Christianity and Stoicism (John Gill)

[Reformed Covenanter]

Christianity does not countenance a stoical apathy, but requires and encourages a Christian sympathy, and directs us to weep with them that weep within due bounds.

John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament; In which the Sense of the Sacred Text is Taken; Doctrinal and Practical Truths are set in Plain and Easy Light: Difficult Passages Explained; Seeing Contradictions Reconciled; And whatever is material in the Various Readings and Several Oriental Versions is Observed. The Whole Illustrated with Notes, Taken from the Most Ancient Jewish Writings (2 vols, London: William Hill Collingridge, 1853), 1: 483.

 

[Taylor]

I am particularly appreciative of the addition of “within due bounds.” Many people—The Gospel Coalition supreme among them—have abused the “weep with those who weep” passage to bludgeon Christians into mourning with people over their inability to fulfill their sinful lusts. Sorry, but I’m not “weeping with those who weep” because they can’t marry someone of the same sex or murder their unborn children.