Dear friends, this will be our first in a series of posts about the divine title, “the Son of God”. We pray that it will be a blessing to you to better understand what the Bible says about who Jesus really is.
Introduction
As a Muslim, what do you think when you hear Christians refer to Jesus as the Son of God?
Does this cause confusion, or, worse still, are you offended by the title?
What is your understanding of the sense in which the title is used?
Have you been told that Christians believe that Mary was God’s consort?
Perhaps you have heard the saying, “If God was small enough to fit inside the human brain, He would not be big enough to be God.” While we acknowledge that the eternal Father-Son relationship of God the Father and Jesus the Son is impossible for us to fully comprehend in our limited human understanding, we must grapple with it to understand who Jesus is according to the Bible. The purpose of this series is to explain the meaning of the title Son of God, particularly concerning Jesus’ divinity and how we ought to respond as created humans. Since, as Christians, we believe that the Bible is God’s inerrant Word, we will reference Bible passages to make our case. We encourage you to prayerfully study these verses (Bible Gateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A23-24&version=ESV).
What we mean (and what we do not mean) when we say, “Son of God”.
As a Muslim, you may have been told that Jesus is God’s Son in a biological sense. The Islamic claim that Jesus is God’s Son in a biological sense is disingenuous because the Bible does not teach that. Instead, the Christian Bible teaches that Jesus relates to God as a son relates to his father. For the Muslim to take the divine title, Son of God, out of context in that way is also somewhat hypocritical since a traveller is referred to in several places in the Qur’an as a “Son of the Road” (lit. “and son of the road” - waibna alssabeeli. S.2:177; cf. 4:36; 8:41; 9:60). And the Qur’an is often referred to as “Ummm-al-Kitab”, the ‘Mother of all Books’. However, no one reading these passages, or referring to the Qur'an in that way, responsibly concludes that the road gave birth to a son, or that a woman gave birth to a book. Furthermore, perhaps you have heard of someone from Egypt referred to as a “Son of the Nile.” Yet does anyone seriously think that someone from Egypt could be a biological son of the Nile? Of course not. An example in the Bible is when Jesus refers to two of his disciples as “Sons of Thunder” (Gk. Boanerges; Mark 3:17). No one reading this Bible passage would take from it that thunder literally gave birth to James and John. Do read on as we consider this divine title, the Son of God.
The Christian Bible teaches that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus. I am sure you know that Surah Maryam also states that Mary was a virgin. In the gospel accounts (the Injil), the writers describe how the Holy Spirit (Gk, pneuma, which is the equivalent of the Hebrew word, ruach) caused Mary to conceive. The Qur’an says that Allah sent his Ruach (wind or spirit) to Maryam. Clearly, according to both our primary sources, there was no biological means by which Jesus was conceived. So, at least on these two points, the Christians and the Muslims can agree. Importantly, the Bible plainly states that Jesus' birth was a supernatural act; a miracle brought about by the creator-God himself (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:26-33). One question then must be, why does Islam teach that Christians believe that Mary was God’s consort? For Christians, any such suggestion would be blasphemous and highly offensive.
The Importance of Jesus’ Miraculous Birth
Another important question is, what was the purpose of Jesus’ miraculous birth? You see, the Christian Bible teaches that God the Son took on the form of a sinless human and came to earth to pay the price for sin. God’s prophets prophesied this of Jesus way back in the Old Testament. It was God’s plan all along (Genesis 3:15; cf. I John 3:5; Luke 24:46ff; cf. Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22). Sin is not just a ‘slip’ or a mistake. Instead, sin is an abomination before the Holy God, Yahweh. Sin is punishable by death – physical and spiritual death (Genesis 2:17; cf. Romans 6:23; Proverbs 6:16-19)—why? Because sin is a failure to meet the standard God expects of us. It is of the utmost importance that you grasp this fact: God’s standard is perfection.
Friends, here’s the scary thing: the Bible clearly teaches that the perfection that God demands of His creation is not just that of an outward conforming to what He commands, but an inner obedience of the heart. God will not simply judge our speech and our actions, but also our thoughts. God declared through the prophet that “The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4b). The Bible expands on that, declaring that if person hates his brother, he has in fact murdered him in his heart, and that the punishment is hell (1 John 3:15; Revelation 21:8). No number of good deeds can outweigh our bad deeds. God said that all our efforts at good deeds are like a "polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6). Trying to clean your life up to obey God is offensive to Him.
That leads us to our next question: Since God’s standard is so high, what can we do to bridge the gap between us and a perfectly holy God? In the book of Job, Job expresses his longing for a mediator, someone to put one hand on him, and one hand on his perfectly, holy God (Job 9:33). A mediator is someone who can bring peace between two parties. Mankind has always needed a mediator, a great high priest. We need someone who is righteous (morally perfect), to stand between us and the righteous and holy God (Deut. 32:4). Who could that be? It certainly can’t be you, or any one of us —we are all sinners!
Conclusion
Although the meaning is much deeper than this, what we can say is that the term Son is used in part to help us in our limited human understanding to comprehend that Jesus Christ came from God. John 1:18 says this of Jesus: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made him known.” Did you catch that? Jesus is at the Father’s side; Jesus is God. Again, this fact must be grappled with, to understand the reality of who Jesus is. This also raises the question as to what our response ought to be. So, please do also read parts two and three on this topic and sign up to receive our Newsletter. Meantime, we would like to leave you with three questions:
Thanks for reading. Until next time, God bless you!
Bibliography:
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Al-Qaradawi, Y., 1999. The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (Al-Halal Wal Haram Fil Islam). Indianapolis: American Trust Publications.
Bible, T. H., 2007. The MacArthur Study Bible. ESV ed. Wheaton(Illinois): Crossway.
Bible, T. H., n.d. Bible Gateway. [Online]
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