25.1 Philo the Platonist

 Note: Words and phrases within curly braces { } within quotations are furnished by the author to explain such quotations. Words and phrases within square brackets [ ] within quotations are part of the quoted text.   

          Philo Judaeus was born in Alexandria at about 20-15 BCE and died there at about 45-50 CE. He was a Greek-speaking Jewish theologian, the most important apologist of Alexandrian Judaism. The Alexandrian Judaism was Hellenistic. In the foreword of The Works of Philo, David M. Scholer wrote, “Philo’s ideas about Logos-Wisdom are ... indispensable for New Testament studies ... most directly and dramatically in the interpretation of the Gospel of John ...” Philo’s descriptions of the Word of God (the Wisdom of God, the son of God, the Archangel, the mediator of God, who offers his life for the sins of mankind), appear in the Gospel of John and in the letters of Paul. Philo’s ideas about the Word-Wisdom are indispensable in the study of Jesus. Philo is regarded by Christian scholars as a forerunner of Christian theology. Philo claimed to have been divinely inspired. He wrote, “... my own soul, which was accustomed frequently to be seized with a certain divine inspiration ...” Because of such statements his writings held a semi-sacred status. They were cherished by the early Hellenist Christians (many of them were Jews by birth, like Paul) and later by the Gentile Christians, who joined the Hellenist Christians. Saint Jerome wrote, “Philo the Jew, an Alexandrian of the priestly class ...” Philo adopted Plato’s allegorical method of interpretation. It was a popular method, used also by the devotees of the Greek mystery religions. Saint Jerome wrote, “Concerning him {Philo} there is a proverb among the Greeks ‘Either Plato philonized, or Philo platonized,’ that is, either Plato followed Philo, or Philo, Plato, so great is the similarity of ideas and language.” Like Plato, Philo believed in eternal life. He wrote, “... the end of the upright and holy man is not death but a ... migration ... to some other place of habitation.” This “other place of habitation” is “heaven”: “... he {the holy man} has received as a very appropriate reward, a firm and certain habitation in heaven.” 
            Philo used Plato’s allegorical method of interpretation to interpret the Old Testament. With this method he laid down the foundations of Christianity. Several New Testament writers and early Christian Church fathers adopted his interpretation. The Church father Origen read the writings of Philo. He wrote, “We {Christians} maintain that the law has a twofold interpretation, one literal and the other spiritual {allegorical-symbolic}, as was also taught by some of our predecessors {i.e. Philo}.” Epiphanius, too, read Philo, and so did Clement of Alexandria and Justin Martyr. There is considerable evidence indicating that Paul, John, and the writer of the letter to Hebrews read Philo. They, too, interpreted the law spiritually (allegorically, symbolically). Origen wrote, “In fact, the reason why we do not live like the Jews is that we think the literal interpretation of the laws does not contain the meaning of legislation.” Origen said, the meaning of the law is not literal. It is spiritual (allegorical). This is what Philo taught and this is what the Gentile Christians practiced. Even today’s Christians use Philo’s Old Testament allegorical interpretation. For example, Philo allegorized the following verse, where God used an angel to guide the Israelites through the desert of Sinai: “Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.” (Exodus 23:20 KJV) He said this angel was the Word, God’s first-born son, whom God appointed as the overseer of the Jews: “... appointing, as their immediate overseer, his own right Word, his first-born son ...” Today’s Christians interpret this verse likewise. They say this angel was Jesus, the Word of God.
            Little is known about Philo’s life. Josephus wrote that his family surpassed all others in nobility. His father had apparently played a prominent role in Palestine before moving to Alexandria. During Philo’s time the Jewish community of Alexandria was almost exclusively Greek-speaking. The Alexandrian Jews eagerly enrolled their children in Greek gymnasiums, which were institutions with religious associations. The gymnasiums emphasized athletics and liberal arts. Philo was a product of such education. He praised the Greek gymnasium. In his writings he mentions numerous Greek writers and poets. He was well acquainted with the methods of the Greek rhetorical schools. He attended the Greek theater and in one instance he described the enthusiasm of a certain audience for a tragedy of Euripides.
            His Greek education and his familiarity with the Greek culture had a profound effect on his thinking. Like most Alexandrian Hellenist Jews, he linked Greek philosophy with God. He believed that it was indirectly inspired by God: it developed from the God-given teachings of Moses. He believed that the teachings of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics were holy and he called Plato “great”: “As the great Plato says ...” He believed Plato had sacred authority from God. He wrote, “... since we have it on the sacred authority of Plato ...” But, being a Jew, Philo placed Moses above Plato. All the Greek philosophers learned from Moses and his writings contained the complete truth. Philo considered Moses a philosopher: “Moses ... had attained the very summit of philosophy, because he had been divinely instructed ...” He interpreted Genesis in light of Plato’s Theory of Forms. He wrote, “The beautiful things in the world ... made after an archetypal pattern ... the uncreated ... imperishable model of all things.” He wrote, “The world which is perceivable only to the intellect, must itself be the archetypal model, the idea of ideas, the Reason of God.” 
            During Philo’s time, the mystery religions were widespread in Alexandria (and throughout the Eastern Mediterranean). One of the suburbs of Alexandria was called Eleusis. It was named after Eleusis of Greece, the city of the goddess Demeter. The Eleusinian mysteries were instituted at Eleusis of Alexandria in a Greek-Egyptian adaptation. The Dionysiac mysteries were introduced on an even greater scale, to a degree that for a while the royal court of Alexandria was disturbed with the number of Dionysiac ceremonies in which the king was considered to be a reincarnation of the god Dionysus.
           Philo had mystical experiences. Even though he was influenced by the Greek mystery religions, he condemned them as “... profane mysteries, and impious rites, displaying bastard piety, and corrupted holiness, an impure purity, a falsified truth, a perverted service to God. ... they wash their bodies with baths {baptize themselves} and purifications {sprinkling of water} ... flock the temples with white garments ...” Philo promoted Judaism as the true mystery religion. He spoke of the lesser and greater mysteries of Judaism: “Those persons {the Hebrews} ... have been initiated in the lesser mysteries before learning anything of the greater ones.” (As mentioned, the Eleusinian mysteries had the lesser mysteries and the greater ones and they were performed in Alexandria.) Philo called Judaism an infallible mystery: “... being admitted ... into the infallible mysteries of the Existent {God} ...” He hoped to enable Judaism in the Diaspora to compete with the current Greek mystery religions in proselytizing and holding on to followers. (Paul presented Christianity to the Gentiles in the same manner Philo presented Alexandrian Judaism to the Gentiles.) To win non-Jews over to Judaism Philo broke away from the traditional belief that God was the god of the Jews and that the Old Testament was the holy book of the Jews. (This is also what Paul did.) He used Greek reasoning and ideas to explain to his Hellenist readers the teachings of Moses. He blended the terms and ideas of Aristobulus, the Stoics, and the Middle Platonists and came up with a unique Judaic theology, which became the framework for Christianity.
            Even though he despised the Greek mystery religions, the competitors of his religion, Philo used the metaphors of the mystery religions in his allegorical interpretations. He considered himself a mystagogue to the deeper meanings of the Old Testament, guiding “those men who are not initiated in the allegory ...” He also considered himself an hierophant (a revealer of mysteries). He claimed that he was initiated in the mysteries of God by Moses: “I bid you, initiated men ... to receive these things as mysteries that are truly sacred ... and do not reveal them to anyone who is uninitiated, but guard them as sacred treasure ... If ever you meet someone who has been properly initiated, cling to him affectionately ... if he has learned any recent mystery he may not conceal it from you ... I myself, having been initiated in the great mysteries by Moses, the friend of God ... I saw the prophet Jeremiah and learned that he was not only initiated in the sacred mysteries, but he was also a competent hierophant and an interpreter of them ... under the influence of inspiration he uttered an oracle ...” Jeremiah was an hierophant. Moses, too, was an hierophant: “... taught by the hierophant and prophet Moses.” In another passage Philo wrote that Moses initiated his brother Aaron and his nephews in the mysteries of God: “... initiating his nephews and their father and acting as their guide {mystagogue} to the sacred mysteries.”
            The mystery of Isis in Egypt promised the initiates a spiritual rebirth. Philo assimilated this idea: “... a second birth better than the first.” John borrowed Philo’s idea and put it in the mouth of Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NASB) It is not just a coincidence that the earliest fragment of the Gospel of John, as well as many later fragments of this gospel, were found in Egypt, the country of Philo.

25.4 How Philo Inspired the New Testament Writers

            There is compelling evidence indicating that Philo inspired the New Testament writers: he wrote before the New Testament writers, he did not know that Jesus or Christianity existed, and several of his doctrines, motifs, and expressions appear in numerous passages of the New Testament.
            In Greek mythology, gods impregnated mortal women. Influenced by the Greek culture, Philo wrote that God impregnated Hannah: “Hannah ... received the divine seed {God’s seed} and became pregnant. ... She brought forth ... Samuel ...”  He wrote that God impregnated Leah: “You will find her {Leah} receiving seed and offspring out of no created being but by God’s own gift.” He wrote that God impregnated Tamar: “Thus she receives the divine impregnation ...” But according to Genesis, God did not impregnate those women. He just miraculously opened their wombs: “And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb.” (Genesis 29:31 KJV) God opened their wombs so that their husbands would impregnate them. Philo equated opening the womb with impregnating. He wrote, “... in the case of Leah, where he {Moses} says that ‘God opened her womb.’ But to open the womb is the special duty of the husband.” Influenced by Philo (and by the Greek myths about god-men), the editors of Matthew and Luke added in the beginning of those gospels that God impregnated Mary. (We will examine this below.)
            In Egypt there were several trinities of gods (such as the trinity of Amon, or the trinity of Abydos). Influenced by the Egyptian culture, Philo came up with the idea that God is a trinity. (As mentioned earlier, his god, whatever he may have written to the contrary, was not God, the exclusive god of the Jews.) He allegorized the passage where Yahweh appeared to Abraham accompanied with two angels in the plain of Mamre. He wrote that Yahweh and the two angels were one. Yahweh spoke for the three and the three appeared as one. This passage of Philo influenced the Christian Church fathers of the second, third, and fourth century. As we will examine further on, Philo laid the foundation for the Trinity doctrine, which became the official doctrine of Gentile Christianity in the 4th century.

Quotations from Philo and Their Parallels in the Gospels

            Philo wrote that despite their noble birth, Jews who sin will go to Hell, while Gentiles who come to God will be saved and go to Heaven. This comparison appears in Matthew:

As we will examine, an editor added the above verses of Matthew to the original text of Matthew (the early Matthew). In several instances the editor of Matthew was influenced by Philo.

This was a common belief at that time. The Essenes believed similarly. As mentioned earlier, Zoroaster introduced this belief.

26. How Philo Fashioned the Word of God

26.1 The Origins of “the Word of God”

            According to the Logos (the Word) doctrine, the creator god directed a secondary god (the Word) to create the world. This doctrine was not part of Judaism. The Jews believed that God alone created the world: “Thus says the LORD ... I am the LORD who makes all things; who stretches forth the heavens alone; who spreads abroad the earth by myself.” (Isaiah 44:24 KJV) To this day, Jews believe that God is one person, and he alone created the world.
            The Logos doctrine appears for the first time in the Akkadian text The Creation Epic, in which the high god Marduk planned and the secondary god Nudimmud created: “That work was beyond comprehension; As artfully planned by Marduk, did Nudimmud create it.” It also appears in the Egyptian text The Theology of Memphis in a passage which says that god Ptah created through his secondary gods the universe and all living beings.
            In the 6th century BCE, the early Greek philosophers coined the terms “Logos” (Word) and “Sophia” (Wisdom or Reason) to describe the creative power of god. Heraclitus (ca. 540-480 BCE) said that the Word is the universal principle through which all things are interrelated and all natural events occur. Next, the book Epinomis, ascribed to Plato, mentions that the Word arranged the sun, moon and stars: “... the sun ... the moon ... the stars ... each travels through its particular orbit, completing the world, which the most divine Word {Gr. logos} appointed {or arranged} visible.” Plutarch wrote wrote that Horus {the Greeks called him Apollo} was the Word, who created the world. The Stoics considered Word, God, and Nature (the soul of the universe) as one in reality.
            The Church father Tertullian acknowledged the Logos doctrine of the Stoics: “We {Christians} have already said that God devised the whole universe by Word, by Reason ... Among your own philosophers, it is argued the Logos that is Word and Reason, would seem to be the designer of the universe. This Logos Zeno {he lived ca. 335-263 BCE} defines as the maker who has formed and ordered all. We, too, to that Word, Reason and power, by which we said God devised all things ... ascribe ... {the creation of the world}.” The expression “we, too” indicates that the Gentile Christians assimilated this doctrine from others before them.
            Influenced by the Greeks, the Jews adopted a primitive form of the Logos doctrine. This doctrine appears in Proverbs, which was finished in the early Hellenistic era. Since they believed that God is one person, they could not portray the Logos/Wisdom as a second god. They portrayed Wisdom as a being created by God: “I, wisdom, dwell in prudence ... The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. ... Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth; before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there ... then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always ...” (Proverbs 8:12, 22-27, 30 RSV) This passage does not say or imply that God gave Wisdom the task to create the world. But the phrase “I was beside him, like a master workman” implies that Wisdom assisted God in the creation process. This Wisdom was not a true Logos: a god who created by the order of God. As mentioned above, the Jews believed that God alone created the world: “Thus says the LORD ... I am the LORD who makes all things; who stretches forth the heavens alone; who spreads abroad the earth by myself.” (Isaiah 44:24 KJV) (The passage of Proverbs is not in total agreement with this verse of Isaiah.) At about 25 BCE, Eudorus of Alexandria, a Middle Platonist and Hellenist Jew, took the next step. He called the Word “the essentially transcendent god.” 

26.2 How Philo Inspired John

            Next came Philo. He wrote before the New Testament writers. He developed the Logos doctrine of Alexandrian Judaism. He began by interpreting of the following verse: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” (Psalms 33:6 KJV) The phrases “word of the LORD” and “the breath of his mouth” are a poetic parallelism: they describe the same thing. This verse says that God spoke and things were created. For example, “And God said, Let there be a firmament ... {and the firmament was created}...” (Genesis 1:6-8 KJV) Philo allegorized “the word of the LORD.” He said that this word, the breath that came out of God’s mouth, was an entity, a divine person: the Word of God, who created the universe. Like the Greek philosophers, Philo used the terms “Word” (Logos) and “Wisdom” (Sophia) interchangeably to describe this being. He wrote that the Word was “begotten” (born by God) because it came out of God’s mouth. He wrote that the Word was a god, the Son of God, extremely close to God, and second in position. When Philo wrote these things he did not realize the impact they would make on the world. He was drawing the blueprints of a new religion. A few decades later, the Word appeared in the writings of John. Compare:

            “Uncreated” means eternally pre-existent. Only God is uncreated. Philo wrote that the Word was neither uncreated, like God, nor yet created, like the angels. He was begotten. He wrote, “For that man {the Word} is the eldest son, whom the Father of the universe raised up, and in another passage calls him His first-born, and indeed the Son thus begotten ...” John wrote that Jesus was “the only begotten son.” By this, he did not mean “the only son.” For example, the writer of Hebrews used the same expression. He wrote that Isaac was the “only begotten son” of Abraham: “Abraham ... offered up Isaac ... his only begotten son.” (Hebrews 11:17 KJV) By this he did not mean that Isaac was the only son of Abraham. Abraham had several sons. By “only begotten” he meant “unequaled” or “unique.” Isaac was a unique son of Abraham. For this reason he sired the nation of Israel. Likewise, John believed that Jesus was a “unique” son of God: “unique” because he was begotten while the rest of them (sons of God or angels of God) were created. John believed that Jesus was a unique angel: the Archangel.

Angels were called gods and gods were called angels. Philo also called them “words.” Philo wrote, “... the Word ... who is called Angel.” 

26.3 How Philo Inspired Paul

            John called Jesus “the Word of God” while Paul called him “the Wisdom of God”: “... Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24 KJV) Paul also called Jesus “the power of God.” Philo called the angels “powers.” He believed angels are “the powers of God.” He wrote, “God ... has about him an unspeakable number of powers {angels}... Again, it is by means of these powers {angels} that the incorporeal world, perceptible by the intellect, has been put together ... there are some things which he has entrusted to his subordinate powers to fashion.”  God put together the heavenly world with the help of his powers, the angels. Philo considered the Son of God as the greatest power of God. Evidence suggests that Paul believed that Jesus was the Archangel, that is, the greatest “power of God.”

The idea that a person is the temple of God does not appear in the Old Testament, but it appears in Paul’s letters. He borrowed it from Philo:

This is telltale evidence that Paul borrowed from Philo. Paul referred to the same verse that Philo referred: “And I will walk among you, and will be your God...” (Leviticus 26:12 KJV) Paul used a similar exhortation as that of Philo. Philo exhorted, “become a house of God, a holy temple” while Paul exhorted “... for you are the temple of the Living God.”

Philo promoted Judaism as a mystery religion. Paul promoted Christianity likewise:

The following evidence suggests that Paul developed his Wisdom doctrine with the help of Philo:

When Philo wrote that the Word is a god, he meant “an angel.” Likewise, when Paul wrote that Jesus is “a blessed god,” he meant “a blessed angel.” Philo and Paul believed that there is only one true God. The rest (angels and spiritual powers) are “improperly called gods.”

Both Philo and Paul used the same Greek word “eikon” referring to the Wisdom of God.

How Philo Inspired the Writer of Hebrews

Telltale evidence that Philo inspired the writer of Hebrews

            There is compelling evidence that writer of Hebrews read Philo. He wrote, “... the ark of the covenant ... in which was a golden jar holding the manna ...” (Hebrews 9:4 NASB) The Old Testament does not say that the jar was “golden.” It says, “Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD’ ” (Exodus 16:33-34 NIV) Who told the writer of Hebrews that the jar was “golden?” Philo: “... the heavenly and divine food {the manna} was enshrined in a golden jar.” 

It is more than a coincidence that both Philo and the writer of Hebrews used the same Greek word “Carakthr” to describe the Word or that they both wrote that the jar that was holding the manna was golden. The following verse of Wisdom of Solomon may also have been a source of inspiration for the writer of Hebrews: “For she {Wisdom} is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.” (Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 RSV)

Here are more parallels:

26.4 Philo: the Word of God Procures Forgiveness of Sins

            In the Old Testament God appeared to Abraham, to Abraham’s slave, to Balaam, to Gideon, and to Samson’s parents. He wrestled with Jacob, and talked face to face with Moses. (In those days, gods appeared to humans.) In a few exceptional instances God sent angels. He sent an angel to guide the servant of Abraham to find a wife for Jacob, an angel to guide the Hebrews through the desert, and an angel to destroy Jerusalem when King David took a census of Israel. These angels did not function as intermediaries. They did not plead on behalf of men to God. The idea of a divine mediator interceding to God on behalf of humans does not exist in the Old Testament. “If a man sins against a man, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” (1 Samuel 2:25 RSV) In the New Testament Jesus is the intercessor/mediator for all mankind. Where did this idea come from?
            The origin of divine mediators interceding to higher gods can be traced to early Akkadian texts. In Babylon divine mediators were common.  Each Babylonian had a personal god, a mediator, to whom he prayed and through whom he could appeal to a higher god. Babylonian inscriptions often stress the role of a personal god as a personal protector and as mediator to a higher god.  The duty of the personal god was to protect his “child.” The Persian god Mithra (or Mitra) was known as the Mediator.
            Plato assimilated the idea of the divine mediator from the Zoroastrians (Persians). He claimed that God used “a great Spirit” as his mediator to communicate with men: “A great Spirit ... the whole spiritual is between divine and mortal ... interpreting and transporting human things to the gods and divine things to men ... being midway between {God and man} ... God with man does not mingle: but the spiritual is the means {the mediator}.”
            Then came the writer of 1 Enoch. He was influenced by the Zoroastrians and Plato. He described angels mediating to God: “... raise up your prayers as a memorial and place them as a testimony in front of the angels; they will bring the sins of the sinners for a memorial before the Most High.” (1 Enoch 99:3) We have no evidence that Philo read 1 Enoch, but he had similar ideas as the writer of 1 Enoch. He adopted the idea that angels acted as mediators to God on behalf of humans. He called the angels “words.” He wrote, “... the sacred scripture calls them angels ... they convey the will of the Father to his children and the children’s needs to their Father. ... the services of words {Gr. logois} acting on our behalf as mediators ...”
            Matthew wrote, “{Jesus said:} Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10 NRSV) The phrase “their angels” implies that every “little one” has an angel, an intercessor who mediates to God in Heaven. The writer of Acts implied that Peter had a mediating angel. He wrote, “Then said they, It is his {Peter’s} angel!” (Acts 12:15 KJV) The NIV Study Bible footnote under this verse reads, “His angel. Reflects the belief that everyone has a personal angel who ministers to him, adding the idea that such an angel occasionally showed himself and that his appearance resembled the person under his care.” The writer of Hebrews called them “ministering spirits”: “Are they {the angels} not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who will be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14 KJV)

Philo wrote that the Word was the mediator of God.

Paul believed Jesus is the mediator to God. He wrote: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ ...” (Romans 1:8 NRSV) Paul sent his thanks to God through Jesus. The word “through” implies mediation. God will judge the world through his mediator, Jesus: “... God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.” (Romans 2:16 NRSV) Also, “... we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace {of God} in which we stand.” (Romans 5:1-2 NRSV) Also, “... we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11 NRSV)

Philo wrote that the Word, the intercessor to God, was the high priest.

26.5 “... And the Word Was Made Flesh”

            According to Plato, the original home of a person’s soul was in one of the stars. From there it fell down to earth and entered the body. Thus, man was a stranger on earth and had to strive to liberate himself from the ties of the flesh and return to his celestial home. Plato wrote, “... each soul He {God} assigned to one star ... and he who has lived {on this earth} his appointed time well, will return again to his abode in his native star ...” The Stoics embraced Plato’s belief. Seneca, a Stoic, wrote, “... his soul has indeed returned to the skies, whence it came ...” He also wrote, “... released from the body {the prison of the soul}, it {the soul} has withdrawn to the skies.” (This is spiritual resurrection.) Influenced by Plato, Philo wrote, “ ... the heaven containing the stars. For these {stars}also are entire souls pervading the universe ... and these beings {these souls} are invisible ... Some souls therefore have descended into bodies ...” “souls ... fly and hover in the air” and “... souls have descended into bodies ... and then soared upwards back to the place from whence they came {i.e. to the stars}.” 
           Here is a passage by Philo and passage by the writer of Hebrews. The similarities between these passages (along with the previous examples of parallels exhibited earlier) suggest that Philo influenced the writer of Hebrews.

The phrase of the writer of Hebrews “they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” implies the belief in pre-existence of the soul. Philo also wrote, “A wise man’s soul finds heaven to be his fatherland and earth a foreign country ... and considers himself a stranger and sojourner in it.” This is similar to what the writer of Hebrews wrote about Abraham.

            By inserting Jesus’ name in the above quotation from Philo, one can see how well it applies to Jesus.

Note: The book contains over 2,500 footnotes (quotations and references), which explain or document the facts presented. Those footnotes are not included in most excerpts presented in this web site.

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