[8] A person's own thoughts unnerve them. If a tyrant threatens to chain our leg, whoever holds his leg in high regard will beg for mercy, whereas the person who cares more for his character will answer back 'Go ahead and chain it, if that's what you want.' 'And you don't care?' 'I don't care.' 'Just wait, I'll show you who's in charge!'
[9] 'How do you propose to do that? Zeus (ὁ Ζεὺς) himself has given me my freedom (ἐλεύθερον ἀφῆκεν); he was not going to allow any son (υἱὸν) of his to be enslaved (καταδουλοῦσθαι). You are master (κύριος)of my corpse, come help yourself to that.'(1.19.8-9; trans. by Robert Dobbin for Penguin Classics).
26 So in Christ Jesus (ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ) you are all children of God (υἱοὶ θεοῦ) through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free (δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος), nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (γὰρ ὑμεῖς εἷς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ). 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (NIV)
I realize that these passages are not completely analogous, but I am intrigued with the language of sonship in Epictetus (1.13.3; 1.19.9) and Paul (3:26) within the context of slavery. I am also interested in the idea of belonging to G(g)od in both Epictetus and Paul that transcends the slaves social status. There is a leveling that takes place here, that puts the slave and his master on equal footing in terms of their belonging to G(g)od, even if their everyday life does not change substantially.
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