Jesus in the Quran vs.

Jesus in the Quran vs. Jesus in the Bible

Muslims believe that a number of doctrines in the Quran or Koran directly oppose what the Bible teaches on Jesus, in particular, His divinity, His death atonement for sin and His resurrection. Adherents of the Quran maintain that Jesus Christ was only a human person, not equal to God and that He was not the Lamb of God. The contradiction has created much trouble and conflict among adherents of both sources of revelation that must be examined, as no less than eternal salvation is at stake.

The normative-descriptive method will be used in reviewing the literature gathered and in reaching a conclusion or position, based on the findings.

Major differences between the Quran and the Bible are on original sin, salvation, and the divinity of Jesus (Dave and Angel 2004). Muslims do not believe in the doctrine of original sin as taught by the Bible. Original sin was committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and they passed on their sin, fallen nature and eternal punishment to all mankind, for which a Redeemer or Messiah was to be sent the Bible teaches that the Savior or Redeemer, Who was prophesied to come and save men from sin, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Quran or Islam believes that a man is born without a stain of sin or original sin and that he can commit sin only upon reaching puberty, during which he is punished for the sin he alone commits. But this is actual sin, not the original sin committed by the first two human beings on earth by imputation. On the other hand, the Bible teaches that the sin of a single man, Adam, entered the world and earned death passed from Adam to all men:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passe upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12)."

Sin already existed in the world from the time of Adam's transgression up to the time of Moses who received the law, which imputed sin. Under this law, sin merited and merits death until recompensed by someone above it. Only a God could but He had to take on the nature of fallen man and pay the penalty in man's form but without the stain of sin. The Bible, the Word of God, teaches that only Jesus Christ, the prophesied Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son, the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity, was qualified for the task. He suffered and died in Calvary as atonement for the sin of man and, as He Himself predicted, rose back to life and later ascended into heaven by His own power (Haugaard, trans RKJV 2000).

Islam or the Quran denies that Jesus Christ Himself became sin and took on the entire punishment due the sin of man in his place, once and for all men and for all eternity (Dave and Angel 2004). St. Paul's epistle to the people of Corinth says:

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor 5:21)." And to the Romans:

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinner, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Romans 5:15-19)"

The Bible, the Word of God, teaches that salvation is freely offered by the sin-atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, by grace and rebirth through belief in Jesus, Who is the only Way to the Father and heaven (Haugaard 2000). This faith in Jesus accords a man God's own righteousness, which is in Jesus Himself and not in any man's good works. The Quran (Ali 2001), in comparison, holds that salvation is a reward for a life of piety and righteousness:

Then those whose scales are heavy, they are successful. And those whose scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding (Sura, 23, 102,103)."

And... vie one with another for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a Paradise as wide as are the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who ward off.(Sura 3:133)."

The Gospel of Apostle John is clear as to how a man can be reborn into the family of God and restored to God's friendship:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom f God (John 3:3)."

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever

Believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his

Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be Saved. He that believes on him is not condemned, but he that believes not is Condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only

Begotten Son (John 314)."

And the Quran denies that Jesus is God and instead teaches that He is not divine and has no divine sonship (Ali 2001). It completely rejects the doctrine that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh and that He is unable to forgive sins without someone satisfying divine justice. No human being, however great, can be a manifestation of God on earth or a divine incarnate (Azia 9 as qtd in Dave and Angel 2004).

The Bible is steadfast in teaching about the divinity of Jesus Christ: In his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: "God was manifest in the flesh (1 Tim 3:16). John, the Beloved Apostle and evangelist, writes:

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (1:14)." And the Father are one. (John 10:30)." said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins (John 8:24)."

The Quran advocates war and the destruction of one's enemies in Sura:

Seek out your enemies relentlessly (4:103)."

Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it (2:216)."

Believers, when you encounter the infidels on the march, do not turn your backs to them in flight. If anyone on that day turns his back on them, except it be for tactical reasons, he shall incur the wrath of God and Hell shall be his home (8:12)."

Make war on the leaders of unbelief. Make war on them. God will chastise them at your hands and humble them. He will grant you victory over them (9:12)."

Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given... until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued. (9:27)."

Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home (9:73)."

The Quran hard-line policy of justice against one's enemies was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But Jesus Christ of the Bible not only teaches the forgiveness of others' offenses but also that the enemy should be loved unconditionally:

But I say unto you, 'love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you (Matt. 5:44)." because this is the way God the Father loves and will forgive:

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt.6:14-15)."

Openness to forgiving the faults and offenses is also taught by Proverbs:

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth (24:17)."

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink (25:21)."

The Quran stands squarely on the justice principle while the Bible takes the position of compassion towards others, especially the enemy, from the example of Jesus Christ Himself, as in Paul's epistle to the Romans:

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, bur rather give place unto wrath:

for it is written, 'vengeance is mine, I will repay,' saith the Lord (12:19)."

In direct contrast to the search and thirst for justice advocated by the Quran, the Bible bids the children of God to be new creatures on earth altogether as Paul exhorts the Galatians to avoid certain acts and forms of behavior:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, enyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (5:19)." And to exercise the opposite acts and forms of behavior befitting the followers of Jesus, in whom dwells His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law."

Islam believes that Jesus was a messenger of God, but that there were other messengers and prophets before him, like Adam, Moses and Muhammad (McVey). It also agrees that Jesus and his mother Mary were wholly devoted to truthfulness and that both of them ate food as other mortals do (Ali, trans. Quran 5:75). It concedes that Mary, his mother, was a chaste woman and a virgin, who miraculously bore and gave birth to Jesus. Quran 19:6-21 gives account of Mary's seclusion and the visit of the Angel Gabriel in the form of a man, rather than as an Angel from God, to inform her that she would bear a pure son, who would be a sign unto men and a mercy from God. Islam or the Quran has no problems with the virgin birth of Jesus. Quran 3:47 says that God creates what He wills and that God created Jesus from the dust like Adam (3:59).

The Bible teaches that Jesus performed miracles by His own power as God the Son, but the Quran says that Jesus performed miracles by the will and permission of God, Who alone has power and control over all things (Ally 2002). Quaran 5:110 says:

And behold, you make out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and it becomes a bird by My leave, and you heal those born blind, and the lepers by My leave. And behold, you bring forth the death by My leave. And behold, I did restrain the children of Israel when you did show them the Clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said, 'This is nothing but evident magic.'

The Quran or Islam rejects the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and upholds the Absolute Oneness of God, instead, as the Supreme Being, free of human limitations, needs and wants (McVey). He has no partners and is completely separate from His creation. Quran 4:171 asserts that Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of God and that there is no Trinity, but only one God. He may be pleased to have a son, but everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to Him, for which He needs no guardian.

The Quran also denies that Jesus was or is the Son of God (12:1-4). It teaches that neither was God fathered nor did he father anyone. He is incomparable and the source of everything. It does not consider it befitting God's majesty to beget a human son. When He wants something to happen, He just says "Be" and "It is." The Bible, the Word of God, teaches that Jesus was and is the Son of God:

For God so loed the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16)."

The doctrines of the Trinity and that Jesus was or is the Son of God were established under the influence of Paul of Tarsus, previously an enemy and persecutor of the followers of Jesus, had a miraculous encounter on his way to Damascus and then became an apostle (Haugaard 2000). It is said that Paul initiated changes in early Christian writings in contradiction to those taught by disciples like Barnabas, who actually lived and met with Jesus and believed in the Oneness of God (McVey). Many Christian scholars consider Paul a co-founder or the founder of Christianity because of the additional doctrines he made, such as Jesus as the Son of God, the concept of Jesus' atonement and the renunciation of the Law of the Torah. Many believe that Paul introduced these modifications to win non-Jewish converts or Gentiles to Christianity. The original followers of Jesus for almost 200 years consistently opposed these additional doctrines, which misrepresented the original message of Jesus. These followers had no trouble or questions about the nature and origin of Jesus or about His relationship with God. They always considered Him a man miraculously endowed by God. At the time, the Gospel of Barnabas was recognized as the canonical gospel in the churches of Alexandria until 325 CE, from which Paul quoted extensively to support the new doctrines he introduced. That year, a Council of Christian leaders met at Nicea and incorporated Paul's additional doctrines into the original Hebrew script. This Council ordered inconsistent although original gospels destroyed and warned that anyone found with these rejected gospels would be executed.

The Bible teaches that Jesus was tried and condemned to death by crucifixion in atonement for the sin of mankind. This is, however, not explicitly contained in the four gospels, which are the primary textual sources on Christianity. But Paul writes about His passion and crucifixion in his letters to the Romans 6:8-9 (McVey).But the Muslims do not believe, nor does the Quran teach, that Jesus was killed on the cross and then rose back to life on the third day (Quran 4:156-157):

They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did. God lifted him up to His presence. God is Almighty, All-Wise"

But the Holy Bible, the Word of God, teaches that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was condemned to death by crucifixion and then resurrected on the third day and that this is the main event in Christendom (Haugaard 2000). The four gospels of the four evangelists and Paul's epistles are the main sources of this Christian doctrine. Matthew's gospel narrates how Jesus appeared to holy women after his death and burial and again on a mountain in Galilee. Evangelist Mark relates that Jesus was seen by May Magdalene, two disciples at Emmaus and his eleven apostles before his ascension into heaven. The evangelist Luke also mentions Jesus walking with these disciples in Emmaus and then appearing to Peter and the other disciples then gathered in Jerusalem. John's gospel also accounts for Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene, to the 10 apostles on Easter Sunday, to the 11 a week later and to seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. In Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, he writes (15:3-8). Christian belief under Paul holds that the Resurrection of Jesus was and is the manifestation of God's justice and the exaltation of Jesus Who humbled Himself unto death (Phil 2:8-9). It is the completion and culmination of the mystery of Christian salvation and redemption in Jesus. His death liberates Christian believers from sin and his resurrection restores them what they lost by sin (Romans 4:25). Most significantly, this doctrine is the Christian's acknowledgment of Jesus as an immortal God and the cause or basis of a believer's own resurrection (1 Cor. 4:21, Phil3:20-21) and a new life in grace (Romans 4:4-6, 9-11) (McVey)

Both the Holy Bible and the Quran pursue truth. The Bible says in John 8:32:

You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

Sura 2:62 (Ali 2001) declares:

Believers, Jews, Christians and Sabeans - whoever believes in Allah and the Last

Day and does what is right - shall be rewarded by their Lord, they have nothing to fear or regret."

The Bible, the Word of God, reveals and teaches that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and God the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity (Haugaard 2000). In the Quran, Jesus is not God and not divine, but only a messenger of God. The Quran also tries to point out that the Bible itself denies the divinity of Jesus (Ally 2002) and that even the God of the Bible is always someone else other than Jesus. By its own accounts, the disciples, who walked and lived with Jesus, were guided by the Holy Spirit, instead of by Jesus Himself, if He were God. Instead, these companions went on worshipping the God of Abraham. Evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God or was divine (Mark 10:18, Matt. 19:17), but that he was a son of God in the sense that he was a righteous human being, just like many others who have been called sons of God (Matt. 23?1-9). Paul, who wrote 13 to 14 epistles in the Bible, assumed that Jesus was God's first creature and that God used Jesus as the agent in forming the rest of creation (Col 1: 1-15, 1 Cor 8:6). In all cases, Jesus was still treated as a creature of God and can only be forever subject to God and less than God. John writes: "The Father is greater than I (14:28)." Paul also writes:

The head of every woman is her husband, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God (1 Cor 11:3)."

Those who sustain the teaching of the Quran that Jesus was not God also contend that Jesus' apostles themselves did not refer to Him as God up to the time of Jesus' ascension into heaven (Ally 2002). Peter resounded this:

Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you though him, as yourselves know (Acts 2:22)."

God has raised this Jesus. (Acts 2:32)."

God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36)."

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus (Acts 3:13)."

Matthew himself referred to Jesus as the servant of God (12:18), the same servant Isaiah spoke of (42:1). Besides, the Old Testament itself says that God is alone (Isaiah 45:5).

Christ" means "Anointed." It is a human title ascribed to Jesus. Even when already filled with the Holy Spirit from the Pentecost, the apostles boldly preached what they learned from Jesus. They preached that the God of our fathers raised Jesus (Acts 5:29-30) and that, therefore, Jesus was the Christ, God's servant, but not God

The Quran confirms that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and God's Servant (Ally).

God is almighty and all-knowing and the Bible itself, according to Muslims, shows that Jesus was not all powerful and not all-knowing and, therefore, not God (Ally 2002). He had limitations. He could not perform many miracles in his hometown, (Mark 6:5) and was not able to heal a certain blind man the first time (Mark 8:22-26). Jesus Himself admitted not knowing everything, such as the exact time or hour of the last day, which only the Father knows (Matt. 24:36). His knowledge was also limited, while God has infinite knowledge. Luke writes that Jesus increased in wisdom and knowledge (2:52) and that He learned obedience (Heb 5:8).

When a teacher of the law of Moses questioned Jesus about the commandments, Jesus mentioned the two greatest commandments held by both the Bible and the Quran (2:163) (Ally 2002). Jesus stressed the first commandment without referring to Himself as God, which He should have, if he were God. Instead, he emphasized that God is one (Mark 12:32). And when a man described him as "good teacher," Jesus declined the description and passed it all on to God: "No one is good, but God (Mark 10:17-18), drawing a distinction between God and Himself. In His own prayer to the Father, He makes the same distinction (John 17:1-3):

Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

Jesus Himself teaches that His true followers are those who obey his teachings (John 8:31). Many love Jesus more than the Father because of vengeful and exacting divine nature of God the Father of the Old Testament, on the one hand and the compassionate nature of Jesus of the New Testament, on the other hand (Quran 2:165). Yet God is the only Savior: "I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me, there is no savior (Isaiah 43:11).

Muslims themselves maintain that Paul himself did not believe that Jesus was God, despite what most people say that Paul writings prove Jesus' divinity (Ally 2002). Paul writes this in his first letter to Timothy:

charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angles to keep these instructions (5:21)."

Paul makes a clear distinction between God and Christ Jesus. In the following chapter, also written to Timothy, Paul says:

In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession (6:13)." And speaking about the bodily appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul exhorts: "the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ will bring about in his own time (6:14-15)." Then this passage about the immortality of 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 (6:15-16)."

Muslims advance that the Gospel of John, which was completed 70 or so years after the ascension of Jesus, makes a claim that is not in the previous three gospels. Evangelist John writes that Jesus was the Word of God, and this seems to provide the basis that Jesus was God's agent in creation and therefore God Himself. Paul already said that Jesus was God's first creature. The Book of Revelations says that Jesus is "the beginning of God's creation (3:14), which is what Paul writes to the Corinthians (8:6) and the Colossians (1:15). Even if Jesus was the Word, He was still created by God and not equal to God Himself (Ally).