Did God really appear in human form or was it just an illusion?
In response to those who question the humanity of the Christ, the writer of 1 John states in chapter 4:
4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (ESV)
The above was written as a direct response to arguments that sought to distort the nature of Jesus. In my opinion, the teachings of the Docetist is a response to a cultural view of divinity. Gods don't suffer. Yet the bible declares that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man at the same time.
Philippians 2:3-8 declares Christ's humanity and divinity:
3 Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
4 Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. (New Living Translation)
Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch is credited with this poem:
Very Flesh, yet Spirit too;
Uncreated, and yet born;
God-and-Man in One agreed,
Very-Life-in-Death indeed,
Fruit of God and Mary's seed
At once impassible and torn
By pain and suffering here below:
Jesus Christ, whom as our Lord we know.
The prophet Isaiah wrote of The Christ as the suffering servant:
53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
