Abdul-Masih Basit says about Gnosticism: He (the Lord Christ) was for them merely a phantom, and his life on earth was an illusion, and he appeared in multiple forms and changed his shape as he willed, and whenever he willed! Meaning he was a divine spirit and not a physical man.1
Nataniel, a scholar from the scholars of Gnosticism, said: Christ descended from heaven with a spiritual body, and passed through the Virgin’s womb like water through a gutter2 (or rather, the passing of air through it), and thus this body remained, after its departure from the Virgin, spiritual just as it descended from heaven. When Christ began to rebuke the Jews for their evils and sins, they stretched out their hands to kill him, but they fell upon another person whom they thought was Christ, while Christ himself secretly ascended to heaven just as he had secretly descended from it.3
Marcion, a scholar from the scholars of Gnosticism, said that Christ was not born of the Virgin, and knew neither birth, nor growth, nor even the appearance of these events, but appeared suddenly and in a human form that he maintained in appearance until his death on the cross.4
When Christ walked on the earth, he did not leave a footprint, and when John tried to grasp him, his hand passed through his body without any resistance, as he had no real body, and the nature of his body was changeable to the touch; sometimes it would be soft, and at other times solid, and sometimes completely empty.5
A similar thing to this exists among the Muslims concerning Master Muhammad, may his might be exalted, for it came in his attributes that his footprint was not seen on the sand.
It was narrated about the Prophet, may his might be exalted, that he saw from behind him just as he saw from in front of him, and that when he walked, his blessed foot would leave an impression on the stone but not on the sand.6