06_person_1227_youthekeys

In the first century, there was a heresy that denied Jesus being a man. John the Apostle addressed this in his epistles, saying that anyone who denies Jesus coming in the flesh is not from God. Ignatius also argued against this heresy, emphasizing that Jesus experienced human characteristics like hunger and sleep. This heresy, called docetism, was influenced by Greek thought that devalued the physical world. Let's start off with Jesus is the man. Not like, you're the man, but we say he is the man who is God. He is the man. The first heresy we're going to cover denied that Jesus is a man. It was a super early heresy, starting even before the first century was over. And John the Apostle actually wrote explicitly against those who disobeyed his epistles. He says, every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come into flesh is from God. That's in 1st John, verse 2. And then he says, I say this because many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming into flesh have gone out into the world. And that's 2nd John, verse 7. And then, at about the same time, just maybe one generation afterwards, Ignatius, writing in around 180, he made arguments against docetism, saying that Jesus ate, was hungry, was sleepy, was from the line of David, and that kind of thing. The heresy's name, docetism, comes from the Greek word for appear. And Ignatius has this really cool little zinger against the docetists. It says, he suffered truly, not as certain unbelievers maintain that he only seemed to suffer, as they themselves only seemed to be Christians. Kind of funny little line there. In general, this is a tendency of Greek thought, and it pops up in a lot of weird Greek cults. Some parts of Christianity, and some parts of Greek thought. In general, Greek thought was down in the flesh, and kind of valued the incorporeal world of the mind. And just the incorporeal world in general. That is the first heresy, that denied that Jesus was a man.