosophies but the speculative mixture of ideas from Judaism, Hellenistic religion and philosophy that were apparently current at Colossae.”^[3] New Testament scholar Moyer Hubbard, likewise, considers the unnamed philosophy to be “a syncretistic hybrid of Jewish mystical practices and popular pagan folk-belief.”^[4]

It would be superfluous for Christians at Colossae to be enslaved under legalistic prescriptions coopted from Old Testament Judaism. Christ gave the uncircumcised Gentile Colossians a circumcision made without hands (Col. 2:10; cf. Acts 15:1-35; Gal. 5:1-12). They were united with Christ through baptism, they were raised to new life by faith through the power of God, their debt of sin along with all legalistic demands were canceled after being nailed to the cross (Col 2:11-14).

Jews who were under the Mosaic Law stumbled and failed to keep the Law. But Christ succeeded in obedience to the Law. He lived blameless before the Father. He performed the last sacrifice with His own body upon the cross and put to an end the era of making holy offerings to the God by consecrated priests within a holy temple (Gal. 3:1-29; Rom. 3:19-31; Heb. 4:14-10:18).

The festivals, new moons, Sabbath, and ceremonial cleanness were all part and parcel of ancient Jewish worship through temple, priests and sacrifices, but they were a shadow of things to come but the shadows ended with Christ (Col. 2:17). Christ set Christians free from be enslaved to the legalistic prescriptions of Judaism coopted by the new philosophy circulating in Colossae. Paul ultimately condemns a philosophical rival to Christianity, which had “an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Col. 2:23).^[5] Christianity was never about sinners attaining salvation but always about God saving sinners.

Is Colossians 2:8 a condemnation of all philosophy? I do not think so. It is true that Christians through the centuries have taken different attitudes towards philosophy. “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” asked Tertullian (Prescription against Heretics 7).^[6] In other words, the early church father considered Christianity to be incompatible with philosophy. On the other hand, Thomas Aquinas viewed the philosophical sciences as “handmaidens” to the science of “sacred doctrine.”^[7] Philosophy could then assist the theologian in understanding of truths about God.

All truth is God’s truth. If anyone comes to know anything that corresponds to reality, the source is ultimately the self-revelation of the divine within nature — the fingerprints of the Creator upon the creation (Psa. 19:1; Rm. 1:19-20).

Paul had nary a problem quoting from pagan poets. The line in Acts 17:24, “In him we live and move and have our being,” comes from Epimenides (c.600 BC), and “for we are indeed his offspring” from Aratus (c. 315-240 BC). The apostle draws from what was familiar to the first century Greek audience, namely their poets, as a way to help them understand the gist of the good news about resurrected Messiah.^[8] It is then very doubtful that Paul’s condemnation of philosophy constitutes everything taught by pagan thinkers and poets. Something of value that can even be glean from the works of Homer, Plato, Virgil, and so forth.^[9]

There can be integration between Christianity and philosophy. Total dismissal is unnecessary. Our spiritual warfare includes the fending off the enemy’s intellectual attacks and philosophy can be a handmaiden to the Christian in giving a well-reasoned answer for the faith. C.S. Lewis puts it this way: “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”^[10]

Bad Philosophy: Not all philosophies are created equal. Some wares in the marketplace of ideas are true gems of wisdom, but others are worthless like fool’s gold, and that is the essence behind Paul’s warning in Colossians 2:8. The apostle is advising Christians to navigate away from those that would corrupt and distort their theological portrait of Christ — the image of the invisible God.

Legalism is a perennial problem for the community of Christ. I often come across teachings about being Hebraic roots of the faith and being Torah observant, which is never really following the Mosaic Law in total but picking certain commandments to be bound under.^[11] There is then a push to observe Old Testament feasts, dietary restriction, and sabbath days. All this is really dangerous, since it enslaves us again to the Law. But Paul reminds us that “you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14). Legalism is a rival philosophy because it undermines the sufficiency of Christ sacrifice.

Now there are other rival philosophies that contradict essential Christian doctrine. Take, for example, the Creator and creature distinction of the biblical worldview.^[12] Let’s start first with explaining the Creator and creature distinction. The very first line of the Pentateuch declares: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Ancient Hebrews sang: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, | and by the breath of his mouth all their host” (Psa. 33:6). John had a vision of worshippers inside the heavenly throne room singing: ”Worthy are you, our Lord and God, | to receive glory and honor and power, | for you created all things, |and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev. 4:11). These passages affirm the distinction between Creator and creature.

New Testament writers identified Jesus Christ as the Creator. Paul tells us that “by [the Son] all things were created in heaven and earth, visible and invisible…all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). The apostle also states “in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). The same idea is echoed by John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:1-3, 14). Moreover, the Epistle to the Hebrews states the Son “created the world” and “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:2b-3a). These passages tell us something specific about the Creator. Our Maker is far from distant and impersonal; rather, He enters into His creation to dwell with His people. The Messiah (i.e., Christ) who came is through the virgin’s womb is called “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us” (Matt. 1:18-25; cf. Isa. 7:14).

Atheism rejects the existence of God and all that exists is universe. No gods, angels, demons, and souls; just material stuff that can be defined and catalogued accordingly on a periodic table. Molecules that make up the chemical elements can be broken down further into atoms and subatomic particles. The material universe either always existed or came into existence out of nothing. Since atheists deny God’s existence, it is superfluous for them to recognize a Creator and creation distinction. In the original 1980s Cosmos television series, Carl Sagan decrees: “The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be.” This atheistic understanding of ultimate reality is also called philosophical naturalism.

But if all existence is matter, just how does matter produce the immaterial things that atheists do believe exist, such as logic, ethics, mathematics, and consciousness?^[13] Yet, even science is discovering signs of intelligent design in the universe. Earth’s suitableness for supporting biological life and space exploration, the complex information stored in DNA for the building of biological lifeforms, and the sudden appearance of diverse species in the fossil record (e.g., the Cambrian Explosion) point to an intelligent designer. It is premature to dispense with the Creator/creation distinction of the Christian worldview.^[14]

Pantheism finds all perceived distinctions to be illusions even the distinction between Creator and creature. We are all but extensions of one mind, being or divinity. All is one (monism) and all is God (pantheism). “There is no spoon,” says the child monk from The Matrix. The divinity of pantheistic monism is impersonal. A supreme consciousness in an amnesic state and entrapped within the illusion of distinct people, places, and things. Even the gods of religions are part of the illusion. One has the spiritual quest to unravel the illusion become enlightened to ultimate reality through practicing various psychic technologies like meditation and yoga. Pantheistic monism is commonly held by devotes of Eastern religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and the New Age movement.

The invitation to enter into the world according to pantheistic monism often comes in an alluring package from engaging authors, teachers, and speakers who purport to offer devotes a way to achieve enlightenment, success, and improved health through their teachings, meditation, yoga, and energetic healing.^[15] Whether or not pantheistic monism can deliver on all its evangelists promise is debatable.

The unsettling downside to pantheistic monism is realizing that even the distinction between good and evil must too be an illusion too. Ultimately, there would be nary any ethical distinction between social activist who make efforts to prevent sexual assaults and sexual assailants in the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein. Any perceived distinction between what is sexually proper and what is sexually perverted would be an illusion. Moreover, if all is one, can we really be independent thinkers?

Various other rivals to Christianity can be found in the marketplace of ideas to be certain. However, Christ’s teachings are heavenly treasures of infinite worth and we are wise to hold on to them. It is inevitable that bad philosophy should come around, and this is the case for the bringing about of good philosophy. Good philosophy will be a handmaiden to the Christian thinker in the addressing of bad philosophy. We need to be prepared and fully equipped to navigate around every wind of false doctrine blowing about.

— WGN

---

Notes:

[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.

[2] Epicurus (341-270 BC) founded the Epicurean school of philosophy. Platonism had its genesis with the philosophy of Plato (427-347 BC). The Peripatetics followed Aristotle (384-322 BC). Stoics were followers of the school of philosophy started by Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC). Cynics followed the philosophy of Diogenes of Sinope (405-322 BC). For brief description of these five Greek schools of philosophy, cf. Terence P. Paige, “Philosophy,” s.v. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 714–715.

[3]Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), s.v. “Philosophy” Terence P. Paige.

[4] Moyer Hubbard, “Is Colossians 2:8 a Warning Against Philosophy,” Christian Research Journal, 29, 3 [2006]: https://www.equip.org/article/is-colossians-28-a-warning-against-philosophy/

[5] Put it another way: “the ‘philosophy’ of the heretics did not accord with the truth as it is revealed in Christ. He is the standard by which all doctrine is to be measured, and any system, whatever its claims, must be rejected if it fails to conform to the revelation God has given us in him (Curtis Vaughan, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 11 [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981], 198).

[6] Quoted from The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 246.

[7] Aquinas wrote, “This science [sacred doctrine] can in a sense depend upon the philosophical sciences, not as though it stood in need of them, but only in order to make its teaching clearer. For it accepts its principles not from other sciences, but immediately from God, by revelation. Therefore it does not depend upon other sciences as upon the higher, but makes use of them as of the lesser, and as handmaidens: even so the master sciences make use of the sciences that supply their materials, as political of military science. That it thus uses them is not due to its own defect or insufficiency, but to the defect of our intelligence, which is more easily led by what is known through natural reason (from which proceed the other sciences) to that which is above reason, such as are the teachings of this science” (Summa Theologica,1.Q.1).

[8] For further discussion, cf. Brian Godawa, “Storytelling as Subversive Apologetics: A New View from the Hill in Acts 17,” Christian Research Journal, 30, 1 [2007]: https://www.equip.org/article/storytelling-as-subversive-apologetics-a-new-view-from-the-hill-in-acts-17/ and Douglas Groothuis, “Learning From an Apostle: Christianity in the Marketplace of Ideas (Acts 17:16-34),” Christian Research Journal, 35, 4 [2012]: https://www.equip.org/article/learning-from-an-apostle-christianity-in-the-marketplace-of-ideas-acts-1716-34/

[9] Cf. Louis Markos, “Why Should Christians Read the Pagan Classics,” Christian Research Journal, 32, 2 [2009]:  https://www.equip.org/article/why-christians-should-read-the-pagan-classics/

[10] C. S. Lewis, “Learning in War-Time,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: HarperOne, 1940, 1976), 58.

[11] Obviously, it would be impossible for anyone to keep the whole Mosaic Law, for such would require constructing a tabernacle (or temple) furnished with an altar, sacred fire, and all the necessary utensils for making sacrifices (animal, grain, and drink offerings), but also to have a functioning Levitical priesthood to carry out the prescribed rituals.

[12] A worldview is out basic assumptions about the universe we dwell. These assumptions can either be true or false or partially true and false. They answer ultimate questions like: “Is there a God?” “Who is God?” “Who am I?” “What is my purpose?” “What is good?” so forth. We may be aware or unaware of our worldview. We may live consistently or inconsistently with the worldview we profess. For further reading, cf. James N. Anderson, What is Your Worldview: An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions (Wheaton, IL: Crossway: 2014) and James Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009)

[13] For further discussion, cf. James N. Anderson, “The Inescapability of God,” Christian Research Journal, 40, 5 [2017]: https://www.equip.org/article/the-inescapability-of-god/; Melissa Cain Travis, “A Grand Cosmic Resonance: How the Structure and Comprehensibility of the Universe Reveal a Mindful Maker,” Christian Research Journal, 41, 1 [2018]: https://www.equip.org/article/a-grand-cosmic-resonance/; William Lane Craig, “God and the ‘Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics,’” Christian Research Journal, 36, 6 [2013]: https://www.equip.org/article/god-and-the-unreasonable-effectiveness-of-mathematics/#christian-books-4   

[14] For further discussion, cf. Stephen C. Meyer, Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries that Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe (New York: HarperOne, 2021).

[15] For assessment on popular pantheistic teachers, cf. Lindsey Medenwaldt, “Controversial Guru Teal Swan and Astrologer Chani Nicholas Bring New Age Teachings to the Social Media Generation,” Christian Research Journal, [2020]: https://www.equip.org/article/controversial-guru-teal-swan-and-astrologer-chani-nicholas-bring-new-age-teachings/; Lindsey Medenwaldt, “Humanity’s Ascension: Assessing the History Channel’s New Age, Time Travel Guru David Wilcock,” Christian Research Journal, 43, 3 [2020]: 30-33; Douglas Groothuis, “A Heretic’s Christ, A False Salvation,” Christian Research Journal, [2021]: https://www.equip.org/article/a-heretics-christ-a-false-salvation-a-review-of-the-universal-christ-how-a-forgotten-reality-can-change-everything-we-see-hope-for-and-believe-richard-rohr/ (This is a review of The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope for, and Believe by Richard Rohr); Warren Nozaki, “Paradise Still Lost in Eckart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth,’” Christian Research Journal, 31, 5 [2008]: https://www.equip.org/articles/paradise-still-lost-in-eckhart-tolles-a-new-earth-/; Robert Velarde, “Deepak Chopra’s Cosmic Enlightenment: Eastern Ideas in a Western Culture,” Christian Research Journal, 36, 3 [2013]: https://www.equip.org/article/deepak-chopras-cosmic-enlightenment-eastern-ideas-western-culture/. For further related reading on Eastern spirituality, cf. Elliot Miller, “The Yoga Boom: A Call for Christian Discernment Part 1,” Christian Research Journal, 31, 2 [2008] https://www.equip.org/article/the-yoga-boom-a-call-for-christian-discernment-part-1/; Elliot Miller, “The Yoga Boom: A Call for Christian Discernment Part 2, Christian Research Journal, 31, 3 [2008]: https://www.equip.org/article/the-yoga-boom-a-call-for-christian-discernment-part-2/; Elliot Miller, “The Yoga Boom: A Call for Christian Discernment Part 3, Christian Research Journal, 31, 4 [2008]: https://www.equip.org/article/the-yoga-boom-a-call-for-christian-discernment-part-3/; Elliot Miller, “The Christian, Energetic Medicine, ‘New Age Paanoia,’” Christian Research Journal, 14, 3 [Winter 1992]: https://www.equip.org/articles/the-christian-energetic-medicine-new-age-paranoia-/