On Docetic Christology in Early Christianity. Pt. 3.1

Abstract

According to the doctrine of the so-called docetic Christology, the earthly Jesus and the heavenly Christ were two different persons; it was Jesus who suffered on the cross, whereas Christ just entered Jesus body for a while and abandoned it before his death on the cross; consequently, the suffering of Christ was mere appearance. Based on some passages from Gnostic texts containing examples of docetic Christology, the author attempts here to trace the origin of that concept, starting with the New Testament (Pt. 1: Synoptic Gospels); in previous parts of the article (Pt. 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 2.4), he analyzed such Pauls passages as Rom. 1.34, Gal. 4.47, 1Cor 8.46, Phlp. 2.511, Col 1.1520; in this part he is dealing with the writings of the so-called Johannine corpus, i.e., John and 12 John. To be continued.