Was Jesus a student of Philo?

[The_Serpent]

And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than having two feet, to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.

And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire: Mark 9:42 - 46

Interestingly, Philo the Jewish author, and contemporary of Jesus and the Apostles wrote similar words! In “The Worse Attacks the Better” 48:175; he writes to choose blindness over seeing something unfit, deafness over evil discourse, tongues cut out rather than speaking evil.

So I wonder if Jesus studied Philo, or Philo heard the words of Jesus?

 

[Dorothy]

It sounds like the Holy Spirit at work in Philo.

 

[Erikaspirit16]

I’m not going to look it up yet again, but the Catechism and Vat. II documents both say that the authors of the New Testament should be seen as humans of their own time and place and that their writings reflect that.

Just as almost everyone today knows snatches (and perhaps a lot more) of poetry, I think you have to assume that in the mostly oral society of Israel in the early 1st century a lot of people used borrowed ideas or even certain borrowed phrases in their speech, just as we do now. I think what would be really surprising would be to find that the New Testament has completely unique ideas and phrasing.

I think most scholars agree that it’s unlikely that Philo borrowed from the Jesus or vice versa. But they probably both drew on ideas and phrases common at that time.

[Just looking back at what I wrote, you can see phrases that are cliches in our own culture: “their own time and place,” “oral society,” “common at that time.” This doesn’t mean I’m quoting a particular person, but I am using common phrases to convey ideas–that are not original or unique either!]

 

[jcrichton]

And if thy hand scandalize thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life, maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into unquenchable fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished. And if thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter lame into life everlasting, than having two feet, to be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished.

And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into the kingdom of God, than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire: Mark 9:42 - 46

Interestingly, Philo the Jewish author, and contemporary of Jesus and the Apostles wrote similar words! In “The Worse Attacks the Better” 48:175; he writes to choose blindness over seeing something unfit, deafness over evil discourse, tongues cut out rather than speaking evil.

So I wonder if Jesus studied Philo, or Philo heard the words of Jesus?

Hi!
…I looked it up–interestingly, the very first link is to an anti-Christian site (it made me recollect your screen name and signature).

It seems that they are convinced that Jesus never existed… that He is a fabrication… based on the character assassination of the genuine article…

Here’s my issue… why did the character who was assassinated remained silent about the assassination of his character? …surely and avid writer could very well write hundreds of books against those who chose to malign him and his religion, could he not? Why, then, did he remain silent?

…the serpent is quite astute!

Maran atha!

Angel