arate
powers. The heresy of "Minut," frequently mentioned in the Talmud,
consisted originally, in the opinion of modern scholars, of a Gnostic
ditheism;[217] and during the latter part of the first century and
thereafter we hear of sects in Egypt and Syria which supported similar
theories. Theology here produced its fantastic offspring theosophy,
and the followers of the esoteric wisdom let their speculations carry
them away from the cardinal principle of Judaism. Influenced by
Egyptian speculation, they imagined an incarnation of the Divine
Spirit, and in the mystical thought of the day they adumbrated
theories of virgin birth.

Now these prototypes of Christian belief had undoubtedly manifested
themselves at Alexandria in Philo's day. His treatises show traces of
them,[218] and the question is whether he countenanced them or tried
to summon the theosophists of his generation back to the true Jewish
conception of God. Certain Christian and philosophical critics of
Philo, for whom the wish was perhaps father to the thought, have found
in Philo's Logos a conception which is at times impersonal, at times
personal, at times an aspect of the One God, and at times a second
independent God. If we take Philo literally, this certainly is the
case. But let it be clearly understood, this interpretation not only
involves Philo in inconsistency, but it utterly ruins and destroys his
religious and philosophical system. It means that the champion of
Jewish monotheism wanders into a vague ditheism. And in view of this,
the modern commentators of Philo, notably Professor Drummond,[219]
have examined his words more carefully and studied them in relation to
their context; and they have shown how, judged in this critical
fashion, the personality of the Logos is only figurative. It is,
indeed, probable that certain extreme passages, where the Logos is
presented most explicitly as a separate Deity, are due to
Christological interpolation. The Church Fathers found in the popular
belief in the Divine Word a remarkable support of the Trinity, and
regarding, as they did, Philo's writings as valuable testimony to the
truth of Christianity, they had every temptation to bring his passages
about the Logos still closer to their ideas. And between the first and
the fifth century, when we first hear from Eusebius of manuscripts of
Philo at the Christian monastery of Caesarea--from which we can trace
our texts in direct line--there was no high standar