One of the fiercest objections Christians receive from Islam is that Jesus is just a man, not the Son of God. While I was reading the Qur’an, I found a very interesting formula the Qur’an is using describing Jesus. I will just quote a few of the verses.
Q. 2:87 & 2:253 We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear signs and strengthened him with the holy spirit.
Q. 5:110 God will say, “Jesus, son of Mary, Remember my favor to you and to your mother: how I strengthened you with the holy spirit, so that you spoke to people in your infancy and as a grown man; how I taught you the scripture and wisdom, the Torah and the Gospel; how, by my permission, you fashioned the shape of a bird out of clay, breathe into it, and it became, by my permission, a real bird; how, by my permission, you healed the blind person and the leper; how, by my permission, you brought the dead person to life; how I restrained the children of Israel from harming you…”
Q. 4:171 The messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, … a messenger of God, Allah’s word directed to Mary, a spirit from Allah.
Q. 19:30-33 (The description of the scene where Jesus as an infant talking to women as if he were an adult, describing his life mission)
The Qur’an discusses about Jesus in so many places. However, the several verses I have listed above would be sufficient to make my point.
In the Bible, Jesus Christ always called Himself Son of Man, and other people called Him Son of God and He admitted that he is the Son of God in a few places. The Humanity and Divinity of Jesus was a theology formulated by theologians regarding the nature of Jesus, based on how Jesus performed miracles, taught people around Him, and how He died on the cross for our sin and He came back three days later as He promised that He would do. Many things He had done could not be done by any person. I have never seen a man walking on water, let alone allowing Peter to walk on water too. He gave life back to several people who were really dead (e.g., Lazarus). He was a true man, son of Mary, and at the same time was the Word of God incarnated, the divine part.
In the Qur’an, son of man is replaced by son of Mary, and son of God is replaced by his miraculous and pure life, even though the Qur’an denies His Sonship (that is another story to discuss, but not here now. This was based on misunderstanding the concept of Trinity). In ancient Israel, God called a faithful man His son and son of God has the connotation of a spiritual son. In many cultures, when an older man likes a younger man, the younger man is often called a son. The words used in the Qur’an are a little different, but show the same aspects as the Bible shows. Jesus had a human side (humanity), but he was given the words of Allah, and strengthened by the spirit of Allah, and was described to have performed many miraculous signs no human being could do (divinity).
In conclusion, the Qur’an clearly indicates humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ. I hope that our Muslim brothers would understand this and would want to know more about Jesus.
Holy Spirit—or Ruh Al-Qudus is NOT God/Divine in Islam. (or in Judaism either—“Ruach ha Kodesh”/Holy Spirit)
Thanks for your comment, anon! You are right. Ruh Al-Qudus is believed to be Archangel Gabriel by traditional Islamic scholars. However, I do disagree with that view because angels deliver the message of God, and do things God asks them to do, and never empower any human being to have supernatural power. This is clear in Asbab al-Nuzul for Q. 2:144-145. This verse is changing qiblah (direction to face during prayer) from Jerusalem to Ka’bah in Mecca. Muhammad asked Gabriel to ask Allah to give a new revelation for effecting the change of qiblah. Do you know what Gabriel’s answer was? He told Muhammad that he is simply a servant of God as Muhammad was. This view of Gabriel is consistent with the Bible. Gabriel told Muhammad that Muhammad himself had to ask Allah. However, the spirit from Allah can empower Jesus and other prophets unlike Gabriel. That is why I believe that the traditional Islamic interpretation is incorrect.
Regarding the Jewish view on ”Ruach ha Kodesh”/Holy Spirit, I believe that Jews have been treating God as limited as a person is in some sense. That is there is one person and he has a spirit that belongs to him. However, whenever the spirit of God comes on a person in the Old Testament, that person gets to have a superhuman capability. The Spirit appears to be always consistent with the Will of God or the Word of God, but often He comes independently. The concept of Trinity is not to make God into three persons, but to assign superhuman possibility to God. Both Jews and Muslims are doing disservice to God by denying Trinitarian concept of God, because Allah or God is thought to have the similar composition as people. Trinity is to have the One God as the Jews and Muslims believe, but to provide possibility of much greater power than any human being. This requires a leap frog in our thinking because we people are so much ingrained in our own way. We need a kind of leap frog that a single cell animal requires to understand multi-cell animals. The difference between God and man is so huge, and Trinity is one aspect of this difference.
I still appreciate your comments. If you have any further comments, opinions, or different perspectives, please let us know. We always welcome your inputs.
Paul