Note 112 — Chapter XVII · THE STOIC STRAIN IN CHRISTIANITY.

Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 296. This view has become familiar through Milton’s treatment of the Fall of man in Paradise Lost. There the prohibition of the forbidden fruit is nothing but a test of readiness to obey. This point of view seems quite foreign to St Paul, who always speaks of sin as sinful in itself, not in consequence of the Creator’s will.