dog-on

Of course, there were also those saying that Christ was just a phantom, but of course, some would like to discount these historical viewpoints for whatever reason.


As in...

jakejonesiv

Hi No Robots,

Cerinthus did not teach that Christ was just a man. We must be very careful with our terms when we discuss those Christians that held an adoptionist Christology.

Cerinthus distinguished sharply between the human Jesus and the spiritual Christ. Jesus was merely the human off spring of Joseph and Mary through ordinary human generation. The spiritual Christ descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove at the baptism and left him at the crucifixion. According to Cerinthus, Christ was impassible and never suffered, while the human Jesus suffered and died.

Irenaeus AH 1.26.1 Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians [Latin variant "in Asia", W.Bauer 49.n21], taught that the world was not made by the primary God, but by a certain Power far separated from him, and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme over the universe, and ignorant of him who is above all. He represented Jesus as having not been born of a virgin, but as being the son of Joseph and Mary according to the ordinary course of human generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism, Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler, and that then he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at last Christ departed from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose again, while Christ remained impassible, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being.

For more about this very important, but little studied figure in early Christianity, please see Cerinthus the Heresiarch

Jake Jones IV