Paul and Roman Stoicism: Romans 12 and Contemporary Stoic Ethics

Exemplifying a rather widespread attitude among Pauline scholars, it has recently been argued on the basis of Rom. 12 that Paul differed sharply from the Stoics in his moral teaching. The present article aims to show that such a claim does not hold if and when the sources of Roman Stoicism are taken into consideration. A comparison of Paul’s moral teaching in Rom. 12 and contemporary Stoic ethics reveals that, whereas the two differ somewhat in scope (particular vs. universal), the differences are clearly outweighed by the many, striking similarities