Stoic quotes and Bible verses
Stoicism and Christianity: Stoic Quotes and Bible Verses Side by Side
The Stoics and the first Christians lived in the same Roman world, and read side by side they often sound alike. Here are ten places where Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus echo Scripture, and the places where the two part ways.
Ten passages side by side
Each pair puts a Stoic line next to a Bible verse on the same theme. The Stoic quotes link to their sources, and the verses are from the World English Bible.
Tomorrow
Neither tradition wants you living in a future that hasn’t arrived.
Make haste to live, and consider each day a life.
Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.
Trials
Both read hardship as a test that proves what something is made of.
Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Guarding the mind
Pay attention to what goes on inside you, because everything else flows from it.
Those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Changing how you see
Both say the way you think can be changed, and that changing it changes you.
Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power.
Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Alone with God
Close the door and you are still not alone. The likeness here is striking.
When you have shut your doors, and darkened your room, remember never to say that you are alone; for you are not alone, but God is within, and your genius is within; and what need have they of light to see what you are doing?
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Honesty about yourself
Growth starts with admitting you can’t get there on your own strength.
The beginning of philosophy is a consciousness of your own weakness and inability in necessary things.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Living it out
Knowing the words matters less than doing them.
Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them.
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
Gratitude
Thankfulness is the first right response to what you’ve been given.
He who receives a benefit with gratitude repays the first installment on his debt.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
A short life
Time is short; both ask you to spend it wisely.
Life, if thou knowest how to use it, is long enough.
So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Where we live
Both call the body a temporary lodging. Seneca goes on to speak of the soul returning to where it came from; Paul hopes for a home built by God.
This body is not a home, but an inn; and that only for a short time.
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Why they sound alike
Seneca and the apostle Paul were alive at the same time, and the New Testament meets the Stoics directly. In Athens, Paul debated “Epicurean and Stoic philosophers” (Acts 17:18), and in his speech there he quoted a Greek poet to them: “For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28).
The Stoics also used the Greek word logos for the reason they believed ordered the world. John’s Gospel opens with the same word: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). Both traditions ask you to master your reactions, live simply, do good without being seen, and remember that life is short.
Where they part ways
The likeness is real, but so are the differences, and they sit at the center of each tradition.
- Who God is. For the Stoics, God was the reason running through nature. Christianity speaks of a personal God who loves, forgives, and became human.
- Where strength comes from. Stoicism trains you to master yourself. Paul writes that “my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9): strength comes as grace, not only as discipline.
- What death means. The Stoics accepted death as natural, and they disagreed among themselves about whether and how the soul lives on. Christianity hopes in the resurrection: “Death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
- Feelings. The Stoics aimed to be free of disturbing passions. The Gospels show Jesus grieving openly: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).
Can a Christian read the Stoics?
Many do. Read as practical wisdom about habits of mind (noticing your thoughts, accepting what you can’t control, doing your duty quietly), the Stoics sit comfortably next to Scripture. Read as a whole philosophy of God and the soul, they answer some questions differently. Knowing both makes each clearer.
Keep both close
Well Said brings Stoic wisdom and Bible verses into one place. Turn on Bible verses and pick the themes you care about, and the quotes chosen for you each day can include both. Save the ones that stay with you to your library, next to your own words, and keep one on your Home Screen with a widget.
Quotes come from Wikiquote, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and link to their source pages. Bible verses are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.