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Church of God Message
CHAPTER 11
Answering Muslim Arguments Against Divinity of Jesus
In the last chapter we provided the opinion of Jesus Christ’s about His divinity and the apostles certainly thought He was God. But certain Muslim scholars take pre-selected Bible verses and try to refute the divinity of Jesus Christ. We will try to address their arguments and show that they are choosing a few scriptures to prove their point while ignoring many others that prove exactly the opposite.
From the website www.Islam-Guide.com here are some of Islam’s beliefs about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The web site contains an article titled “The Bible Denies the Divinity of Jesus Christ.” The website states: This article has been taken from the web site of Br. Shabir Ally, Islam Answers Back, with some editing. It contains the following seven arguments which prove that the Bible denies the divinity of Jesus:
1) None of the Bible’s Writers Believed That Jesus is God
2) Evidence from the Acts of the Apostles
3) Jesus is Not All-Powerful, and Not All-Knowing
4) The Greatest Commandment in the Bible and the Quran
5) Paul Believed That Jesus is not God
6) Evidence from the Gospel of John
7) God and Jesus Are Two Separate Beings
Let’s address each of these arguments and show that this article takes quotations from Jesus and the apostles in isolation while ignoring all the other scriptures on the subject.
1) None of the Bible’s Writers Believed that Jesus is God
Here is what the Islam-Guide.com website says: “Christians and Muslims both believe in Jesus, love him, and honor him. They are, however, divided over the question of his divinity.”
The website continues: “Fortunately, this difference can be resolved if we refer the question to both the Bible and the Quran, because, both the Bible and the Quran teach that Jesus is not God.
“…many people misunderstand the Bible; they feel that the belief in Jesus as God is so widespread that it must have come from the Bible. This article shows quite conclusively that the Bible does not teach that. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is not God. In the Bible God is always someone else other than Jesus…the disciples never came to the conclusion that Jesus is God. And those are people who lived and walked with Jesus and thus knew firsthand what he said and did…If Jesus is God, surely they should know it. But they did not. They kept worshipping the one true God who was worshipped by Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (see Acts 3:13).”
Acts 3:13 states: “13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant [KJV translates it as Son] Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.”
“All of the writers of the Bible believed that God was not Jesus. The idea that Jesus is God did not become part of Christian belief until after the Bible was written, and took many centuries to become part of the faith of Christians.
“Matthew, Mark, and Luke, authors of the first three Gospels, believed that Jesus was not God. Mark 10:18 and Matthew 19:17 say: “18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” The article continues: They [that is the gospel writers] believed that he was the son of God in the sense of a righteous person…
“Paul, believed to be the author of some thirteen or fourteen letters in the Bible, also believed that Jesus is not God. For Paul, God first created Jesus, then used Jesus as the agent by which to create the rest of creation…
The Muslim writer quotes Colossians 1:15, which reads: “15 Who [that is Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist…”
The Muslim writer is right here. What this verse is saying is that Jesus Christ is the image of God and the firstborn of every creature. Someone who became the image of another being obviously means that the other being existed before him.
The writer continues: “Similar ideas are found in the letter to the Hebrews, and also in the Gospel and Letters of John composed some seventy years after Jesus. In all of these writings, however, Jesus is still a creature of God and is therefore forever subservient to God.” He refers to 1 Corinthians 15:28 which states: “28 Now when all things are made subject to Him [that is Jesus Christ], then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him [That is the Father] who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
The writer continues: “Now, because Paul, John, and the author of Hebrews believed that Jesus was God’s first creature, some of what they wrote clearly shows that Jesus was a pre-existent powerful being. This is often misunderstood to mean that he must have been God. But to say that Jesus was God is to go against what these very authors wrote. Although these authors had this later belief that Jesus is greater than all creatures, they also believed that he was still lesser than God. In fact, John quotes Jesus as saying: “...the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28). And Paul declares that the head of every woman is her husband, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God (see 1 Corinthians 11:3).
“Therefore, to find something in these writings and claim that these teach that Jesus is God is to misuse and misquote what those authors are saying. What they wrote must be understood in the context of their belief that Jesus is a creature of God as they have already clearly said.
“So we see then, that some of the later writers had a higher view of Jesus, but none of the writers of the Bible believed that Jesus is God. The Bible clearly teaches that there is only one true God, the one whom Jesus worshipped (see John 17: 3).”
This writer agrees with the author that Jesus Christ was originally a created Being, the first one created by God the Father. He also agrees that all things were then created by God the Father through Jesus Christ, meaning that Jesus Christ did the further creating. We both agree that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate Beings and not part of one Godhead or one God Being existing as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit or as a Trinity. We both agree that God the Father is greater than Jesus Christ as the Creator is always greater than his creation.
Where we disagree is our belief that Jesus is God also, meaning He is divine. As quoted earlier the Muslim writer wrote, “Matthew, Mark, and Luke, authors of the first three Gospels, believed that Jesus was not God.”
Why did the Muslim writer leave out John’s gospel here, which is part of the Bible? Because it clearly states that Jesus was God. Muslims should read it for themselves. John confirms in John 1:1-3, 14 that Jesus was the divine Word through whom God created the universe. He writes: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [Did you catch that? John says ‘the Word was God.’ He continues to describe the Word further…]. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
This is what we are talking about when we say Muslim writers pick a scripture here and there to seemingly provide evidence for their belief, but blindly ignore all the other scriptures that are also in the Bible which directly contradict their belief. This is not an honest search for the truth.
One of the 7 proofs the Muslim author cites to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ is even titled “Evidence from John’s Gospel” that Jesus Christ is not God. But in all the scriptures cited from John’s gospel, the writer completely excludes the very first verse that says “the Word was God.” Please don’t allow dishonest Muslim or other authors to deceive you about the divinity of Jesus Christ.
2) Evidence from the Acts of the Apostles
To prove that Jesus was not God, the Muslim writer titles the second proof as “Evidence from the Acts of the Apostles.” He writes:
“The Acts of the Apostles [meaning the Book of Acts] in the Bible details the activity of the disciples over a period of thirty years after Jesus was lifted up to heaven. Throughout this period they never refer to Jesus as God. They continually and consistently use the title God to refer to someone else other than Jesus.”
The actual deeds and the beliefs of the twelve original apostles are also described in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well. In John 1:1 we have already shown that John wrote that Jesus was God.
Here is an incident about the twelve disciples described in John 20:24-28: “24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then says he to Thomas, Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.”
Did you catch that? Thomas, one of the original 12 disciples, in the presence of the other disciples called the resurrected Jesus Christ as his Lord, meaning Master, and his God. Thomas called Jesus God and Jesus did not rebuke him for it. Jesus did not need to correct him because He is also God. The Muslim writer ignores these very relevant scriptures that John and Thomas the apostles called Jesus God.
The writer further states: “In fact, the way Peter refers to God and to Jesus makes it clear that Jesus is not God. For he always turns the title God away from Jesus. Take the following references for example:
“God has raised this Jesus...” (Acts 2:32)
“God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36)
“In both passages, the title God is turned away from Jesus. So why did he do this, if Jesus was God?”
We don’t dispute the fact that the Bible refers to God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate Beings. But the Bible refers to both Beings as God Beings. John 1:1 clearly states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John then continues in verses 2-3, 14: “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
Why do Muslims find it so difficult to reconcile these passages in their minds? The reason simply is that the Quran says not to equate any other creature with Allah, and because Muslims blindly ignore the very first verse of John 1 that says “the Word was God.”
They find it difficult to reconcile in their mind the existence of two God Beings in the very beginning, before the creation of the Spirit and the physical worlds, one being a greater God and the other a lesser God. But we have already explained that the Word was not a small God. He was an awesome God, in every sense of the word we imagine God to be.
Some Muslim writers claim that John wrote his gospel last and added things such as Jesus being God that the other gospel writers had not believed. It is true that John wrote his gospel last. His intention in writing his gospel last was to cover items that the other gospel writers had not covered. He was also the final one who canonized the New Testament and implied that nothing further should be added to the gospel accounts that he canonized and nothing more should be added as prophecy.
He stated in John 21:24-25 (NKJV): “24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. 25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
John here emphasized that his testimony is true, and said that endless books could be written about the acts of Jesus Christ, but implying that there was no need to add further gospel accounts than the 4 canonized by him.
Then he stated in the book of Revelation 22:18-19 (NKJV): “18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Muslims can claim that John added things about Jesus Christ that the other gospel writers did not believe, but the fulfillment of prophecies in the Book of Revelation is proof of the divine inspiration of what John the apostle wrote. Fulfillment of prophecy is proof that the words of those books are backed by the power of Almighty God. God thus backs up the truthfulness of what John the Apostle wrote.
The Book of Revelation is the last book John wrote. He had already written his gospel account earlier. God would not have used John the apostle if he was not writing what was the absolute truth in his gospel account. God provided His seal of approval for what John wrote by revealing prophecies in the Book of Revelation through him, and then backing up those words for the past more than 1900 years with His Almighty power by fulfilling the prophecies.
3) Jesus is Not All-Powerful, and Not All-Knowing
The Muslim writer Shabir Ally titles his 3rd proof that Jesus Christ was not God as “Jesus is Not All-Powerful, and Not All-Knowing”. He writes:
“Christians and Muslims agree that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. The Gospels show that Jesus was not all-powerful, and not all-knowing, since he had some limitations.
“Mark tells us in his gospel that Jesus was unable to do any powerful work in his hometown except few things: “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.” (Mark 6:5 - NKJV). Mark also tells us that when Jesus tried to heal a certain blind man, the man was not healed after the first attempt, and Jesus had to try a second time (see Mark 8:22-26).
“Therefore, although we hold a great love and respect for Jesus, we need to understand that he is not the all-powerful God.
“Mark’s Gospel also reveals that Jesus had limitations in his knowledge. In Mark 13:32, Jesus declared that he himself does not know when the last day will occur, but the Father alone knows that (see also Matthew 24:36).”
The Muslim writer is missing the mark here. When Jesus came to earth, He had emptied Himself of His divinity and all power and came as a mere flesh and blood human being. Paul the apostle states this in Philippians 2:5-7 (NRSV): “5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”
This is what Jesus Christ was on earth as a human being. He had human limitations. When Muslim writers deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, they cite verses that describe the actions of Jesus Christ as a human being. But Paul states that before becoming a human being Jesus was in the form of God, meaning He was God, but emptied Himself of His divinity [only a God could have divinity] and took the form of a servant or slave and humbled Himself to die for the sins of mankind.
But then Paul describes what Jesus Christ became after His resurrection in verses 9-11 of Philippians 2: “9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Paul is saying here that after His resurrection, Jesus Christ has again become the God Being He was before He became a human being and that every creature should bow before Him in worship as their Creator and only God is worthy of worship. This proves that after His resurrection Jesus became God again.
The Muslim writer also takes verses out of context to claim that Jesus was not all-powerful as He could heal only a few and had to try a second time to heal. Mark 6:4-6 states, “4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.”
Jesus healed only a few sick people because they did not believe He was a prophet because He was one of their own. They did not honor Him. Why would God want to heal everyone when they don’t believe in Him?
The Muslim writer also cites Mark 8:22-26 as an example when Jesus had to try a second time to heal a person. It reads, “22 And he comes to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. 26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”
Shabir Ally comments: “The Gospels show that Jesus was not all-powerful, and not all-knowing, since he had some limitations… when Jesus tried to heal a certain blind man, the man was not healed after the first attempt, and Jesus had to try a second time.”
The fact in this case is that Shabir Ally fails to recognize that the blind man was healed. This is a unique case among perhaps tens of thousands of healings that Jesus performed where Jesus had to do something a second time before the man was healed. No second attempts were needed in all the other healings.
It’s God’s prerogative to decide how He heals. Humans cannot order Him on how they want to be healed. Often God does things in particular ways with always a good reason to teach us lessons. That is the spirit in which we should read this incident. Often, we don’t know all the facts of the case to understand why Jesus did things in a particular way. But from the context, here are the reasons why Jesus could have done the healing the way He did.
First of all, Jesus did not heal the man right where the request was made of Him. He led the man out of the city of Bethsaida because the city is condemned by Jesus elsewhere for its unbelief. In comparison, Jesus called Tyre, Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah better than Bethsaida.
Matthew 11:20-24 states, “20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 21 Woe unto you, Chorazin! woe unto you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23 And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
In taking the man out of the city to heal him, Jesus was upbraiding the city of Bethsaida for its unbelief, despite having done many miracles in the city before this.
Then in healings, faith is also required in the man who is being healed. Matthew 9:28-31 shows this: “28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus says unto them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yes, Lord. 29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. 30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. 31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.” Here after the fantastic miracle was performed, the two blind men disobeyed Jesus’ plain instructions, displaying a degree of ingratitude.
It is quite likely the man to be healed in Mark 8:22-26 lacked faith. He was likely from the city of Bethsaida. His friends probably dragged him to Jesus. He did not come of his own accord to be healed. Perhaps his hope and faith increased when Jesus first touched him he saw improvement. Then Jesus completed the healing.
Then we have to look at the context in which the healing took place. Mark 8:15-21 state, “14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. 15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. 17 And when Jesus knew it, he says unto them, Why do you reason, because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive, neither understand? have you your heart yet hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, do you not hear? and do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? And they said, Seven. 21 And he said unto them, How is it that you do not understand?”
Jesus performed the miracle of healing the man after this discussion. Perhaps, the healing performed after the second tough functioned as a metaphor for the disciples’ lack of understanding, and their having eyes and failing to clearly see the identity and mission of Jesus Christ. They still did not clearly understand the mysteries of the kingdom and would need a second touch, which would come when they received the holy spirit.
Perhaps Jesus had other very good reasons why He performed the miracle of healing the way He did, which we will not fully know till we ask Him in His kingdom.
4) The Greatest Commandment in the Bible and the Quran:
Shabir Ally titles his 4th proof that Jesus was not God as “The Greatest Commandment in the Bible and the Quran.” He then quotes Mark 12:28-32 when a teacher of the Law of Moses asked Jesus: “‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ ‘The most important one’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” (Mark 12:28-30).
“Notice that Jesus was quoting the first commandment from the book of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Jesus confirmed not only that this commandment is still valid, but also that it is the most important of all the commandments. If Jesus thought that he himself is God, why did not he say so? Instead, he stressed that God is one. The man who questioned Jesus understood this, and what the man says next makes it clear that God is not Jesus, for he said to Jesus: “‘Well said, teacher,’ the man replied. ‘You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.’” (Mark 12:32).
“Now if Jesus was God, he would have told the man so. Instead, he let the man refer to God as someone other than Jesus.”
Again, the Muslim writer is using one set of scriptures to show that Jesus referred to another Being as God and did not refer to Himself as God. And He also said that God is one. But this ignores the apostles John and Thomas referring to Jesus as God. The question of how God is one will be addressed later.
5) Paul Believed That Jesus is not God
The fifth proof offered for denying the divinity of Jesus Christ is titled “Paul believed that Jesus is not God.” Shabir Ally then states: “In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: “I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions...” (1 Timothy 5:21).
“It is clear from this that the title God applies not to Christ Jesus, but to someone else. What is more important, however, is to notice what Paul said about God in the following passage, which clearly shows that Jesus is not God: “God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
“Paul said that God alone is immortal. Immortal means he does not die. Now, anyone who believes that Jesus died cannot believe that Jesus is God. Such a belief would contradict what Paul said here. Furthermore, to say that God died is a blasphemy against God. Who would run the world if God died? Paul believed that God does not die.
“Paul also said in that passage that God dwells in unapproachable light — that no one has seen God or can see him. Paul knew that many thousands of people had seen Jesus. Yet Paul said that no one has seen God, because Paul was sure that Jesus is not God. This is why Paul went on teaching that Jesus was not God, but that he was the Christ (see Acts 9:22 and 18:5).”
In making these statements Shabir Ally has completely missed an understanding of the very basis of Christianity. First of all, there is no quarrel that Jesus Christ and God are two separate Beings. One is known as God the Father and usually referred to as God in the New Testament and Jesus Christ is referred to as Jesus Christ or Lord, but again the apostles John and Thomas called Jesus God. The Muslim writer also ignored what Paul wrote in Philippians 2:6 quoted earlier that states that Jesus Christ was in the form of God before He became a human being. Thus, Paul believed that Jesus Christ was God before He became a human Being.
In fact, Paul went further and identified the God of the Old Testament as Jesus Christ. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NIV): “1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
The spiritual Rock or God that accompanied the ancient children of Israel was none other than Jesus Christ. Paul was not in any doubt that Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament.
David referred to the God of the Old Testament as Rock in psalms 8, 28, 31, 42, 62, 71, 89, 92, 94.
It is true that no one, meaning no human, has seen God the Father. Indeed except for a few prophets of the Old Testament such as Moses, Daniel and David, people of the Old Testament did not know the existence of God the Father. They knew of only one God of the Old Testament, and that God later came in the form of the human being Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself said that He came to reveal the existence of God the Father to the rest of humanity. He said in Luke 10:22: “…no man knows who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.”
The whole basis of Christianity is the death of Jesus Christ for the sins of humanity so that forgiveness of sin becomes possible. Only the sacrifice of the Creator could pay for the sins of all His creation. If Jesus Christ was a mere human being and not a divine being, meaning not God, then His sacrifice could at best be substituted for the life of one human being. But if He were God and the Creator of everything, then His sacrifice could substitute for the life of each and every creature. That is the very basis of Christianity which Muslims completely miss.
6) Evidence from the Gospel of John
The 6th proof offered by the Muslim writer is titled “Evidence from the Gospel of John.” The writer continues:
“The Gospel of John, the fourth Gospel, was completed to its present form some seventy years after Jesus was raised up to heaven. This Gospel in its final form says one more thing about Jesus that was unknown from the previous three Gospels — that Jesus was the Word of God. John means that Jesus was God’s agent through whom God created everything else. This is often misunderstood to mean that Jesus was God Himself. But John was saying, as Paul had already said, that Jesus was God’s first creature. In the Book of Revelation in the Bible, we find that Jesus is: “the beginning of God’s creation” (Revelation 3:14, also see 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:15).
Here again the Muslim writer is reading into scripture his own interpretation and not quoting John’s plain statement in John 1:1 that “the Word was God.” The Muslim writer continues:
“Anyone who says that the Word of God is a person distinct from God must also admit that the Word was created, for the Word speaks in the Bible saying: “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works...”(Proverbs 8:22).
The author has no quarrel with the Muslim writer about this interpretation of Proverbs 8:22 though chapter 8 appears to be a personification of wisdom rather than discussing the Word.
The writer continues: “This Gospel, nevertheless, clearly teaches that Jesus is not God. [Again, the writer completely ignores John 1:1 that says “the Word was God”]. If it did not continue this teaching, then it would contradict the other three Gospels and also the letters of Paul from which it is clearly established that Jesus is not God.”
Again, we have established from the writings of Paul which the Muslim writer ignored that Paul believed that Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament.
The Muslim writer continues: “We find here that Jesus was not co-equal with the Father, for Jesus said: “...the Father is greater than I.”(John 14:28). John tells us that Jesus cannot do anything by his own when he quotes Jesus as saying: “By myself I can do nothing...” (John 5:30).
There is no dispute that the Creator will always be greater than His creation. So Jesus Christ will always be greater than all His creation put together and God the Father who originally created Jesus Christ will always be greater than Jesus Christ. But as far as Jesus Christ not being able to do anything of Himself was a statement that applied when He was a human being. Jesus Christ had emptied Himself of His power when He came as a human being, and God the Father granted the performance of the miracles by the hands of Jesus. That’s why Jesus said by Himself He could do nothing, but that the Father was working in Him to perform the miracles. But that does not mean that Jesus Christ is not God now, or that He was not God before He became Jesus Christ.
What we see here then is that the Muslim writer is simply picking scriptures that provide evidence for his one-sided statements about Jesus Christ mainly when He was a human being on earth, when He had emptied Himself of His divinity, while completely ignoring statements from the Bible that state or prove that Jesus is God.
7) God and Jesus Are Two Separate Beings
The 7th proof offered by the Muslim writer is titled “God and Jesus are Two Separate Beings.”
We in God’s Church are in complete agreement with this statement. But this does not mean that Jesus Christ is not also God. We have showed that the apostles John and Thomas directly called Jesus God. John identified Jesus Christ as the Creator of everything. Paul the apostle also did the same quite clearly in Ephesians 3:9 that "God ...created all things through Jesus Christ." He writes of Jesus in Colossians 1:16: "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." Paul along with the other apostles also identified Jesus Christ as God and the God of the Old Testament as already proved.
We conclusively proved earlier that Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, because as Jesus Christ He was a flesh and blood human being. Because of humility, many times He spoke about Himself in His condition as a human being rather than as God. But other statements of Jesus Christ and His other actions left no doubt about His claim that He was the God of the Old Testament. We also proved that though Jesus Christ is a lesser God than God the Father, nevertheless He is an awesome God and has all the powers that we believe God should have.
Crux of the Matter
The Muslim writer has clearly been proved wrong when he says the Bible denies the divinity of Jesus. He leaves out passages that clearly stated the firm belief of the apostles John, Thomas and Paul that Jesus is God, and was the God of the Old Testament. He also leaves out Jesus’ own claim that He was the God of the Old Testament and quotes passages in which Jesus made statements in His condition as the flesh and blood human being Jesus Christ.
What then is the crux of the matter that prevents Muslims from believing the statements of the apostles and Jesus Himself about His divinity? First of all, the Quran denies the divinity of Jesus Christ. Since they believe the Quran to be the truth, their minds are prejudiced against anything that contradicts the Quran. That’s why in their reading of the Bible they are only seeking statements that seem to agree with the Quran but ignore all other plain statements that contradict it, even though an explanation has been provided why the Muslim interpretation of those statements is wrong. They are merely quoting statements when Jesus in His humility referred to Himself as the Son of Man to describe His condition as a human being. They are ignoring His statements that described Him as the God of the Old Testament.
Prejudiced by the statements in the Quran that there is only one supreme God, Allah, the other mental barrier the Muslims are not able to cross is that there can be more than one God Being. As we proved earlier from the Bible, there are two God Beings. But one is the supreme God Being, God the Father, the original source of all life. That God Being created another God Being, the Word who later came to earth as Jesus Christ.
What characteristics do we associate with God? First is the ability to create everything out of His own resources. The Bible reveals that the Word did that with His own spirit. Next is the ability to sustain the creation, including all the laws that govern the spirit as well as material creation. We have proved that the Word or Jesus Christ in fact does that. And finally, God keeps His laws perfectly. This means that God can never sin. Jesus Christ did that as a human being, as He said in John 8:46 (NIV), “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” That is why His sacrifice could pay the death penalty on behalf of His creation. He certainly did that as the Word before that. So Jesus Christ fulfills all the criteria we associate with God, again proving that He is God.
The Muslims thus need to cross the mental barrier that the Quran has put in their minds that there can be only one God. Yes, there is only one supreme God. But there can be another awesome God who fulfills all the criteria we associate with the word God.
We have proved that the words of the Quran are not backed up by God Almighty as it has miserably failed our test of any past prophecies that have come true. But the Bible has passed that test with irrefutable evidence from secular history of fulfillment of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of past prophecies. If you are searching for the truth, you cannot use the Quran for proof, and only the Bible must be used as proof. If the god Allah cannot give us proof that he is the Almighty and makes statements to contradict the Bible, then he is a liar, charlatan, counterfeiter and a diabolical deceiver.
Muslims should understand what the god Allah’s game is here. He is contradicting the Bible and accusing the Jews and Christians of having altered it to put doubts about its veracity. This way he is trying to prejudice the Muslims against the Jews and Christians. Then he advocates Jihad against them to convert them to Islam by force. So’ Allah’s diabolical game is to turn the Muslims into enemies of the Jews and Christians so that they fight and destroy each other. We have already revealed the true identity of the one who is masquerading around as ‘Allah.” He is non other than Satan the devil, the arch-deceiver.
How do we Reconcile Seeming Contradictions
So how do we reconcile all these seeming contradictions: The existence of two God Beings; Jesus Christ being God, and yet a lesser being than God the Father when there can be only one Almighty God; and other Bible statements that God is one [Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, Israel! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one God (Complete Jewish Bible). Other translations translate this verse this way: “"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! (NKJV); “4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (KJV); “4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (NIV)].
The key to reconciling all these seeming contradictions is Jesus’ statement in John 10:30: “I and my Father are one.” One can ask how God the Father and Jesus Christ can be one when they are two separate Beings? How can two beings or many beings become one? The answer can be found in other examples of oneness described in the Bible.
How God is One
How can two God Beings be one?
The very first example of oneness in the Bible is the union of a man and a woman in marriage. When God created the institution of marriage, He said in Genesis 2:24: “: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
In marriage two beings become one flesh. They still exist as two separate beings, but they have joined together to form one unit. They have become one family. They also become one as they produce children, adding to the family. For example, George Jones marries Sally Smith and become the one Jones family, but still two separate beings, Mr. George Jones and Mrs. Sally Jones. They then have children John Jones, Sara Jones, David Jones and Jennifer Jones. They are all separate human beings but all part of the Jones family. So now many have become one.
A human family is the clue to understanding how God the Father and Jesus Christ are one, though separate Beings. The word translated God in the book of Genesis in almost all places is the word Elohim. Genesis 1:26 states: “26 And God said, Let us make man in our image…” Here God is using the pronoun “us” to describe Himself instead of the pronoun “me”. This means the word God is a uniplural noun like the word family which includes more than one person. The English word God then does not imply just one Being. More than one Being shares that common name God as the family name Jones is shared by many in our example.
So, God is a family name which at present is shared by two members. We identify these two members separately as God the Father, and the other member as Jesus Christ. Now John makes perfect sense when he said in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is how Jesus Christ and the Father are One. To make it easier to understand with our example of the Jones family, we could call God the Father as Father God and Jesus Christ as Jesus God, if we apply God as their last name. That is what Muslims and the Quran and other religions fail to understand, but is very clear when one studies the Bible very carefully.
The Bible provides other examples of oneness, the Church being one. The Catholic Church is one Church but has more than two billion members. In the same way a denomination of a Baptist Church is one Church with many members and the Church of God is one Church with many members.
Paul the apostle compared the Church to the different individual parts of one human body in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NKJV). He writes: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."
Paul here describes many individual members become one in a Church when they are baptized into the Church and receive God’s holy spirit.
Not only does the New Testament provide an example of oneness in the Church, but the Old Testament also provides an example of oneness in the ancient nation of Israel. Judges 20:1, 8-11 (NKJV) state: "So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah…So all the people arose as one man ... So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man." Here the entire nation of Israel came together as “one man”, meaning in unity and purpose to deal with a villainous act committed by men of the tribe of Benjamin. All these men were individual citizens of the nation of Israel. But they became one in unity and common purpose.
These examples of oneness in the Bible and the uniplural noun Elohim teach us that the word God, like the words family, Church and nation, is a word for a single entity with two or many members. And that entity can add members and still remain one entity. So God in the Bible means the Family of God at present composed of only two members; Father God and Jesus God. But this family can and is destined to expand, as a human family can expand by reproduction.
The Biblical truth is that God is reproducing Himself through human beings to add many sons to His family. John the apostle described man’s potential to become sons of God like Jesus Christ in 1 John 3:1-3: “1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore, the world knows us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he [that is Jesus Christ] shall appear, we shall be like him [with a body composed of the same spirit]; for we shall see him as he is.”
John could not have made the potential of man clearer. Man’s potential is to become literal immortal sons of God as Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And when we become Sons of God, we shall be like Jesus Christ, meaning have a spirit body and powers like those of Jesus Christ. But before we can realize that potential, we must become one among ourselves in the Church and one with God as Jesus Christ is one with God, totally united in love, faith, direction, thinking, attitude and purpose.
In John 17 Jesus Christ prayed to the Father to accomplish this in God’s Church with the power of His holy spirit. Verses 20-23 (NKJV) state: “20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Yes, the purpose of all members of God’s Church is to become one with one another in unity, purpose, faith, direction and love, and then become one with God the Father and Jesus Christ as They themselves are one. That is how God’s family will have billions of sons or children, all united as one close knit family. And all of God’s family will bear the name God just as all members of the Jones family bear the name Jones. Man’s incredible potential is to become literal gods, as sons of God just as Jesus is God, and also Son of God. Son of man is a man. Therefore a son of God must be a God.
Jesus Himself confirmed that He was divine and that is man’s potential as well. He said in John 10:32-35: “32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, saying, for a good work we do not stone you; but for blasphemy; and because that you, being a man, make yourself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, You are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken 36 Say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am the Son of God?”
Jesus here quoted Psalm 82:6 to show that man’s potential is to be called gods, or become gods as children of God and affirmed that this scripture is the infallible truth and cannot be broken. Here Jesus also plainly said He is the Son of God. A Son of God has to be God.
We hope Muslims can now understand how God is one. It does not mean that there is only one God, but that more than one God Beings are one because they are one in love, unity, purpose and direction.
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