Stoicism: Paul's Letter To The Romans

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Stoicism first originated as an ancient Greek Philosophy founded by Zeno of modern day Cyprus in 300 BCE originally influenced by Socrates and the Cynics. [5] The philosophy began to flourish in the period of the Roman Empire influencing many people including early Christians. Whether the citizens of the Roman Empire were aware of it or not, the morals within it were prominently centered around stoicism. [1] Although the Stoic following consisted mostly of upper-class citizens, lower-class Christian’s were exposed to the Stoic philosophy through a small, yet influential minority which would have been informed and carried its knowledge of stoicism to their fellow believers of the lower-class as both belonged to the same world. Coincidentally, …show more content…
The letter was written in the 50’s CE and its purpose is not obvious as Paul is unsure of how well informed the Christ-worshipers were. [1] From this information, it can be postulated that the Christ-movement was not established as “Christianity” at that point as the self-designation of a “Christian” does not appear until the end of the 1st century CE. [1] The information does not provide a source on who provided the information of Christ in Rome or if there were institutions separate from synagogues that they were originally worshipping in or if there were services in the homes of Christ-worshipers. A description given by Ambrosiaster (name given to the writer of Paul’s epistles) suggests that the ties to Judaism were strong—if not too strong—in Roman Christianity. …show more content…
From this information, a conclusion can be drawn that Judaism and the followers of Christ were too synonymous with each other. [3] This disallowed the Christian faith to take hold and secede from their roots. So how did the Christian faith allow themselves to become a new religion?
Within a comparison of Stoic and Christian Morality there was an awareness of the similarities between the two such as a way of life and proper worship. Romans 12:1-2 defines a proper way of ‘reasonable worship’ as an offering of their bodies to execute their faith and to all extents, devote themselves to revere God while abandoning their previous way of life. Paul alludes to this as a “living sacrifice.” [5] 1 Peter states the audience as a ‘spiritual house’ composed of ‘living stones.’ This shows that total devotion to God and Christ is needed to become holy towards

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