<\/p>\n
The Bible Denies the Divinity of Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n www.islamreligion.com website<\/p>\n 2013 – 1434<\/p>\n Christians and Muslims both believe in Jesus, love him, and honor him.\u00a0 They are, however, divided over the question of his divinity.<\/p>\n Fortunately, this difference can be resolved if we refer the question to both the Bible and the Quran, because, both the Bible and the Quran teach that Jesus is not God.<\/p>\n It is clear enough to everyone that the Quran denies the divinity of Jesus, so we do not need to spend much time explaining that.<\/p>\n On the other hand, many people misunderstand the Bible; they feel that the belief in Jesus as God is so widespread that it must have come from the Bible.\u00a0 This article shows quite conclusively that the Bible does not teach that.<\/p>\n The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 In the Bible God is always someone else other than Jesus.<\/p>\n Some will say that something Jesus said or something he did while on the earth proves that he is God.\u00a0 We will show that the disciples never came to the conclusion that Jesus is God.\u00a0 And those are people who lived and walked with Jesus and thus knew first hand what he said and did.\u00a0 Furthermore, we are told in the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible that the disciples were being guided by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 If Jesus is God, surely they should know it.\u00a0 But they did not.\u00a0 They kept worshipping the one true God who was worshipped by Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (see Acts 3:13).<\/p>\n All of the writers of the Bible believed that God was not Jesus.\u00a0 The idea that Jesus is God did not become part of Christian belief until after the Bible was written, and took many centuries to become part of the faith of Christians.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Matthew, Mark, and Luke, authors of the first three Gospels, believed that Jesus was not God (see Mark 10:18 and Matthew 19:17).\u00a0 They believed that he was the son of God in the sense of a righteous person.\u00a0 Many others too, are similarly called sons of God (see Matthew 23:1-9).<\/p>\n Paul, believed to be the author of some thirteen or fourteen letters in the Bible, also believed that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 For Paul, God first created Jesus, then used Jesus as the agent by which to create the rest of creation (see Colossians 1:15 and 1 Corinthians 8:6).\u00a0 Similar ideas are found in the letter to the Hebrews, and also in the Gospel and Letters of John composed some seventy years after Jesus.\u00a0 In all of these writings, however, Jesus is still a creature of God and is therefore forever subservient to God (see 1 Corinthians 15:28).<\/p>\n Now, because Paul, John, and the author of Hebrews believed that Jesus was God\u2019s first creature, some of what they wrote clearly show that Jesus was a pre-existent powerful being.\u00a0 This is often misunderstood to mean that he must have been God.\u00a0 But to say that Jesus was God is to go against what these very authors wrote.\u00a0 Although these authors had this later belief that Jesus is greater than all creatures, they also believed that he was still lesser than God.\u00a0 In fact, John quotes Jesus as saying: \u201c…the Father is greater than I.\u201d<\/strong> (John 14:28).\u00a0 And Paul declares that the head of every woman is her husband, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God (see 1 Corinthians 11:3).<\/p>\n Therefore, to find something in these writings and claim that these teach that Jesus is God is to misuse and misquote what those authors are saying.\u00a0 What they wrote must be understood in the context of their belief that Jesus is a creature of God as they have already clearly said.<\/p>\n So we see then, that some of the later writers had a higher view of Jesus, but none of the writers of the Bible believed that Jesus is God.\u00a0 The Bible clearly teaches that there is only one true God, the one whom Jesus worshipped (see John 17: 3).<\/p>\n In the rest of this article we will explore the Bible in more depth, and deal with the passages which are most often misquoted as proofs of Jesus\u2019 divinity.\u00a0 We will show, with God\u2019s help, that these do not mean what they are so often used to prove.<\/p>\n Jesus performed many miraculous wonders, and he without doubt said a lot of wonderful things about himself. \u00a0Some people use what he said and did as a proof that he was God.\u00a0 But his original disciples who lived and walked with him, and were eyewitnesses to what he said and did, never reached this conclusion.<\/p>\n The Acts of the Apostles in the Bible details the activity of the disciples over a period of thirty years after Jesus was lifted up to heaven.\u00a0 Throughout this period they never refer to Jesus as God.\u00a0 They continually and consistently use the title God to refer to someone else other than Jesus.<\/p>\n Peter stood up with the eleven disciples and addressed the crowd saying:<\/p>\n \u201cMen of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.\u201d (Acts 2:22).<\/p>\n It was God, therefore, who did the miracles through Jesus to convince people that Jesus was backed by God.\u00a0 Peter did not see the miracles as proof that Jesus is God.<\/p>\n In fact, the way Peter refers to God and to Jesus makes it clear that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 For he always turns the title God away from Jesus.\u00a0 Take the following references for example:<\/p>\n \u201cGod has raised this Jesus…\u201d (Acts 2:32)<\/p>\n \u201cGod has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.\u201d (Acts 2:36)<\/p>\n In both passages, the title God is turned away from Jesus.\u00a0 So why he did this, if Jesus was God?<\/p>\n For Peter, Jesus was a servant of God.\u00a0 Peter said:<\/p>\n \u201cGod raised up his servant…\u201d (Acts 3:26)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The title servant refers to Jesus.\u00a0 This is clear from a previous passage where Peter declared:<\/p>\n \u201cThe God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.\u201d (Acts 3:13)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Peter must have known that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never spoke of a Triune God.\u00a0 They always spoke of God as the only God.\u00a0 Here, as in Matthew 12:18, Jesus is the servant of God.\u00a0 Matthew tells us that Jesus was the same servant of God spoken of in Isaiah 42:1.\u00a0 So, according to Matthew and Peter, Jesus is not God, but God\u2019s servant.\u00a0 The Old Testament repeatedly says that God is alone (e.g. Isaiah 45:5).<\/p>\n All of the disciples of Jesus held this view.\u00a0 In Acts 4:24 we are told that the believers prayed to God saying:<\/p>\n \u201c…they raised their voices together in prayer to God. \u2018Sovereign Lord,\u2019 they said, \u2018you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n It is clear that the one they were praying to was not Jesus, because, two verses later, they referred to Jesus as<\/p>\n \u201c…your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.\u201d (Acts 4:27)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n If Jesus was God, his disciples should have said this clearly.\u00a0 Instead, they kept preaching that Jesus was God\u2019s Christ.\u00a0 We are told in Acts:<\/p>\n \u201cDay after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.\u201d (Acts 5:42)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Greek word \u201cChrist\u201d is a human title.\u00a0 It means \u201cAnointed.\u201d\u00a0 If Jesus was God, why would the disciples continually refer to him with human titles like servant and Christ of God, and consistently use the title God for the one who raised Jesus?\u00a0 Did they fear men?\u00a0 No! They boldly preached the truth fearing neither imprisonment nor death.\u00a0 When they faced opposition from the authorities, Peter declared:<\/p>\n \u201cWe must obey God rather than men!\u00a0 The God of our fathers raised Jesus…\u201d (Acts 5:29-30)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Were they lacking the Holy Spirit?\u00a0 No! They were supported by the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:3, 4:8, and 5:32). They were simply teaching what they had learnt from Jesus \u2014 that Jesus was not God but, rather, God\u2019s servant and Christ.<\/p>\n The Quran confirms that Jesus was the Messiah (Christ), and that he was God\u2019s servant (see the Holy Quran 3:45 and 19:30).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christians and Muslims agree that God is all-powerful and all-knowing.\u00a0 The Gospels show that Jesus was not all-powerful, and not all-knowing, since he had some limitations.<\/p>\n Mark tells us in his gospel that Jesus was unable to do any powerful work in his hometown except few things: \u201cHe could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.\u201d (Mark 6:5)<\/strong>.\u00a0 Mark also tells us that when Jesus tried to heal a certain blind man, the man was not healed after the first attempt, and Jesus had to try a second time (see Mark 8:22-26).<\/p>\n Therefore, although we hold a great love and respect for Jesus, we need to understand that he is not the all-powerful God.<\/p>\n Mark\u2019s Gospel also reveals that Jesus had limitations in his knowledge.\u00a0 In Mark 13:32, Jesus declared that he himself does not know when the last day will occur, but the Father alone knows that (see also Matthew 24:36).<\/p>\n Therefore, Jesus could not have been the all-knowing God.\u00a0 Some will say that Jesus knew when the last day will occur, but he chose not to tell.\u00a0 But that complicates matters further.\u00a0 Jesus could have said that he knows but he does not wish to tell.\u00a0 Instead, he said that he does not know.\u00a0 We must believe him.\u00a0 Jesus does not lie at all.<\/p>\n The Gospel of Luke also reveals that Jesus had limited knowledge.\u00a0 Luke says that Jesus increased in wisdom (Luke 2:52).\u00a0 In Hebrews too (Hebrews 5:8) we read that Jesus learned obedience.\u00a0 But God\u2019s knowledge and wisdom is always perfect, and God does not learn new things.\u00a0 He knows everything always.\u00a0 So, if Jesus learned something new, that proves that he did not know everything before that, and thus he was not God.<\/p>\n Another example for the limited knowledge of Jesus is the fig tree episode in the Gospels.\u00a0 Mark tells us as follows: \u201cThe next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.\u00a0 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit.\u00a0 When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.\u201d (Mark 11:12-13)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It is clear from these verses that the knowledge of Jesus was limited on two counts.\u00a0 First, he did not know that the tree had no fruit until he came to it.\u00a0 Second, he did not know that it was not the right season to expect figs on trees.<\/p>\n Can he become God later?\u00a0 No! Because there is only one God, and He is God from everlasting to everlasting (see Psalms 90:2).<\/p>\n Someone may say that Jesus was God but he took the form of a servant and therefore became limited.\u00a0 Well, that would mean that God changed.\u00a0 But God does not change.\u00a0 God said so according to Malachi 3:6.<\/p>\n Jesus never was God, and never will be.\u00a0 In the Bible, God declares: \u201cBefore me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.\u201d (Isaiah 43:10)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some will say that this whole discussion over the divinity of Jesus is unnecessary.\u00a0 They say, the important thing is to accept Jesus as your personal savior.\u00a0 On the contrary, the Bible\u2019s writers stressed that, in order to be saved, it is necessary to understand who exactly is God.\u00a0 Failure to understand this would be to violate the first and greatest of all the commandments in the Bible.\u00a0 This commandment was emphasized by Jesus, on whom be peace, when a teacher of the Law of Moses asked him: \u201c\u2018Of all the commandments, which is the most important?\u2019\u00a0 \u2018The most important one,\u2019 answered Jesus, \u2018is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.\u00a0 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.\u2019\u201d (Mark 12:28-30)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Notice that Jesus was quoting the first commandment from the book of Deuteronomy 6:4-5.\u00a0 Jesus confirmed not only that this commandment is still valid, but also that it is the most important of all the commandments.\u00a0 If Jesus thought that he himself is God, why did not he say so?\u00a0 Instead, he stressed that God is one.\u00a0 The man who questioned Jesus understood this, and what the man says next makes it clear that God is not Jesus, for he said to Jesus: \u201c\u2018Well said, teacher,\u2019 the man replied.\u00a0 \u2018You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.\u2019\u201d (Mark 12:32).<\/strong><\/p>\n Now if Jesus was God, he would have told the man so.\u00a0 Instead, he let the man refer to God as someone other than Jesus, and he even saw that the man had spoken wisely: \u201cWhen Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, \u2018You are not far from the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d (Mark 12:34)<\/strong>.\u00a0 If Jesus knew that God is a trinity, why did not he say so?\u00a0 Why did not he say that God is one in three, or three in one?\u00a0 Instead, he declared that God is one.\u00a0 True imitators of Jesus will imitate him also in this declaration of God\u2019s oneness.\u00a0 They will not add the word three where Jesus never said it.<\/p>\n Does salvation depend on this commandment?\u00a0 Yes, says the Bible!\u00a0 Jesus made this clear when another man approached Jesus to learn from him (see Mark 10:17-29).\u00a0 The man fell on his knees and said to Jesus: \u201cGood teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus replied: \u201cWhy do you call me good?\u00a0 No one is good \u2014 except God alone.\u201d (Mark 10:17-18).<\/p>\n By so saying, Jesus made a clear distinction between himself and God.\u00a0 Then he proceeded with the answer to the man\u2019s question about how to get salvation.\u00a0 Jesus told him: \u201cIf you want to enter life, obey the commandments.\u201d (Matthew 19:17, also see Mark 10:19).<\/strong><\/p>\n Remember that the most important of all the commandments, according to Jesus, is to know God as the only God.\u00a0 Jesus further emphasized this in the Gospel According to John.\u00a0 In John 17:1, Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven and prayed, addressing God as Father.\u00a0 Then in verse three, he said to God as follows: \u201cNow this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.\u201d (John 17:3).<\/strong><\/p>\n This proves beyond doubt that if people want to get eternal life they must know that the One, whom Jesus was praying to, is the only true God, and they must know that Jesus was sent by the true God.\u00a0 Some say that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.\u00a0 But Jesus said that the Father alone is the only true God.\u00a0 True followers of Jesus will follow him in this too.\u00a0 Jesus had said that his true followers are those who hold to his teachings.\u00a0 He said: \u201cIf you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.\u201d (John 8:31).<\/strong>\u00a0 His teaching is that people must continue to keep the commandments, especially the first commandment which emphasizes that God is alone, and that God should be loved with all our hearts and all our strengths.<\/p>\n We love Jesus, but we must not love him as God.\u00a0 Today many love Jesus more than they love God.\u00a0 This is because they see God as a vengeful person who wanted to exact a penalty from them, and they see Jesus as the savior who rescued them from the wrath of God.\u00a0 Yet God is our only savior.\u00a0 According to Isaiah 43:11, God said: \u201cI, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Also God said according to Isaiah 45:21-22: \u201cWas it not I, the LORD?\u00a0 And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.\u00a0 Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The Quran confirms the first commandment and addresses it to all humankind (see the Holy Quran 2:163).\u00a0 And God declares that true believers love Him more than anyone else or anything else (Quran 2:165).<\/p>\n In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: \u201cI charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions…\u201d (1 Timothy 5:21).<\/strong><\/p>\n It is clear from this that the title God applies not to Christ Jesus, but to someone else.\u00a0 In the following chapter, he again differentiates between God and Jesus when he says: \u201cIn the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession…\u201d (1 Timothy 6:13).<\/strong><\/p>\n Paul then went on to speak of the second appearance of Jesus: \u201cthe appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time.\u201d (1 Timothy 6:14-15).<\/strong><\/p>\n Again, the title God is deliberately turned away from Jesus.\u00a0 Incidentally, many people think that when Jesus is called \u201cLord\u201d in the Bible that this means \u201cGod.\u201d\u00a0 But in the Bible this title means master or teacher, and it can be used for addressing humans (see 1 Peter 3:6).<\/p>\n What is more important, however, is to notice what Paul said about God in the following passage, which clearly shows that Jesus is not God: \u201cGod, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.\u00a0 To him be honor and might forever.\u201d (1 Timothy 6:15-16).<\/strong><\/p>\n Paul said that God alone is immortal.\u00a0 Immortal means he does not die.\u00a0 Check any dictionary.\u00a0 Now, anyone who believes that Jesus died cannot believe that Jesus is God.\u00a0 Such a belief would contradict what Paul said here.\u00a0 Furthermore, to say that God died is a blasphemy against God.\u00a0 Who would run the world if God died?\u00a0 Paul believed that God does not die.<\/p>\n Paul also said in that passage that God dwells in unapproachable light \u2014 that no one has seen God or can see him.\u00a0 Paul knew that many thousands of people had seen Jesus.\u00a0 Yet Paul said that no one has seen God, because Paul was sure that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 This is why Paul went on teaching that Jesus was not God, but that he was the Christ (see Acts 9:22 and 18:5).<\/p>\n When he was in Athens, Paul spoke of God as \u201cThe God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.\u201d (Acts 17:24).\u00a0 <\/strong>Then he identified Jesus as \u201cthe man he (i.e. God) has appointed.\u201d (Acts 17:31).<\/strong><\/p>\n Clearly, for Paul, Jesus was not God, and he would be shocked to see his writings used for proving the opposite of what he believed.\u00a0 Paul even testified in court saying: \u201cI admit that I worship the God of our fathers…\u201d (Acts 24:14).<\/strong><\/p>\n He also said that Jesus is the servant of that God, for we read in Acts: \u201cThe God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.\u201d (Acts 3:13).<\/strong><\/p>\n For Paul, the Father alone is God.\u00a0 Paul said that there is \u201cone God and Father of all…\u201d (Ephesians 4:6).<\/strong>\u00a0 Paul said again: \u201c…for us there is but one God, the Father . . . and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ…\u201d (1 Corinthians 8:6).<\/strong><\/p>\n Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians (Philippians 2:6-11) is often quoted as a proof that Jesus is God.\u00a0 But the very passage shows that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 This passage has to agree with Isaiah 45:22-24 where God said that every knee should bow to God, and every tongue should confess that righteousness and strength are in God alone.\u00a0 Paul was aware of this passage, for he quoted it in Romans 14:11.\u00a0 Knowing this, Paul declared: \u201cI kneel before the Father.\u201d (Ephesians 3:14).<\/strong><\/p>\n The letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:6) says that the angels of God should worship the Son.\u00a0 But this passage depends on Deuteronomy 32:43, in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament.\u00a0 This phrase cannot be found in the Old Testament used by Christians today, and the Septuagint version is no longer considered valid by Christians.\u00a0 However, even the Septuagint version, does not say worship the Son.\u00a0 It says let the Angels of God worship God.\u00a0 The Bible insists that God alone is to be worshipped: \u201cWhen the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: \u2018Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.\u00a0 But the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship.\u00a0 To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.\u00a0 You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you.\u00a0 Do not worship other gods.\u00a0 Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods.\u00a0 Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.\u2019\u201d (2 Kings 17:35-39).<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus, on whom be peace, believed in this, for he also stressed it in Luke 4:8.\u00a0 And Jesus too fell on his face and worshipped God (see Matthew 26:39).\u00a0 Paul knew that Jesus worshipped God (see Hebrews 5:7).\u00a0 Paul taught that Jesus will remain forever subservient to God (see 1 Corinthians 15:28).<\/p>\n The Gospel of John, the fourth Gospel, was completed to its present form some seventy years after Jesus was raised up to heaven.\u00a0 This Gospel in its final form says one more thing about Jesus that was unknown from the previous three Gospels \u2014 that Jesus was the Word of God.\u00a0 John means that Jesus was God\u2019s agent through whom God created everything else.\u00a0 This is often misunderstood to mean that Jesus was God Himself.\u00a0 But John was saying, as Paul had already said, that Jesus was God\u2019s first creature.\u00a0 In the Book of Revelation in the Bible, we find that Jesus is: \u201cthe beginning of God\u2019s creation\u201d (Revelation 3:14, also see 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:15).<\/strong><\/p>\n Anyone who says that the Word of God is a person distinct from God must also admit that the Word was created, for the Word speaks in the Bible saying: \u201cThe LORD brought me forth as the first of his works…\u201d (Proverbs 8:22).<\/strong><\/p>\n This Gospel, nevertheless, clearly teaches that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 If it did not continue this teaching, then it would contradict the other three Gospels and also the letters of Paul from which it is clearly established that Jesus is not God.\u00a0 We find here that Jesus was not co-equal with the Father, for Jesus said: \u201c…the Father is greater than I.\u201d (John 14:28).<\/strong><\/p>\n People forget this and they say that Jesus is equal to the Father.\u00a0 Whom should we believe \u2014 Jesus or the people?\u00a0 Muslims and Christians agree that God is self-existent.\u00a0 This means that He does not derive his existence from anyone.\u00a0 Yet John tells us that Jesus\u2019 existence is caused by the Father.\u00a0 Jesus said in this Gospel: \u201c…I live because of the Father…\u201d (John 6:57).<\/strong><\/p>\n John tells us that Jesus cannot do anything by his own when he quotes Jesus as saying: \u201cBy myself I can do nothing…\u201d (John 5:30).<\/strong>\u00a0 This agrees with what we learn about Jesus from other Gospels.\u00a0 In Mark, for example, we learn that Jesus performed miracles by a power which was not within his control.\u00a0 This is especially clear from an episode in which a woman is healed of her incurable bleeding.\u00a0 The woman came up behind him and touched his cloak, and she was immediately healed.\u00a0 But Jesus had no idea who touched him.\u00a0 Mark describes Jesus\u2019 actions thus: \u201cAt once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.\u00a0 He turned around in the crowd and asked, \u2018Who touched my clothes?\u2019\u201d (Mark 5:30).<\/strong>\u00a0 His disciples could not provide a satisfactory answer, so Mark tells us: \u201cJesus kept looking around to see who had done it.\u201d (Mark 5:32).<\/strong>\u00a0 This shows that the power that healed the woman was not within Jesus\u2019 control.\u00a0 He knew that the power had gone out of him, but he did not know where it went.\u00a0 Some other intelligent being had to guide that power to the woman who needed to be healed.\u00a0 God was that intelligent being.<\/p>\n It is no wonder, then, that in Acts of the Apostles we read that it was God who did the miracles through Jesus (Acts 2:22).<\/p>\n God did extraordinary miracles through others too, but that does not make the others God (see Acts 19:11).\u00a0 Why, then, is Jesus taken for God?\u00a0 Even when Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, he had to ask God to do it.\u00a0 Lazarus\u2019 sister, Martha, knew this, for she said to Jesus: \u201cI know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.\u201d (John 11:22).<\/strong><\/p>\n Martha knew that Jesus was not God, and John who reported this with approval knew it also.\u00a0 Jesus had a God, for when he was about to ascend to heaven, he said: \u201cI am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.\u201d (John 20:17).<\/strong><\/p>\n John was sure that no one had seen God, although he knew that many people had seen Jesus (see John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12).\u00a0 In fact Jesus himself told the crowds, that they have never seen the Father, nor have they heard the Father\u2019s voice (John 5:37).\u00a0 Notice that if Jesus was the Father, his statement here would be false.\u00a0 Who is the only God in John\u2019s Gospel?\u00a0 The Father alone.<\/p>\n Jesus testified this when he declared that the God of the Jews is the Father (John 8:54).\u00a0 Jesus too confirmed that the Father alone is the only true God (see John 17:1-3).\u00a0 And Jesus said to his enemies: \u201c…you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.\u201d (John 8:40).<\/strong> \u00a0According to John, therefore, Jesus was not God, and nothing John wrote should be taken as proof that he was God \u2014 unless one wishes to disagree with John.<\/p>\n For example, in Matthew 9:2, Jesus said to a certain man, \u201cTake heart, son; your sins are forgiven.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Because of this, some say that Jesus must be God since only God can forgive sins.\u00a0 However, if you are willing to read just a few verses further, you will find that the people \u201c…praised God, who had given such authority to men.\u201d (Matthew 9:8)<\/strong>.\u00a0 This shows that the people knew, and Matthew agrees, that Jesus is not the only man to receive such authority from God.<\/p>\n Jesus himself emphasized that he does not speak on his own authority (John 14:10) and he does nothing on his own authority, but he speaks only what the Father has taught him (John 8:28).\u00a0 What Jesus did here was as follows.\u00a0 Jesus announced to the man the knowledge Jesus received from God that God had forgiven the man.<\/p>\n Notice that Jesus did not say, \u201cI forgive your sins,\u201d but rather, \u201cyour sins are forgiven,\u201d implying, as this would to his Jewish listeners, that God had forgiven the man.\u00a0 Jesus, then, did not have the power to forgive sins, and in that very episode he called himself \u201cthe Son of Man\u201d (Matthew 9:6)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n John 10:30 is often used as proof that Jesus is God because Jesus said, \u201cI and the father are one.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 But, if you read the next six verses, you will find Jesus explaining that his enemies were wrong to think that he was claiming to be God.\u00a0 What Jesus obviously means here is that he is one with the Father in purpose.\u00a0 Jesus also prayed that his disciples should be one just as Jesus and the Father are one.\u00a0 Obviously, he was not praying that all his disciples should somehow merge into one individual (see John 17:11 and 22).\u00a0 And when Luke reports that the disciples were all one, Luke does not mean that they became one single human being, but that they shared a common purpose although they were separate beings (see Acts 4:32).\u00a0 In terms of essence, Jesus and the Father are two, for Jesus said they are two witnesses (John 8:14-18).\u00a0 They have to be two, since one is greater than the other (see John 14:28).\u00a0 When Jesus prayed to be saved from the cross, he said: \u201cFather, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.\u201d (Luke 22:42).<\/strong><\/p>\n This shows that they had two separate wills, although Jesus submitted his will to the will of the Father.\u00a0 Two wills mean two separate individuals.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Jesus is reported to have said: \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d (Matthew 27:46).<\/strong>\u00a0 If one of them forsook the other, then they must be two separate entities.<\/p>\n Again, Jesus is reported to have said: \u201cFather, into your hands I commit my spirit.\u201d (Luke 23:46)<\/strong>.\u00a0 If the spirit of one can be placed into the hands of another, they must be two separate beings.<\/p>\n In all of these instances, Jesus is clearly subordinate to the Father.\u00a0 When Jesus knelt down and prayed he obviously was not praying to himself (see Luke 22:41).\u00a0 He was praying to his God.<\/p>\n Throughout the New Testament, the Father alone is called God.\u00a0 In fact, the titles \u201cFather\u201d and \u201cGod\u201d are used to designate one individual, not three, and never Jesus.\u00a0 This is also clear from the fact that Matthew substituted the title \u201cFather\u201d in the place of the title \u201cGod\u201d in at least two places in his Gospel (compare Matthew 10:29 with Luke 12:6, and Matthew 12:50 with Mark 3:35).\u00a0 If Matthew is right in doing so, then the Father alone is God.<\/p>\n Was Jesus the Father?\u00a0 No! Because Jesus said: \u201cAnd do not call anyone on earth \u2018father,\u2019 for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.\u201d (Matthew 23:9)<\/strong>.\u00a0 So Jesus is not the Father, since Jesus was standing on the earth when he said this.<\/p>\n The Quran seeks to bring people back to the true faith that was taught by Jesus, and by his true disciples who continued in his teaching.\u00a0 That teaching emphasized a continued commitment to the first commandment that God is alone.\u00a0 In the Quran, God directs Muslims to call readers of the Bible back to that true faith.\u00a0 God have said in the Quran:<\/p>\n Say: \u201cO people of the Book (Christians and Jews)!\u00a0 Come to a word that is just between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords beside God.\u201d\u00a0 (Quran, 3:64)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bible Denies the Divinity of Jesus www.islamreligion.com website 2013 – 1434 Christians and Muslims both believe in Jesus, love him, and honor him.\u00a0 They are, however, divided over the question of...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,153],"tags":[129,126,103],"class_list":["post-3013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-topics","category-religious-studies-and-research","tag-bible","tag-divinity","tag-jesus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013","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=3013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3015,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3013\/revisions\/3015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}