What Aristotle thought about “the good life” – the elusive ideal that every person is looking for in life – was not far from what Jesus himself taught. Aristotle’s ideas came up a little short, though, because he was missing the central piece to the puzzle.
2 Types of Good
Aristotle taught that there were two types of “good”: relative and non-relative. The “relative good” includes things that are useful for the sake of other things, like money (which is good for buying us things). The “non-relative good” includes anything that is good for its own sake, regardless of its usefulness to anything or anyone else. Biblically speaking, God created the world and called it “good”. Then he created human beings in his image and called it “very good”.
Genesis 1:3-4 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.
Genesis 1:27, 31 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them… Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
The 1 Thing We All Want
According to Aristotle, every human wants to be happy. Happiness is, therefore, the ultimate “non-relative good”, and we choose other “relative goods” for the sake of our happiness. But Aristotle defined happiness differently than we do today. The Greek word is eudaimonia, which means “flourishing.” Every human wants to flourish – to really live and not just exist. This, according to the philosopher, happens when our soul conforms to moral and intellectual virtues – not just when we subjectively follow our hearts. Biblically, this is partly what honoring God is all about. Jesus taught his disciples about how knowing the truth – and being obedient to it – leads to a satisfying life:
John 8:31-32 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 10:10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
What Aristotle Might Have Missed
Aristotle was a brilliant philosopher, but he was missing a key piece to the puzzle of life. If God exists, and if he created people in his image, then he has the answer to “the good life”. According to a biblical worldview, a rich and satisfying life comes by living an honorable life as God defines it. And for each person, this starts by trusting Jesus to fix the basic problem that stands between us and the good life: sin.
- What is your initial reaction to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Make two lists: (1) things that are relatively good and (2) things that are intrinsically good.
- Read Genesis 1 and count the times the word “good” appears. What do you think it means in this context? Why do you think God calls it “very good” at the end?
- Do you agree with Aristotle that everyone wants to be happy? How do you define happiness?
- Do you agree that happiness comes by conforming to virtues (rules, principles)? Why or why not? Do you think our culture agrees? Explain.
- Read John 10:10. What do you think Jesus meant by a “rich and satisfying life”?
- Are you missing the “good life” as God defines it? Explain. (To learn more, see the Pursuit series.)
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
