IS
JESUS THE SON OF GOD
Perhaps no other name is so well known in the world as the
name of Jesus the Messiah. Everywhere there are people who acknowledge the
Messiah as God’s great gift through whom He Has blessed all mankind.
Who, then, is this Jesus the Messiah, the He is God’s
great gift for mankind? Here we wish to consider briefly only Christian and
Muslim responses to this question. Through this consideration we hope to clear
some misunderstandings which may exist between these two communities in regard
to Jesus the Messiah.
Christians say that Jesus is the Son of God. Muslims say
that Jesus is a great prophet like all other great prophets. They ask: “How
can God have a son? Who, then, is God’s wife through whom God has a son? God
has no wife, nor does He have a son. To say that God has a son is to be guilty
of the sin of shirk, the sin of associating a partner with Allah. God is
one. He alone rules. He has no son as an associate.”
While discussing who Jesus is, how often helpful
conversation between Muslim and Christian ceases at the point of Jesus’
Sonship. Too often the Christian fails to explain why he calls Jesus the Son of
God. Too often the Muslim fails to investigate for himself what the Holy Injil
(the New Testament) means when Jesus is called the Son of God. Regarding this
matter, may we only present briefly the following points:
Yet the Muslin may ask: “Are
these passages really in the Injil? Have they not been inserted in later times
so that the Inkul has become corrupted?” To such questions may we only reply:
“The Injil is God’s Holy Book. Hs has preserved it and He will preserve
it.” It is wrong to conclude that since Jesus is called the Son of God,
therefore the Injil has been corrupted.
In all these ways Jesus is not the
Son of God according to the Injil. To think that Jesus is called the Son of God
in any or all these ways is to misunderstand the Injil. Again let each one
examine the matter for himself with the intelligence that God has given him.
The Injil states that God has such
a Son. The Injil states that this Sin is also called God’s Word. As God’s
Word is eternal, so also His Son is eternal. The eternal Son of God is thus the
eternal Word of God, God’s expression of Himselft.
On the first Christmas Day, almost
two thousand years ago, this eternal Son came from heaven into our world.
Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, God’s eternal Son became man and
prophet. He became man by being born of the Virgin Mary.
The angel of Jibra’il told Mary
that He should be called Jesus. But the angel Jibra’il also told her:
“He shall be great and shall be called the Highest”(Luke 1:32). This
is why Jesus, though a prophet, is more than a prophet. This is why Jesus is
called Jesus, which means “Saviour from sin”. He is the Son of God. He is
also the Son of Man.
If God’s eternal Word can become
a book, why cannot His eternal Word become a man?
Centuries before the birth of
Jesus a great prophet, despairing over the sin of mankind, cried out to God:
“O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down” (Bible, Isaiah 64:1).
In Jesus, the eternal Son of God, God has fulfilled the prayer of this prophet.
Behold Jesus, and you will behold God’s greatness and glory. Behold Jesus, and
you will behold God, most merciful and compassionate, present with men. Learn
from Jesus God’s love and concern to save you and all mankind.
Many of you already possess the Bible or Injil or a part of it. Read it once more with care and with prayer. Open your heart and mind to its message. It will prove a great blessing to you. Such is our prayer for you.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.