What is docetism?

In the history of Christianity, docetism (from the Koinē Greek: δοκεῖν/δόκησις dokeĩn "to seem", dókēsis "apparition, phantom"[1][2]) is the heterodox doctrine that the phenomenon of Jesus, his historical and bodily existence, and above all the human form of Jesus, was mere semblance without any true reality.[3][4] Broadly it is taken as the belief that Jesus only seemed to be human, and that his human form was an illusion.

The word Δοκηταί Dokētaí ("Illusionists") referring to early groups who denied Jesus's humanity, first occurred in a letter by Bishop Serapion of Antioch (197–203),[5] who discovered the doctrine in the Gospel of Peter, during a pastoral visit to a Christian community using it in Rhosus, and later condemned it as a forgery.[6][7] 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".[8]

Docetism was unequivocally rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in 325[9] and is regarded as heretical by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Armenian Apostolic Church, Orthodox Tewahedo,[10] 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.

Docetism is broadly defined as any teaching that claims that Jesus' body was either absent or illusory.[11] The term 'docetic' is rather nebulous.[12][13] 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, which therefore could not physically suffer. Jesus only appeared to be a flesh-and-blood man; his body was a phantasm. Other groups who were accused of docetism held that Jesus was a man in the flesh, but Christ was a separate entity who entered Jesus' body in the form of a dove at his baptism, empowered him to perform miracles, and abandoned him upon his death on the cross.[14]

Docetism's origin within Christianity is obscure. Ernst Käsemann controversially defined the Christology of the Gospel of John as "naïve docetism" in 1968.[15] 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.[16] It has occasionally been argued that its origins were in heterodox Judaism or Oriental and Grecian philosophies.[17] The alleged connection with Jewish Christianity would have reflected Jewish Christian concerns with the inviolability of (Jewish) monotheism.[18][19] Docetic opinions seem to have circulated from very early times, 1 John 4:2 appearing explicitly to reject them.[20] Some 1st‑century Christian groups developed docetic interpretations partly as a way to make Christian teachings more acceptable to pagan ways of thinking about divinity.[21]

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." (ὀνειροπολεῖ καὶ μὴ σαρκωθῆναι τὸν λόγον ἀλλὰ δόξαι.) 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.[22] Docetism largely died out during the first millennium AD.

The opponents against whom Ignatius of Antioch inveighs are often taken to be Monophysite docetists.[23] In his letter to the Smyrnaeans, 7:1, written around 110 AD, he writes:

While these characteristics fit a Monophysite framework, a slight majority of scholars consider that Ignatius was waging a polemic on two distinct fronts, one Jewish, the other docetic; a minority holds that he was concerned with a group that commingled Judaism and docetism. Others, however, doubt that there was actual docetism threatening the churches, arguing that he was merely criticizing Christians who lived Jewishly or that his critical remarks were directed at an Ebionite or Cerinthian possessionist Christology, according to which Christ was a heavenly spirit that temporarily possessed Jesus.[24]

Some commentators have attempted to make a connection between Islam and docetism using the following Quranic verse:[25]

Some scholars accept that Islam was influenced by Manichaeism (Docetism) in this view.[26] However the general consensus is that Manichaeism was not prevalent in Mecca in the 6th and 7th centuries, when Islam developed.[27][28]

Since Arthur Drews published his The Christ Myth (Die Christusmythe) in 1909, occasional connections have been drawn between docetist theories and the modern idea that Christ was a myth. Shailer Mathews called Drews' theory a "modern docetism".[29] Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare thought any connection to be based on a misunderstanding of docetism.[30] The idea recurred in classicist Michael Grant's 1977 review of the evidence for Jesus, who compared modern scepticism about a historical Jesus to the ancient docetic idea that Jesus only seemed to come into the world "in the flesh". Modern supporters of the theory did away with "seeming".[31]

The word “docetism” comes from the Greek word, dokeĩn, which means “to seem.” The earliest evidence of this heresy actually comes from 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John, where the Apostle John writes about a group who seemed to deny that Jesus came in the flesh:

Docetists focused on Jesus' divinity rather than his humanity. They believed that because he was so divine, he could hardly be human. And until the church explicitly defined the relationship between members of the Trinity, and Jesus’ divine and human natures, numerous heretical beliefs sprouted up to explain complicated theological ideas.

Docetism was just one of many heresies that the church would have to stamp out over its first several hundred years, and every so often, the church’s most significant leaders met to make agreements about doctrine.

For early church fathers, the problem with docetism was that if Jesus wasn’t fully human, then he couldn’t really live, die, or be resurrected. If his body was an illusion, then so was the redemption he offered. The hope of the gospel and the salvation Christianity professed was completely based on Jesus’ physical death and resurrection. (Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 15:17.)

The gospel writers show us numerous times where Jesus experiences the limitations and effects of his physical, human body.

“Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon” (John 4:6).

If Jesus didn’t have a physical body, it would be pretty strange for walking to make him tired.

“As they sailed, he fell asleep” (Luke 8:23a).

After a long day of teaching, Jesus needed to rest his body. The Bible also gives us no reason to believe he didn’t sleep at night, just like every other human. (And if he didn’t, the gospel writers probably would’ve thought that was worth pointing out!)

“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty’” (John 19:28).

Without a physical body, every instance of Jesus drinking would’ve just been pouring liquid on the ground.

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe’” (John 20:27).

When Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection, the disciples thought he was a ghost, and he told them to touch him in order to prove that he was really there in a physical body (Luke 24:39).

Even within the lifetime of the apostles, some Christians struggled to define who exactly Jesus was. They were trying to reconcile his physical form with his divine identity. What the church deemed heretical were beliefs that suggested Jesus was one but not the other. If he literally could not die, how could he pay the price for sin (Romans 6:23)? And if he was not God, he couldn’t offer salvation.

Jesus had to be both fully divine, and fully human.