From John's Jesus to the Gnostic Christ:

The Johannine Epistles and Beyond  

With the discussion in this chapter, we enter the alien realm of long lost Christianities and encounter forms of Christianity that are unfamiliar to us because they were suppressed and misrepresented by the Christianity with which we have been acquainted for the last two thousand years. Gnostic Christianity has been suppressed and misrepresented because they lost their theological battle with what Ehrman calls the Proto-Orthodox Church, which developed into what we know today as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The winners write history and invariably the winners justify themselves and vilify the losers. An unexpected recent discovery of a hoard of dozens of ancient Christian writings allowed us a glimpse into the other side of this story.

What we will see in these Gospels will seem strange, even abhorrent to us in some respects. But we should keep in mind that we are the product of two millenia of indoctrination by that form of Christianity that was able to seize control of the government of the Roman Empire, and with this political power, to label itself as the "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church" and to brand the other Christianities as heresy. We should keep in mind that when these Gospels were written, there was NO single authoritative form of Christianity. As we have seen in our study thus far, there was substantial diversity in the interpretations of Jesus within the New Testament itself. The Gospel writers themselves had already begun the process of bringing their earlier sources into conformity with their own interpretations of who Jesus was. This process increased and intensified as the decades and centuries passed until Christian teaching arrived at its present "purified" form.

We are faced with a significant historical problem: to what extent, if any, does "orthodox" Catholic Christianity accurately reflect the perceptions of the historical figure who is widely believed to be the founder and God of the Christian religion.

Read Carefully and Consider the Implications for our study:

The Contextual Method, pp. 188-194, Box 12.3

Did the "Docetists" take NT Christology to its logical conclusion:

  1. Jesus began as fully human in the gospel of Mark,
  2. took on hyperhuman characteristics in Matthew and Luke,
  3. was identified with the divine Logos in the the gospel of John
  4. but John is ambiguous about the reality of Jesus' human body:

In the Gospel of John, as opposed to the Synoptics:

  • No Nativity or Baptism
  • Crucifixion is free of suffering
  • Little humiliation in trial/crucifixion
  • Jesus' Divine Logos Nature dominates his body

John's Jesus was fully divine, but with a real human body

    In the "Doubting Thomas" Passage in John 20:19-30

  • The risen Jesus first shows the disciples
        (without Thomas present)    , v. 20,
        his hands and his side;
        his risen body still bears the marks of the crucifixion
  • At Jesus' second post-resurrection appearance
        (now with Thomas present), vv. 24-27,
        Thomas wants to:
    • see, and put his finger into,
          the "print of the nails" in Jesus' hands,
    • put his hand into the spear wound in Jesus' side.

Jesus shows Thomas the marks; Thomas sees and believes
    Thus, John's Jesus has a real, but exceptional, body.

Docetism from other Sources:

The Pseudo-Pauline Pastoral Epistles to Timothy and Titus

    At the end of a long anti-heretical letter, Pseudo-Paul says:

6:20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust,
avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions
of what is falsely called knowledge—
21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch,

    writes letters to seven Christian Churches
    in the same geographical area as the Johannine Epistles

"But if, as some that are without God,
that is, the unbelieving, say,
that He only seemed to suffer
(they themselves only seeming to exist) . . .

But if, as some that are without God,
that is, the unbelieving, say,
He became man in appearance [only],
that He did not in reality take unto Him a body,
that He died in appearance [merely],
and did not in very deed suffer . . ."

"Now, He suffered all these things for our sakes, that we might be saved.
And He suffered truly, even as also He truly raised up Himself,
not, as certain unbelievers maintain,
that He only seemed to suffer,
as they themselves only seem to be [Christians].
And as they believe, so shall it happen unto them,
when they shall be divested of their bodies,
and be mere evil spirits." {Nice!}

Smyrnaeans 4:1-2

"I give you these instructions, beloved,
assured that ye also hold the same opinions [as I do].
But I guard you beforehand
from those beasts in the shape of men, {Sweet!}
 whom you must not only not receive,
but, if it be possible, not even meet with;
only you must pray to God for them,
if by any means they may be brought to repentance,
which, however, will be very difficult."

"I guard you beforehand
from these beasts in the shape of men,
from whom you must not only turn away,
but even flee from them."

Eusebius, Bishop of Caesaria, Ecclesiastical History VI.xii

    Preserves a story of Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis in Egypt,
    condemned the Gospel of Peter as being Docetic:

3. “For we, brethren, receive both Peter and the other apostles as Christ;
but we reject intelligently the writings falsely ascribed to them,
knowing that such were not handed down to us.

4. When I visited you I supposed that all of you held the true faith,
and as I had not read the Gospel which they put forward under the name of Peter,
I said, If this is the only thing which occasions dispute among you, let it be read.
But now having learned, from what has been told me,
that their mind was involved in some heresy,
I will hasten to come to you again.
Therefore, brethren, expect me shortly.

6. For having obtained this Gospel from others who had studied it diligently, namely,
from the successors of those who first used it, whom we call Docetae
(for most of their opinions are connected with the teaching of that school)
we have been able to read it through,
and we find many things in accordance with the true doctrine of the Saviour,
but some things added to that doctrine, which we have pointed out for you farther on.”

Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis VII, xvii

    Writes in favor of the "high antiquity and perfect truth"
    of what he calls the one, true, ancient and Catholic church,
    and criticizes the "heretics" as "impious" and "perverse"

". . . it is evident, from the high antiquity and perfect truth of the Church,
that these later heresies, and those yet subsequent to them in time,
were new inventions falsified [from the truth].

From what has been said, then, it is my opinion that
the true Church, that which is really ancient, is one,
and that in it those who according to God’s purpose are just, are enrolled.
For from the very reason that God is one, and the Lord one,
that which is in the highest degree honorable
is lauded in consequence of its singleness,
being an imitation of the one first principle.
In the nature of the One, then,
is associated in a joint heritage the one Church,
which they strive to cut asunder into many sects.

Therefore in substance and idea, in origin, in pre-eminence,
we say that the ancient and Catholic Church is alone,
collecting as it does into the unity of the one faith—
which results from the peculiar Testaments,
or rather the one Testament in different times
by the will of the one God, through one Lord—
those already ordained, whom God predestinated,
knowing before the foundation of the world that they would be righteous.

Irenaeus against Heresies