‘The Muslim Jesus’ which aired on ITV August 19th sought to dispel ignorance that many British people have toward Muslim beliefs about Jesus. I have found that many Muslims are also uninformed about the Jesus of the Bible and Christian belief. I am grateful to AWAAZ for the opportunity to present some basics about Jesus from a Christian perspective, and my hope is that it will increase understanding between faith communities and lead to deeper sympathy and tolerance.
The Bible says, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14, New Testament of the Holy Bible) This is one of the most important verses stating the Christian view of Jesus. But what does it mean? Are Christians claiming God morphed Himself into a human being, like some odd Star Trek or Dr. Who plot? God changing into a man? Have Christians taken a man and made him out to be god- like the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses? These are honest questions, but they are not the Bible’s or the Christian view of Jesus. What does this verse mean, then?
This verse (and others) is saying that God somehow took on a full human nature without changing His basic nature as God. It doesn’t explain how God did this. It just presents it as revelation to be received with humility. But could God really do this? Since God can do anything, the better question is ‘Would God do this?’ The Bible says yes, He would, and did, out of love for his wayward creatures. And Christians have accepted that answer with gratitude and joy.
Another verse that helps us understand some of this is something Jesus said: ‘God is spirit’ (John 4:24). By this He was stating that God is not limited by physical laws but has a spiritual nature. It stretches our minds, but if even we can conceive of spiritual beings possessing human bodies (for good or ill), who are we to limit the Almighty Loving and Wise God if He decided to do something much greater? And this is the testimony of the entire Bible- God is somehow able to enter time and space, interact with humans personally, inspire prophets and writers of Scripture, and even come and dwell among us for a time as a real human who is also, at the same time, fully God.
But how could God limit Himself this way? Ultimately the answer to that lies with God, but even a father limits his strength to play with his child. God can limit Himself voluntarily to meet us at our point of need. A better question is ‘Has God really done this?’ The Bible’s testimony is Yes! Christianity is based on the historical event that God did this in Jesus Christ. It is at the heart of the meaning of the title, Messiah (‘Christ’ in Greek), for Jesus. It is at the heart of how Jesus could die on the cross and rise from the dead in complete victory over sin, death, and Satan and all his forces.
The Bible’s portrayal of Jesus being both fully God and fully human makes our normal reasoning inadequate. Questions on The Muslim Jesus program like, ‘who was controlling the world if God was on the cross?’ and others like, ‘How could Jesus be God if he ate, slept, defecated, etc?’ address only half the equation- his humanity. His deity is untouched by such concerns and such questions inadvertently force an un-biblical view of only humanity on Jesus that Christians and the Jesus of the Bible have never claimed.
Christians have not accepted this blindly but have sought to make sure that the historical testimony to these events is sound. The events were recorded in detail by eyewitnesses. The fact of the crucifixion was also confirmed by Jewish and Roman enemies of Jesus. And though enemies did not confirm the resurrection, they did recognize it was the firm belief of the earliest Christians- the ones who knew Jesus personally including his closest companions and his own mother, Mary. The first Christians also understood this to be what Jesus meant when he said, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16) They also came to understand that this was the mission of God’s Messiah as it had been predicted by the prophets hundreds of years before. The Christian Jesus, the Biblical Jesus, revealed Himself to be a true human being and yet so much more.
Thank you for considering this. May God bless you.
Keith Small, Batley Evangelical Church