The Flight of Our Souls

The Greek philosopher Plato (circa. 330 BC) had a tremendous influence on Western civilization, nearly as powerful as the Judeo-Christian worldview. His teachings included the mind/body duality, in that we have a mortal physical body that is inhabited by an immortal soul. He expanded on that concept by postulating that since the soul is immortal, and this physical world is subject to mortality, the soul’s true home must be somewhere else. He described an eternal world of ideas, where the soul would fly when it was freed from its body. This world of ideas contained the primary source of everything that exists in the physical universe, for example, a chair that exists here is only a copy of the eternal idea of the chair,which resides in the spiritual world. All of this is contained within the World Soul, or God, the primary source of everything.

   Hebrews 8:1"Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We have such a high priest, one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 8:2 a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up. 8:3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So this one too had to have something to offer. 8:4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. 8:5 The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain.” 8:6 But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises.  8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8:8 But showing its fault, God says to them,“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 8:9 “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord. 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. 8:11 “And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying,  ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”8:13 When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear."

Plato had a tremendous influence on the New Testament and the early Church as well. The first generation of Christians were nearly all Jews, but after that the Church became primarily made up of Gentiles. These people brought with them the culture and ideas of the Greco-Roman world, including Plato’s teachings. Plato’s work was read beside and compared to the Old Testament and in many cases was the lens through which books of the New Testament were written, especially Hebrews.

Plato helped to make clear some of the teachings of the NT authors. Many of his explanations became assumed ideas of Western culture, like the mind/body duality and the temporary status of the physical world, and, most importantly, the idea that this world is not our true home –  that rather our home is with God in eternity. God is the primary source of everything, and He has established a home for us, complete with an eternal tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant, to greet us when we arrive.

“Some glad morning, when this life is over, I’ll fly away
To that home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away
I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away
To that home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away.”