Did Jesus Read "The Republic"? Did Plato know the Bible??

Factual Questions
21

What I’m about to write has, probably, been said already somewhere here or elsewhere.
The Original question posed about Jesus having, possibly, read the “Republic” or anything else of Plato’s works, or Greek philosophy in general, is relative to one’s take on who Jesus was. If Jesus was (is) the son of God, the question might be a moot point; God, or his Son, would be all knowing, and therefore, follows the logical conclusion. However, not so fast there, we are told by a passage in the NT. God only is all knowing, as pointed out by Jesus Himself; “Of the day and hour, only the Father knows”, and not the angels, nor even the Son." But there, Jesus was responding to the question from someone asking Him about the time that the destruction of the Temple that Jesus was prophesying, and it is referring also to when the terrible and great Day of the Lord world come (The second coming of Christ, and the Apocalypse in John’s Revelation, and also other Old Testament references by other prophets, such as Daniel, etc.) I would think, if one is a believer (Christian) that Jesus, although not knowing as much as his Father, God, would be expected to know such things as Greek philosophy, especially Plato’s Socrates, who parallels Jesus, the man, as written down in the NT, and no doubt would also know the Greek Stoics way of life, which would also parallel some of Jesus’ lifestyle and ideas. Therefore a Divine Jesus would know.

Let us assume that Jesus was just a man, and a sort of philosopher of “Kind” and a teacher of this kind of philosophy (a Jewish religion prophecy of a Messiah, which was later dramatized into early Christianity, based on the life and works of Jesus, professed and believed to have been the Jewish prophesied Messiah, but rejected by the majority of Jews, and accepted by a small minority of Jews, which then became what we all know today. Based on this assumption, then, according to some modern scholars, Jesus had the benefit of an education that exposed him to Greek philosophy, especially Stoicism. The argument of these scholars, which have to, indirectly, affirm that Jesus was just another man; albeit, a philosopher, is based on the premise that Jesus grew up in an area of Judea not as implied in the NT, but in another small town near Galilee. And nearby there was also a large and well established city (Cesarea) that was originally, basically, a Greek colony, where there was a large population of Stoics, and Stoics/Platonic philosophy institutions. These scholars believe that Jesus must have had the benefit of Stoics schooling, and for proof as to the probability, they parallel Jesus’ meek disposition, and choice of standing up and helping the poor and their life style, which was also championed by Him; same as the Stoics beliefs of humility and helping others less fortunate, and also the other moral codes. Socratic morals were also along these lines.

As far as Plato, and some other Greek philosophers of that time, and before, having been familiar with the Old Testament Bible, we have Justin Martyr as another witness. Justin claimed, as stated in Wikipedia: Justin includes a tract on Greek mythology in 1 Apol. 54 and Dial. 69 which asserts that myths about various pagan deities are imitations of the prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament. There is also a small tract in 1 Apol. 59–60 on borrowings of the philosophers from Moses, particularly Plato. These two tracts may be from the same source, which may have been an early Christian Apology. (Justin Martyr lived from 100-165 AD)

As always with these kind of hypothetical questions, which are made opaque and difficult to find by age, we can only opinion and make our best guesses at, until such time that iron clad evidence may be found. Otherwise, the moral of the story is: Only God knows for sure. But perhaps one day, if what Socrates said about the immortality of the soul is true, we can pose the questions directly to the source, and hear it directly from “the horse’s mouth.”

Long live true philosophy (truth and the search for God)

22

I recently read Aslan’s book “Zealot” which gives a very different take on the historical Jesus. Basically, he suggests that Jesus was a zealot religious type, a follower of John the Baptist; after John’s death, Jesus continued preaching, railing against corruption of he temple hierarchy and promising to free the Jews from Roman oppression (somehow). He eventually collected a large crowd of followers, and made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and this scared the temple elite enough that they got him executed.

Reading between the lines, this was a fanatically religious preacher, probably barely educated and focussed on a fairly xenophobic religion that denied any connection with other religions. Likely he had no interaction with educated Greeks, nor with the more cosmopolitan Jewish educated types that would know, speak, or read Greek; nor would he have much to do with type of person who would have copies of Greek books. These were expensive items and his teachings seem to despise the rich. I don’t imagine too many rural rabbis having a collection of Greek philosophy, or much of any writings from heathen neighbours.

OTOH, Aslan also points out that Joseph, and likely Jesus and his brother James before they went wandering the countryside, would have been employed rebuilding the nearby town of Sepphoris and then Tiberias; because their occupation “tekton” was more likely labourer or construction worker than carpenter. So perhaps Jesus would have encountered rich and educated people from many backgrounds, and if he presented himself as a clever man able to learn from many sources, he may have talked to and learned from people from all over the eastern empire drawn to Antipas’ new cities. He may even have had an opportunity to hear about Greek writings.

Another speculation is that he was associated with the Essenes and their settlement(s) around the Dead Sea, like John the Baptist before him. Then maybe he would have learned about Greek philosophy third hand from more educated people who had retreated to the religious communities.

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Or pseudo-Paul, at least. It’s in the book of Titus, which may or may not be Pauline…specifically, Titus 1:12:

“One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.””

The book of Acts also has Paul arguing with some Stoics and Epicureans in Athens. From Acts 17:18:

" A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection."

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I can’t and won’t speak for Jesus, but Greek culture and education made their way into numerous societies, including ancient Israel. If you read the books of Maccabees, you’ll find that many young Jews were fascinated by Greek culture; they joined gymnasiums, adopted Greek garb, and learned to enjoy arguing about politics and philosophy the way Greek intellectuals did.

So, while the Bible never mentions Plato, it seems very likely to me that many young Jews during Jesus’ time (and earlier) had read Plato and Aristotle, and were quite familiar with their ideas.

Greeks in general were far less interested in what was going on among barbarians in backwaters like Palestine, so very few would see much benefit in reading Hebrew Scriptures.

But you never know- Greeks like Herodotus enjoyed travelling around the world, learning the lore and legends of surrounding nations. He might have gotten a kick out of reading Genesis. Beyond that, in the Gospel of John 12:20, we read that some visiting Greeks approached the apostle Philip and asked if they could meet Jesus. There is no indication that these Greeks ever did get to meet him, but it goes to show that some Greeks were curious enough about alien religions to want to see Jesus in the flesh.