Nearly finished Senecas moral letters from the first century. While reading them I was amazed how some of the ideas or concepts about the absolute Good God paralleled Paul’s epistles, except that Seneca was more elegant in explaining or supporting his descriptions of God, whereas, Paul was more blunt, direct, get to the point, —less elegant, and also through the lens of Judaism, for example, using types from Hebrew scripture. I was beginning to wonder if maybe they had communicated and shared ideas, then—Wham! —I found that there are actual letters between the two testified by the early church Fathers, namely, Tertullian, where Seneca and Paul exchange ideas, praise the other, and call each other brothers.
These two were arguably the greatest sages of the first century, Seneca to the Romans and Paul to the Greeks and Jews (who rejected him).
From a website (see here
Saint Paul and Seneca)
“In the 1st mid-century AD Paul was the most famous person among the early Christians. During the exact same time, Seneca was the leading intellectual in his world of Rome. It is interesting to speculate whether these two important men and minds ever knew and communicated with each other. Perhaps they did?”
Check this out, one of many parallels between the two wisdom seekers.
Seneca: “God is near you, he is with you, he is within you. This is what I mean, Lucilius: a holy spirit indwells within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our guardian. As we treat this spirit, so are we treated by it. Indeed, no man can be good without the help of God. Can one rise superior to fortune unless God helps him to rise?” Seneca, the Stoic philosopher and rhetorician Epistle 41.
Paul: “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul, the Christian Apostle to the Gentiles, Epistle to the Romans 10:8,9— Article by Sandra Sweeny Silver
Remember when I said Paul’s style was less elegant than Senecas? Well, Seneca actually admonishes Paul to write more elegantly and even asks him to consider writing in Latin versus Greek, presumably because Paul would be at less risk of being misunderstood if more explanation was given as Seneca is known to do. In his epistles, Paul just cuts to the point without much explanation, whereas Seneca uses various simple analogies from life to support his conclusions.
Seneca: “I could wish therefore, that when you are writing things so extraordinary, there might not be lacking an elegancy of speech agreeable to their majesty.”…
”You have written many volumes in an allegorical and mystical style, and therefore such mighty matters and business being committed to you, require not to be set off with any rhetorical flourishes of speech, but only with some proper elegance.
I remember you often say, that many by affecting such a style do injury to their subjects, and lose the force of the matters they treat of.
But in this I desire you to regard me, namely, to have respect to true Latin, and to choose just words, so you may the better manage the noble trust which is reposed in you.
The absolutely amazing thing is that two of the greatest moral thinkers in the first century were absolutely convinced of a god rising in humans. Both perceived and described the universe as a living being, having a life of its own. We are part of that one living being. Arguably, the collective consciousness of all good human souls is summed up as the universal soul rising again to take his place in the intelligible world. Given that social media platforms serve as a quasi collective consciousness, then a world-soul containing all thoughts and ideas of good, wise humans, such as Senca or Paul, is not a stretch of the imagination.
To Seneca,
“The divine was absolutely real to him, not as the product of scientific induction or of metaphysical speculation, but as the direct deliverance of his own consciousness, the object of that spiritual insight through which, we may believe, God always reveals himself to the soul that seeks him in sincerity. Seneca regarded God with reverence and devotion, but without a shadow of superstitious fear. Recognizing him as the very ideal of goodness and holiness, he thought of him with admiration and love. With perfect faith in his wisdom and benevolence he submitted gladly to his will. (The American Journal of Theology,
Senecas idea of God)
