What’s Aristotle got to do with sharing Jesus?
John Hopper—
I’m glad you asked.
Yes, Aristotle was a philosopher, but he was also an observer of life, including how people are persuaded to think or act in ways they may not have arrived at on their own. In his classic work Rhetoric, Aristotle explained that a person’s ability to persuade others rests on three factors:
Ethos. This involves the moral character of the speaker. Before people are willing to be persuaded by you, they need to sense your credibility and trustworthiness, demonstrated by your integrity and care for others. How many times have people discounted Christianity because of what they see in the lives of Christians? Too often, for sure. That’s why, when we share Jesus, we must be people of sound character (that's ethos) if we expect others to listen well as we share the Good News (Titus 2:7–8; 2 Peter 1:5–8).
Logos. Many people have great questions about the Christian faith—questions like, “Why should we trust the Bible?” or “What makes Jesus more significant than any other religious figure?” We can’t shrug these off. If we do, people may conclude that the gospel is merely a myth fabricated centuries ago with no basis in solid evidence. It’s been said that people cannot rejoice in what the mind rejects as false. So when we offer logos, we make it easier for people to take their first serious look at the hope we have in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15).
Pathos. We like to think people make decisions largely based on sound logic, but that is rarely the case. In most instances, people are persuaded by emotion, or what Aristotle called pathos. Consider how a single story of a child dying of cancer can move people to give more to cancer research than a statistical chart outlining the effectiveness of various treatments. That’s why, when we share Jesus, we are often better able to persuade people by speaking of the ways He has met us in our shame, loneliness, and fear—and how He can meet them in the same way. Notice how Jesus does this when He speaks of lost sheep being found, captives being set free, and rest being offered to the weary (Luke 15:3-8; 4:14-21; Matthew 11:28-30).
No, Aristotle was not a Christian—he lived hundreds of years before Jesus. He was simply an astute observer of the way God has made people: moral creatures who think and feel. When we seek to persuade people about the greatness of the gospel in dependence on the Holy Spirit, we do well to remember how God has made people too. And share Jesus with ethos, logos, and pathos.
John Hopper is the Executive Director of REACH, the evangelism training arm of Search Ministries. He served 16 years as a pastor in Houston, Texas, completed his doctoral studies at Biola University, and is the author of Questioning God? and Giving Jesus Away. He loves his wife, tennis, and apple pie in very different levels of magnitude!
