Aristotle and the Gospel

Provoking thought on how we present the good news

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. -Ephesians 5:1-2

There once lived a man named William Mc’Culloch. He was a pastor who lived in an era of profoundly great revivalist preachers and speakers such as Jonathan Edwards, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, and Wilbur Wilberforce. However, Mc’Cullock was not a very polished preacher. He was actually well known as a terrible orator. In fact, His nickname was “the Ale-minister” because his preaching was so lousy that the men of his church would want to get drunk at the local pubs after hearing him speak. Yet, it was through Mc’Culloch that a Christ-centered awakening emerged in Scotland.

How was such a thing possible? It was on account of the tremendous character and sincerity that Mc’Culloch carried not only in the pulpit but also outside of his church. People knew William not as a great preacher of the gospel, but as a great demonstrator of the gospel through pious living and Christ-centered action. As a result, his preaching had great impact, not because his presentation and delivery of the gospel was good, but because his presentation was married to his character, and as a result the Spirit used him to shock wave Scotland into a magnificent revelation of Jesus Christ.

So, what is it that makes a man or woman a powerful tool of the Holy Spirit in being effective and persuasive with the Gospel? Perhaps the answers to that question was best articulated by the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. “Aristotle divided the means of persuasion, appeals, into three categories—Ethos, Pathos, Logos.” Pathos is the greek word for passion and indicates for us that there should be an emotional connection to that which we are proclaiming. Logos is the Greek word for Word which is indicative of reason. For Aristotle, the appeal to one’s reasoning through the means of philosophy was extremely necessary in the art of persuasion. However, the believer has a different understanding of Logos. Logos is the Word of God. It is the emination of God. For the believer, the Logos is Jesus Christ and He’s the appeal to not only to the rational but to the spiritual. For the church, we lean on the Scriptures that are have preserved the words, teachings and historical narrative of God’s Spoken Word (Logos). We believe the Word of God to be “quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” If the Word of God is not apart of our testimony of Christ then it our attempts to point other’s to Christ will more than likely find a great deal of emptiness.

However, the most important of these categories is Ethos. Ethos is the character of the person of persuading. The marriage that one has to the topic is the most important element of persuasion. Zig Ziglar, who was one of the greatest salesmen of his day told a story of a man who was struggling to sell a set of pots and pans to people door to door. When Zig asked the man if he owned a set for himself the man said that he didn’t. Zig told the man that if he would own his own set of pots and pans that his sales would increase because he would have experienced for himself the benefits of this particular set of cookware. Sure enough the man bought a set, fell in love with the cookware and ended up tripling his sales that year.

You see, without a firm belief in what we are talking about we will struggle to convince people of the invaluable gift of Jesus Christ. The day I understood this was when my preaching began to change from a speech to a message. Where I had been taught as a minister to not show weakness I began to be open with the fact that I was broken and that I had real struggles. Grace became more real in my life because I was seeing how depraved was and still am and how desperately I need Christ. I rarely preached without seeing tears in the audience, I rarely discipled without seeing attentive listeners, and even casual conversations at the local pubs and generally out in public became more intriguing to people. Was this an adjustment that I had done on my own that made my testimony more effective? No, it was simply that the Gospel had become real to me and I became more comfortable with being naked before the truth of that Gospel. As a result the Spirit of God began to fill me with satisfaction more and more. Then, I noticed that people had become more connected when I spoke. My ethos started to reflect a Gospel walk which made the Gospel more persuasive in my life and in the lives of those whom I had influence.

There is often a hesitation to believe in the entire Gospel. However, the effectiveness of our testimony lies within our ethos. When people see that we believe what we are preaching and that Christ is not a commodity but a lifestyle of freedom and grace then our testimony to a lost world becomes a launching pad that the Spirit uses in order to reveal Christ. These things applies to every believer and is not just subject to preachers alone. We are all entrusted with the most persuasive message to the world. God allowed Aristotle to have great insight in order to show us how we display that message effectively through ethos, pathos and logos. Therefore I believe that we need to take such insight to heart because these elements have been that which has announced the Gospel for thousands of years.

The Prayer of St. Patrick

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen