Paul and Stoicism: A Struggle for Truth and Goodness. The Apostle Paul .... And
while Paul never directly addressed Stoic philosophy in his letters, it would be ...
Eric Teachout Religion 223: The Apostle Paul Prof. Hanson September 22, 2010 Hellenistic Report Paul and Stoicism: A Struggle for Truth and Goodness The Apostle Paul approached the Gentile world as a messenger, one sent by Jesus himself to proclaim the news of His life and resurrection. His knowledge of the Gospel represented a worldview, one which had to compete with others to sway the minds of his Greek generation. In this struggle for intellectual domination, Paul’s Christian message found a worthy adversary in Stoicism, a philosophy whose roots were already centuries old and widely spread. Zeno founded the first Stoic school in Athens around 300 B.C. (Freedman 210), and by Paul’s time these schools stretched from Rome to Alexandria (Chilton 23). Even the small trade city of Tarsus, where Paul was raised, possessed an academy set up by the Stoic philosopher Athenodorus around 15 B.C. (Chilton 23). It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Stoicism was as pervasive in Greek culture as the concept of “pop culture” is in the U.S. today. Stoicism attracted the individual thinker, convincing him that the liberation from suffering lay in one’s equanimity with the world (Roetzel 38). Paul’s writings would find parallels in Stoic thinking, but Paul’s Christian conception of the world, both in its physics and ethics, mark him as a clear opponent of the individualism of the Stoics. As the Stoics pursued knowledge in all areas of philosophy, their ethics were deeply grounded in their physical conception of reality. To the Stoics, the universe consisted of two inseparable parts: Physis and Logos. Physis is the single substance of the universe, representing all of matter in its various forms (Roetzel 37). Standing alone, this matter is static; it has no life or will. The guiding principle of “reason” in the active world is Logos, from which comes the English word “logic” (OED). Logos is the providential force of the universe, moving the whole of Physis in a purposeful and rational manner. Indeed, Logos possesses a will and was called God by many Stoics, and one can see the creative artistry of God’s reason through worldly beauty (Freedman 210-211).
However, the Stoic view of God was in no way personalized like the Christian God (Freedman 212). God’s will moves the events of history, but he doesn’t have a relational involvement in human lives. The Stoics negated the claim that reality consisted of any “good” or “bad” events. Everything is carried out by divine will and has a reason for taking place, even natural disasters such as earthquakes, famines, and floods. Stoicism draws a parallel between the rational soul of the universe and the rational soul of man; to each a Physis, which is guided by Logos (Roetzel 38). The Stoics placed goodness already in the human being; all he must do to become perfect is align himself with the rest of providential existence. The Stoic says: the universe itself is already inherently rational, as directed by God’s will. So what is the use of rebelling against this force and feeling suffering? Epictetus, a famous Stoic philosopher, writes repeatedly in his Handbook that the key to happiness is to keep one’s desires “in accord with nature” (Handbook 13, 15, 21). Apatheia, or the freedom from passions, means the complete disconnect from world external to one’s self (Freedman 211). As goodness lies in one’s self, what is a better way to nurture it than shutting out the entire outside world from affecting it? Once one ceases to desire anything he cannot easily provide to himself, he will develop a self-sufficiency and spiritual autonomy, liberating himself from the cares of the world (Roetzel 38). Against the view of a static and distant God, we find Paul in the Book of Acts in a dispute with group of Stoics and Epicureans in Athens. Paul proclaims the news of Jesus to these philosophers, speaking against specific Stoic viewpoints (NRSV, Acts 17:16-34). He denounces the distant and ‘unknown’ god of these Greeks and proclaims a God who is real, who has a historical relationship with man. Rather than promoting Stoic self-enhancement, he tells them to look outside themselves and seek out this God, the God who is so close to man. Finally, Paul rejects the notion that ‘the divine’ can equal any creative art of man (Freedman 213).
Aside from this incident in Acts, Paul never gave a formal and direct statement to Stoic philosophy in his letters to the Christian churches of Greece. Even so, it is easy to find in Paul’s writings some thoughts that use Stoic concepts to propagate Christian theology and others that counter many of Stoicism’s basic principles. Like the Stoic idea of having an independent, self-sufficient soul, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 advises that a steady distance should be kept between oneself and the world. Also, in Romans 2:14-15 Paul speaks to a natural law, which can be ascertained by reason and is higher than any human law (Freedman 213). However, while one finds similar ethical themes between these passages and certain Stoic thoughts, this fact does not imply that Paul was directly influenced by the Stoics. Like the concept of “pop culture” today, one can easily borrow ideas from certain a cultural or philosophical movement, but that does not make him the product of its values and goals. In fact, it is undeniable that Paul’s ethical instructions were for completely different ends than the Stoics’. For while the Stoics saw personal goodness came from self-sufficient efforts, Paul looked to God as the alleviator of human suffering and the source of all virtue. To the Church of Corinth Paul tells of his afflictions in Asia, yet he thanks God for granting him consolation and commends the Corinthians for sharing in his suffering (NRSV, 1 Cor. 1:3-8). In his letter to the Philippians Paul writes that righteousness comes not from the self through the law, but through faith in God through Christ (NRSV, Phil. 3:8-9). Ultimately, it is not human happiness or perfection that Paul is after, but a life that gives praise “to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever!” (NRSV, Romans 16:27). To Paul Stoicism represented a competing worldview that pursued him all his life from his Jewish youth to his maturity as a Christian. Many Greek philosophers sought truth as ardently as he did, and if he wished to spread the Gospel and bring people to accept Christian beliefs, he needed to combat their philosophy markedly. And while Paul never directly addressed Stoic philosophy in his letters, it would be severe short sight to say that Paul never would have wanted to steer his “flock” away from the
wolves of misguided philosophies and toward the true shepherd of Christ. Indeed Paul’s exposure to Stoicism was great, but even greater were his efforts to mark the Christian faith as different from the philosophies of man.
Works Cited Chilton, Bruce. Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography. New York: Doubleday, 2004. Freedman, David Noel., ed. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992. The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008. Online Etymology Dictionary. 21 Sept. 2010 . Roetzel, Calvin J. The Letters of Paul: Conversation in Context. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. White, Nicholas P., trans. The Handbook of Epictetus. Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing Company, 1983.
