Jesus was none But a Prophet
We will evaluate, why making Jesus other than a prophet has been the greatest injustice Christians have caused to themselves and Jesus; and why logically and rationally speaking; it makes sense to let Jesus be only a Prophet.
Please read this with an open heart and mind and as logically as possible.
Some basic concepts...
A Monotheistic God is one God; an entity that is a perfect being devoid of any weakness and dependency, i.e, all-powerful and knowing; similarly, it can be just, merciful, sacred, truth, at the same time; yet it's not dependent on those attributes. The greatest sin (in Islam) is associating partners with God.
Jesus said the most important commandment is the Oneness of God. (Mark 12:29)
You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3
Jesus said: The Father is the only True God. (John 17:3)
Jesus said: Why do you call me good? None is good except God alone. (Luke 18:19)
Life and Heaven, Life is a test and no amount or absence of material wealth in this world determines fate in the next life, the test is of the immaterial soul put in a human body. Each person will be judged on their abilities, and their environment, and hence only God can Judge the outcome of how a person lived their life; even the Prophet will be judged and there is no way to avoid Judgment.
Matthew 7:21–23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Why does God need to send Prophets? Humans have weaknesses of greed and selfishness and they always create imbalance and corruption in the land and want to project their power over other humans and society. God though has provided humans with the faculties to think and find truth through the sacredness of the soul wanted to set an example in the human race with its chosen people. So they can be an example and a symbol of patience and righteousness in the face of immorality and injustice.
Every Prophet is sent for a specific time and society, but it's for that nation and no Prophet claims it to be a universal message ( except the message given to the Prophet)
The core message of all Prophets is the same to call people to one monotheistic God and not associate any partners with it and to be conscious of the fact that another life is coming where they will be Judged so act accordingly and give rights to people, family and relatives as they deserve.
God forgave sin before Jesus’ appearance, and He continues to forgive without any assistance. When a believer sins, he may come before God in sincere repentance to receive forgiveness. Indeed, the offer to humble oneself before God and be saved is made to all humankind.
‘And there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.’ (Isaiah 45:21–22, Jonah 3:5–10)
Why Jesus cannot be the Son of God
So why do humans need kids, obviously we have a lot of weaknesses, we want to be loved, form relationships, continue our lineage, and be taken care of when we grow old.
God cannot have a son because it's not dependent on any need and does not share an iota of interference in any of its decisions; if it does, it will not be perfect and independent.
So Jesus is not the Son of God or does not in any way affect God's decision or bring salvation, otherwise, Christianity will become a non-monotheistic religion.
Jesus said: The Father is the only True God. (John 17:3)
Jesus said: My Father is greater than I. (John 14:28)
Jesus said the Father is Greater than all. (John 10:29)
Jesus said: Why do you call me good? None is good except God alone.(Luke 18:19)
Son and Father is a loose term used in the Bible, it could be a translation thing from Greek or that is how God wants itself to be referred to by its prophet; also I am not a Scholar in any way but a simple search reveals
Why do we not call all the below Prophet Son of God, if we were to use this word as logic for calling Jesus Prophet?
David, Psalm 89:20,27 NASB “I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
Adam: ‘Adam, which was the son of God.’ (Luke 3:38)
Jacob is God’s son and firstborn: ‘Israel is my son, even my firstborn.’ (Exodus 4:22)
Solomon: ‘I will be his father, and he shall be my son.’ (2 Samuel 7:13–14)
Ephraim: ‘for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.’ (Jeremiah 31:9)
Is God’s firstborn, common people are called the sons of God: ‘Ye are the children of the Lord your God’ (Deuteronomy 14:1)
For all those people, God is referred as the Father; who is pious and follows God's commandments; it's not specific to Jesus.
(Matthew 6:4) … and your Father which sees in secret shall recompense you.
(Matthew 6:9) (pray: ) Our Father in heaven …
(Matthew 12:48ff) Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
(Matthew 23:9) And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Jesus was only sent to a certain set of people
Jesus is a prophet sent on God's command; but he was sent to specific people of Bani Israel, Jews, and not to the whole world; his message was for that tribe and not universal.
Please read carefully..
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her, not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
His focus was on certain people, so though God had given him miracles to make people healthy, he did not want to help a Canan lady, since she was bothering him, the disciple pushed Jesus to sort it out; then he again said I am only entitled to certain people. It was not his mission to preach to the whole world, the same pattern is followed in every Prophet before Jesus; they were meant for a time, society, and nation.
Paul mainly is the cause that opened up Christianity to Genitals, and then again he added a lot of concepts that are not part of the Original message.
Jesus' job was not to abolish the law, he claimed himself self to be following in the line of the Prophets sent to Jews and in the same continuation.
Jesus says he did not come to abolish the law or the prophets. (Matthew 5:17)
Bible reference of Jesus as Prophet
There are numerous references to Jesus as a prophet, in the bible, and he wants people to refer to him as Prophet; then what is the problem accepting Jesus to what his real nature is? Why do we want to add more attributes to him?
Matthew 21
11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.Luke 24
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the peopleActs 2
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also knowAfter Jesus leaves the earth, Peter, a disciple, tells the people that Jesus was a man who did miracles by God.
(Acts 2:22)
Making Jesus the son of God goes against logic and rationality
- It becomes illogical to send so many Prophets before Jesus; if God has already decided to sacrifice its only son; God being all-knowing would have known everything in advance so it becomes pretty illogical to send so many prophets for people's guidance.
- Did any Prophet before Jesus preach about the trinity, or believe in the trinity for salvation; Nope, so why suddenly do we have a message change with Jesus, and a monotheistic God become a tri God?
- If God is all-powerful why does it need to sacrifice its son, it could have easily changed the Roman rulership to be Christian and make Jesus the king; which Jews were already waiting for.
- Jesus never claimed divinity or said worship me (yes he showed miracles to prove that God sent him) so why are people so eager to add him as part of divinity?
- God is most Just and is the reason it can only be the judge, and Judgment will be based on one effort rather than just faith; else it will be an injustice to all people who work hard to fulfill their obligation towards God, and work hard to remain steadfast and patient in this life.
Consider a Christian who spends all his life persecuting people, harming them, but Nah he will go to heaven because he believed in the divinity of Jesus; does it make sense? Yes God is merciful and yes if the person repents and God accepts it can still but not just based on faith.
Jesus said he can do nothing on his own, and only does what the Father does. (John 5:19)
Jesus says He was sent “from God.” (John 8:42)
Jesus teaches repentance for sins. (Luke 13:3 and 5)
Contradictions in Bible
Christians who want to make Jesus as Son of God; would argue there are several verses in the bible; where Jesus is referred unanimously as the Son for example
No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. (John 1:18)
He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)
For to which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? (Hebrews 1:5)
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)
But then we also have to Argue logically and look at other verses which go against this narrative as mentioned earlier in this article.
We also need to consider Contradictions in the Bible; which raise questions about its authenticity and correctness
‘’For his (God’s) anger endures but a moment’’ (Psalms 30 :5) Contradicted by Lord’s anger made the jews wander in the wilderness for 40 years (Numbers 32 :13)
‘’God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of a man that he should REPENT’’ Contradicted by ‘’… And the Lord repented that he made Saul king over Israel’’ (1 Samuel 15 :35)
No one can see God at any time (John 1 :18) Contradicted by ‘’And they ( Moses Aaron and seventy others) saw the God of Israel…’’ (Exodus 24 :10)
We also need to look into why Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John copied each other bible or need to copy each other text, if they met Jesus and knew all the accounts they should be able to write their versions.
Also, all four books have anonymous writers, so it's possible they were delivered in an oral form to a community of people, and then they wrote it later.
It's also an understanding that Mark and Luke were not written by anyone who knew Jesus personally. The gospel of Luke even starts out with an explanation that he is collecting accounts of what happened from others and that the author himself is not an eyewitness.
Most of the material in Mark is copied in Matthew and Luke, but if Mark met Jesus and Matthew and Luke did not why Matthwes is word-to-word copying them?
The gospel of John is generally believed to be the last of these four gospels composed, around 60 to 80 years after Jesus’ day. Within a generation or so it was attributed to John, who was later identified with the apostle John. \
Trinity is not in the Bible
Most Christians think the Trinity is a thing in the Bible, but there is no explicit mention of it; though it is such a core concept followed by many Christians, and really hard to explain and even harder to make any sense of it.
The problem with Making Jesus someone other than a Prophet
So why I am writing this article, to prove Jesus' identity as a Prophet because I think this wrong belief is problematic and causing a lot of issues and wants to address it.
As a Muslim, I genuinely love Jesus, because every Prophet made sacrifices just for the sake of one God and tried to deliver the message to the best of their abilities, it's disrespectful to attribute someone who he is not; especially if that person is a Prophet of God. So it's important to give Jesus (Yeshua) back its identity.
It is a great sin to associate partners with one God, and that is the core message of each Prophet; so it's essential to revert Christianity to what Jesus preached; while it has become a religion about Jesus.
Faith-based salvation is problematic since it intends to push an individual to only hold on to those faith principles, rather than making an effort to improve and change one's own life and society at large accordingly. Hence we observe majority of Christians do not follow the do’s and don’ts of their religion ( like avoiding drinking, sex without wedlock, and gambling); and were able to create a society void of those principles creating a wedge between secular life and religious life, but this approach is counter-intuitive. One should live a life that one has come to realize as best and not create a sort of duality.
When wrong principles are added to the basic principle of faith, it becomes illogical and irrational, hence those who do not follow religion mock it or move away from religion and one God, though we know religion is a source of good in this world, modern intellectuals consider it outdated and illogical; hence there is a movement away from religion; but in my understanding problem is not of religion or God but because of the wrong attitude of believers and their ability to hold on their message.
Religion should be a source of unity in people, but it has become a dividing factor, and Churches and Pastors have used it to gain their motives, hence we have seen wars, fights, and discrimination using the power of religion, this is not a specific problem with Christianity but a religion in general. That is why we should safeguard and clean religious practice back to its real self. Else it will become a tool to make people suffer and a source of gaining wealth and power ( to religious figureheads) rather than peace and stability.
Modern nation-states are using these religious voters, to maintain the status quo; the classic case is “God bless those who bless Israel”; when the wrong idea and self-narration start to get added in a book given by God, it can be twisted and turned to serve man Intrest.
Finally, I as a believer wanted to convey the message, the Quran has for the followers of Jesus.
Sura-3:59
Indeed, the example of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him, “Be!” And he was!
This is the truth from your Lord, so do not be one of those who doubt.
Now, whoever disputes with you ˹O Prophet˺ concerning Jesus after full knowledge has come to you, say, “Come! Let us gather our children and your children, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves — then let us sincerely invoke Allah’s curse upon the liars.”
Certainly, this is the true narrative, and there is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Allah. And indeed, Allah ˹alone˺ is the Almighty, All-Wise.
If they turn away, then surely Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of the corruptors.
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “O People of the Book! Let us come to common terms: that we will worship none but Allah, associate none with Him, nor take one another as lords instead of Allah.” But if they turn away, then say, “Bear witness that we have submitted ˹to Allah alone˺.”
Please let me know if I have misquoted a text; or used it in the wrong context.
Sources
https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/post/who-is-jesus-in-islam
https://jesus-is-muslim.net/en/jesus-is-muslim/jesus/did-jesus-really-say-i-am-god/
https://ehrmanblog.org/is-the-trinity-in-the-bible/
“Jesus Christ (pbuh) never claimed that he is God” — Dr Zakir Naik