An Introduction to the Study of Paul (T&T Clark Approaches to Biblical Studies) by David G. Horrell

Author:David G. Horrell [Horrell, David G.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Thirdly, some scholars suggest that various Greek and Roman traditions of moral instruction have a significant influence on Paul’s ethics. Paul’s lists of ‘vices and virtues’ (e.g. Gal 5.19–23), his emphasis on the need for self-control and discipline (1 Cor 7.5; 9.25–27), for example, are paralleled in Greco-Roman writings. In one text, admittedly unique in Paul, he describes what is ‘good’ using terms well known from Greco-Roman moral discourse, most notably the central term of Greek ethics: aretē, virtue (Phil 4.8). Indeed, Paul’s argument in Philippians, that Christians should ‘run the race’ with single-minded focus and determination so as to attain the ‘goal’ (Greek: telos), which is Christ, closely parallels the structure and imagery of much moral philosophical argument about attaining the ‘goal’ of a good and virtuous life.53 For example, compare the following text from Philippians with one from Lucretius, a Roman philosopher of the first century BCE:

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