Thematic Bible: Stoicism


Thematic Bible





and any one who does not take up his cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me. To save your life is to lose it, and to lose your life for my sake is to save it.

Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower. For whoever is bent on securing his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, will secure it.

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it. Why, what benefit is it to a man to have gained the whole world, but to have lost or forfeited his own self. read more.
For whoever shall have been ashamed of me and my teachings, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own and the Father's glory and in that of the holy angels.


A woman is bound to her husband during the whole period that he lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to marry whom she will, provided that he is a Christian. But in my judgement, her state is a more enviable one if she remains as she is; and I also think that I have the Spirit of God.

I now deal with the subjects mentioned in your letter. It is well for a man to abstain altogether from marriage. But because there is so much fornication every man should have a wife of his own, and every woman should have a husband. Let a man pay his wife her due, and let a woman also pay her husband his. read more.
A married woman is not mistress of her own person: her husband has certain rights. In the same way a married man is not master of his own person: his wife has certain rights. Do not refuse one another, unless perhaps it is just for a time and by mutual consent, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and may then associate again; lest the Adversary begin to tempt you because of your deficiency in self-control. Thus much in the way of concession, not of command. Yet I would that everybody lived as I do; but each of us has his own special gift from God--one in one direction and one in another. But I tell the unmarried, and women who are widows, that it is well for them to remain as I am. If, however, they cannot maintain self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.

Concerning unmarried women I have no command to give you from the Lord; but I offer you my opinion, which is that of a man who, through the Lord's mercy, is deserving of your confidence. I think then that, taking into consideration the distress which is now upon us, it is well for a man to remain as he is.

And I would have you free from worldly anxiety. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord's business--how he shall please the Lord; but a married man concerns himself with the business of the world--how he shall please his wife.


but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin. For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do. But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law, read more.
and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them. For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not. For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do. But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it. I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me. For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God; but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin. (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?








but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.


A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him. Some of them asked, "What has this beggarly babbler to say?" "His business," said others, "seems to be to cry up some foreign gods." This was because he had been telling the Good News of Jesus and the Resurrection.


This man John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a loincloth of leather; and he lived upon locusts and wild honey.