Docetism: Word of the Week

Docetism

In the early church, the teaching that Jesus was fully God but only appeared to be human (taken from the Greek word, dokeo, “to seem or to appear”). Docetist theologians emphasized the qualitative difference between God and humans and therefore downplayed the human elements in Jesus’ life in favor of those that pointed to His deity. The early church rejected Docetism as a heretical interpretation of the biblical teaching about Jesus.

To read more definitions, go to the Lutheran Lexicon.