The question "Is Jesus God?" makes it clear that various people have different opinions on the subject. As will be evident, the Bible presents a clear answer. Muslim misunderstandings concerning it have mainly arisen because Christians at the time of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) had departed from the truth themselves. They took each other's words and opinions as being more important than God's word and even today many of us Christians nullify with our lives what we profess to believe.
A number of liberal, so called Christian scholars, who do not believe in fundamental Christian teachings, confuse thousands if not millions of people today. Many are misled by the great sounding titles those learned men have before and after their names and become blind to the fact that those scholars do not base their teaching on the Bible. It fills me with great sadness to see how much confusion our sins have caused. Since I am one of the scholars, in the sense that I also call myself a Christian, I would like on their behalf to ask your forgiveness for not communicating and living out the Gospel as we should have. May the Lord show mercy on us!
"Messiah" is one of the titles of Jesus. The Quran is right to speak out against this false teaching which Christians also condemn. The view described in that verse was held by a group called the "Patripassionists" during the early days of Christianity. They identified God with Jesus to the extent that they spoke of the sufferings of the Father.
It is perfectly right to say that all Ahmadiyyas are Muslims but you would encounter great opposition if you were to say that all Muslims are Ahmadiyyas. The words "God" and "Muslims" are more comprehensive, including more than the words "Jesus" and "Ahmadiyyas." The teachings of Muslims in general and of Ahmadiyyas are essentially the same. Both believe in the five pillars of Islam. However, some aspects of their doctrines are different. Ahmadiyyas would also say that their role within Islam is different from the rest. They understand themselves to be a renewal movement that is very missionary minded.
Again, the Christians would wholeheartedly support the Quranic outcry against this heresy that was falsely promoted by some Christians during the first few centuries of Christianity. There is not one single verse in the Bible that would support the view that Mary is God!
When reading Quranic verses as quoted before, one easily gets the false impression that a mere man has been made into God. However, the Biblical teaching as we now shall see speaks about the very opposite.
The Bible teaches that Jesus is God in human flesh! This has already become clear by studying the Trinity. (A free article on this subject is available from the author upon request.) Moreover, there is further evidence to verify that incredible conviction.
In the following list the corresponding extracts from the Bible will be listed one after the other. Those verses which are taken from the Old Testament, the Torah, are even more astonishing since several hundred years had passed until they were referred to Jesus Christ!
In the year that King Uzziah died, I (Isaiah) saw the LORD seated on a throne...And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
For this is what the LORD says..."Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear."
...that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,..and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,..
"They will look on me (God), the one they have pierced,...."
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said:"Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."
They will make war against the Lamb (Jesus, see John1:29), but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings..."
..God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords..."
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was, I am!"
By saying "I am" and not "I was," Jesus is using the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses! (Exodus 3:14) In this way he expresses his oneness with God and the eternity of his being.
And now, Father, glorify me (Jesus) in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus said: "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Then Jesus said to them, "How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."? David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?"
what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world?Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, `I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.
But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
The Jews understood correctly that Jesus was not just speaking about being one with the Father in purpose but in essence or nature. Neither is Jesus saying that he and the Father would be identical persons for the Greek construction is neuter, meaning "one thing" not "one person." The context, verses 34-39, shows clearly that Jesus spoke about himself differently than others who were called "gods" in the law, for his audience still wanted to seize him. Firstly, Jesus answered their charge of blasphemy by turning their argument against themselves. Secondly, he sets himself apart as unique from others who were called "gods". Unlike them, he does the works which are only done by his Father. The context of John 17:21 shows that the oneness there has to be understood relationally.
Jesus is omnipotent, all powerful, like God.
Through him (Jesus) all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
He (Jesus) is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
All the nations will be gathered before him (Jesus), and he will separate the people one from another...Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven. ...Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Thomas said to him (Jesus): "My Lord and my God! Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me you have believed...."
Jesus said: "You call me `Teacher' and `Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am.
A further conformation of the Deity of Jesus is found in the fact that the Greek word, "Kyrios," translated "Lord" in 2 Peter 3:18, "was an accepted title of Deity in the terminology of Israel, the Roman empire, and Christianity." ("Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Volume III, Book II, by K.S Wuest, Eerdmans, Michigan, page 32) This profound truth is reflected in that the very common Hebrew name for God , "Jahwe" in the Septuagint, the first Greek translation of the Old Testament dating from the 3rd century B.C, is also rendered "Kyrios," meaning "Lord!"
In the light of all these strong evidences one must ask the question, "How is it possible that God can condescend to take on human form? After all, God has no flesh and bones, does not need to eat, He never gets weary, he does not pray, he does not die like Jesus did, who would have ruled the universe while he was dead?
(Jesus) who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!
...the Father is greater than I.
Some may object by saying it is impossible for God to enter into humanity. But what about the belief that God made himself known through the Quran? Consider also the Ahmadiyya doctrine that God's attributes are manifested in persons. Or think about the story in Surah 20, Ta Ha, verses 11-13, where God speaks to Moses from within the fire? Is there anyhthing impossible for the Lord?
"Does not the mind of man pervade his entire being, and yet find expression through one part only, namely, the tongue? Does any say on that account that the mind has degraded itself?"
Among all the the founders of the main religions in this world Jesus is the only one that claimed to be God in human flesh! In Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism the teachings, not the teacher are most important. However, when it comes to Christianity we find Jesus Christ, the teacher, not his teaching at its very centre!
"Never again will I (God) curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.
Surely I (David) was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.
The doctrine of original sin does not mean that human beings are incapable of doing anything good (Romans 2:14 and Acts 10:31). However, it means that we commit wrong things inevitably, unavoidably, because it is our nature to do wrong. From the polluted spring of our hearts flow streams of contaminated behavior.
Someone may say, "Well, the Bible has been changed, these verses must have been corrupted." There are numerous reasons why this can not be the case as explained in the articles, "The History of the Quran and the Injil," and, "Quran confirms: Bible has not been changed." For now it shall be sufficient to ask the question why anyone should be interested in changing the above mentioned verses for the worse? Would it not be much better to stress that human beings are not that bad after all? To change the already desperate fact that basically good people commit sins into saying that men's nature is already corrupted by sin at his birth, renders him completely helpless. For someone who is basically good and occasionally does wrong there is hope that his good deeds will cover the bad ones. However, to be born as a sinner leaves no hope at all unless God himself intervenes.
Someone else may object, "the Christians have changed theses verses in order to justify that Jesus is God who became a man and died for our sins on the cross." The problem with this view is that it ignores the fact that the teaching of original sin is firmly rooted in the Scriptures of the Jews which are part of the Christian Bible. So far not many of them believe in Jesus as their savior. Why and how would they have changed these verses?
Let us look at the doctrine of original sin, that man is born with a sinful nature from a practical point of view.
Those among us who have children shall consider this question: "Do we need to teach our children how to do good or how to to bad?" Being a father of three children myself I can emphatically say, "of course, I need to teach my children to do good things, because the bad things they do automatically, they come to them very naturally, inevitably, unavoidably!" I am absolutely sure that my experience is shared by all other parents.
He who follows God faithfully and regularly suddenly realizes that even many of his his good acts are like filthy rags before the Almighty one.
As we read on in the account it becomes clear that when Adam and Eve sinned they did not immediately die. God obviously was referring to their spiritual state. Their nature, their essence became evil and as such they died in the sense that God who is Holy and Just could not have a relationship with them anymore. And so it is up until today.
Muslims object to the fact that man has inherited sin from Adam even though modern, non Christian thinkers, like Sigmund Freud support this view.
What do different religions offer in order to get forgiveness of this terrible disease called sin? They basically command us to believe in God and to do good works? Christianity again is unique in that it says we have to believe in what God has done in Jesus and out of thankfulness do good works.
Can you see the subtle difference that has an incredible impact? Even the devil believes God exists (James) but that does not save him! In no other religion God has done something himself in order to save men from their sins. In that incredible truth lies the reason why God became a man in Jesus.
The Bible (Leviticus 11:45) and the Quran (Surah 59, Al Hashr, verse 23) tell us that God is holy. That means He is separated from anything that is unclean, bad, and hypocritical, in other words from anything that is sin. The Bible (Isaiah 59:1-2) tells us that sin separates man from God. Therefore, sin is not just a minor mistake, but absolutely intolerable in the sight of God!
Another reason why sin has to be treated seriously, is because God is just (Deuteronomy 32:4, Surah 95, Al Tin, verse 8). The wages for sin is death according to God's law. Once a person is dead he can not do anything, he is completely helpless. That becomes clear by the fact that God will not judge according to our good or bad works alone (Romans 3:23-24, Surah 35, Fatir, verse 45). He loves us so much (John 3:16) that in His mercy he chooses to forgive our sins. But if He would forgive our sins without punishment, then in His mercy He would become unjust!
After paying the penalty for sin through His death, Jesus rose again. Consequently The death and resurrection of Jesus are of the utmost importance for Christians!