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Indiana University Studies 



The anger and jealousy of God, so often mentioned in the Old 

 Testament, are likewise commented upon by Philo, who says that 

 there are some people w^hom nothing else will appeal to. They are 

 used for the purpose of ^'admonishing those who could not otherwise 

 be brought to a sober frame of mind" (Gcj<ppovi^ej(iai, 1, 656). 



Every man, even the humble and the wicked, is related to the 

 Divine, ''for he is an impress or fragment or radiance of that blessed 

 nature" (I, 35). God is so generous that he delights to give good 

 gifts to all his children, and he would like to encourage all to seek 

 after righteousness. Compare with this Matthew 7, 11: 'Tf ye then, 

 being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 

 more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to 

 them that ask him?" And Luke 11, 13: 'Tf ye then, being evil, know 

 how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your 

 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" 



Even wicked persons occasionally have a sudden vision of the 

 good, altho it quickly fades away. Also many ordinary persons 

 have an instinctive hatred of vice {fiLG07t6vy;pov ndOog) which 

 makes them suddenly champion the good. This is strikingly illus- 

 trated in a modern play Liliom by Franz Molnar. 



Altho anyone may thus have momentary glimpses of good and 

 even of the divine nature, those who approach nearest to God 

 are the philosophers who give themselves up to contemplation of 

 his person and his works. This again is Plato's approximation to God. 

 And supposing one fails to see God, his reward comes in the effort as 

 in any good pursuit (I, 186). 



To search after God with any prospect of success one must first 

 conquer the body and all allurements of the carnal nature, and 

 exalt the mind and soul. Philo says 'The body is wicked by nature 

 and a plotter against the soul" (I, 96). As Jeremiah says (17, 9): 

 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; 

 who can know it?" 



The same ideas are conspicuous in Epictetus, the Evangelists, and 

 Paul. Philo has a lurking regard for asceticism as had Plato. Today 

 we express the idea in the words "plain living and high thinking". 



Tho not advocating suicide as did some of the Stoics, Philo urges 

 one to escape from the polluted prison-house of the body (I, 437, 264), 

 and he condemns unsparingly the luxury and vice of Alexandria. 

 St. Paul exclaimed, you remember, "0 wretched man that I am! 

 who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7, 24). 



AVith all his speculation and mysticism, Philo is also very practical 

 for he makes service to mankind the prerequisite to service to God. 



