THE
TRUE MESSAGE
OF
JESUS
CHRIST
BY
(St.
David’s College, University of Wales,U.K.)
©
Copyright 1996 Dar Al Fatah
All
rights reserved. No portion of this book
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by
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prior permission of the copyright owner.
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Al Fatah Printing, Publishing & Distribution Co. Llc.
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Content:
Introduction
Chapter One: The Scriptures
Authentic
Manuscripts
Contradictions
Chapter Two: The Person
A
Man
"Evidence"For
Jesus Divinity
Chapter Three: The Message
Chapter Four: The Way
Conclusion
Bibliography
CHAPTER TWO:
JESUS, THE PERSON
As
has been shown in the previous chapter, the Biblical scriptures, both New and
Old Testaments, are unreliable sources and cannot, therefore, be used as an
authentic means of knowing the truth about the man called Jesus Christ or about
his mission and message. However, a
close examination of these scriptures in the light of Qur’aanic verses will
reveal some of the truths about Jesus that have survived in the Bible.
A Messenger
Throughout
the Qur‘aan, Jesus is identified fundamentally as a Messenger of God. In
Chapter as-Saff (61):6, God quotes Jesus as follows:
“And
[remember] when Jesus, son of Mary, said: ‘O Children of Israel, I am the
messenger of Allaah sent to you, confirming the Torah [which came] before me.”
There
are many verses in the New Testament supporting the messengership / prophethood
of Jesus. The following are only a few: In Matthew 21:11, the people of his
time are recorded as referring to Jesus as a prophet: “And the crowds said,
‘This is the prophet Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee.’ ” In Mark, 6:4, it is stated that Jesus
referred to himself as a prophet: “And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is
not without honour, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in
his own house.’ ” In the following
verses, Jesus is referred to as having been sent as a messenger is sent. In
Matthew 10:40, Jesus was purported to have said: “He that receiveth you
receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” In John 17:3, Jesus is also quoted as saying:
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
[1][1]
A Man
The Qur’aanic revelation not only
affirms Jesus’ prophethood, but it also clearly denies Jesus’ divinity. In Chapter al-Maa’idah, (5): 75, God points
out that Jesus ate food, which is a human act, obviously not befitting to God.
“The Messiah, Son of Mary, was no more than a messenger
and many messengers passed away before him.
His mother was exceedingly truthful, and they both ate food. See how I have made the signs clear for them,
yet see how they are deluded.”
There are numerous accounts in the New Testament which
also deny Jesus’ divinity.
For example, in Matthew 19:17, Jesus
responded to one who addressed him as “O good master”, saying: “Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but
one, that is God.” If he rejected
being called “good”,[2][2]
and stated that only God is truly good, he clearly implies that he is not God.
In John 14:28, Jesus was saying:
“The Father is greater than I.” By stating that the “Father” is greater than
himself, Jesus distinguishes himself from God.
Also in John 20:17, Jesus told Mary Magdalene to tell his followers: “I
ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God.” Jesus’ reference to God as “my Father and
your Father” further emphasizes the distinction between himself and God.
Furthermore, by referring to God as “his God”, he left no room for anyone to
intelligently claim that he was God.
Even in some of the writings of
Paul, which the Church has taken to be sacred, Jesus is referred to as a “man”,
distinct and different from God. In 1st Timothy, 2:5, Paul writes: “For there
is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
There are also verses in the Qur‘aan
which confirm Prophet Muhammad’s humanity, in order to prevent his
followers from elevating him to a divine or semi-divine status, as was done to
Prophet Jesus. For example, in Chapter
al-Kahf (18):110, Allaah instructs the Prophet Muhammad (e)
to inform all who hear his message:
}
قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَاْ بَشَرٌ مِثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَىَّ أَنَّمَا إلَـهُكُمْ إِلهٌ
وَاحِدٌ {
“Say:
‘Indeed, I am only a man like you to whom it has been revealed that your God is
only one God.’ ”
In
Chapter al-A‘raaf (7):187, Allaah also directed Prophet Muhammad (e)
to acknowledge that the time of the Judgement is known only to God.
“They ask you about the Final Hour: 'When will
its apointed time be?’ Say: ‘Knowledge of it is with my Lord. None can reveal its time besides Him.’ ”
In the Gospel according to Mark 13:31-32, Jesus is also
reported to have denied having knowledge of when the final hour of this world
would be, saying: “Heaven and the earth shall pass away but my word shall not
pass away, but of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in the
heaven nor the Son but the Father.” One of the attributes of God is
omniscience, knowledge of all things.
Therefore, his denial of knowledge of the Day of Judgement is also a
denial of divinity, for one who does not know the time of the final hour cannot
possibly be God.[3][3]
An Immaculate Conception
The Qur‘aan confirms the Biblical
story of Jesus’ virgin birth. However, in the Qur‘aanic account of Jesus’
birth, Mary was an unmarried maiden whose life was dedicated to the worship of God
by her mother. While she was worshipping
in a place of religious seclusion,
angels came and informed her of her impending pregnancy.
}
إِذْ قَالَتِ الْملآئِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ
مِنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيْحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيا وَ
اْلآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبينَ{
“When
the angels said: ‘O Mary, indeed Allaah gives you glad tidings of a Word from
Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary. He will be honored in this world and the next
and will be of those close to Allaah.’ ” Qur’aan, (3):45
}
قَالَتْ رَبِّ أَنَّى يَكُونُ لِي وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ قَالَ
كَذَلِكِ اللهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ إِذَا قَضَى أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ
كُنْ فَيَكُونُ {
“She said: ‘O my
Lord, how can I have a son when no man has touched me?’ He said: ‘Even
so—Allaah creates what He wishes. When He decrees something, He only has to say
to it: “Be!” and it is.’ ” Qur’aan,
(3):47
However,
the Qur’aan clarifies that Jesus’ virgin birth did not change the state of his
humanity. His creation was like the
creation of Aadam, who had neither father nor mother.
}
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَى عِنْدَ اللهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ خَلَقَهُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ
قَالَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ {
“Surely,
the example of Jesus, in Allaah’s sight, is like that of Aadam. He created him from dust and said: ‘Be!’ and
he was.” Qur’aan, (3):59
The
Miracles
The
Qur‘aanic account of Jesus’ ministry confirms most[4][4]
of his miracles mentioned in the Bible and identifies some not mentioned in the
Bible. For example, the Qur‘aan informs that Jesus was a messenger of God from
his birth, and his first miracle was speaking as a child in the
cradle. After Mary had given birth to
Jesus, people accused her of fornication. Instead of responding to their
accusations, she pointed to her newly born child:
} فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ قَالُوا كَيْفَ نُكَلِّمُ مِنْ كَانَ فِي
الْمَهْدِ صَبِيًّا قَالَ إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللهِ آتَانِيَ الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلَنِي
نَبِيًّا {
“[When] she pointed to him, they
asked, ‘How can we talk to a child in the cradle?’ He [Jesus] said: ‘Indeed, I
am a servant of Allaah. He gave me the scripture and made me a prophet.’ ”
Qur’aan,
(19):29-30
Among his other miracles of bringing the dead back to
life, healing lepers, and making the blind see, the Qur‘aan records another
miracle not mentioned in the Bible.
Prophet Jesus fashioned birds out of clay, blew on them and they flew
away, living birds. But the point which is emphasized throughout the Qur‘aan is
that whenever Jesus performed a miracle, he informed the people that it was by
God’s permission. He made it clear to his followers that he was not doing the
miracles by himself, in the same way that the earlier Prophets made it clear to
those around them.
Unfortunately, those who claim
divinity for Jesus, usually hold up his miracles as evidence. However, other prophets were recorded to have
done the same or similar miracles in the Old Testament.
|
Jesus
fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fishes.
|
Elisha
fed 100 people with twenty barley loaves and a few ears of corn (II Kings
4:44)
|
|
Jesus
healed lepers.
|
Elisha
cured Naaman the leper (II Kings 5:14).
|
|
Jesus
caused the blind to see.
|
Elisha
caused the blind to see (II Kings 6:17&20).
|
|
Jesus
raised the dead.
|
Elijah
did the same (I Kings 17:22). So did
Elisha (II Kings 4:34). Even Elisha’s
bones could restore the dead (II Kings 13:21).
|
|
Jesus
walked on water.
|
Moses
and his people crossed the dead sea (Exodus 14:22).
|
There are also texts in the New
Testament which confirm that Jesus did not act on his own. Jesus is quoted in John 5:30, as saying: “I
can of mine own self do nothing...” and in Luke 11:20, as saying, “But if I
with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come
upon you.” In Acts 2:22, Paul writes:
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by
God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in
your midst, as you yourselves know...”
“Evidence” for Jesus’ Divinity
There are a number of verses which
have been interpreted by the Catholic and Protestant Churches as evidence for
the Divinity of Jesus Christ. However, on close examination of these verses, it
becomes evident that, either their wordings are ambiguous, leaving them open to
a number of different interpretations, or they are additions not found in the
early manuscripts of the Bible. The
following are some of the most commonly quoted arguments.
1. The Alpha and Omega
In the Book of Revelation 1, verse
8, it is implied that Jesus said the following about himself: “I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty.” These are the attributes of God.
Consequently, Jesus, according to early Christians, is here claiming divinity.
However, the above-mentioned wording is according to the King James
Version. In the Revised Standard
Version, biblical scholars corrected the translation and wrote: “I am the Alpha
and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is
to come, the Almighty.” A correction was
also made in the New American Bible produced by Catholics. The translation of
that verse has been amended to put it in its correct context as follows: “The
Lord God says: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is and who
was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’ ” With these corrections, it becomes
evident that this was a statement of God and not a statement of Prophet Jesus.
2. The Pre-existence of Christ
Another verse commonly used to
support the divinity of Jesus is John 8:58: “Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.’ ” This verse is taken to imply that Jesus
existed prior to his appearance on earth. The conclusion drawn from it is that
Jesus must be God, since his existence predates his birth on earth. However,
the concept of the pre-existence of the prophets, and of man in general, exists
in both the Old Testament, as well as in the Qur‘aan. Jeremiah described
himself in The Book of Jeremiah 1:4-5 as follows: “ 5Now the
word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 ‘Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ ”
Prophet Solomon is reported in
Proverbs 8:23-27, to have said, “23Ages ago I was set up
at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24When
there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding
with water, 25Before the mountains had been shaped, before
the hills, I was brought forth; 26before he had
made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world 27When
he established the heavens, I was there.”
According to Job 38:4 and 21, God
addresses Prophet Job as follows: “4Where were you when I
laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding... 21You
Know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!”
In the Qur‘aan, Chapter al-A‘raaf,
(7):172, God informed that man existed in the spiritual form before the
creation of the physical world.
}
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنْ بَنِي آدَمَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ
وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُوا بَلَى شَهِدْنَا
أَنْ تَقُولُواْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَذَا غَافِلِينَ {
“When
your Lord gathered all of Aadam’s descendants [before creation] and made them
bear witness for themselves, saying: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They all replied:
Yes indeed, we bear witness. [That was] so you could not say on the Day of
Judgement: ‘We were unaware of this.’ ”
Consequently,
Prophet Jesus’ statement, “Before Abraham was, I am,” cannot be used as
evidence of his divinity. Within the
context of John 8:54-58, Jesus is purported to have spoken about God’s
knowledge of His prophets, which predates the creation of this world.
3. The Son of God
Another
of the evidences used for Jesus’ divinity is the application of the title “Son
of God” to Jesus. However, there are
numerous places in the Old Testament where this title has been given to others.
God
called Israel (Prophet Jacob) His “son” when He instructed Prophet Moses to go
to Pharaoh in Exodus 4:22-23, “22 And you shall say to
Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is my first-born son, 23and
I say to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me.’ ” [5][5]
In 2nd Samuel 8:13-14, God calls
Prophet Solomon His son, “13 He [Solomon] shall build a house
for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14I
will be his father, and he shall be my son.”
God
promised to make Prophet David His son in Psalms 89:26-27: “26 He shall
cry unto me, ‘Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation,’ 27Also
I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.”[6][6]
Angels are referred to as “sons of
God” in The Book of Job 1:6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”[7][7]
In the New Testament, there are many
references to “sons of God” other than Jesus.
For example, when the author of the Gospel according to Luke listed Jesus’
ancestors back to Adam, he wrote: “The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of
Adam, the son of God.”[8][8]
Some
claim that what is unique in the case of Jesus, is that he is the only
begotten[9][9]
Son of God, while the others are merely “sons of God”.
However, God is recorded as saying to Prophet David, in Psalms 2:7, “I will
tell the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my son, today I have
begotten you.’ ”
It should also be noted that nowhere
in the Gospels does Jesus actually call himself “Son of God”.[10][10] Instead, he is recorded to have repeatedly
called himself “Son of man” (e.g. Luke 9:22) innumerable times. And in Luke
4:41, he actually rejected being called “Son of God”: “And demons also came out
of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’
But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they
knew that he was the Christ.”
Since
the Hebrews believed that God is One, and had neither wife nor children in any
literal sense, it is obvious that the expression “son of God” merely meant to
them “Servant of God”; one who, because of his faithful service, was close and
dear to God, as a son is to a father. Christians who came from a Greek or Roman
background, later misused this term. In their heritage, “son of God” signified an
incarnation of a god or someone born of a physical union between male and
female gods.[11][11]
When the Church cast aside its Hebrew foundations, it adopted the pagan concept
of “son of God”, which was entirely different from the Hebrew usage.[12][12]
Consequently, the use of the term
“son of God” should only be understood from the Semitic symbolic sense of a
“servant of God”, and not in the pagan sense of a literal offspring of God. In
the four Gospels, Jesus is recorded as saying: “Blessed are the peace-makers;
they will be called sons of God.”[13][13]
Likewise, Jesus’ use of the term
abba, “dear father”, should be understood similarly. There is a dispute among
New Testament scholars as to precisely what abba meant in Jesus’ time and also
as to how widely it was in use by other Jewish sects of that era.
James
Barr has recently argued forcefully that it did not have the specially intimate
sense that has so often been attributed to it, but that it simply meant
“father”.[14][14]
To think of God as “our heavenly Father” was by no means new, for in the Lord’s
prayer he is reported to have taught his disciples to address God in this same
familiar way.
4.
One with God
Those who claim
that Jesus was God, hold that he was not a separate god, but one and the same God
incarnate. They draw support for this
belief from verse 30 of the Gospel according to John, chapter 10, in which
Jesus is reported to have said, “I and the Father are one.” Out of context, this verse does imply Jesus’
divinity. However, when the Jews accused
him of claiming divinity, based on that statement, “Jesus answered them, ‘Is it
not written in your law, “I said, Ye are gods?”[15][15]-[16][16]
He clarified for them, with a scriptural example well known to them, that he
was using the metaphorical language of the prophets which should not be
interpreted as ascribing divinity to himself or to other human beings.
Further evidence is drawn from
verses ten and eleven of the Gospel according to John, chapter 14, where people
asked Jesus to show them the Father, and he was supposed to have said: “Do you
not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on
my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for
the sake of the works themselves.”
These phrases would imply Jesus’
divinity, if the remainder of the same Gospel is ignored. However, nine verses
later, in John 14:20, Jesus is also recorded as saying to his disciples, “In
that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
Thus, if Jesus’ statement “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” means
that he is God, then so were his disciples.
This symbolic statement means oneness of purpose and not oneness of
essence. The symbolic interpretation is further emphasized in John 17:20-21,
wherein Jesus said, “20 I do not pray for these only, but also for those
who believe in me through their word, 21that they may all
be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be
in us, so that the world may believe that thou has sent me.”[17][17]
5. “He Accepted
Worship”
It is argued that
since Jesus is reported to have accepted the worship of some of his followers,
he must have been God. However, a closer examination of the texts indicates
both a case of dubious translation, as well as misinterpretation. The term
“worship” can be found in the King James Version and The Revised Standard
Version accounts of the three wise men who came from the east. They were reported in Matthew 2:2, to have
said, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when
it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.”[18][18]
However, in The New American Bible (Catholic Press, 1970), the text reads:
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We observed his star at its rising and
have come to pay him homage.”
In
The Revised Standard Version, John 9:37-38,: “37 Jesus said to him, ‘You
have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.’ 38He said,
‘Lord, I believe’; and he worshipped him.”[19][19] However, in The American Bible, the scholarly
translators added a footnote which read:
9:38 This verse, omitted in important MSS
[manuscripts], may be an addition for a baptismal liturgy.
This
verse is not found in important ancient manuscripts containing this Gospel. It
is probably a later addition made by Church scribes for use in baptismal
services.
Furthermore,
as a renowned authority on the Bible and its original language, George M.
Lamsa, explained, “The Aramaic word sagad, worship, also means to bend or to
kneel down. Easterners in greeting each
other generally bowed the head or bent down.[20][20]
...‘He worshipped him’ does not imply that he worshipped Jesus as one
worshipped God. Such an act would have been regarded as sacrilegious and a
breach of the First Commandment in the eyes of the Jews, and the man might have
been stoned. But he knelt before him in token of homage and gratitude.”[21][21]
The final scripture, the Qur’aan, clarifies
the issue of worshipping or not worshipping Jesus, by quoting a conversation
which will take place between Jesus and God on the Day of Judgement. Allaah states in Chapter al-Maa’idah,
(5):116-7:
} وَإِذْ قَالَ اللهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ ءَأَنْتَ قُلْتَ
لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَهَيْنِ مِنْ دُونِ اللهِ ... مَا قُلْتُ
لَهُمْ إِلاَّ مَآ أَمَرْتَنِي بِهِ أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللهَ ربّي وَرَبَّكُمْ ... {
“When
Allaah will say: ‘O Jesus, son of Mary, did you tell people: “Worship me and my
mother as two gods instead of Allaah?” ’...[Jesus will say]: ‘I only told them
what You commanded me to say: “Worship Allaah, my Lord and your Lord ...” ”
6.
“In the beginning was the Word”
Perhaps
the most commonly quoted ‘evidence’ for Jesus’ divinity is John 1:1&14, “1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God....14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full
of grace and truth...” However, these
statements were not made by Jesus Christ, nor were they attributed to him by
the author of the Gospel according to John. Consequently, these verses do not
constitute evidence for Jesus’ divinity, especially considering the doubts held
by Christian scholars about the Fourth Gospel. The Bible scholars who authored
The Five Gospels said: “The two pictures painted by John and the synoptic
gospels (i.e., the Gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke) cannot both be
historically accurate.[22][22]...The
words attributed to Jesus in the Fourth Gospel are the creation of the evangelist
for the most part, and reflect the developed language of John’s Christian
community.”[23][23]
The Greek term used by the anonymous
author of the Fourth Gospel for “word” is logos.[24][24] In doing so, the author identifies Jesus with
the pagan logos of Greek philosophy, who was the divine reason implicit in the
cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.[25][25]
The
idea of the logos in Greek thought may be traced back at least to the
6th-century-BC philosopher, Heracleitus, who proposed that there was a logos in
the cosmic process analogous to the reasoning power in man. Later, the Stoics[26][90]
defined the logos as an active, rational and spiritual principle that permeated
all reality.[27][27] The Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher,
Judaeus Philo of Alexandria (15 BC - 45 CE), taught that the logos was the
intermediary between God and the cosmos, being both the agent between God and
the cosmos, being both the agent of creation and the agent through which the
human mind can comprehend God.[28][28] The writings of Philo were preserved and
cherished by the Church, and provided the inspiration for a sophisticated
Christian philosophical theology. He departed from Platonic thought regarding
the logos (Word) and called it “the first-begotten Son of God”.[29][29]
The
identification of Jesus with the logos, was further developed in the early
Church as a result of attempts made by early Christian theologians and
apologists to express the Christian faith in terms that would be intelligible
to the Hellenistic world. Moreover, it
was to impress their hearers with the view that Christianity was superior to,
or heir to, all that was best in pagan philosophy. Thus, in their apologies and polemical works,
the early Christian Fathers stated that Christ was the preexistent logos.[30][30]
The
Greek word for ‘God’ used in the phrase “and the Word was with God,” is the
definite form hotheos, meaning ‘The God’.
However, in the second phrase “and the Word was God”, the Greek word
used for ‘God’ is the indefinite form tontheos, which means ‘a god’.[31][31]
Consequently, John 1:1, should more accurately be translated, “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” Therefore, if
the Word was a ‘god’ in the literal sense, it would mean that there were two
Gods and not one. However, in Biblical language, the term ‘god’ is used
metaphorically to indicate power. For
example, Paul referred to the devil as “god” in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, “In their
case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to
keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the likeness of God.” Moses is also referred to as “god” in Exodus 7:1, “And
the Lord said unto Moses, ‘See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and
Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”[32][32]
Ancient Thoughts
There
was serious conflict between the Pauline and the Jerusalem interpretations of
Jesus and his message. This conflict, after simmering for years, finally led to
a complete break, by which the Pauline Christian Church was founded,
comprising, in effect, a new religion, separated from Judaism. On the other
hand, the Jerusalem Nazarenes did not sever their links with Judaism, but
regarded themselves essentially as practicing Jews, loyal to the Torah, who
also believed in Jesus, a human Messiah figure.[33][33]
When
the Jewish insurrection was crushed by the Romans and their Temple destroyed in
70 CE, the Jewish Christians were scattered, and their power and influence as
the Mother Church and center of the Jesus movement was ended.[34][34]
The Pauline Christian movement, which up until 66 CE had been struggling to
survive against the strong disapproval of Jerusalem, now began to make
headway.
The
Jerusalem Church, under the leadership of James, originally known as Nazarenes,
later came to be known by the derogatory nickname Ebionites (Hebrew evyonium,
“poor men”), which some Nazarenes adopted with pride as a reminder of Jesus’
saying, “Blessed are the poor.” After the ascendency of Graeco-Roman Church,
the Nazarenes became despised as heretics, due to their rejection of the
doctrines of Paul.[35][35]
According
to the ancient Church historian, Irenaeus (c. 185 CE), the Ebionites believed
in one God, the Creator, taught that Jesus was the Messiah, used only the
Gospel According to Matthew, and rejected Paul as an apostate from the Jewish
Law.[36][36]
Ebionites
were known to still exist in the 4th century. Some had left Palestine and
settled in Transjordan and Syria and were later known to be in Asia Minor,
Egypt and Rome.[37][37]
Monarchianism,[38][38]
a Gentile Christian movement which developed during the 2nd and 3rd centuries
continued to represent the “extreme” monotheistic view of the Ebionites. It
held that Christ was a man, miraculously conceived, but was only ‘Son of God’
due to being filled with divine wisdom and power. This view was taught at Rome
about the end of the 2nd century by Theodotus, who was excommunicated by Pope
Victor, and taught somewhat later by Artemon, who was excommunicated by Pope
Zephyrinus. About 260 CE it was again taught by Paul of Samosata,[39][39]
the bishop of Antioch in Syria, who openly preached that Jesus was a man
through whom God spoke his Word (Logos), and he vigorously affirmed the
absolute unity of God.
Between
263 and 268 at least three church councils were held at Antioch to debate
Paul’s orthodoxy. The third condemned his doctrine and deposed him. However,
Paul enjoyed the patronage of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, to whom Antioch was
then subject, and it was not until 272 when the emperor Aurelian defeated
Zenobia that the actual deposition was carried out.[40][40]
In
the late third and early fourth centuries, Arius (b. c. 250, Libya - d. 336
CE), a presbyter of Alexandria, Egypt, also taught the finite nature of Christ
and the absolute oneness of God, which attracted a large following, until he
was declared a heretic by the council of Nicaea in May 325 CE. During the
council, he refused to sign the formula of faith stating that Christ was of the
same divine nature as God. However, influential support from colleagues in Asia
Minor and from Constantia, the emperor Constantine’s daughter, succeeded in
effecting Arius’ return from exile and his readmission into the church.[41][41]
The movement which he was supposed to have begun, but which was in fact an
extension of Jerusalem Nazarene/Jewish Christian belief, came to be known as
Arianism and constituted the greatest internal threat to the Pauline Christian
orthodoxy’s belief in Jesus’ divinity.
From
337 to 350 CE, the emperor in the West, Constans, was sympathetic to the
orthodox Christians, and Constantius II, sympathetic to the Arians, was Emperor
in the East. Arian influence was so great that at a church council held in
Antioch (341 CE), an affirmation of faith was issued which omitted the clause
that Jesus had the “same divine nature as God”. In 350 CE Constantius II became
sole ruler of the empire, and under his leadership the Nicene party (orthodox
Christians) was largely crushed. After Constantius the Second’s death in 361
CE, the orthodox Christian majority in the West consolidated its position.
However, the defense of absolute monotheism and the suppression of orthodox
Christian trinitarian beliefs continued in the East under the Arian emperor
Valens (364-383 CE). It was not until
Emperor Theodosius I (379-395 CE) took up the defense of orthodoxy that
Arianism was finally crushed. The unitarian beliefs of Arius, however,
continued among some of the Germanic tribes up until the end of the 7th
century.[42][42]
Modern Thoughts
Today,
there are many modern scholars in Christianity who hold that Jesus Christ was
not God. In 1977, a group of seven biblical scholars, including leading
Anglican theologians and other New Testament scholars, published a book called
The Myth of God Incarnate, which caused
a great uproar in the General Synod of the Church of England. In the preface, the editor, John Hick, wrote
the following: “The writers of this book are convinced that another major
theological development is called for in this last part of the twentieth
century. The need arises from growing knowledge of Christian origins, and
involves a recognition that Jesus was (as he is presented in Acts 2.21) ‘a man
approved by God’ for a special role within the divine purpose, and that the
later conception of him as God incarnate, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity
living a human life, is a mythological or poetic way of expressing his
significance for us.”[43][43]
There
is a broad agreement among New Testament scholars that the historical Jesus did
not make the claim to deity that later Christian thought was to make for him;
he did not understand himself to be God, or God the Son, incarnate [in the
flesh].[44][44] The late Archbishop Michael Ramsey, who was
himself a New Testament scholar, wrote that “Jesus did not claim deity for
himself.”[45][45] His contemporary, the New Testament scholar
C.F.D. Moule, said that, “Any case for a ‘high’ Christology that depended on
the authenticity of the alleged claims of Jesus about himself, especially in
the Fourth Gospel, would indeed be precarious.”[46][46]
In
a major study of the origins of the doctrine of the incarnation, James Dunn,
who affirms orthodox Christology, concludes that “there was no real evidence in
the earliest Jesus tradition of what could fairly be called a consciousness of
divinity.”[47][47]
Again, Brian Hebblethwaite, a staunch upholder of the traditional
Nicene-Calcedonian Christology, acknowledges that “it is no longer possible to
defend the divinity of Jesus by reference to the claims of Jesus.”[48][48] Hebblethwaite and Dunn, and other scholars
like them who still believe in Jesus’ divinity, argue instead that Jesus did
not know he was God incarnate. This only became known after his
resurrection.
Most
famous among the Church of England bishops, who doubt Jesus’ divinity, is the
outspoken Reverend Professor David Jenkins, the Bishop of Durham in England,
who openly states that Jesus was not God.
[49][49]
The
following article, which appeared in The Daily News some years ago, clearly
indicates the degree to which there are doubts among the clergy regarding
Jesus’ divinity.
|
Shock
survey
Of Anglican bishops
|
|
|
LONDON:
More than half of England’s Anglican bishops say Christians are not obliged
to believe that Jesus Christ was God, according to a survey published today.
The poll of 31 of England’s 39 bishops shows
that many of them think that Christ’s miracles, the virgin birth and the
resurrection might not have happened exactly as described in the Bible.
|
Only 11 of the bishops insisted that
Christians must regard Christ as both God and man, while 19 said it was
sufficient to regard Jesus as “God’s supreme agent”. One declined to give a
definite opinion.
The poll was carried out by London Weekend
Television’s weekly religion show, Credo.
“DAILY NEWS” 25/6/84
|
CHAPTER THREE:
THE MESSAGE
The second issue,
‘The Message of Jesus’, is perhaps the most important point to consider. For, if Jesus was not God incarnate, but a
prophet of God, the message which he brought from God is the essence of his
mission.
Submission
The foundation of
Jesus’ message was submission to the will of God, because that is the
foundation of the religion which God prescribed for man since the beginning of
time. God says in Chapter Aal ‘Imraan, the third chapter of the Qur‘aan, verse
19:
} إِنَّ
الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللهِ اْلإِسْلاَمُ {
“Truly,
the religion in the sight of Allaah is Islaam [submission].”
In
Arabic, submission to God’s will is expressed by the word ‘Islaam’. In the
Gospel according to Matthew 7:22, Jesus is quoted as saying: “Not everyone who
says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of my Father in heaven.” In this statement, Jesus places emphasis on
“the will of the Father”, submission of
the human will to the will of God. In
John 5:30, it is narrated that Jesus also said: “I can do nothing on my own
authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my
own will but the will of him who sent me.”
The Law
The “will of God” is contained in
the divinely revealed laws which the prophets taught their followers.
Consequently, obedience to divine law is the foundation of worship. The Qur’aan
affirms the need for obedience to the
divinely revealed laws in chapter
al-Maa’idah, verse 44.
} إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاةَ فِيهَا هُدًى وَنُورٌ يَحْكُمُ
بِهَا النَّبِيُّونَ الَّذِينَ أَسْلَمُوا ... وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا
أَنْزَلَ اللهُ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ {
“Indeed,
I did reveal the Torah in which was guidance and light, by which the prophets,
who submitted to God’s will, judged (the Jews) ... and whoever does not judge
by what Allaah has revealed is a disbeliever,”
Jesus
was also reported in the Gospel according to Matthew 19:16-17, to have made
obedience to the divine laws the key to paradise: “16 Now behold, one
came and said to him,“Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have
eternal life?” 17So he said to him, “Why do you call me
good? No one is good but One, that is,
God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”[50][50]
Also in Matthew 5:19, Jesus Christ was reported to have insisted on strict
obedience to the commandments saying, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the
least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the
kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Divine
law represents guidance for humankind in all walks of life. It defines right
and wrong for them and offers human beings a complete system governing all of
their affairs. The Creator alone knows best what is beneficial for His creation
and what is not. Thus, the divine laws command and prohibit various acts and
substances to protect the human spirit, the human body, and human society from
harm. In order for human beings to fulfil their potential by living righteous
lives, they need to worship God through obedience to His commandments.[51][51]
This was the religion conveyed in
the message of Jesus; submission to the will of the one true God by obedience
to His commandments. Jesus stressed to
his followers that his mission did not cancel the laws received by Prophet
Moses. As the prophets who came after Moses maintained the law, so did Jesus.
Chapter al-Maa’idah, verse 46 of the Qur’aan indicates that Jesus confirmed the
Laws of the Torah in his message.
}
وَقَفَّيْنَا عَلَى آثَارِهِمْ بِعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ
يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ اْلإِنْجِيلَ فِيهِ هُدًى وَنُورٌ
وَمُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَةِ {
“And
in their footsteps, I sent Jesus, son of Mary, confirming the Torah that had
come before him, and I gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and
confirmation of the Torah that had come before it,”
In
Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus stated: “17 Think not that I have come to abolish
the law and the [way of] the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to
fulfil them. 18For, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass
away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is
accomplished.” However, Paul, who claimed to be a disciple of Jesus,
systematically cancelled the laws. In
his letter to the Romans, chapter 7:6, he stated, “But now we are discharged
from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not
under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.”
Unitarianism
Jesus came as a prophet calling
people to worship God alone, as the prophets before him did. God says in
chapter an-Nahl (16):36, of the Qur‘aan:
}وَلَقَدْ
بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواْ
الطَّاغُوتَ{
“Surely, I[52][52]
have sent to every nation a messenger (saying): ‘Worship Allaah and avoid false
gods.”
In Luke 3:8, the Devil asks Jesus to
worship him, promising him the authority and glory of all of the kingdoms of
this world, “And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, You shall worship the Lord
your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” Thus, the essence of the message of Jesus was
that only God deserves to be worshipped and that the worship of anyone or
anything besides God or along with God is false. Jesus not only called people
to this message but he also practically demonstrated it for them by bowing down
in prayer and worshipping God himself. In Mark 14:32, it states: “And they went
to a place which was called Gethsemane; and he [Jesus] said to his disciples,
‘Sit here, while I pray.’ ” And in Luke 5:16, “But he withdrew to the
wilderness and prayed.”
Jesus called them to worship the one
true God who is unique in His qualities.
God does not have the attributes of His creation, nor does any creature
share any of His attributes. In Matthew
19:16-17, when the man called Prophet Jesus ‘good’, saying, “Good teacher, what
good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” Prophet Jesus replied,
“Why do you call me good? No one is
good but One, that is, God.” He denied the attribution
of ‘infinite goodness’ or ‘perfect goodness’ to himself, and affirmed that this
attribute belongs to Allaah alone.
The vast majority of Christians
today pray to Jesus, claiming that he is God. The Philosophers among them claim
that they are not worshipping Jesus the man, but God who was manifest in Jesus
the man. This is also the rationale of pagans who bow down in worship to
idols. When a pagan philosopher is asked
why he worships an idol which was made by human hands, he replies that he is
not really worshipping the idol. Furthermore, he may claim that the idol is
only a focal point for the presence of God, and thereby claim to be worshipping
God who is manifest in the idol, and not the physical idol itself. There is
little or no difference between that explanation and the answer given by
Christians for worshipping Jesus. The origin of this deviation lies in the false
belief that God is present in His creation. Such a belief justifies the worship
of God’s creation.
Jesus’ message,
which urged mankind to worship one God alone, became distorted after his
departure. Later followers, beginning with Paul, turned that pure and simple
message into a complicated trinitarian philosophy which justified the worship
of Jesus, and then the worship of Jesus’ mother, Mary,[53][53]
the angels[54][54]
and the saints. Catholics have a long
list of saints to whom they turn in times of need. If something is lost, Saint
Anthony of Thebes is prayed to in order to help find it.[55][55]
St. Jude Thaddaeus is the patron saint of the impossible and is prayed to for
intercession in incurable illnesses, unlikely marriages or the like.
[56][56]
The patron saint of travelers was Saint Christopher, to whom travelers used to
pray for protection up until 1969, when he was officially struck off the list
of saints by papal decree, after it was confirmed that he was fictitious.
[57][57]
Although he was officially crossed off the list of saints, there are many
Catholics around the world today who are still praying to St. Christopher.
Worshipping ‘saints’ contradicts and
corrupts the worship of One God; and it is in vain, because neither the living
nor the dead can answer the prayers of mankind. The worship of God should not
be shared with His creation in any way, shape or form. In this regard, Allaah said the following in
Chapter al-A ‘raaf (7):194:
}
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللهِ عِبَادٌ أَمْثَالُكُمْ {
“Surely,
those whom you call on in prayer besides Allaah are slaves like yourselves.”
This was the
message of Jesus Christ and all the prophets before him. It was also the message of the last prophet,
Muhammad—may peace and blessings be upon all of them. Thus, if a Muslim or a person who calls
himself a Muslim prays to a saint, he has stepped out of the bounds of Islaam.
Islaam is not merely a belief, wherein one is only required to state that he or
she believes that there is no God worthy of worship but Allaah and that Muhammad
was the last of the messengers, in order to attain paradise. This declaration of faith allows one who
declares it to enter the doors of Islaam, but there are many acts which may
contradict this declaration and expel the doer from Islaam as quickly as he or
she came in. The most serious of those acts is praying to other than God.
Muslim
not “Mohammedan”
Since Jesus’
religion, and that of all of the earlier prophets, was the religion of
submission to God, known in Arabic as Islaam, his true followers should be
called submitters to God, known in Arabic as Muslims. In Islaam, prayer is
considered an act of worship. Prophet Muhammad (e)
was reported to have said, “Supplication is an act of worship.”[58][58]
Consequently, Muslims do not accept being called Mohammedans, as followers of
Christ are called Christians and followers of Buddha are called Buddhists.
Christians worship Christ and Buddhists worship Buddha. The term Mohammedans
implies that Muslims worship Muhammad, which is not the case at all. In
the Qur‘aan, God chose the name Muslim for all who truly follow the prophets.
The name Muslim in Arabic means “one who submits to the will of God.”
}
هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَفِي هَذَا {
“...It
is He who named you Muslims both before and in this [scripture, the Qur’aan].”
Qur’aan, (22):78
Consequently, the essence of Jesus’
message was that man should worship God alone.
He should not be worshipped through his creation in any way. Consequently, His image cannot be painted,
carved or drawn. He is beyond human
comprehension.
Images
Jesus did not condone the pagan
practice of making images of God. He upheld the prohibition mentioned in the
Torah, Exodus 20 verse 4: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Consequently, the use of
religious images, called icons,[59][59]
was firmly opposed by the early generation of Christian scholars. However, in
time, the Greek and Roman tradition of image-making and portraying God in human
form eventually won out. The prohibition is to prevent the eventual deterioration
of worship of God into the worship of His creation. Once a human being makes a
picture in his or her mind of God, the person is, in fact, trying to make God
like His creation, because the human mind can only picture the things which it
has seen, and God can not be seen in this life.
Christians with a tradition of
worshipping through images often question how God can be worshipped without
visualizing Him. God should be worshipped based on the knowledge of His
attributes which He revealed in authentic scripture. For example, Allaah
describes Himself in the Qur’aan as being All-Merciful, so His worshippers
should reflect on God’s many mercies and give thanks to God for them. They
should also contemplate on the nature of His mercy to them and show mercy to
other human beings. Likewise, Allaah refers to Himself as being Oft-Forgiving,
so His worshippers should turn to Him in repentance and not give up hope when
they commit sins. They should also appreciate God’s forgiveness by being
forgiving to other human beings.
Prophesy
Part of Prophet Jesus’ message was
to inform his followers of the prophet who would come after him. As John the
Baptist heralded the coming of Jesus Christ, Jesus in turn heralded the coming
of the last of the prophets of God, Muhammad. In the Qur’aan, Chapter as-Saff
(61):6, God quotes Jesus’ prophesy about Muhammad (e).
}
وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِنِي رَسُولُ اللهِ
إِلَيْكُمْ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْراةِ وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ
يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِي اسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ .. {
“(Remember) when Jesus, son of Mary,
said, ‘O Children of Israel, I am the Messenger of Allaah sent to you,
confirming the Torah before me, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger coming
after me, whose name will be Ahmad.[60][60]”
There
are also some references in the Gospels which seem to refer to the coming of
Prophet Muhammad—may God’s peace and blessings be on all the prophets.
In the Gospel according to John 14:16, Jesus is quoted as saying, “And I will
pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,[61][61]
to be with you for ever.”
Christian laymen
usually interpret the “Counselor” mentioned in John 14:16 as the Holy Spirit.[62][62]
However, the phrase “another Counselor” implies that it will be someone else
like Jesus and not the Holy Spirit,[63][63]
especially considering John 16:7, in which Jesus is reported to have said,
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for
if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I
will send him to you.” The term
“Counselor” could not be referring to the Holy Spirit here, because—according
to the Gospels—the Holy Spirit was already present in the world prior to Jesus’
birth,[64][64]
as well as during his ministry.[65][65]
This verse implies that the “Counselor” had not already come.
Jesus’
declaration that the prophet-counselor “will be with you forever,” could be
interpreted to mean that there would be no need for additional prophets to
succeed this Counselor. He would be the last of the Prophets of God, whose
message would be preserved until the end of the world.[66][66]
Jesus’
foretelling the coming of Muhammad— may God’s peace be upon both of
them—confirmed the prophesies about Prophet Muhammad (e)
in the Torah. In Deuteronomy 18:18 & 19, it is written that the Lord said
to Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their
brethren[67][67];
and I will put my words in his mouth[68][68],
and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19And
whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name[69][69],
I myself will require it of him.” In Isaiah 42, Isaiah prophesies about a
chosen “Servant of the Lord” whose prophetic mission would be to all mankind,
unlike the Hebrew prophets whose missions were limited to Israel. “1
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have
put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations... 4He
will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law...11Let the desert and
its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits.” This
particular servant of the Lord is the only one identified with Kedar,
[70][70]
the Arabs.[71][71]
[1][1]
See also, John 4:34, 5:30, 7:16 & 28, 11:42, 13:16, 14:24.
[2][2] Jesus here rejects being called
‘perfectly good’, because perfection belongs only to God. He was ‘good’, but, being the “Son of
man”(Mat. 19:29)—as he liked to call himself—he was capable of error.
[3][3] It should be noted that, in spite of the
Qur’aanic warnings and other statements of Prophet Muhammad himself, some
Muslims have elevated him to semi-divine status by directing their prayers to
or through him.
[4][4] The Biblical story of Jesus turning water
into wine (John 2:1-10) is conspicuously absent from the Qur’aan.
[5][5] See also, Hosea 1:10, of the King
James Version.
[6][6] In the Revised Standard Version, it
states: “And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings
of the earth.” See also Jeremiah 31:9, “...for I am a father to Israel
and Ephraim is my first-born.”
[7][7] See also, Job 2:1 and 38:4-7. Other references to sons of God can also be
found in Genesis 6:2, Deuteronomy 14:1 and Hosea 1:10.
[8][8]
Luke 3:38.
[9][9] The term “begotten” in Old English meant
‘to be fathered by’ and it was used to distinguish between Jesus, who was
supposed to be the literal son of God, from the figurative use of the term
‘son’ for God’s “created sons”.
[10][10] In the New Testament Book of Acts, there
are several outlines of speeches of the early disciples of Jesus, speeches
which date from the year 33 CE, almost forty years before the Four Gospels were
written. In one of these discourses,
Jesus is referred to specifically as andra
apo tou theou: “a man from God.” (Acts 2:22). Not once do these early confessions of faith
use the expression wios tou theou: “Son of God”, but they do speak
several times of Jesus as God’s servant and prophet (Acts 3:13, 22, 23,
26). The significance of these speeches
is that they accurately reflect the original belief and terminology of the
disciples, before the belief and terminology were evolved under the influence
of Roman religion and Greek philosophy.
They reflect a tradition which is older than that used by the Four
Gospels, in which Jesus is not invested with godship or divine sonship. (Bible
Studies From a Muslim Perspective, p. 12).
[11][11] See Acts 14:11-13. In the city of Lystra
(Turkey), Paul and Barnabas preached, and the pagan peoples claimed that they
were gods incarnate. They called
Barnabas the Roman god Zeus, and Paul the Roman god Hermes.
[12][12] Bible
Studies from a Muslim Perspective, p. 15.
[13][13]
Matthew 5:9.
[14][14] Journal
of Theological Studies, vol. 39 and Theology, vol. 91, no. 741.
[15][15] Jesus is quoting Psalms 82:6 “I have
said, ‘Ye are gods: and all of you are the children of the Most High.’ ”
[16][16]
John 10:34.
[17][17]
See also John 17:11.
[18][18] See also, Matthew 2:8.
[19][19] See also Matthew 28:9, “And behold,
Jesus met them and said, ‘Hail!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and
worshipped him.”
[20][20] See, for example, I Samuel 25:23, “When
Abigail saw David, she made haste, and alighted from the ass, and fell
before David on her face, and bowed to the ground.”
[21][21] Gospel
Light, (1936 ed.), p. 353, quoted in Jesus, p. 21.
[22][22] The Gospel of John differs so radically
from the other three Gospels (the Synoptic Gospels) that its authenticity is in
doubt. For example:
|
The Synoptic Gospels
|
The Gospel of John
|
|
Jesus’ public ministry
lasts one year
|
Jesus’ public ministry
lasts for three years
|
|
Jesus speaks in brief
one-liners and parables
|
Jesus speaks in lengthy
philosophic discourses
|
|
Jesus has little to say
about himself
|
Jesus reflects extensively
on his mission and his person
|
|
Casting out money changers
from the temple is the last event of his earthly mission
|
Casting out money changers
from the temple is the first incident of his mission
|
|
Jesus defends the causes of
the poor and the oppressed
|
Jesus has little or nothing
to say about the poor and oppressed
|
|
Jesus is an exorcist
|
Jesus performs no exorcisms
|
|
Jesus is crucified on 15
Nisan
|
Jesus is crucified on 14
Nisan, the day of the Jewish passover sacrifice
|
[23][23] The
Five Gospels, p. 10.
[24][24]
Its plural is logoi and it also means “reason” or “plan”.
[25][25] The
concept defined by the term logos is also found in Indian, Egyptian, and
Persian philosophical and theological systems.
(The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 7, p. 440).
[26][26] Stoics
were philosophers who followed the teacings of the thinker Zeno of Citicum
(4th-3rd century BC).
[27][27] They
called the logos providence, nature, god, and the soul of the universe.
[28][28] According
to Philo and the Middle Platonists, philosophers who interpreted in religious
terms the teachings of the 4th-century-BC Greek master philosopher Plato, the logos
was both immanent in the world and at the same time the transcendent divine
mind. (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 7, p. 440).
[29][29] The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol.
9, p. 386.
[30][30]
Ibid., vol. 7, p.
440.
[31][31] Christ
in Islam, pp.40-1.
[32][32] This is according to the King James
Version and the Authorized Version.
In the Revised Standard Version, the translation of this
verse is rendered, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I make you as God
to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.”
[33][33] The Myth-maker, p. 172.
[34][34] Seventy years later a Christian Church
was reconstituted in Jerusalem, after the city had been devastated by the
Romans for a second time and rebuilt as a Gentile city called Aelia
Capitolina. This new Christian Church
had no continuity with the early ‘Jerusalem Church’ led by James. Its members were Gentiles, as Eusebius
testifies, and its doctrines were those of Pauline Christianity. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History, III. v. 2-3, quoted in The Myth-maker, p. 174).
[35][35] The
Myth-maker, p. 175.
[36][36] The
New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 4, p. 344.
[37][37]
Ibid., vol. 4, p. 344.
[38][38]
Also known as Dynamic or Adoptionist Monarchianism.
[39][39] The
New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 8, p. 244.
[40][40] The
New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 9, p. 208.
[41][41]
Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 556-7.
[42][42] The
New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 1, pp. 549-50.
[43][43] The
Myth of God Incarnate, p. ix.
[44][44] The
Metaphor of God Incarnate, pp. 27-8.
[45][45] Jesus
and the Living Past, p. 39.
[46][46] The
Origin of Christology, p. 136.
[47][47] Christology
in the Making, p. 60.
[48][48] The
Incarnation, p. 74.
[49][49] The
Economist, April 1, 1989, vol. 311, no. 7596, p. 19.
[50][50] King
James Version and The Authorized Version.
[51][51] The
Purpose of Creation, pp. 42-3.
[52][52] Literally “we”, known as the “royal we”
or the “majestic we”, refers to Allaah.
[53][53] Called Saint Mary, she became an object
of veneration in the Christian Church since the apostolic age. She was given the title theotokos, meaning
“God-bearer” or “mother of God” in the 3rd or 4th century. Popular devotion to Mary—in the form of
feasts, devotional services, and the rosary—has played a tremendously important
role in the lives of Roman Catholics and the Orthodox. (The New Encyclopaedia
Britannica, vol. 7. pp. 897-8 and vol. 16, pp. 278-9).
[54][54] The angels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
were made saints and the religious celebration known as Michaelmas (called,
“the Feast of St. Michael and All Saints” by the Anglicans) was dedicated to
them on the 29th of September by the Western churches, and 8th of November by
the Eastern Orthodox Church. The cult of St. Michael began in the Eastern
Church in the 4th century CE. Because of St. Michael’s traditional position as
leader of the heavenly armies, veneration of all angels was eventually
incorporated into his cult. (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 8, p.
95). He became the patron saint of
soldiers.
[55][55]
The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 1, p. 509.
[56][56]
The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 11, p. 146.
[57][57]
Ibid., vol. 3, p. 417.
[58][58] Sunan
Abu Dawud, vol. 1, p. 387, no. 1474.
[59][59] The Iconoclastic Controversy was a
dispute over the use of religious images
(icons) in the Byzantine Empire during the 8th and 9th centuries. The
Iconoclasts (those who rejected images) objected to icon worship for several
reasons, including the Old Testament prohibition against images in the Ten
Commandments (Ex. 20:4) and the possibility of idolatry. The defenders of icon
worship insisted on the symbolic nature of images and on the dignity of created
matter.
In the early church, the making and
veneration of portraits of Christ and the saints were consistently opposed. The
use of icons, nevertheless, steadily gained in popularity, especially in the
eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Toward the end of the 6th century CE and
in the 7th, icons became the object of an officially encouraged cult, often
implying a superstitious belief in their animation. Opposition to such
practices became particularly strong in Asia Minor. In 726, the Byzantine
emperor Leo III took a public stand against icons and by 730 their use was
officially prohibited. This led to the persecution of icon worshippers that
reached great severity in the reign of Leo’s successor, Constantine V (741-775
CE).
In 787, however, the empress Irene
convoked the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea, at which Iconoclasm was
condemned and the use of images was reestablished. The Iconoclasts regained
power in 814 after Leo V’s accession, and the use of icons was again forbidden
at a council (815 CE). The second Iconoclast period ended with the death of the
emperor Theophilus in 842. In 843 his widow finally restored icon veneration, an
event still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Feast of
Orthodoxy. (The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 6, p. 237)
[60][60] “Ahmad” like “Muhammad” is
a derivative from the Arabic root hamd meaning “praise; thanks”. Prophet Muhammad (e)
was also known by this name.
[61][61] The Greek word paraclete is translated
as “Comforter” in the King James Version, and as “Advocate” and “Helper” in
other translations. Parakletos means one
who pleads the cause of another, one who counsels or advises another from deep
concern for the other’s welfare. (Beacon Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 168).
[62][62] See John 14:26, “But the Counselor,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you
all things...” However, in 1st John 4:1,
the term “Spirit” is used to refer to a prophet, “Beloved, believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false
prophets are gone out into the world.”
[63][63] In English, “another” may mean “one more
of the same kind” or “one more of a different kind.” The Greek text of the New
Testament uses the word allon, which is the masculine accusative form of allos:
“another of the same kind”. The Greek
word for “another of a different kind” is heteros, but the New Testament does
not use this word in John 14:16. (Jesus, a Prophet of Islam, pp. 15-6).
[64][64] John the Baptist was filled with the
Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15); Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41); John’s father, Zacharias, was also filled with the
Holy Spirit (Luke:1:67).
[65][65] The Holy Spirit was on Simeon (Luke
2:26) and it descended in the shape of a dove on Jesus (Luke 3:22).
[66][66] Jesus, A Prophet of Islam, p. 13.
[67][67] The brethren of the Jews—who are
themselves descendants of Abraham’s son Isaac—are the Arabs, descendants of
Isaac’s brother Ishmael.
[68][68] The Qur’aan literally means “the
recital”. Prophet Muhammad (e)
taught that the Qur’aan was the words of God. His own explanations and
instructions are referred to as hadeeth.
[69][69] Each of the 114 chapters of the Qur’aan
begins with the prayer: “In the name of Allaah, the Beneficient, the Most
Merciful,” except one, chapter 9.
[70][70] Ishmael’s descendants came to be known
as Arabs, a term which, in Hebrew, meant those who inhabited the ‘arabah or
desert (Dictionary of the Bible, p. 47). The most prominently mentioned of
Ishmael’s twelve sons is Qaydar (Kedar in Hebrew). In some Bible verses Qaydar
is synonymous with Arabs in general (Jeremiah 2:10; Ezekiel 27:21; Isaiah 60:7;
Song of Solomon 1:5).
[71][71]
Jesus, A Prophet of Islam, p. 11.
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