Tool Alpha
The Stoic Reader
Stoic texts read beside the New Testament passages that share their words or their argument, and where the New Testament turns.
Worthy of the calling
Epictetus tells his student he is a witness summoned by God and asks whether he will shame the calling. Ephesians urges its readers to walk worthy of the calling to which they were called.
Ephesians 4:1, in every translation this tool compares.
The real question: Epictetus and Ephesians both talk about being worthy of a calling from God, in nearly the same words. Is it the same call? The new recruit is told to live up to the uniform. That can mean do the job well, or remember who gave you the uniform. Which does each writer mean?
"In what character do you now appear? As a witness summoned by God. … Is this the evidence you are to give? And will you bring disgrace upon his summons, who hath conferred such an honor upon you, and thought you worthy of being produced as a witness in such a cause?"
κλῆσις (klēsis), calling, with ἄξιος (axios), worthy, and καλέω (kaleō), to call. Epictetus 1.29.46: ὡς μάρτυς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ κεκλημένος, as a witness called by God; 1.29.49: καταισχύνειν τὴν κλῆσιν ἣν κέκληκεν, to shame the calling with which he has called you, and ἄξιον ἡγήσατο, he thought you worthy. Ephesians 4:1: ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called. The same three words, in the same relation.
Both treat a person's conduct as an answer to a summons from God, and both say the honor of being called puts the person under obligation. In Epictetus the witness must not complain that no one cares for him and everyone speaks ill of him (1.29.48).
What the calling asks for. Epictetus's witness testifies that nothing outside the will is good or evil, by bearing hardship without complaint. In Ephesians the writer is a prisoner in the Lord (4:1), and walking worthily means humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and keeping the unity of the Spirit (4:2-3). Epictetus's witness proves his doctrine alone. The calling in Ephesians is lived in a body with others.
The shared phrase is close enough to be striking. No source in hand comments on it, and none says the writer of Ephesians knew Epictetus. The pairing is drawn here and rests on shared vocabulary only.
Not a claim about who wrote Ephesians. The letter is quoted here as the letter, and nothing in this entry depends on its author.
- Epictetus, Discourses 1.29.44-49, Greek text ed. Heinrich Schenkl (Teubner, 1916), Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit)
- Epictetus, Discourses, trans. Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1890), 1.29, Perseus Digital Library
- SBL Greek New Testament, Ephesians 4:1, via MorphGNT
