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Pastor Daniel Massieh has narrowed down the objections that many Muslims have against Christianity to a simple list of five:

  1. The Bible has been corrupted;
  2. Jesus is not God;
  3. The crucifixion never happened;
  4. The Trinity is blasphemy;

And today, we address the fifth objection instilled in Muslims around the world that clouds their understanding of the Gospel:

5.   Jesus is not the Son of God

 

When taken literally, many Muslims misunderstand the Biblical definition of “Son of God” to mean that God came down and had a physical relationship with Mary (which they, understandably, view as blasphemy).

But when we take a closer look, we see that 1)  God is intelligent; 2)  He has a Word;  3)  He sent His Word to us; and 4)  His Word became flesh (John 1:1-14)

Now, God is able to do much greater things than any of us can.  This is easy to agree upon.

I wrote a book.  I put my intelligent thoughts into words within my book.  Once my thoughts and ideas were published and distributed, did these words leave my mind?  Of course not!

Even more so with God.  God’s Word became flesh in Jesus and lived here on earth as His expression of love for all people; and He called this Word-made-flesh the “Son of God”.

Likewise, if you look at me and hear my voice, you will know right away that I am a “son of Egypt”.  This has nothing to do with my mother and the nation of Egypt coming together physically, but it is actually figurative language to describe who I am.

Similarly, when we look at Jesus and hear His words, we know that Jesus is the Son of God.  He has God’s power.

Whenever we discuss this with our Muslim friends and neighbors, we need to distinguish between the flesh and God.  The Bible does not say that the flesh is God, but rather that God’s Word became flesh.  This is an important distinction to make.

Even Muslims can recognize that God manifested Himself as a burning bush when He spoke to Moses.  If He can speak to us through a burning bush, then of course He could speak to us through human flesh and bone.

All this to say – Just as the fire in the bush was, indeed, fire and yet still the Word of God – Jesus is completely human and completely God simultaneously.  We see His humanity in that He grew in stature and in wisdom, he ate like us, He needed sleep like us, He laughed and cried just like us.  Yet He raised people from the dead, healed the sick, calmed the sea and walked on water as God.

One metaphor that helps explain this is this:  If the President of the United States traded in His suit and tie for jeans and a sweatshirt and spend the day with a homeless family, he would still be the President of the United States, with all the rights, authority and responsibilities that come with his office.  He would still be the “Leader of the Free World” even while sitting alongside homeless children.  One is not exclusive of the other.

So, if God’s Word came to us in the flesh as God’s Son, Jesus, then Jesus is God and He is eternal – both according to the Bible and even the Qur’an (4:171).

For more information about Daniel’s ministry, visit OpenTheGates.org