Read Journeys, chapter 7

10.1: Tanzil and incarnation, part 1

10.2: Tanzil and incarnation, part 2

Tanzil and Incarnation

Introduction

• Muslims believe that the final Word of God has come down to us as a book, the Quran (tanzil).
• The Bible reveals that the eternal Word of God has become human and lived among us (incarnation). The New Testament refers to the Messiah who is the incarnation of the Word as the Son of God.

Muslims seriously misunderstand the Christian confession "Jesus is the Son of God."

• The Quran indicates that Son of God means that Christians believe that God had relations with a woman through whom His son was born.
• Such notions are known as polytheism, where god and the gods have sexual relations like humans.
• Arabians at the time of Muhammad did believe that kind of polytheism. In fact, outside of Mecca was a shrine where three daughters of god were worshiped. They were called Al-At, Al-Uzzah, and Al-Manat.
• All sorts of evil were associated with the worship of these gods.
• That is what Muhammad and most Muslims today think of when they hear Christians say that Jesus is the Son of God (Maida: The Table Spread 5:75).

1. We must clarify to Muslims what we mean.

1.1 Christians do not believe that God has a wife.

1.2 Christians do not believe that Jesus is one of three gods or one of two gods.

1.3 Christians do not believe that God is Christ; the New Testament reveals the Christ is God.

2. Who is Jesus the Messiah?

2.1 At least three times God clearly revealed that Jesus is the beloved Son of God:

• The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that the child she would bear would be the Son of God.
• At His baptism (Mark 3:11)
• At the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:7)

2.2 Both the Quran and the Bible refer to the Messiah as the Word of God (Nisaa: the Women 4:171; John 1:1).

Note that the Muslim and Christian understandings of the Messiah as the Word of God are different.

However, we invite our Muslim friends to hear the witness of the gospel about what it means for the Messiah to be the Word of God.

Remember that the Quran advises Muslims to go to those who have the former Scriptures when there is a question about what the Quran says.

2.3 Jesus the Messiah is the Word of God in human form (incarnation).

• God creates and sustains the universe through His Word.
• God’s Word is eternal, uncreated, one with God, for the Word is God’s eternal self expression.
• God’s Word is the true and eternal expression of who God is.
• God’s Word is living and personal.
• God’s Word came to earth through the Virgin Mary.

2.4 God’s Word is the gospel. God’s Word is the Messiah.

• The gospel is not a book; it is the Messiah Himself.
• Since God cannot tell a lie, and His Word is the true and personal revelation of who He is, when we meet Jesus the Messiah we are meeting God’s full and personal revelation of Himself in human history.

2.5 There are therefore several meanings of Jesus as the Son of God:

• The Messiah is the Word of God in human form, the full revelation of who God is.
• The Messiah had a perfect relationship with God, and we are invited to begin to also experience a right and joyous relationship with God. That is why the Messiah taught us to pray to God as “our Father.”
• Jesus the Messiah was the perfect servant; in every way He obeyed God fully.
• Jesus restores the image of God that our sinfulness has distorted.

Conclusion

Rather than debate about who Jesus the Messiah is, it is wise to encourage Muslims to read the accounts of His life.

These accounts are recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

• The life of Jesus is so remarkable, that if we had only one account we would not take the account seriously.
• God has, therefore, planned for four accounts to be included in the Bible.
• Each one is different, yet all describe the life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah.
• These writers were persons who had either been with the Messiah or who were close associates with the disciples of Jesus. For example, Mark was Peter’s translator, and the early Church referred to Mark as Peter’s gospel.

This is very important:

• As we read the accounts of Jesus the Messiah, ask this question: Who is Jesus?
• Ask the Spirit of God to reveal who Jesus is.
• Jesus said that we can only believe when God reveals the truth to us (Matthew 16:17).