The works of Philo are filled with similar representations of the Logos,
but we must restrict ourselves to a very
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few. God as a Shepherd and King governs the universe "having appointed
his true Logos, his first begotten Son, to have the care of this sacred
flock, as the Vicegerent of-a great King."(1) In another place Philo
exhorts men to strive to become like God's "first begotten Word"
[------],(2) and he adds, a few lines further on: "for the most ancient
Word is the image of God" [------]. The high priest of God in the world
is "the divine Word, his first-begotten son" [------].(3) Speaking of
the creation of the world Philo says: "The instrument by which it was
formed is the Word of God" [------].(4) Elsewhere: "For the Word is the
image of God by which the whole world was created" [------].(5) These
passages might be indefinitely multiplied.
Tischendorf's next passage is: "The first power [------] after the
Father of all and God the Lord, and Son, is the Word [------]; in what
manner having been made flesh [------] he became man, we shall in what
follows relate."(6)
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We find everywhere parallels for this passage without seeking them in
the fourth Gospel. In 1 Cor. i. 24, "Christ the Power [------] of God
and the Wisdom of God;" cf. Heb. i. 2, 3, 4, 6, 8; ii. 8. In Heb. ii.
14--18, there is a distinct account of his becoming flesh; cf. verse 7.
In Phil. ii. 6--8: "Who (Jesus Christ) being in the form of God, deemed
it not grasping to be equal with God, (7) But gave himself up, taking
the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men," &c. In Rom.
viii. 3 we have: "God sending his own Son in the likeness of the flesh
of sin," &c. [------] It must be borne in mind that the terminology of
John i. 14, "and the word became flesh" [------] is different from that
of Justin, who uses the word [------]. The sense and language here is,
therefore, quite as close as that of the fourth Gospel We have also
another parallel in 1 Tim. iii. 16, "Who (God) was manifested in the
flesh" [------], cf. 1 Cor. xv. 4, 47.
In like manner we find many similar passages in the Works of Philo. He
says in one place that man was not made in the likeness of the most high
God the Father of the universe, but in that of the "Second God who is
his Word" [------].(1) In another place the Logos is said to be the
interpreter of the highest God, and he continues: "that must be God of
us imperfect beings" [------].(2)
Elsewhere he says: "But the
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