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The Jewish people were under Hellenistic rule from about 334 B.C., i.e. Greek philosophy was infused in Jewish thought and culture long before Christ was born.

I have to be honest with you AG. What I see is that you and betty have reassigned Plato to the role of John the Baptist, the one came before. We have God's special revelation to the Jewish people and Plato is not mentioned, nor are his dualist categories. Hopefully I will have a response soon to logos' fine question which will in turn rebut the Platonic position.

I have to be honest with you AG. What I see is that you and betty have reassigned Plato to the role of John the Baptist, the one came before.

Then you have misunderstood. John the Baptist is the precurser, the one who prepared the way for the Christ in Spirit, to prepare human souls. Plato and the Greeks are no way near to this astounding dignity. For their influence was mainly on the intellectual culture of the time. I do not see why it is necessary to pit Plato against John as if they were in any sense rivals. In no way do I believe that.

Thank you for your post and for sharing your concern! I agree with betty boop's summary of the difference between John the Baptist and the Greek philosophers.

I would also like to point out that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of specific Old Testament prophesy.

Biblical prophesy wasn't only to convince the world of God's power. If that were the case, prophecies about weather and such would do. The prophecies reveal important markers towards the arrival of God's kingdom.

I do find it interesting (and have noted it several times) that the prophet Daniel spoke of Alexander the Great very clearly.

It was the prophesy itself which caused Alexander to deal kindly with the Jewish people. It is also significant that Alexander normalized the Greek language throughout the empire. Where language goes, philosophy follows. Philosophy is fundamentally, after all, a matter of definition, of understanding.

I truly believe God planned all of this so that the people alive in Christ's time would have the conceptual understanding and language capability to receive and spread the Gospel.

But that does not mean I believe Plato was of the same stature of John the Baptist. Plato's contribution was as betty boop said, to the intellect - not the soul.