The Objection to the claim "Jesus is God"

Many Christians in their zeal to share with their Muslim friends the uniqueness of Jesus and his divine nature are quick to proclaim in loud voices, Jesus is God! They do not realize, however, the great difficulty this presents to the Muslim. Islam is a religion of one God -- and only one God! For a Muslim to regard anyone or anything else as god beside the one true God is a violation of his religion and a terrible act of sin. This is why the Qur'an speaks very clearly against the idea of Jesus being a god separate from the one true God thus making two gods!

They do blaspheme who say: "God is Christ the son of Mary." But said Christ: "O Children of Israel! Worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever joins other gods with God -- God will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode..." Surat-ul Maida (5):72

Getting back to the zealous Christian, whenever he proclaims "Jesus is God", the Muslim says to himself, "if Jesus prayed to God, 'Our Father,' and if he himself is God as Christians claim, then that means that Christianity teaches there are at least two gods!" That is all it takes for the Muslim to quickly turn away from any further Christian witness.

Christians need to ask themselves if they really believe in two gods, or like the Muslim, do they also believe in just one God as taught by Jesus himself in Mark 12:29. It is extremely important that Christians do not give the false impression to Muslims that they worship more than one God. If they do, then in most cases they create a stumbling block that could easily prevent the Muslim from hearing the simplicity of the gospel message, -- that Jesus came as Savior of the world to reveal God's compassion and to redeem fallen man from the curse of sin. This could very well be why the Scriptures themselves do not contain the simple statement "Jesus is God" -- in order to avoid any confusion about the Scriptural declaration, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Instead we find these kinds of descriptions for Jesus that point to his divine nature: Word of God (Revelation 19:13); Radiance of God's Glory and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3); the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15); and the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). These references speak of the One True God who is fully revealed in Jesus. If we take this approach of the Scriptures and use scriptural terminology, then we are able to confirm our belief in one God, and at the same time reaffirm our belief in the deity of Jesus by reminding our Muslim friends that both the Bible and the Qur'an refer to Jesus as God's Word. This is extremely significant because most Muslims will agree, the Word of God was never created, and it can never die; it is of divine essence! In this way we can speak of the divine essence of Jesus, the Living Word of God!

Do not feel that you must be able to explain to your Muslim friend the great mystery that surrounds the nature of Jesus. For who among us mortals can fully comprehend that which relates to the divine! Be careful not to complicate the simplicity of the Gospel message, and do not try to impose difficult requirements of great theological understanding which the scriptures themselves do not require. Nowhere in the New Testament are we commanded to come to a complete understanding of the nature of Jesus in order to experience salvation. Salvation is not based on the mental ability to fully explain the deity of Jesus; rather it is based on the faith of the heart that accepts Jesus as the Savior of mankind sent by God, and the only one sent by God through whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins. That is the Good News!