As the early church struggled to understand who and what Jesus Christ was, some believed that he could only be divine.  He assumed a human appearance, but this was imaginary.  The central idea of Docetism was that “if Christ suffered he was not divine, and if he was God he could not suffer.”.¹

This thinking was the basis of Gnosticism which taught that all matter was evil and the only Spirit was good.  If Christ were good than he could not have had a true physical body.  This lead to mystic teachings such as that when Jesus walked on sand, he left no footprints. Today, this teaching is seen in the New Age movement and spiritistic Christology.

Perhaps the best argument against Docetism came from Gregory of Nasiansuz who said “What is not assumed is not healed,”² meaning if Christ did not become fully human (“what is assumed”) he could not truly save humanity (“is not healed”).  Gregory of Nasiansuz was combating Apollinarianism at the time, but his words also hold true for Docetism and find support in 2 Cor. 5:21 and Heb. 4:12.

Scripture affirms that Christ was fully God and fully man or the “sperm of David” and the “Son of God” (Rom. 1:3-4).  His humanity is clearly seen in his actions in the Gospels and his deity was affirmed by Jesus himself (John 8:58), John (John 1:1, 18), and Paul (Col. 1:13, 17).