Note 20 — Chapter XVII · THE STOIC STRAIN IN CHRISTIANITY.
Reading edition
Matt. xxvi 41; Mark xiv 38. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews adopts the technical terms of Stoicism more completely. According to him Christ was touched with all the passions of weak men, but to a degree falling short of sin; οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν ἀρχιερέα μὴ δυνάμενον συμπαθῆσαι ταῖς ἀσθενείαις ἡμῶν ... χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας Heb. iv 15. Thus the agony in the garden, though accompanied by loud cries and tears, did not pass the limits of the healthy affection of caution (εὐλάβεια), or (as we might say) ‘anxiety’; ib. v 7.