Conclusion

Summary

Philo's treatises, though they present the modern reader with certain difficulties, are undoubtedly worthy of close study for their own intrinsic interest. Hellenistic Judaism in Alexandria in Philo's time was an important and powerful segment of Judaism, and Philo was a distinguished and important statesman, thinker and writer within the Alexandrian Jewish community. His life and works have a significant place within the history of Judaism (though for a long time not recognised by Judaism itself), especially its relationships with the Roman state, and, perhaps more importantly, in the development of its religious ideas with language borrowed from the ancient philosophers. Christianity took a great interest in Philo – so much so that for a long period Philo was treated as more or less one of the Christian Fathers. A distinguished New Testament scholar has said that Philo's writings provide the most significant part of the hellenistic Jewish background to the Fourth Gospel. Attempts have been made to prove that one New Testament document, Hebrews, was influenced substantially by the vocabulary, ideas and method of scriptural exegesis employed by Philo, though more recent scholarship has tended to reject this view or to accept it with severe qualifications. But certainly there is no better way for a student to begin his study of hellenistic Judaism than by reading Philo, and no better way for the student of the New Testament to embark upon the study of its background in hellenistic Judaism than by examining, for example, what Philo has to say about the Logos.