Docetism

Overview

The Korean term for Docetism, gahyeonseol (假現說), is composed of characters meaning "false" (假) and "to appear" (現). It refers to the claim that the body and sufferings of Jesus Christ were not real but merely an outward appearance, that is, an illusion. The English term "Docetism" derives from the Greek verb dokein, meaning "to seem" or "to appear." Docetism is considered one of the earliest sectarian doctrines in Christian history. Rather than a single organized body, it was a theological tendency found across a number of groups.

Principal Claims

Docetism began from the conviction that matter is imperfect or inherently impure, and that a holy God therefore could not truly take on such a body. The strength of this claim varied from group to group.

• Radical form: Christ was born without any connection to matter, and every action and suffering of His life, including the crucifixion, was mere appearance. Accordingly, this view denied a real resurrection and ascension.
• Moderate form: Christ possessed a heavenly, spiritual body, though adherents disagreed about the extent to which that body actually participated in suffering.
• Some denied Christ's humanity (His human nature) altogether, while others denied only the reality of His body, or only the reality of His birth or death.

History

Many scholars hold that an early form of Docetism is already addressed in the New Testament. The passages most often cited are 1 John 4:1-3 and 2 John 1:7, which make the confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh the test for discerning spirits.

In the second century Docetism developed into a major doctrine within Gnosticism, a dualistic system that regarded matter as evil and spirit as good and taught that salvation comes only through secret knowledge (gnosis). Some scholars note, however, that not all Gnostic sects were docetic, and that some forms of Docetism were unrelated to Gnosticism. Docetism later appeared in a developed form in Manichaeism, and similar tendencies are reported among later groups such as the Priscillianists.

The fifth-century Church Father Theodoret used the name Docetae ("Docetists") as a general term for those who held such views. Clement of Alexandria is reported to have used it as the name of a particular sect founded by Julius Cassianus.

Refutation by the Early Church

In the early second century Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, sharply criticized Docetism in his letters to the churches at Smyrna, Tralles, and Ephesus. He asked whether, if Christ had suffered only in appearance, his own imprisonment in chains as he awaited martyrdom was likewise mere appearance. He also called those who spread this teaching "beasts in the form of men" and urged believers to beware of them. Irenaeus and other Church Fathers also refuted Docetism.

Their central argument was as follows: Christ truly became flesh (John 1:14), and He really suffered, died, and rose again. For this reason the Incarnation, the cross, the atonement, and the resurrection have meaning as real events. Through the subsequent Christological controversies, the church refined its confession that Christ is truly God and truly man. The Apostles' Creed, which most Korean churches confess in worship, likewise affirms that Jesus was born of the Virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was crucified and died.

The Docetic Rationale

Those who embraced Docetism sought to safeguard the holiness and transcendence of God. Working from the premise, common in the Greek philosophy of the time, that matter and the body defile the divine, they aimed to protect Christ's divinity. Some Korean church historians also point to the explanation that Docetism was an extreme doctrine arising from an excessive emphasis on the divinity of Jesus.

In the Korean Church

Because Docetism arose in antiquity, there is no known record of any Korean denominational general assembly taking it up as an agenda item or adopting a formal resolution on it. In the Korean church it is treated mainly in church history and in instruction on heresies as a representative heresy of the early church. Series on early church heresies published in Christian newspapers describe these heresies as the "prototypes" of later heretical movements, and some assess Docetism as reappearing today under different names. In theology, the term "docetic" is also used to criticize tendencies that downplay the humanity of Jesus.