<\/p>\n
Jesus Christ – Son of God?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u0647\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u064a\u062d \u0627\u0628\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u061f<\/p>\n [ English – \u0625\u0646\u062c\u0644\u064a\u0632\u064a ]<\/p>\n www.islamreligion.com website<\/p>\n \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u062f\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0633\u0644\u0627\u0645<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2013 – 1434<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 that a cat has only nine lives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014Mark Twain, Pudd\u2019nhead Wilson\u2019s Calendar<\/em><\/p>\n Son of God, son of David, or son of Man? \u00a0Jesus is identified as \u201cson of David\u201d fourteen times in the New Testament, starting with the very first verse (Matthew 1:1).\u00a0 The Gospel of Luke documents forty-one generations between Jesus and David, while Matthew lists twenty-six.\u00a0 Jesus, a distant descendant, can only wear the \u201cson of David\u201d title metaphorically.\u00a0 But how then should we understand the title, \u201cson of God?\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cTrilemma,\u201d a common proposal of Christian missionaries, states that \u201cJesus was either a lunatic, a liar, or the Son of God, as he claimed to be.\u201d \u00a0For the sake of argument, let\u2019s agree that Jesus was neither a lunatic nor a liar.\u00a0 Let\u2019s also agree he was precisely<\/em> what he claimed to be.\u00a0 But what, exactly, was that? \u00a0Jesus called himself \u201cSon of Man\u201d frequently, consistently, perhaps even emphatically, but where did he call himself \u201cSon of God?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s back up.\u00a0 What does \u201cSon of God\u201d mean in the first place? \u00a0No legitimate Christian sect suggests that God took a wife and had a child, and most certainly none conceive that God fathered a child through a human mother outside<\/em> of marriage.\u00a0 Furthermore, to suggest that God physically mated with an element of His creation is so far beyond the limits of religious tolerance as to plummet down the sheer cliff of blasphemy, chasing the mythology of the Greeks.<\/p>\n With no rational explanation available within the tenets of Christian doctrine, the only avenue for closure is to claim yet one more doctrinal mystery.\u00a0 Here is where the Muslim recalls the question posed in the Quran:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026How can He have a son when He has no consort?…\u201d (Quran 6:101)<\/p>\n \u2026while others shout, \u201cBut God can do anything!\u201d \u00a0The Islamic position, however, is that God doesn\u2019t do inappropriate things, only Godly<\/em> things.\u00a0 In the Islamic viewpoint, God\u2019s character is integral with His being and consistent with His majesty.<\/p>\n So again, what does \u201cSon of God\u201d mean? \u00a0And if Jesus Christ has exclusive rights to the term, why does the Bible record, \u201c…for I (God) am a father to Israel, and Ephraim (i.e. Israel) is my firstborn\u201d (Jeremiah 31:9) and, \u201c…Israel is My son, even my firstborn\u201d (Exodus 4:22)? \u00a0Taken in the context of Romans 8:14, which reads, \u201cFor as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,\u201d many scholars conclude that \u201cSon of God\u201d is metaphorical and, as with christos, <\/em>doesn\u2019t imply exclusivity.\u00a0 After all, The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion<\/em> confirms that in Jewish idiom \u201cSon of God\u201d is clearly metaphorical.\u00a0 To quote, \u201cSon of God, term occasionally found in Jewish literature, biblical and post-biblical, but nowhere implying physical descent from the Godhead.\u201d [1]<\/a><\/sup> \u00a0Hasting\u2019s Bible Dictionary<\/em> comments:<\/p>\n In Semitic usage \u201csonship\u201d is a conception somewhat loosely employed to denote moral rather than physical or metaphysical relationship.\u00a0 Thus \u201csons of Belial\u201d (Jg 19:22 etc.) are wicked men, not descendants of Belial; and in the NT the \u201cchildren of the bridechamber\u201d are wedding guests.\u00a0 So a \u201cson of God\u201d is a man, or even a people, who reflect the character of God.\u00a0 There is little evidence that the title was used in Jewish circles of the Messiah, and a sonship which implied more than a moral relationship would be contrary to Jewish monotheism. [2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n And in any case, the list of candidates for \u201cson of God\u201d begins with Adam, as per Luke 3:38: \u201c…Adam, which was the son of God.\u201d<\/p>\n Those who rebut by quoting Matthew 3:17 (\u201cAnd suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, \u2018This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased\u2019\u201d) have overlooked the point that the Bible describes many people, Israel and Adam included, as \u201csons of God.\u201d \u00a0Both II Samuel 7:13-14 and I Chronicles 22:10 read, \u201cHe (Solomon) shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.\u00a0 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.\u201d<\/p>\n Entire nations are referred to as sons, or children of God.\u00a0 Examples include:<\/p>\n Genesis 6:2, \u201cThat the sons of God<\/em> saw the daughters of men\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Genesis 6:4, \u201cThere were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God<\/em> came in to the daughters of men\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Deuteronomy 14:1, \u201cYe are the children<\/em> of the Lord your God.\u201d<\/p>\n Job 1:6, \u201cNow there was a day when the sons of God<\/em> came to present themselves before the LORD\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Job 2:1, \u201cAgain there was a day when the sons of God<\/em> came to present themselves before the LORD\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Job 38:7, \u201cWhen the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of <\/em>God shouted for joy?\u201d<\/p>\n Philippians 2:15, \u201cthat you may become blameless and harmless, children of God<\/em> without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n 1 John 3:1-2, \u201cBehold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God<\/em>! \u2026 Beloved, now we are children of God<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says, \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.\u201d\u00a0 Later in Matthew 5:45, Jesus prescribed to his followers the attainment of noble attributes, \u201cthat you may be sons of your Father in heaven.\u201d \u00a0Not exclusively his<\/em> Father, but their<\/em> Father \u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christian clergy openly acknowledge that Jesus never called himself \u201cson of God,\u201d however they claim that others did.\u00a0 This too has an answer.<\/p>\n Investigating the manuscripts that make up the New Testament, one finds that the alleged \u201csonship\u201d of Jesus is based upon the mistranslation of two Greek words\u2014pais<\/em> and huios<\/em>, both of which are translated as \u201cson.\u201d \u00a0However, this translation appears disingenuous.\u00a0 The Greek word pais<\/em> derives from the Hebrew ebed<\/em>, which bears the primary meaning of servant, or slave.\u00a0 Hence, the primary translation of pais<\/em> theou<\/em> is \u201cservant of God,\u201d with \u201cchild\u201d or \u201cson of God\u201d being an extravagant embellishment.\u00a0 According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, <\/em>\u201cThe Hebrew original of pais<\/em> in the phrase pais theou<\/em>, i.e., ebed<\/em>, carries a stress on personal relationship and has first the sense of \u2018slave.\u2019\u201d [3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This is all the more interesting because it dovetails perfectly with the prophecy of Isaiah 42:1, upheld in Matthew 12:18: \u201cBehold, My servant [i.e., from the Greek pais<\/em>] whom I have chosen, My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased\u00a0\u2026\u201d Whether a person reads the King James Version, New King James Version, New Revised Standard Version, or New International Version, the word is \u201cservant\u201d in all cases.\u00a0 Considering that the purpose of revelation is to make the truth of God clear, one might think this passage an unsightly mole on the face of the doctrine of divine sonship.\u00a0 After all, what better place for God to have declared Jesus His son? \u00a0What better place to have said, \u201cBehold, My son whom I have begotten \u2026\u201d? \u00a0But He didn\u2019t<\/em> say that.\u00a0 For that matter, the doctrine lacks biblical support in the recorded words of both Jesus and God, and there is good reason to wonder why.\u00a0 Unless, that is, Jesus was nothing more than the servant of God this passage describes.<\/p>\n Regarding the religious use of the word ebed<\/em>, \u201cThe term serves as an expression of humility used by the righteous before God.\u201d [4]<\/a><\/sup> \u00a0Furthermore, \u201cAfter 100 B.C. pais theou<\/em> more often means \u201cservant of God,\u201d as when applied to Moses, the prophets, or the three children (Bar. 1:20; 2:20; Dan. 9:35).\u201d [5]<\/a><\/sup> \u00a0A person can easily get into doctrinal quicksand: \u201cOf eight instances of this phrase, one refers to Israel (Lk. 1:54), two refer to David (Lk\u00a01:69; Acts 4:25), and the other five to Jesus (Mt. 12:18; Acts 3:13, 26; 4:27, 30)\u2026. In the few instances in which Jesus is called pais theou<\/em> we obviously have early tradition.\u201d [6]<\/a><\/sup> \u00a0So Jesus did not have exclusive rights to this term, and where it was employed the term \u201cobviously\u201d stemmed from \u201cearly tradition.\u201d \u00a0Furthermore, the translation, if impartial, should identify all individuals to whom the phrase was applied in similar manner.\u00a0 Such, however, has not been the case.\u00a0 Whereas pais<\/em> has been translated \u201cservant\u201d in reference to David (Acts 4:25 and Luke 1:69) and Israel (Luke 1:54), it is translated \u201cSon\u201d or \u201choly child\u201d in reference to Jesus (Acts 3:13; 3:26; 4:27; 4:30).\u00a0 Such preferential treatment is canonically consistent, but logically flawed.<\/p>\n Lastly an interesting, if not key, religious parallel is uncovered: \u201cThus the Greek phrase pais tou theou<\/em>, \u2018servant of God,\u2019 has exactly the same connotation as the Muslim name Abdallah\u2014the \u2018servant of Allah.\u2019\u201d [7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The symmetry is all the more shocking, for the Holy Qur\u2019an relates Jesus as having identified himself as just this\u2014Abdallah (abd<\/em> being Arabic for slave or servant, Abd-Allah [also spelled \u201cAbdullah\u201d] meaning slave or servant of Allah).\u00a0 According to the story, when Mary returned to her family with the newborn Jesus, they accused her of being unchaste.\u00a0 Speaking from the cradle in a miracle that gave credence to his claims, baby Jesus defended his mother\u2019s virtue with the words, \u201cInni Abdullah \u2026<\/em>\u201d which means, \u201cI am indeed a servant of Allah \u2026\u201d (TMQ 19:30)<\/p>\n Translation of the New Testament Greek huios<\/em> to \u201cson\u201d (in the literal meaning of the word) is similarly flawed.\u00a0 On page 1210 of Kittel and Friedrich\u2019s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament<\/em>, the meaning of huios<\/em> journeys from the literal (Jesus the son of Mary), to mildly metaphorical (believers as sons of the king [Matt. 17:25-26]), to politely metaphorical (God\u2019s elect being sons of Abraham [Luke 19:9]), to colloquially metaphorical (believers as God\u2019s sons [Matt. 7:9 and Heb 12:5]), to spiritually metaphorical (students as sons of the Pharisees [Matt. 12:27, Acts 23:6]), to biologically metaphorical (as in John 19:26, where Jesus describes his favorite disciple to Mary as \u201cher son\u201d), to blindingly metaphorical as \u201csons of the kingdom\u201d (Matt. 8:12), \u201csons of peace\u201d (Luke. 10:6), \u201csons of light\u201d (Luke. 16:8), and of everything from \u201csons of this world\u201d (Luke 16:8) to \u201csons of thunder\u201d (Mark 3:17).\u00a0 It is as if this misunderstood word for \u201cson\u201d is waving a big sign on which is painted in bold letters: METAPHOR! \u00a0Or, as Stanton eloquently puts it, \u201cMost scholars agree that the Aramaic or Hebrew word behind \u2018son\u2019 is \u2018servant.\u2019 \u00a0So as the Spirit descends on Jesus at his baptism, Jesus is addressed by the voice from heaven in terms of Isaiah 42:1: \u2018Behold my servant \u2026 my chosen \u2026 I have put my Spirit upon him.\u2019 \u00a0So although Mark 1:11 and 9:7 affirm that Jesus is called by God to a special messianic task, the emphasis is on Jesus\u2019 role as the anointed servant, rather than as Son of God.\u201d [8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1] Werblowsky, R. J. Zwi and Geoffrey Wigoder. p. 653.<\/p>\n [2] Hastings, James. Dictionary of The Bible. p. 143.<\/p>\n [3] Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich. p. 763.<\/p>\n [4] Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich. p. 763.<\/p>\n [5] Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich. p. 765.<\/p>\n [6] Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich. p. 767.<\/p>\n [7] Carmichael, Joel. pp. 255-6.<\/p>\n [8] Stanton, Graham N. p. 225.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesus Christ – Son of God? \u0647\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u064a\u062d \u0627\u0628\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u061f [ English – \u0625\u0646\u062c\u0644\u064a\u0632\u064a ] www.islamreligion.com website \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u062f\u064a\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0633\u0644\u0627\u0645 2013 – 1434 \u201cOne of the most striking differences between...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,48,153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comparative-religion","category-questions-and-answers","category-religious-studies-and-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3011,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009\/revisions\/3011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}