Stoicism and Christianity

Acts 17 puts Paul in Athens. Luke names who came to argue with him.

Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him.Acts 17:18, KJV

Paul did not mock them. He quoted them.

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.Acts 17:28, KJV

That last line comes from Aratus, a Greek poet and a friend of Zeno, the first Stoic. Paul used their own poet to make his case. He did not burn the library. He walked through it and took what was true.

Both say a man is ruled from the inside or not at all. Both say comfort is a poor master. Both ask for the same daily work: watch your tongue, keep your word, choose your company, do the task in front of you.

Set two lines side by side.

In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present,—I am rising to the work of a human being.Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.1

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;Colossians 3:23, KJV

One man ruled Rome. The other wrote in chains. They are talking about the same morning.

Be honest about this. They are not the same thing.

The Stoic says the strength is already in you. Train it. The Christian says the strength is given.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.Philippians 4:11-13, KJV

The Stoic meets a universe that is ordered and silent. The Christian meets a Father who speaks. The Stoic has no cross and no empty tomb. No amount of discipline is grace.

Paul knew the risk of taking a school of thought for the whole truth.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.Colossians 2:8, KJV

He wrote that, and he still quoted the poet in Athens. A man can do both.

Sigma Dogma sets a Stoic passage beside a verse on every one of its 47 virtues. Not because they are equal. Because two witnesses are better than one.

The Stoics are the workshop. They show how the tool is held. Scripture is the plumb line. It shows whether the wall is true. A man needs both the hand and the line.

We cite each by book, chapter and verse so you can check us. See every source.

Take one virtue this week. Read its Stoic line in the morning and its verse at night. By the seventh day you will know where they agree. You will also know where the verse asks for more.