Texts in Conversation
Philo discusses two different kinds of death, where the soul is separated from body and then death of the soul, which is a soul without virtue. Paul describes a similar sense of this second death in Romans, when the Torah provokes the evil impulse.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Philo, Allegorical Interpretation 1:105
Classical
That death is of two kinds, one the death of the man in general, the other the death of the soul in particular. The death of the man is the separation of the soul from the body, but the death of the soul is the decay of virtue and the bringing in of wickedness. It is for this reason that God says not only “die” but “die the death,” indicating not the death common to us all, but that special death properly so called, which is the death of the soul as it becomes entombed in passions and wickedness of all kinds. And this death is practically the antithesis of the death which awaits us all. The latter is a separation of combatants that had been pitted against one another, that is, body and soul. The former, on the other hand, is a meeting of the two in conflict. And in this conflict the worse, the body, overcomes, and the better, the soul, is overcome. But observe that wherever Moses speaks of “dying the death,” he means the penalty-death, not the death that takes place in the course of nature. Death in the course of nature is the one in which the soul is parted from the body; but the penalty-death takes place when the soul dies to the life of virtue, and is alive only to the life of wickedness.
Date: 20–50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Romans 7:10
New Testament
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment, sin became alive 10 and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
Search:
Notes and References
“... In particular, the plight described in the monologue strongly resembles the moral-psychological state that Philo of Alexandria sometimes describes as “the death of the soul.” So Philo interprets God’s warning that Adam will die if he eats from the tree of life as referring to the death of the soul: [...] This text sharply distinguishes bodily death from a type of moral-psychological death. Philo, consistent with his Platonism, insists that the death of the soul does not convey the actual death or destruction of any one part of the soul, but the total domination and enslavement of the good part. [...] The above text from Philo exemplifies a Platonic discourse about the soul that bears on the language and argument of Rom 7. [...] I contend that Rom 7:7–25 depicts the plight of reason or mind imprisoned by the passions and appetites. ...”
Wasserman, Emma
The Death of the Soul in Romans 7: Sin, Death, and the Law in Light of Hellenistic Moral Psychology
(pp. 7-8) Mohr Siebeck, 2008
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,