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Thesubstitution hypothesis ortwin hypothesis states that the sightings of a risenJesus are explained not by physicalresurrection, but by the existence of a different person, a twin or lookalike who could have impersonated Jesus after his death, or died in the place of Jesus on thecross. It is a position held by someGnostics in the first to third century, as well as some modernMandaeans andMuslims and a few skeptics.[1]
TheBook of Thomas the Contender, a Gnostic text thought to have been written in the late second or the third century,[2] cites Jesus as stating, when speaking toThomas the Apostle, "[I]t has been said that you are my twin and true companion.".[3] Additionally, the third century textActs of Thomas (not to be confused with theGospel of Thomas) contains an episode in which the risen Jesus appears "in the likeness of" Thomas the Apostle, and is subsequently mistaken for Thomas by a king.[4] However, these early texts do not expressly put forward any sort of substitution hypothesis with respect to the death and resurrection of Jesus.
TheSecond Treatise of the Great Seth, a Gnostic text from the third century, claims thatSimon of Cyrene was crucified in the place of Jesus.[5] The text is written from the first-person narrative perspective of Jesus, attributing to Jesus statements such as "I was laughing at their ignorance" when the crowd mistakenly crucifies Simon of Cyrene, and asserting that this deception was made possible because "I [Jesus] was altering my shapes, changing from form to form."[6]
TheGospel of Barnabas describes Jesus escaping crucifixion through being raised alive to heaven by a committee of holy angels; afterwards,Judas Iscariot is supernaturally transformed to look identical to Jesus, and is subsequently crucified in Jesus' place.[7] Concerning its date of composition, few academics argue that the Gospel of Barnabas was composed any earlier than the 14th century, although a minority of scholars see it as containing portions of an earlier work.[8]
Paul William Roberts reports in his 1995 travel narrativeJourney of the Magi: In Search of the Birth of Jesus, that some contemporaryMandaeans hold thatThomas the Apostle was the twin brother of Jesus and was crucified in Jesus' place.
A verse in theQur'an saying of Jesus that "they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them"[9] has been interpreted by many Muslims to mean that a different man who only appeared to be Jesus died in his place. Muslim scholars do not agree on the identity of the substitute, but he is often thought to have been one of the Apostles (most often, Judas) or Simon of Cyrene.