Philo’s Logos and the Heavenly Adam/Man
In Philo’s exegesis of the creation accounts in Genesis
and God’s creation of the first man in particular, there are four points at
which Philo distinguishes between the creation of two Adams rather than one.
One Adam is that which is indeed formed in the image of God. This Adam is
incorporeal, incorruptible, immortal, an idea and not perceptible to the
senses, corporeal, a combination of body and soul, corruptible, and mortal. In
contrast to the “heavenly man,” Philo refers to this Adam as the “earthly man.”
While it has been argued that Philo is not always consistent with these
distinctions and that he uses these concepts in different ways and for
different purposes, it seems quite clear that in Philo there is a
well-established concept of a “heavenly man/Adam” and an “earthly man/Adam”;
the former of which is made in the image of God, is incorporeal, is
imperceptible to the senses, and immortal, while the latter is not made in
God’s image (at least not fully or directly), is perceptible to the senses, and
is mortal. (David E. Wilhite and Adam Winn, Israel’s Lord: YHWH at “Two
Powers” in Second Temple Literature [Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2024],
52)
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