Docetism
Docetism was a refinement of Gnosticism. In the history of Christianity, Docetism is the heretical doctrine that the phenomenon of Jesus, his historical and bodily existence, and above all, the human form of Jesus, was mere semblance without any actual reality. Its followers believed that Jesus' body was an illusion and that he was wholly spiritual. Simply put, Gnosticism (from gnosis – Greek - knowledge) has the notion that it is secret mystical knowledge that saves rather than faith in God; Docetism ( Latin - docere - to seem) is the belief that Jesus only seemed to be a real man but was a kind of avatar.
Questions and Answers
How do Gnosticism and Docetism differ? Or What is the difference between Docetism and Gnosticism? One (Gnosticism) is a thread running through many sects and religions. The other (Docetism) is a specific sect.
Gnosticism is a classification of sects and religions that focus on experiential knowledge of the divine rather than relying on faith. Many notable sects fell into this classification, including Docetism, Valentinians, Sethians, Manicheans, and Mandeans. Prior to the Catholic Church’s rise to dominance, there were dozens of different sects of Christianity, some with compatible beliefs and many with contradictory beliefs. Those that relied on experiential knowledge of the Divine (gnosis) were eventually considered heretical and were either wiped out or forced into subjugation. However, there were considerable differences in belief even among the Gnostic sects.
It should be noted that Gnosticism is not limited to being classified as a Christian. Any religion that focuses on experiential knowledge over faith could be considered Gnostic. Docetism is broadly defined as any teaching that claims that Jesus' body was either absent or imagined. The term 'docetic' is somewhat vague. Two varieties were widely known. In one version, as in *Marcionism, Christ was so divine that he could not have been human since God lacked a material body that could not physically suffer. Jesus only appeared to be a flesh-and-blood man; his body was an apparition. Other groups accused of Docetism held that Jesus was a man in the flesh. However, Christ was a separate entity who entered Jesus' body as a dove at his baptism, empowered him to perform miracles, and abandoned him upon his death on the cross.
*Marcionism was an early Christian dualistic belief system that originated from the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around the year 144. Marcion was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christianity. He was the son of a bishop of Sinope in Pontus. About the middle of the 2nd Century, he traveled to Rome, where he joined the Syrian Gnostic Cerdo.
One of those Gnostic sects within early Christianity was Docetism. The term derives from the Greek word for “to seem.” The idea behind Docetism was that Jesus was never really here in the flesh; he only seemed to be here. So rather than being a flesh and blood person, it was just the apparition of Jesus that appeared to his followers. This helped overcome the issues with Jesus, being God incarnate, living in the impure wrappings of the human body.
Who started Docetism?
The word "Illusionists," referring to early groups who denied Jesus's humanity, first occurred in a letter by Bishop Serapion of Antioch. It appears to have arisen over theological contentions concerning the meaning, figurative or literal, of a sentence from the Gospel of John: "the Word was made Flesh."
Docetism was unequivocally rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and is regarded as heretical by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Armenian Apostolic Church, Orthodox Church, and many Protestant denominations.
What was the heresy of Docetism? The chart below contains the heresy, description, origin, condemnation, and other comments of various beliefs (including Docetism).
Trinitarian/Christological heresies
Heresy Description Origin Official condemnation Other
Adoptionism
The belief that Jesus was born as a mere (non-divine) man was supremely virtuous and that he was adopted later as the "Son of God" by the descent of the Spirit on him. Propounded by Theodotus of Byzantium, a leather merchant, in Rome c.190, later revived by Paul of Samosata
Pope Victor excommunicated Theodotus, and the Synod of Antioch condemned Paul in 268 Alternative names: Psilanthropism and Dynamic Monarchianism. Later criticized as presupposing Nestorianism (see below)
Apollinarism
Apollinaris further taught that other souls and their bodies propagated the souls of men Proposed by Apollinaris of Laodicea (died 390) Declared to be a heresy in 381 by the First Council of Constantinople
Arabic
The belief that the soul perished with the body and that both would be revived on Judgement Day. Founder unknown but associated with 3rd-century Christians from Arabia. I am Reconciled to the main body of the Church after a council in 250 led by Origen.
Arianism
Denial of the true divinity of Jesus Christ takes various specific forms, but all agreed that the Father created Jesus Christ, that he had a beginning in time, and that the title "Son of God" was a courtesy one.[11]
The doctrine is associated with Arius (c. AD 250–336), who lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt.
Arius was first pronounced a heretic at the First Council of Nicea. He was later exonerated due to imperial pressure and finally declared a heretic after his death. The heresy was finally resolved in 381 by the First Council of Constantinople. All forms denied that Jesus Christ is "consubstantial with the Father" but proposed either "similar in substance,” "similar," or "dissimilar" as the correct alternative.
Collyridianism
The belief is that the Trinity consists of the Father, Son, and Mary and that the son results from the marital union between the other two. Described by Epiphanius in his Panarion.
The sect's existence is subject to some dispute due to the lack of historical evidence aside from the writings of Epiphanius.
Docetism
The belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and physically die, but in reality, he was incorporeal a pure spirit, and hence, he was incorporeal could not physically die. Tendencies existed in the 1st Century, but Gnostics most notably embraced by in subsequent centuries. The ecumenical councils and mainstream Christianity rejected and largely died out during the first millennium A.D. Gnostic movements that survived past that time, such as Catharism, incorporated Docetism into their beliefs, but such movements were destroyed by the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229).
Luciferians
Strongly anti-Arian sect in Sardinia Founded by Lucifer Calaritanus, a bishop of Cagliari Deemed heretical by Jerome in his Altercation Luciferiani et orthodoxy
Macedonians or Pneumatomachians ("Spirit fighters")
While accepting the divinity of Jesus Christ as affirmed at Nicea in 325, they denied that of the Holy Spirit, which they saw as a creation of the Son, and a servant of the Father and the Son. Allegedly founded in the 4th Century by Bishop Macedonius I of Constantinople, Eustathius of Sebaste was their principal theologian.[13]
Opposed by the Cappadocian Fathers and condemned at the First Council of Constantinople.
This is what prompted the addition of "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is equally worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets", into the Nicene Creed at the second ecumenical Council.
Melchisedechians
Considered Melchisedech an incarnation of the Logos (divine word) and identified him with the Holy Ghost.
Refuted by Marcus Eremita in his book Eis ton Melchisedek ("Against the Melchisedekites")[14]
It is uncertain whether the sect survived beyond the 9th Century. They were probably scattered across Anatolia and the Balkans following the destruction of Tephrike.
Monarchianism
An overemphasis on the indivisibility of God (the Father) at the expense of the other "persons" of the Trinity leads to either Sabellianism (Modalism) or Adoptionism.
In Eastern theology, stressing the "monarchy" of God was a legitimate way of affirming his oneness and the Father as the unique source of divinity. It became heretical when pushed to the extremes indicated.
Monophysitism or Eutychianism
The belief that Christ's divinity dominates and overwhelms his humanity, as opposed to the Chalcedonian position, which holds that Christ has two natures, one Divine and one human, or the Miaphysite position, which holds that the human nature and pre-incarnate divine nature of Christ were united as one divine-human nature from the point of the Incarnation onwards. After Nestorianism was rejected at the First Council of Ephesus, Eutyches emerged with diametrically opposite views. Eutyches was excommunicated in 448. Monophysitism and Eutyches were rejected at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. is also rejected by the Oriental Orthodox Churches also reject
Monothelitism
The belief that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will. This is contrary to the orthodox interpretation of Christology, which teaches that Jesus Christ has two wills (human and divine) corresponding to his two natures Originated in Armenia and Syria in AD 633 Monothelitism was officially condemned at the Third Council of Constantinople (the Sixth Ecumenical Council, 680–681). The churches condemned at Constantinople include the Oriental Orthodox Syriac, Armenian, Coptic churches, and the Maronite church, although the latter now deny that they ever held the Monothelite view and are presently in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. Christians in England rejected the Monothelite position at the Council of Hatfield in 680.
Nestorianism
The belief that Jesus Christ was a natural union between the flesh and the word, thus not identical to the divine Son of God. It was advanced by Nestorius (386–450), Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine was informed by Nestorius' studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch.
Condemned at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451, leading to the Nestorian Schism.
Nestorius rejected the title Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, and proposed Christotokos as more suitable. Many of Nestorius' supporters relocated to Sassanid Persia, where they affiliated with the local Christian community, known as the Church of the East. Over the next decades the Church of the East became increasingly Nestorian in doctrine, leading it to be known alternately as the Nestorian Church.
Patripassianism
Belief that the Father and Son are not two distinct persons, and thus God the Father suffered on the cross as Jesus. similar to Sabellianism
Psilanthropism
Belief that Jesus is "merely human": either that he never became divine, or that he never existed prior to his Incarnation as a man. Rejected by the ecumenical councils, especially in the First Council of Nicaea, which was convened to deal directly with the nature of Christ's divinity. See Adoptionism
Sabellianism
Belief that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three characterizations of one God, rather than three distinct "persons" in one God. First formally stated by Noetus of Smyrna c. 190, refined by Sabellius c. 210 who applied the names merely to different roles of God in the history and economy of salvation. Noetus was condemned by the presbyters of Smyrna. Tertullian wrote Adversus Praxeam against this tendency and Sabellius was condemned by Pope Callistus. Alternative names: Patripassianism, Modalism, Modalistic Monarchianism
Tritheism
Belief that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three independent and distinct divine beings as opposed to three persons of one being and one essence
What was the Church's response to Docetism?
Docetism was unequivocally rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and is regarded as heretical by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Armenian Apostolic Church, Orthodox Tewahedo, and many Protestant denominations that accept and hold to the statements of these early church councils, such as Reformed Baptists, Reformed Christians, and all Trinitarian Christians.
What religions do not recognize Jesus?
In terms of the number of adherents, nontrinitarian denominations comprise a small minority of modern Christians. The largest nontrinitarian Christian denominations are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oneness Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, La Luz del Mundo, and the Iglesia ni Cristo.
Jehovah’s Witnesses. They believe Jesus is God’s Son. After his baptism, a voice from heaven said in Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” God referred to Jesus as his Son. In John 14:28, Jesus said, “the Father is greater than I am.” Throughout that chapter, Jesus says he and his Father are in union with each other, but never the same. In verse 24, Jesus says, “the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.” “Who was Jesus praying to just before his death, himself? Who resurrected Jesus himself? Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, and through him, all other things were created. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “let US make man in OUR image according to Our likeness.” Whom was God talking to? His co-worker, Jesus. Yes, Jesus is God’s Son. He cannot be both.
Islam
Some commentators have attempted to make a connection between Islam and Docetism using the following Quranic verse:
“And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger — They slew him not crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! Those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they do not know thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise.”
Some scholars accept that Islam was influenced by Manichaeism (Docetism) in this view. However, the consensus is that Manichaeism was not prevalent in Mecca in the 6th and 7th centuries, when Islam developed.
Judaism
Much has been written about Jesus from a Jewish perspective, most interestingly by those early Jews who described Jesus in the centuries immediately following His life. Judaism pre-existed (and gave birth to) Christianity, but Jews deny that Jesus was the Messiah. Ancient Jewish believers (as recorded by the Talmud and the Toledot Yeshu) described Jesus in the following ways:
Jesus Was Mary’s Son.
Ancient Jews acknowledged Jesus existed and had a mother named Mary. They denied Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus, but they did recognize Mary was promised to a man named “Yohanan.”
Jesus Was Respected.
While modern Jews often deride Jesus, this was not the case in the earliest times. Little harmful material related to Jesus can be found in first and second-century Jewish literature. Jesus was primarily recognized as a popular teacher revered by His followers and respected by His opponents. However, as Christianity spread and the Divinity of Jesus was proclaimed throughout the known world, Jewish opposition rose. By 1000 A.D., many Jews were facing stiff persecution and blamed their situation on the rise of Christianity and the person of Jesus.
Jesus Was a Miracle Worker.
Ancient Jews also acknowledged that Jesus had supernatural powers and performed miracles. They typically denied, however, that Jesus’ power came from God. Instead, they often claimed Jesus wielded the power of the Devil.
Jesus was Crucified on the Cross.
Another crucial historical claim of the New Testament (the Crucifixion of Jesus) is acknowledged by ancient Jewish records. While the Talmud and Toledot affirm the execution of Jesus, they both deny Jesus was resurrected. They often explain the empty grave by saying that the gardener removed Jesus’ body.
HINDUISM
Hinduism is a very diverse religious faith that began in India. It is rooted in religious views dating back to the Iron Age of India (12th to sixth centuries B.C.), and it has no single founder. There are many varieties of Hinduism embracing a complex and divergent set of views. Hindu believers often hold a variety of views. For this reason, it is difficult to isolate a unified set of beliefs related to Jesus.
Christology and Theological Implications
Docetism's origin within Christianity is obscure. Ernst Käsemann controversially defined the Christology of the Gospel of John as "naïve docetism" in 1968. The ensuing debate reached an impasse as awareness grew that the very term "docetism,” like "Gnosticism," was difficult to define within the religio-historical framework of the debate. It has occasionally been argued that its origins were in heterodox Judaism or Oriental and Grecian philosophies. The alleged connection with Jewish Christianity would have reflected Jewish Christian concerns with the inviolability of (Jewish) monotheism. Docetic opinions seem to have circulated from very early times, 1 John 4:2 appearing explicitly to reject them. Some 1st-century Christian groups developed docetic interpretations partly to make Christian teachings more acceptable to pagan ways of thinking about divinity.
In his critique of the theology of Clement of Alexandria, Photius in his Myriobiblon held that Clement's views reflected a quasi-docetic view of the nature of Christ, writing that "[Clement] hallucinates that the Word was not incarnate but only seems to be." In Clement's time, some disputes contended over whether Christ assumed the "psychic" flesh of mankind as heirs to Adam, or the "spiritual" flesh of the resurrection. Docetism largely died out during the first millennium A.D.
The opponents against whom Ignatius of Antioch protests are often Monophysite docetists. In his letter to the Smyrnaeans, 7:1, written around 110 AD, he writes: What religions do not recognize Jesus?
Judaism rejects the idea of Jesus being God, or a person of a Trinity, or a mediator to God. Judaism also holds that Jesus is not the Messiah, arguing that he had not fulfilled the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh nor embodied the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
BUDDHISM
Jesus Was An Enlightened Man and Wise Teacher.
Most Buddhists acknowledge and respect the fact that Jesus lived a self-sacrificial life and had compassion for those in spiritual need. Buddhists see this kind of compassion as the key to happiness and enlightenment.
Most Buddhists also respect the teaching of Jesus to a high degree, especially Jesus’ teaching related to loving one’s neighbor and the need to demonstrate kindness and forgiveness. Jesus is seen as someone who possessed the correct perspective on life, and his teaching helped others embrace the truth. While Jesus is seen as a wise teacher, He is not seen as divine.
While Buddhism is based primarily on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (a spiritual teacher from India who lived from approximately 563 BC to 483 BC and is known as the Buddha), Buddhism incorporates a variety of religious traditions, beliefs, and practices. Like Hinduism, Buddhism provides no singular unified view about Jesus, although many Buddhists describe several of Jesus’ characteristics.
AN OLD HERESY
The Apostle Paul’s references to our union with Christ—in his life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension—focus on the God who, for our sake, became a man. This stands in stark contrast to the heresy called “Docetism,” which could not accept the direct union of God and man. We see this error repudiated in 1 John 4:1–3, which refers to the claim that Jesus has not come in the flesh, that he is not truly human, as the Spirit of the antichrist.
Centuries later, when the eighteenth-century enlightenment began to affect the thinking of the Christian Church, and liberalism attempted to undermine the supernatural dimension of the biblical message, many started to doubt the full deity of Jesus. That Jesus was regarded as a man but not as God would seem to be the problem faced by us from the eighteenth Century onward.
In more recent times, some Christians have overreacted to this emphasis and have stressed the deity of Jesus to the neglect of his humanity. However, Docetism (Jesus is God but not man) and Ebionism (Jesus is man but not God) both destroy the gospel of the God-man. Furthermore, those who deny the deity of Jesus can also easily deny his true humanity by doubting the historicity of his life and, thus, reduce him to an ethical ideal.
On this view, it becomes unimportant whether Jesus lived or died according to the Gospel records. What matters is the ethical and existential message of the stories about him; how the story affects my understanding of myself.
The Spirit Divorced from the Word
A more subtle distortion of the gospel comes with the overplaying of the role of the Spirit in Christian living. When the Spirit is divorced from the word and from the gospel event of Jesus, we can end up with a docetic Jesus.
The belief in a docetic Jesus can lead us to think about ourselves and the Bible in a docetic way. Instead of living by faith in the Son of God, we bow to the mistaken view that we must progress beyond the gospel to live by the Spirit as if he acts independently of the gospel. Our humanity and that of the Bible is thus largely ignored.
The docetic Christian has lost sight of the role of our human responsibility to think through issues and to make godly decisions. Instead of valuing our humanity, the Holy Spirit’s leading is appealed to in unbiblical ways that allow no discussion or possibility of error in our decision-making because it ends up as the Spirit’s decisions and not ours.
A renowned Bible scholar traces the theme of divine sonship through both the Old and New Testaments, highlighting Jesus’s identity as the ultimate “Son of God” and his role in launching the new creation.
IGNORING THE HUMAN DIMENSION OF THE BIBLE
A docetic approach to the Bible allows any text to have any meaning to which we might consider ourselves led by the Spirit. The human dimension of the Bible is ignored so that the careful exegesis of passages and a sound hermeneutic are regarded as unspiritual impositions on the Word of God. What the Spirit makes the text mean to me is what it means! It is valid for me even if it is not true for you. Worse is that any fanciful interpretation of Scripture is attributed to the Holy Spirit’s leading. However, the word is inspired by the Spirit, and his leading is always testable against the responsible exegesis of the word.
Paul would have none of this Docetism. His ongoing bodily existence is lived by faith in the Son of God. The sonship of Jesus, in this sense, goes back to the creation and Adam. It is firmly anchored in the redemptive history of Israel, the son of God, and in God’s promises to David, who is also the son of God.
Paul does not regard his bodily life as a matter of enduring this unwanted material burden and encumbrance until he can divest himself of it and enter the pure life of the Spirit. As the ancient Greeks expected, he is fully aware that his gospel does not hold out the Gnostic hope of the soul's immortality. Instead, he looks forward to the resurrection from the dead of the whole person—body, mind, and soul.
Facts and Feelings from Today's Lesson.
• Docetism comes from the Greek word dokeo, meaning “to seem.”
• Some associate Docetism with Gnosticism, but it might be simpler to say Docetism was a refinement of Gnosticism.
• The Gnostics believed that there were two Gods, an evil god that created matter and a good God that created Spirit. [Link should go here to DYK Gnosticism]
• The Docetists applied this premise to the nature of Christ. They believed that the Saviour, being wholly good, could have no contact with matter, which was evil.
• According to their beliefs, Jesus only appeared or seemed to have a body. It was an illusion.
• This teaching, in essence, refuted his Incarnation and denied his humanity.
• If Jesus had no body, he obviously could not die (or suffer) on the cross. (This, too, was an illusion. Some claim that he and Simon of Cyrene exchanged identities.)
• His passion was called a mystical fiction of the cross.
• Moreover, it follows that if Jesus did not die, he did not need to rise from the dead.
• The natural Son of God was using the body of Jesus as an expression but was not in unity with him.
• “How could anyone be truly both Son of David and Son of God?” they asked.
• So when John wrote that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14), this was thought to be a figurative statement.
• The Docetists believed that Christ's divinity was irreconcilable because he was physically born.
• The bottom line was simple: “if Christ suffered, he was not divine, and if he was God, he could not suffer.”
• The first person known to expound such views was Cerinthus (ca 85 C.E.). He maintained that Jesus was better and wiser than other men and that the divine Spirit came upon him at his baptism and left before his death on the cross.
• Ignatius of Antioch wrote against this “heresy” before his death in 117CE.
• He mocked those who claimed Christ only “appeared to suffer in his writings.”
• He called them “godless unbelievers.”
• Irenaeus and Hippolytus were two other Church fathers who wrote against Docetism in the second Century.
• On the other hand, Marcion (also second Century) was willing to concede the suffering of Christ, but not the reality of his birth. [Link here to Question on Marcionsim would be good.] According to him, Christ descended from heaven.
• This discussion had a colossal effect on Mohammed, who then denied the deity of Christ.
• Docetism is best described as a Christology whereby Jesus was different from what he seemed to be.
• Some scholars think Docetism cannot be considered an actual heresy because it did not originate in the Church.
• Its doctrine distinguishes the expression of Jesus from his essence.
• It should have had a natural and early demise, but Docetism was boosted by another heretical doctrine known as Manichaeism (another dualistic heresy of the late third Century).
• Several of the non-canonical gospels were rejected because they were docetic (such as the Gospel of Peter and the Acts of John). ·
• Docetism was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451CE, but traces of it were still present in the 10-12th centuries.
• The Council affirmed that correct Christian teaching regarding Jesus Christ was “truly God and truly man.”
• 1 John specifically addresses this issue in 4:2-3, as does 2 John 7.
