Especially for this significant event for Christians, I am publishing here a video entitled “10 Reasons Why Jesus Is Not God.”

But since the video lasts almost an hour, and time is precious for each of us, then for those who, again, are reluctant to watch it, I will list point by point what Yusha Evans called, and I will try to comment on it myself. So why isn't Jesus God?

1) The first and, perhaps, the main argument in this whole story, which we have already said: God cannot be born. It has no beginning. It is not possible for any expert to establish the date of Jesus’ birth according to modern chronology (December 25 is a fictitious date), but nevertheless, this event happened at some point. Once upon a time, Jesus came out of his mother’s womb, albeit not in the usual way, without the participation of his father. But he appeared, whereas before that moment there was not even a trace of him. He is not a creator, since he himself is created.

2) There is no exact verse in the entire Bible that tells us that Jesus is God and not a man. And in other Holy Scriptures there are no messages about this at all. The absence of evidence in favor of divinity is evidence against it. As for those verses from the Gospel that Christians traditionally refer to, this is an incorrect interpretation of the usual metaphors, of which this book contains many. When God talks about Himself, He is precise and makes it very clear that He is One and only He should be worshiped. All the divine attributes of Allah are described in the Qur'an in the verses belonging to the category " muhkyam"(clearly stated, understandable) and are accepted in accordance with their obvious meaning: without likening, without denial, without allegory and without attempts to interpret them in any other way. And when they take a vague metaphorical line from the Gospel: “ I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”(John 14:6) and claim that this is a veiled: “I am God, worship me,” then there is philosophical demagoguery, which is simply not serious for Christians to juggle. For some reason, in the Old Testament, God clearly explains to the Israelis who He is, but in the Gospels he suddenly began to play with words: they say, solve the puzzle, and I will watch your narrow-minded disputes. All this is a slander against God, and He is above what is attributed to Him. To mock His servants so that everyone understands Him differently is simply not befitting the Almighty.

3) None of the people have ever seen God, as both the Bible and the Koran tell about. In this life, it is not possible for any of the jinn and people to see the Creator. Only in the next life will the inhabitants of Paradise see Him, and may Allah honor us with such honor. As for Jesus, he was both visible and tangible. His companions, as well as his enemies, saw and spoke with the man. It is unlikely that absolutely all of them were able to hide their jubilation, and at least one could not restrain himself and would certainly exclaim: “I just communicated with the Creator himself!”

4) The disciples of Jesus, who found him alive, and after his departure from this world continued to worship the One God and visit the temple of Monotheism, and not the church with golden domes and crosses, where the walls are painted with scenes of the crucifixion and resurrection. The very word “Christian” was not known at all to them or to Jesus himself. The inhabitants of Antioch first called themselves Christians in the 1st century AD.

“For a whole year they gathered in church and taught a considerable number of people, and the disciples in Antioch for the first time began to be called Christians” (Acts of the Holy Apostles, 11:26).
It is clear that Jesus, who lived all his earthly years in Palestine and spoke ancient Aramaic, had nothing to do with this. Even the nickname “Christ” itself was not known to him - this is the Greek translation of the Aramaic word “Meshikha” (in Hebrew - “Mashiah”, in Arabic - “Masih”), which means “anointed one (of God)”(taken from this article).

5) Jesus, like all other people, ate, slept and prayed. The Lord is self-sufficient and does not need any of the above. Is his prayer a prayer addressed to himself? One who needs something to maintain his existence is not a god.

6) Jesus himself acknowledged and declared that God has greater knowledge than himself. When asked about the end of the world and the Day of Judgment, he replied that only God knows when the Hour will come (see Mark 13:32, Matt. 24:36). The Prophet Muhammad answered in exactly the same way.ﷺ , whom it never occurred to anyone to call God. Therefore, Jesus is a man like everyone else, and only a little of divine knowledge has been given to him. If he were a god, he would certainly know about the date of the Hour of Judgment. If the Trinity is the essence of one thing, then it cannot be that one of its elements does not know what the other knows.

7) God has determined the path of salvation for everyone, not for a select few. He created people with different levels of development and intelligence. Therefore, the path of salvation should be simple and easily explained both for a theology professor and for a young child. Monotheism is a simple truth that can be conveyed even to the deaf. As for the concept of the Trinity, you are unlikely to be able to explain it to a simple believer who has not yet shoveled mountains of religious literature. See for examplethis video . What kind of dogma is this, similar in complexity to higher mathematics or quantum physics? Is the knowledge of God and the correct worship of Him accessible only to a narrow, highly selected circle of people?

8) This point is adjacent to point 2, which says that there is not a single word in the Bible that Jesus is God. But here we will only clarify that there are statements by Jesus himself in which he directly stated that he is not God. Examples:

« This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I glorified You on earth, I accomplished the work that You entrusted Me with"(John 17:3-4).

« Go to My brothers and say to them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God"(John 20:17).

9) The phrase “son of God” is a metaphor and in the Bible it is applied not only to Jesus, for which reason he cannot be called the “only begotten son,” that is, God himself. Read more about this .

10) In any religion, God is the one who is worshiped. It is He alone who deserves and is worthy of universal worship. If we trace through the Divine Scriptures the path of all the prophets from Adam to the birth of Jesus, then they worshiped the One Whom in Islam is usually called “Allah.” The greatest and unchangeable name of God, which He (taking into account linguistic features) called Himself in the Bible. And all prayers directed to Jesus or anyone else besides Allah are in vain and are not accepted, since Jesus did not teach this, did not oblige to do so, as evidenced by at least the prayer that he actually taught the apostles, under the traditional name "Our Father". Having read it, we will not find a word there either about the “son of God”, or about the “Mother of God”, or about the Trinity.

So, in fact, the list of arguments is not exhaustive, but it is important for us that they are simple, logical and understandable even to children, while even adults and educated people do not think about such obvious things. Truly, prejudices are tenacious and sometimes ineradicable. And these 10 points are aimed at people who love freedom and hate driving themselves into the narrow framework of national traditions and “ancestral religion.” In other words, for people who live by their own minds. And as the presenter rightly noted, we do not want to offend anyone, but only want to convey the obvious truth, accessible to everyone’s understanding.

And praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds!

Why do Christians recognize Jesus Christ and why do Jews categorically reject him, while Muslims accept him partially, only as a prophet? It's all about three different psychotypes of personalities among adherents of three religious groups.
The Christian group, due to its psyche received from birth, is endowed with more spirituality than materialism. Four Gospels were written to program a group of Christians, each Gospel of the Bible written specifically for one of the four basic personality types of Christians.
Every Christian, being either a sanguine person, or a choleric person, or a phlegmatic person, or a melancholic person, intuitively chooses one of the four Gospels, the one that he liked most. All four psychotypes of personality recognize the image of Jesus Christ as the image of a victorious hero over evil. Jesus Christ is the leader of the pack, a leader capable of sacrificing not only his family ties, but also his own life, for the sake of saving his own kind; here he is, that Sailor, the image that lives in the soul of every Christian. This is a leader who, for the sake of the victory of good over evil, allowed his own body, his honor to be violated. But most importantly, this man even went to the extent of being fiercely hated by part of his own people, who cannot understand the meaning of his feat, a man who sacrificed everything for the salvation of his entire people, family, honor, wealth, glory. A leader who burns himself to the ground, illuminating the path for others. This is the type of leader of a pack of Christians, a male who serves as an example of an individual living for the sake of the whole society, and not vice versa. He is a symbol of Prometheus giving fire to people, a symbol of a man killing his own flesh in order to save everyone else from starvation. Name today at least one ruler who will sacrifice his life for the sake of spirituality, for the sake of morality. Who, Putin, Poroshenko, Obama, Trump or Patriarch Kirill? Who is that king, not a fake one, not a stupid puppet of his sinful inclinations, but a real one, caring for the welfare of the entire people, and not a handful of oligarchs? There are no such people today.
With the Jews it is a completely different matter; their type of psyche, acquired on the eighth day at the time of circumcision, makes them avid materialists; the material world is in the foreground, not the spiritual. Who is Jesus Christ in their understanding?
This is a loser who could neither defeat his enemies nor gain power over the people, a man publicly disgraced in front of all the people, spat on and beaten. Moreover, he who said: unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. This is not their image of a hero. For their type of psyche, the image of a hero is a macho, a tyrant who, with the help of cunning, deceit and brute physical force, rules over the people. The one who knows how to survive best in the material world.
Moses - this is their type of hero, a man who is a bit of a bandit, who killed a guard, a man who brought the whole people out of slavery, a man who brutally deals with grumbling male competitors with the help of the Levites, Tarzan.
King David is also their hero, the one who was able to eliminate the male competitors and take the most beautiful female from a strong male to his cave. King Slomomon is also a Jewish hero, he is the one who was able to build a strong state, a leader who was able to resolve very complex disputes among the people, a male with a huge number of females in his cave. This is the type of knight that the Jews recognize. Jesus is like that, a whipping boy and a mockery boy. And you must agree that for the psyche of a materialist it is pure madness to recognize Jesus as the son of the Creator, the main leader of the pack, a man disgraced before all the people, who is he to them? So, a buffoon and nothing more.
A good example of the behavior of the Jewish psyche is the incident that happened to the Jew Rabbi Isaac Kaduri. When he died, many thousands of Jews came to his funeral, that’s how much authority he had among the people. When, after his funeral, his suicide note was printed, in which he named the name of the Moshiach - Jesus, all his authority instantly disappeared in the eyes of his fans, almost all of them turned away from him.
For the artificially created psychological type of the materialist Jew, the Torah program was specially written, with four main types of materialist heroes - the Creator, Moses, David, Solomon. The main character is the god Yahweh, who, with the help of carrots and sticks, keeps his people in obedience; he is the one who punishes all other peoples; they must always be in constant debt to the Jewish people. This is the psyche of every Jew - I am a king from the tribe of Judah, and you are all my servants. That is why in the Torah the Jews are assigned the role of kings; this is the psychotype of the personality of every Jew, a materialistic person who always strives to take the main place of the male in the pack.
For example, if you look at Jesus Christ in the image of the Talmudic character Yeshu, the psychotype of the person who wrote the story about Yeshu becomes clear, the goal is an instinctive desire to dominate the flock at any cost, to subdue the enemy up to the point of public execution, with public abuse. Mark your opponent with your excrement, the way animals do when marking their territory, apply the most shameful form of execution for a Jew - hanging, make everyone else slaves of your own ego. Putin suits this type of personality very well today, remove male competitors at any cost, no matter what camp they are from, rival leaders for the throne are severely punished, be it Nemtsov or Mozgovoy, it makes no difference.
Jesus Christ is the leader of a pack of competitors for the throne of power, so he will never be recognized by people with the Jewish mental type. If any Jew recognizes Jesus Christ, the rest of the Jews will look at him as if he’s crazy, well, he’s crazy, well, it happens. And they are right, this is not their psycho-personality type, he is not their hero. If for Christians such an understanding of things is wild and unacceptable, then for Jews, on the contrary, the creed of Christians is unacceptable; for them it is wild and stupid. Just as the land always tries to dry up the sea, and the sea tries to swallow the land, so the Jews always fight with Christians, and Christians fight with Jews. They will never be able to understand each other due to different mental types. They look at the same thing and see it differently, they read the same book of the Bible and see different meanings in it.
Muslims also have a separate artificial psychotype. At the age of 12, the male sex undergoes a mental change; the elders perform the rite of circumcision on the younger ones. Why are they still doing this? The instinct of dominance of the male, the father, over the male son is triggered: if I, the father, have it, then the son should have it too. Just like in the army, they drove me around when I was young, but now I’ve become a grandfather and now I’ll drive you around when you’re young. Herd type of behavior. After circumcision, men's sexual desire for women sharply increases, which often results in intercourse with animals and the male sex due to the lack of partners. To create this psychotype, the scriptures specifically write a story about Ismael and how God commanded that he be circumcised at the age of 12. A special scripture has been written for this psychotype - the Koran. It is, just for people with increased sexual desire, as a reward to any male Muslim for faithful observance of the Koran, as many as three hundred women are promised for personal use and not just some old women, but virgins of extraordinary beauty.
This is precisely the main cherished desire of any Muslim, to have a bunch of women to satisfy his excessive male sexual instincts. As you understand, for such a male it is not enough to have one female, and this is why polygamy is allowed in Islam. The Koran allegorically says that Iblis will take away part of the body from two-thirds of people and make them dependent on the female body. Two thirds (666) of the part are Muslims and Jews, the third part is Christians. It also talks about the erection of two walls, one in the west and the second in the east, to separate two peoples from the main part, allegorically speaking about a change in the psyche of two people-religions - Jews and Muslims.
Jesus Christ is not the image of a hero of the psychotype of Muslims, their image of a hero is Muhammad, a man who conquered many lands and gave many females to the males of his pack. Their hero should be a macho man with many wives, who, through cunning and the ability to manipulate the masses, achieved power in the pack; this is the hero of the Muslim psyche.
It is incomprehensible to their psyche how a pack can have two male leaders at the same time, father and son? Their type of psyche allows only one leader to be the leader; there must always be one head in the family. There are many chickens, but there is always only one rooster. That is why, according to the structure of the Muslim psyche, the Quran directly rejects Jesus as the son of God, he is just a prophet and nothing more.
Human society was specifically divided into three different groups, with different psychotypes, with different scriptures and with different images of heroes. Each group must constantly persecute the other two groups, this is how the development of human society was achieved. If any nation lives in constant prosperity, then such a nation will quickly degrade and its neighbors will take its place.

You can often hear that Muslims “recognize and honor Jesus Christ.” Sometimes it is even stated that this “brings two world religions closer together.”
But in fact, a careful study and comparison of what Muslims say about Jesus Christ and what Christians say about Jesus shows that this can more likely be attributed to the differences between the two religions than to the similarities.

In the end, the Talmud also contains words about Jesus Christ, but due to their nature, it is unlikely that anyone would call this a point that brings Christianity and rabbinic Judaism together.

Although, unlike the Jews, Muslims treat Jesus mentioned in the Koran with reverence, they imagine Him so differently that some Christian researchers have questioned the question of how justified it is to identify Jesus Christ, who is known from the New Testament, with Jesus, who is spoken of in the Koran.

After all, let’s say, if a person, opening an unfamiliar book by a modern author, sees that the main character has the same first and last name as the reader himself, but his very character and biography are very different, he is unlikely to think that the author is in such a way “honored him,” would rather take it as a coincidence in names and nothing more.

To allow the reader to decide whether there are more differences or similarities, we will review the Christian teaching about Jesus Christ and the Muslim one.

Many educated Muslims recognize the fundamental difference between Muslim ideas about Jesus Christ and Christian ones, and try to substantiate the truth of their ideas by criticizing Christian ones. They have even made several films - “Christ through the eyes of Muslims”, “Jesus, the Spirit of God”, “Prophet Isa”, where these Muslim ideas are popularized.

Therefore, the article will also provide an explanation of the logic of the Christian teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, and also tell why Christians cannot agree with Muslim ideas about Him.

How do Muslims teach about Jesus Christ?

In Arabic transcription, the name of Jesus Christ sounds like Isa al-Masih (this is a direct translation of the Hebrew “Yeshua Mashiach”). Muslims recognize that Christ was born miraculously from the Virgin Mary (Koran 3, 45, 47).

Unlike the Gospel, which emphasizes that the incarnation of Jesus occurred only after the Virgin Mary voluntarily gave her consent, according to the version of the Koran, no one asked her consent, and the angel Jibril appeared to inform her of the order of Allah, which is not subject to discussion. At the same time, unlike Christians, Muslims do not believe that Mary retained her virginity after giving birth, that is, they deny her Ever-Virginity, and also believe that during childbirth she suffered and shouted: “Oh, if only I had died before this and been forgotten.” "(Quran 19, 23).

Muslims think that Jesus was an ordinary man like Adam (Koran 3, 59) and had a prophetic mission. He was sent only to the people of Israel with the following revelation: “Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord!” (Koran 5, 117), and also: “O children of Israel! I am the messenger of Allah to you, confirming the truth of what was revealed before me in the Torah, and bringing good news of the messenger who will come after me, whose name will be Ahmad” (Quran 61, 6). Ahmad is one of the forms of the name Muhammad.

Islam acknowledges that Jesus performed miracles: “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I will create for you from clay in the image of a bird and blow into it, and it will become a bird by the will of Allah. I will heal the blind, the leper, and raise the dead by Allah's permission. I will tell you what you eat and what you store in your homes. Verily, this is a sign for you, if you are believers!” (Quran 3, 49). In addition, among His miracles, the Koran mentions that He spoke as a baby, and also that, through His prayer, Allah lowered a table with a meal from heaven in order to convince the apostles (Koran 5, 111-115).

The Koran says that Jesus received from Allah a scripture called the Gospel, “in which there is guidance and light, and with confirmation of the truth of what was revealed before him in the Torah” (Koran 5, 46), and also that Allah Jesus “reinforced with the Holy Spirit” (Koran 2, 87).

Islam categorically denies that Jesus is God and the Son of God: “Those who say that Jesus, the son of Mary, is God do not believe. Say: “Who has the power of anything with Allah, if He wants to destroy Jesus, the son of Mary, and his mother, and those who are on earth, everyone?”” (Quran 5, 17), “And the Christians said: “Christ - God's Son". These words in their mouths are like the words of those who did not believe before. May Allah strike them! How disgusted they are!” (Quran 9, 30). “Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, is only the messenger of Allah and His word, which He sent to Mary, and His spirit... Truly, Allah is only one god. More praiseworthy is He than to have a child” (Quran 4, 171).

Muslims, trying to explain the obvious contradiction of the Koran and the Gospel, say that Christians of the first centuries did not confess the Triune God, did not honor Christ as either God or the Son of God (but only a prophet), that He was not crucified and, accordingly, was not The Redeemer, nor the Savior of mankind, but all this appeared much later - in the 3rd and 4th centuries, as a distortion of His original teaching. According to them, under the influence of these distortions, the original text of the Gospel was subsequently allegedly corrupted.

Here are just some of the most typical examples of this kind of statement: “Christ came with the true religion, but those who were after him deified him and mixed his pure teaching with the false one that came from themselves, and invented a new religion, which they called ″Christianity″. Jesus conveyed to his people the orally revealed gospel in its original form. The apostles also preached it orally. Then they mixed in it an account of the life of their prophet with the revealed psalms of the Gospel."

Islam also denies the crucifixion and death of Jesus: “and because of their words: “We killed Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah,” but they did not kill him and did not crucify him, but it only seemed to them... They did not kill him... no , Allah raised him to Himself: after all, Allah is great and wise!” (Quran 4, 157-158).

Muslims admit that the Jews wanted to crucify Jesus, but they believe that they crucified another person by mistake, and Allah captured Jesus to himself and he is now in heaven. Before the end of the world, he will appear a second time, kill the villain Dajjal, and begin to preach Islam.

Muhammad taught: “Soon, very soon, the son of Mary will come down to you as a just judge. He will break crosses, kill pigs, abolish taxes on non-believers and increase wealth so much that no one will desire it anymore” (Bukhari 4.55.657). Since Muslims believe that Christians have distorted the teachings of Christ, it is natural that, according to their ideas, the appearing “Isa” will oppose Christianity - hence the motive for “breaking crosses”, as well as the belief that “on the day of resurrection he will be a witness against them (Christians) "(Quran 4, 159).

In another hadith, Muhammad says: “When Jesus, the son of Mary comes, he will marry and have children. He will remain on earth for 45 years and will be buried with me, in my grave. And I will rise with Jesus from the same grave.” It is said that Jesus will marry an Arab woman after he kills the Dajjal. She will give birth to a girl who will die. And he himself will die in a few years.

After this, “Isa” will be buried in Medina, where a grave has been specially prepared for him. Muhammad's will that a place should be left on his left hand for Jesus was fulfilled, and it continues to this day.

What are the differences from Christian teaching?

Often Muslims sincerely cannot understand the Christian teaching about the Incarnation. This, as a rule, stems from the fact that they do not think about the difference between the concept of “nature” and the concept of “personality”.

What is meant?

For example, if a person suddenly loses an arm or a leg, he will not cease to be himself. If a person loses their memory due to amnesia, their personality will remain the same. If he loses his intellectual abilities, his personality will remain the same. This means that neither the parts of the body, nor the body itself, nor the memory, nor the mind are a person. This is all part of human nature. And personality is the “I” that has this nature. We can say that human nature is everything that answers the question “what?”, and personality answers the question “who?”. This difference of personality and nature exists in all rational beings.

It is also in God. Therefore, Christians can say that God is one, for He is one by nature, and that God is Trinity, for one divine nature has Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And the second Person of the Trinity was incarnated on Earth two thousand years ago. This is Jesus Christ.

It is precisely because of a lack of understanding of the difference between nature and personality that Muslims do not understand this fact. Those of them who polemicize with Christianity love to quote quotations from the Gospel talking about the humanity of Christ, and think that by doing so they were able to refute the Christian teaching about the Incarnation.

But for Christians themselves there is no “refutation” or “contradiction” here, for, having become a man, Christ did not cease to be God, he did not “transform” from God into man and did not mix the divine nature with the human into some kind of hybrid - no! He simply incorporated the human nature born of the virgin Mary into His Person. He is both true God and true man, and the fact that the Gospel illuminates one or the other does not constitute a contradiction.

Let's imagine that a certain story describes the life of an engineer. Then it is mentioned that he is the father of the family. And so, some reader will begin to be indignant: “Well, how can he be a father if the previous page clearly states that he is an engineer?” Everyone will laugh at such a reader, because everyone knows that the same human person can be both an engineer and a father at the same time, and there is no contradiction in this. So for the God-man Christ, it is just as natural that He is both God and man.

Christianity proclaims the great miracle of God - the true incarnation of God. Without ceasing to be God, He took on human nature and delivered it from all shortcomings, defects and distortions - brought it to complete perfection, raised it to a supernatural level. And now we can connect with this renewed nature and heal our own, distorted by the consequences of the original Adam's sin and affected by personal sins.

Sometimes some Muslims ask Christians: why did God choose this particular method to save people? Couldn’t He have chosen some other way? On this occasion, one and a half thousand years ago, St. Augustine wittily remarked: “There are foolish people who say: Couldn’t God’s Wisdom have delivered people in any other way except by becoming a man, being born of a woman and suffering all that evil from sinners? We answer them: of course, she could; but if She had acted differently, your unreason would not have liked it either.”.

And indeed, if you think about it, then typologically this is the same question as: “Why did God create the world and man this way? Couldn’t he really make a person three-legged and winged or something else?” For a sincerely believing person, this question does not arise: it is clear that the almighty Lord could have arranged the world differently and saved sinful man, but since He arranged everything in this way, it is clear that He chose the best for us. Because God loves His creation.

It is important to know that His decision to save people through incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection was completely free and voluntary, not determined by any external necessity or inevitability. He chose the best for us and did so out of love for us. One of the key concepts in Christianity is God is love(1 John 4:8). A We know love in that He laid down His life for us(1 John 3:16).

So, for Christians, Jesus Christ is not a “moral teacher” and not a “simple prophet,” but the eternal God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. His kingdom is the kingdom of all ages, and His dominion is in every generation. He is our Lord, as our Redeemer and Head of the Church.

The name Jesus means Savior. He saved people from sin, curse and death. As we remember, the first people, Adam and Eve, fell away from God by committing sin. As a result, human nature itself became distorted.

And so, out of His love and compassionate mercy, the Lord Himself stands up for His creation. Three obstacles stood before Him. The first is the gap between the Divine and human natures. For it was said to Moses: man cannot see Me and live(Ex. 33, 20).

The second barrier is sin, which cannot be ignored by a Holy God. After all, the Righteous Creator cannot leave a crime unpunished.

And the third barrier is death, which destroys human nature.

And so the Lord Jesus Christ comes to destroy these barriers, save man and make him a god by grace.

The Eternal Son takes flesh from the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to Him without the participation of a man by the power of the Life-giving Spirit. The One Person of the Son of God begins to exist in two natures, united inseparably, immutably, inseparably, inseparably. So Christ, while remaining a perfect God, became a perfect Man, having a human soul, mind, and will. He only did not have original sin, and He Himself did not do any evil. Thus, through the Incarnation the first barrier was overcome - the difference of natures. Both essences, without destroying each other, united in One Divine Person, and now through Christ we have gained access to the Father.

Christ came into the world and gave a new law, the law of love, but His main work was to deliver people from evil and sin, and for this death was necessary. After all, life can only be bought at the price of life. And so Jesus Christ, in order to destroy the barrier of sin, voluntarily takes upon Himself the sins of the whole world. The innocent Righteous One dies for the guilty, taking upon Himself their punishment and curse. His blood becomes a ransom for our sins. He gives blood for blood, soul for soul, body for body: The punishment of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed(Isa. 53:5).

He corrects Adam's ancient disobedience by being obedient to the Father unto death and becomes the new Adam, the progenitor of redeemed humanity. And so the justice of God appeared, for it was not just God who defeated the enemy Satan, but Man. The same nature that was taken captive in Paradise was victorious on the Cross.

He truly died and was buried. His soul separated from his body and descended into hell. And hell was destroyed by the manifestation of the Divine Radiance. The righteous who believed in Christ ascended to paradise, and since then the road there again appeared, closed by the crime of the first people. Thus, the second wall between God and people collapsed - the wall of sin, and thus the cause of death, which did not let go of man, disappeared.

And on the third day, Sunday night, He rose from the dead by the power of His Divinity. The resurrected Jesus became the Firstborn from the dead, the Firstfruits, that is, the first sheaf of the new harvest of the resurrected. Death was destroyed, and on Easter morning a reverse movement began in human history - the process of resurrection of all the dead. Thus the last wall between the Creator and people collapsed. Through the sacrament of baptism, uniting with the sinless Christ, people are freed from original sin and receive immortality. Those who come to Him will be resurrected like Him and will reign with Him forever.

This is the logic and meaning of the Christian teaching about Jesus Christ, which many Muslims, unfortunately, do not understand, and because of this, distorted ideas about the faith of Orthodox Christians often arise among them.

As already mentioned, Muslims believe that the early Christians did not recognize Christ as God and the Son of God, did not know about His crucifixion and death, and did not believe in the Triune God, but only centuries later such teachings began to appear. Why can't Christians agree with such statements?

There are three objective reasons for this.

Firstly, the said Muslim statement completely ahistorical. Even if we do not take into account the New Testament texts, which were compiled in the 1st century by contemporaries and eyewitnesses of Christ and were used in the community where the eyewitnesses-apostles enjoyed enormous authority, even without them from the 1st and early 2nd centuries AD. Many texts written by early Christians have survived. And this is what we see in them.

Saint Clement of Rome, who personally knew the apostles Peter and Paul, writes at the end of the 1st century: “Brothers! You must think of Jesus Christ as God and the judge of the living and the dead" (2 Corinthians, I). “Let us pay attention to the blood of Christ, and we will see how precious is His blood before God, which was shed for our salvation, and brought the grace of repentance to the whole world” (1 Corinthians, VII). “The Lord said this about His Son: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You” (Ps. 2:7-8)” (1 Corinthians, XXXVI).

Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, who suffered in 107, who personally knew the apostles Peter and John, and, according to legend, saw the Savior Himself in childhood, testifies thus before execution: “There is only one physician, carnal and spiritual, begotten and without beginning, God Jesus who appeared in the flesh Christ our Lord" (Ephesians vii), "prepared for the building of God the Father; you are lifted up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, that is, by the cross, by the rope of the Holy Spirit; your faith carries you on high, and love is the way that leads you to God” (Ephesians, IX).

And not only writing, but also archeology gives us confirmation of this. For example, a cross was recently discovered in Crimea, carved on a wall by Christians of the 1st century, which they, of course, would not have done if Christ had not been crucified, and if His crucifixion had not been given special, sacred significance.

Evidence of a similar kind, but later, is the one-oriental gem with a design of a fish and the inscription: “Jesus Christ, protect! " Why fish? Because the monogram “IHTIS” (in Greek “fish”) was deciphered by early Christians as Ihsouj Cristoj Qeou Uioj Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior). The first "ichthyses" discovered on the walls of ancient Christian catacombs date back to the second half of the 1st century.

Finally, the same thing is clearly evidenced by pagan and Jewish writers of the first two centuries AD, who cannot be suspected of deliberately distorting facts in a light favorable to Christians.

The Syrian Mara Bar Serapion (73) writes in his “Letter to his Son”: “What did the Jews win by executing their wise King? Didn't their kingdom perish soon after this? For in truth the Divine took revenge... the Jews, abandoned and driven out of their kingdom, were scattered throughout every country. The wise King did not perish forever - He continues to live in His teaching.”

Josephus (93): “At that time there was a wise man called Jesus. He was righteous and known for virtue. And many from among the Jews and other nations became His disciples. Pilate sentenced Him to death on the cross. And those who became His disciples did not reject His teachings. According to them, He appeared to them alive three days after the crucifixion; That is why He was, perhaps, the Messiah about whom the prophets spoke when describing miracles. The tribe of Christians who received their name from Him is alive to this day (Antiquities 18.33) ";

Pliny the Younger, while proconsul of Bithynia, carried out a thorough study of Christianity; and this is what he ultimately writes to Emperor Trajan in 111: “The whole guilt of them (the Christians) was that they met on certain days and sang a song to Christ as God (letter No. 96).”

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (115): “The culprit of this name (Christian), Christ, was subjected to death penalty during the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate (Annals, 15 book. 4 chapters).”

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin section (2nd century): “On the evening before Passover they hanged Jesus of Nazareth,” and elsewhere: he “was 33 years old when Pintius the Robber (i.e., Pontius Pilate) killed him... They say his mother was from a line of kings, but became the wife of a carpenter.” Also in the Talmud it is written about Jesus: “Rabbi Elizar said: Looking into the future, Balaam saw that there would be a son of a woman who would exalt himself and try to make himself God and seduce the whole world... and deceitfully say that he would leave, but would return again in the end "

Emperor Hadrian (130), in his letter to Servian, briefly notes about the Alexandrians that some of them “idolize Christ.”

Marcus Cornelius Fronto (140): “They also say that they (Christians) honor a person punished for a crime with a terrible punishment, and the inglorious tree of the cross.”

Celsus (150), considering the crucifixion of Jesus to be a disgrace to Christianity, speaks “of a voice from the cross at the last breath, and of an earthquake, and of darkness”; he notes in one place that Christians “admit many Persons in God” and quotes in another the words of Christian preachers: “I am God, I am the Son of God, I am the Divine Spirit...”; and again: “Jesus, returning from Egypt, declared Himself to be God,” and in another place: “Christians blame the Jews for not believing in Jesus as God.”

Lucian of Samosata (160) writes that “they (Christians) adore their crucified sage and live according to His law,” and that He “was crucified in Palestine for having founded this new cult (Christianity) (On the death of Peregrinus)” .

In the light of these facts, it is obvious that the belief that Jesus is God incarnate and the Son of God, who took upon himself crucifixion and death for the salvation of mankind, is the original faith of Christians, coming from the apostles and eyewitnesses of Christ themselves. And Muslim claims that this appeared in the 3rd-4th centuries are untenable and contradict historical truth.

The second, even more important reason is Old Testament prophecies about the Divinity, Suffering and Death of the Messiah (Christ, in Greek). Everything that will be listed here was written long before the birth of Christ - this is indisputable, and excludes the possibility of “retroactive prophecy.”

The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand(Ps. 109:1); You are My Son; Today I have begotten You... Honor the Son, lest He be angry, and lest you perish on your way, for His anger will soon kindle. Blessed are all who trust in Him(Ps. 2, 7,12); Thy throne, O God, endures forever; the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore, O God, Your God anointed You with the oil of gladness.(Ps. 44: 7-8).

This is our God, and no one else can compare with Him. He found all the ways of wisdom and gave it to His servant Jacob and His beloved Israel... After that He appeared on earth and spoke among people(Var. 3, 36-38). For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; dominion on His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace(Isa. 9:6).

The event itself: Christ will be put to death(Dan. 9:26) - and its purpose (redemption): He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our illnesses; and we thought that He was smitten, punished and humiliated by God. But He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; the punishment of the world was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed(Isa. 53:4-5).

Nothing else is predicted in the Old Testament as documented and accurately as this Sacrifice.

Betrayal from a friend is so predicted: the man who was at peace with Me, in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, lifted up his heel against Me(Ps. 40:10); the prophet even names the price: and I will say to them: if it pleases you, then give Me My wages... and they will weigh out thirty pieces of silver to pay Me."(Zech. 11, 12); false accusations: false witnesses have risen up against Me and breathe malice(Ps. 26:12); silence before accusers: but I am like a deaf man who does not hear, and like a dumb man who does not open his mouth(Ps. 37:14); ridicule and bullying: all who see Me mock Me; They say with their mouths, nodding their heads: “He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him, if he pleases him.”(Ps. 21:8-9); scourging, beating and spitting: I gave My backbone to the smiters and cheeks(cheeks) Mine are striking; I did not hide My face from reproach and spitting(Isa. 50:6), the crucifixion itself: dogs surrounded Me, a crowd of evil ones surrounded Me, they pierced My hands and My feet(Ps. 21:17), and they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink(Ps. 68:22), they divide My garments among themselves and cast lots for My clothing(Ps. 21, 19), one could count all My bones, but they look and make a spectacle out of Me(Ps. 21, 18); death with the villains - gave up His soul to death, and was numbered among the evildoers(Isa. 53:12), witnessed by a solar eclipse - And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God: I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and darken the earth in the midst of the bright day."(Am. 8, 9); piercing of the heart, and grief of the disciples: They will look at Him whom they pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as they mourn for the Only Begotten Son, and mourn, as they mourn for the firstborn.(Zech. 12, 10); burial of a rich man He was assigned a coffin with the villains, but He was buried with a rich man(Isa.53, 9).

This is how the death of the Messiah is described in the Old Testament. All this was exactly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, as the eyewitnesses who compiled the writings of the New Testament testify. Since God Himself, centuries before His incarnation, through His true prophets, foretold this, not once, not twice, but dozens of times and in the smallest detail, then how can we not trust God when He gives us a clear sign through fulfilled prophecies?

Finally, the third reason is common sense. Only Christianity can explain the personality of Jesus Christ, including even what is said about Him in the Koran.

For example, the name “Jesus” (“Yeshua”, “Isa”) translated means “Savior”. Why was this name given to him? Based on Islamic ideas, there is no answer to this question, but Christianity answers: He is called the Savior because by His sacrifice he saved man from sin and reunited him with God. The meaning of His name is directly spoken of by the Angel who appeared to Joseph, Mary’s betrothed: [Mary] will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins(Matt. 1:21).

Further, the word “Christ” (“Mashiach”, “Masih”) means “Anointed One”. What does it mean in relation to Jesus? Islam does not explain this in any way, but Christianity has the answer: this word reflects His ministry after the incarnation. Indeed, in ancient times, in the Old Testament, kings were elevated to ministry through anointing with consecrated oil, and they were called anointed. So, for example, when the prophet Samuel saw young David, he said the Lord: Arise, anoint him, for it is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him among his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon David from that day forward.(1 Samuel 16:12-13). We have already mentioned that Jesus was executed as the King of the Jews, and this was officially written in the indictment tablet by the representative of the Roman authorities in Judea. But Christians honor Him as the anointed King over the whole world, as the eternal head of the Kingdom of Heaven, where all people are called, but only those who respond to the call and bother to enter it reach. In Islam there is absolutely no concept of the kingship of Christ, and the name “Masih” becomes completely meaningless.

Further, the Koran says that Jesus was born of a virgin. But why? What is the point of this if he is no different in nature and ministry from other Quranic “prophets”? Again, Islam has no answer to this. But in Christianity there is. First, He who has God as a Father does not need to have a human father. And secondly, this is explained precisely by the presence of original sin. As we remember: Who will be born clean from an unclean? No one(Job 14:4). In a sinless God, sin is impossible, and therefore, in order not to inherit original sin, as with other people, Christ the Savior is born from a sinless and virgin Mother.

Finally, in the Koran Christ is called the “Word of God” and “His Spirit.” Why? Is this compatible with the Islamic view of him as one of such prophets? Why is it that out of all the many Quranic “messengers of Allah,” only Jesus is called the “Word of Allah”? This question has baffled Muslims from century to century, forced to look for the most ridiculous excuses. And in Christianity, where Christ is also called the Word, there is a clear and logical answer: this name reflects the eternity and inseparability of Jesus with God. For, naturally, there could not be a time and there will not be a time when God would be without His Word, “wordless,” but His Word always abided with Him and in Him.

Even the Monk John of Damascus remarked on this matter to Muslims: “If you say that Christ is the Word of God and the Spirit, then why do you call us associates with God, because the word and the spirit are inseparable from the one in whom they exist. So, if His word exists in God, then it is clear that it is God; if it is outside of God, then in your opinion God is wordless and soulless.”

In polemic with the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the Koran asks rhetorically: “How could He have a child if He did not have a wife?” (6, 101). The position is quite ambiguous, since the Virgin Mary asked the same question, wanting to know how she could give birth to a son if she did not have a husband (Quran 3, 47). And in the next verse, the Koran declares that Allah can do whatever He wants, and it is enough for Him to say the word “be” and “it will be.” Giving such arguments, the author of the Koran could answer his own question in Sura 6, 101. And in fact, if God wanted to incarnate and live with people, then what is impossible for Him here? All that remains for people to do is to accept His gift with joy and reverence and enter upon the path indicated by Him, just as Christians do.

Yuri Maksimov

These two stories were taken by the author of the Koran from the apocrypha. The story of Jesus speaking in the cradle is found in the Arabic Childhood Gospel, and the mention of him creating clay birds and bringing them to life is taken from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas.

Lebedev A.P.. Clergy of the ancient universal Church. St. Petersburg, 1997. - P. 44.

Ranovich A.B. Decree. op. - Ss. 275; 277.

Bobrinsky A. From the era of the birth of Christianity. M., 1995. - P. 40.

McDowell Josh. Decree. op. — P. 72.

The word “Christ” or “Messiah” is translated as “anointed one.”

« From the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour» (Matthew 27.45). Since the Jews believed that twelve hours passed from sunrise to sunset, the sixth hour corresponded to noon, and the ninth to three o'clock in the afternoon. Thus darkness occurred around noon.

Byzantine writings on Islam. M., 2006. - P. 19.

You can often hear that Muslims “recognize and honor Jesus Christ.” Sometimes it is even stated that this “brings two world religions closer together.”

But in fact, a careful study and comparison of what Muslims say about Jesus Christ and what Christians say about Jesus shows that this can more likely be attributed to the differences between the two religions than to the similarities.

In the end, the Talmud also contains words about Jesus Christ, but due to their nature, it is unlikely that anyone would call this a point that brings Christianity and rabbinic Judaism together.

Although, unlike the Jews, Muslims treat Jesus mentioned in the Koran with reverence, they imagine Him so differently that some Christian researchers have questioned the question of how justified it is to identify Jesus Christ, who is known from the New Testament, with Jesus, who is spoken of in the Koran.

After all, let’s say, if a person, opening an unfamiliar book by a modern author, sees that the main character has the same first and last name as the reader himself, but his very character and biography are very different, he is unlikely to think that the author is thus "honored him" would rather take it as a coincidence in names and nothing more.

To allow the reader to decide whether there are more differences or similarities, we will review the Christian teaching about Jesus Christ and the Muslim one.

Many educated Muslims recognize the fundamental difference between Muslim ideas about Jesus Christ and Christian ones, and try to substantiate the truth of their ideas by criticizing Christian ones. They have even shot several films - “Christ through the eyes of Muslims”, “Jesus, the Spirit of God”, “Prophet Isa”, where these Muslim ideas are popularized.

Therefore, the article will also provide an explanation of the logic of the Christian teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, and also tell why Christians cannot agree with Muslim ideas about Him.

How do Muslims teach about Jesus Christ?

In Arabic transcription, the name of Jesus Christ sounds like Isa al-Masih (this is a direct translation of the Hebrew “Yeshua Mashiach”). Muslims recognize that Christ was born miraculously from the Virgin Mary (Koran 3, 45, 47).

Unlike the Gospel, which emphasizes that the incarnation of Jesus occurred only after the Virgin Mary voluntarily gave her consent, according to the version of the Koran, no one asked her consent, and the angel Jibril appeared to inform her of the order of Allah, which is not subject to discussion. At the same time, unlike Christians, Muslims do not believe that Mary retained her virginity after giving birth, that is, they deny her Ever-Virginity, and also believe that during childbirth she suffered and shouted: “Oh, if only I had died before this and been forgotten.” "(Quran 19, 23).

Muslims think that Jesus was an ordinary man like Adam (Koran 3, 59) and had a prophetic mission. He was sent only to the people of Israel with the following revelation: “Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord!” (Quran 5, 117), and also: “O children of Israel! I am the Messenger of Allah to you, confirming the truth of what was revealed before me in the Torah, and bringing good news of the messenger who will come after me, whose name will be Ahmad” (Quran 61, 6). Ahmad is a form of the name Muhammad.

Islam recognizes that Jesus performed miracles: “I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I will create for you out of clay in the image of a bird and blow into it, and it will become a bird by the will of Allah. I will heal the blind, the leper, and give life to the dead.” "By Allah's permission, I will inform you of what you eat and what you keep in your homes. Indeed, in this is a sign for you, if you are believers." (Quran 3, 49). In addition, among His miracles, the Koran mentions that He spoke as a baby, and also that, through His prayer, Allah lowered a table with a meal from heaven in order to convince the apostles (Koran 5, 111-115).

The Koran says that Jesus received from Allah a scripture called the Gospel, “in which there is guidance and light, and with confirmation of the truth of what was revealed before him in the Torah” (Koran 5, 46), and also that Allah Jesus “reinforced with the Holy Spirit” (Koran 2, 87).

Islam categorically denies that Jesus is God and the Son of God: “Those who say that Jesus, the son of Mary, is God do not believe. Say: “Who has the power of anything with Allah if He wants to destroy Jesus, the son of Mary?” , and his mother, and those on earth, everyone? "" (Koran 5, 17), "And the Christians said: “Christ is the Son of God.” These words in their mouths are similar to the words of those who did not believe before. May Allah strike them! How disgusted they are! (Quran 9, 30). “Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, is only the messenger of Allah and His word, which He sent to Mary, and His spirit... Verily, Allah is only one god. He is more praiseworthy than that He had a child” (Quran 4, 171) .

Muslims, trying to explain the obvious contradiction of the Koran and the Gospel, say that Christians of the first centuries did not confess the Triune God, did not honor Christ as either God or the Son of God (but only a prophet), that He was not crucified and, accordingly, was not The Redeemer, nor the Savior of mankind, but all this appeared much later - in the 3rd and 4th centuries, as a distortion of His original teaching. According to them, under the influence of these distortions, the original text of the Gospel was subsequently allegedly corrupted.

Here are just some of the most typical examples of this kind of statement: “Christ came with the true religion, but those who were after him deified him and mixed his pure teaching with the false one that came from themselves, and invented a new religion, which they called "Christianity". Jesus conveyed to his people the orally revealed Gospel in its original form. The apostles also preached it orally. Then they mixed in it the account of the life of their prophet with the revealed psalms of the Gospel."

Islam also denies the crucifixion and death of Jesus: “and because of their words: “We killed Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah,” but they did not kill him and did not crucify him, but it only seemed to them... They did not kill him ... no, Allah raised him to Himself: after all, Allah is great and wise! " (Quran 4, 157-158).

Muslims admit that the Jews wanted to crucify Jesus, but they believe that they crucified another person by mistake, and Allah captured Jesus to himself and he is now in heaven. Before the end of the world, he will appear a second time, kill the villain Dajjal, and begin to preach Islam.

Muhammad taught: “Soon, very soon, the son of Mary will come to you as a just judge. He will break crosses, kill pigs, cancel the tax on the Gentiles and increase wealth so much that no one will desire it anymore” (Bukhari 4.55.657). Since Muslims believe that Christians have distorted the teachings of Christ, it is natural that, according to their ideas, the appearing “Isa” will oppose Christianity - hence the motive for “breaking crosses”, as well as the belief that “on the day of resurrection he will be a witness against them (Christians) "(Quran 4, 159).

In another hadith, Muhammad says: “When Jesus, the son of Mary, comes, he will marry and have children. He will remain on earth for 45 years and will be buried with me, in my grave. And I will rise with Jesus from the same grave.” It is said that Jesus will marry an Arab woman after he kills the Dajjal. She will give birth to a girl who will die. And he himself will die in a few years.

After this, “Isa” will be buried in Medina, where a grave has been specially prepared for him. Muhammad's will that a place should be left on his left hand for Jesus was fulfilled, and it continues to this day.

What are the differences from Christian teaching?

Often Muslims sincerely cannot understand the Christian teaching about the Incarnation. This, as a rule, stems from the fact that they do not think about the difference between the concept of “nature” and the concept of “personality”.

What is meant?

For example, if a person suddenly loses an arm or a leg, he will not cease to be himself. If a person loses their memory due to amnesia, their personality will remain the same. If he loses his intellectual abilities, his personality will remain the same. This means that neither the parts of the body, nor the body itself, nor the memory, nor the mind are a person. This is all a part of human nature. And personality is the “I” that has this nature. We can say that human nature is everything that answers the question “what?”, and personality answers the question “who?”. This difference of personality and nature exists in all rational beings.

It is also in God. Therefore, Christians can say that God is one, for He is one by nature, and that God is Trinity, for one divine nature has Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And the second Person of the Trinity was incarnated on Earth two thousand years ago. This is Jesus Christ.

It is precisely because of a lack of understanding of the difference between nature and personality that Muslims do not understand this fact. Those of them who polemicize with Christianity love to quote quotations from the Gospel talking about the humanity of Christ, and think that by doing so they were able to refute the Christian teaching about the Incarnation.

But for Christians themselves there is no “refutation” or “contradiction” here, for, having become a man, Christ did not cease to be God, he did not “transform” from God into man and did not mix the divine nature with the human into some kind of hybrid - no! He simply incorporated the human nature born of the virgin Mary into His Person. He is both true God and true man, and the fact that the Gospel illuminates one or the other does not constitute a contradiction.

Let's imagine that a certain story describes the life of an engineer. It is then mentioned that he is the father of the family. And so, some reader will begin to be indignant: “Well, how can he be a father if the previous page clearly states that he is an engineer?” Everyone will laugh at such a reader, because everyone knows that the same human person can be both an engineer and a father at the same time, and there is no contradiction in this. So for the God-man Christ, it is just as natural that He is both God and man.

Christianity proclaims the great miracle of God - the true incarnation of God. Without ceasing to be God, He took on human nature and delivered it from all shortcomings, defects and distortions - brought it to complete perfection, raised it to a supernatural level. And now we can connect with this renewed nature and heal our own, distorted by the consequences of the original Adam's sin and affected by personal sins.

Sometimes some Muslims ask Christians: why did God choose this particular method to save people? Couldn’t He have chosen some other way? On this occasion, even one and a half thousand years ago, Blessed Augustine wittily remarked: “There are foolish people who say: could not God’s Wisdom have delivered people in any other way, except by becoming a man, being born of a woman and suffering all that evil from sinners? We answer them: of course, she could; but if She had acted otherwise, your unreason would not have liked it either.”

And indeed, if you think about it, typologically this is the same question as: “Why did God create the world and man exactly like this? Couldn’t he have made man three-legged and winged or something else?” For a sincerely believing person, this question does not arise: it is clear that the almighty Lord could have arranged the world differently and saved sinful man, but since He arranged everything in this way, it is clear that He chose the best for us. Because God loves His creation.

It is important to know that His decision to save people through incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection was completely free and voluntary, not determined by any external necessity or inevitability. He chose the best for us and did so out of love for us. One of the key concepts in Christianity is God is love (1 John 4:8). And we know love in this, that He laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16).

So, for Christians, Jesus Christ is not a “moral teacher” and not a “simple prophet,” but the eternal God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. His kingdom is the kingdom of all ages, and His dominion is in every generation. He is our Lord, as our Redeemer and Head of the Church.

The name Jesus means Savior. He saved people from sin, curse and death. As we remember, the first people, Adam and Eve, fell away from God by committing sin. As a result, human nature itself became distorted.

And so, out of His love and compassionate mercy, the Lord Himself stands up for His creation. Three obstacles stood before Him. The first is the gap between the Divine and human natures. For it was said to Moses: man cannot see Me and live (Ex. 33:20).

The second barrier is sin, which cannot be ignored by a Holy God. After all, the Righteous Creator cannot leave a crime unpunished.

And the third barrier is death, which destroys human nature.

And so the Lord Jesus Christ comes to destroy these barriers, save man and make him a god by grace.

The Eternal Son takes flesh from the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to Him without the participation of a man by the power of the Life-giving Spirit. The One Person of the Son of God begins to exist in two natures, united inseparably, immutably, inseparably, inseparably. So Christ, while remaining a perfect God, became a perfect Man, having a human soul, mind, and will. He only did not have original sin, and He Himself did not do any evil. Thus, through the Incarnation the first barrier was overcome - the difference of natures. Both essences, without destroying each other, united in One Divine Person, and now through Christ we have gained access to the Father.

Christ came into the world and gave a new law, the law of love, but His main work was to deliver people from evil and sin, and for this death was necessary. After all, life can only be bought at the price of life. And so Jesus Christ, in order to destroy the barrier of sin, voluntarily takes upon Himself the sins of the whole world. The innocent Righteous One dies for the guilty, taking upon Himself their punishment and curse. His blood becomes a ransom for our sins. He gives blood for blood, soul for soul, body for body: The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripe we were healed (Isa. 53:5).

He corrects Adam's ancient disobedience by being obedient to the Father unto death and becomes the new Adam, the progenitor of redeemed humanity. And so the justice of God appeared, for it was not just God who defeated the enemy Satan, but Man. The same nature that was taken captive in Paradise was victorious on the Cross.

He truly died and was buried. His soul separated from his body and descended into hell. And hell was destroyed by the manifestation of the Divine Radiance. The righteous who believed in Christ ascended to paradise, and since then the road there again appeared, closed by the crime of the first people. Thus, the second wall between God and people collapsed - the wall of sin, and thus the cause of death, which did not let go of man, disappeared.

And on the third day, Sunday night, He rose from the dead by the power of His Divinity. The resurrected Jesus became the Firstborn from the dead, the Firstfruits, that is, the first sheaf of the new harvest of the resurrected. Death was destroyed, and from Easter morning a reverse movement began in the history of mankind - the process of resurrection of all the dead. Thus the last wall between the Creator and people collapsed. Through the sacrament of baptism, uniting with the sinless Christ, people are freed from original sin and receive immortality. Those who come to Him will be resurrected like Him and will reign with Him forever.

This is the logic and meaning of the Christian teaching about Jesus Christ, which many Muslims, unfortunately, do not understand, and because of this, distorted ideas about the faith of Orthodox Christians often arise among them.

As already mentioned, Muslims believe that the early Christians did not recognize Christ as God and the Son of God, did not know about His crucifixion and death, and did not believe in the Triune God, but only centuries later such teachings began to appear. Why can't Christians agree with such statements?

There are three objective reasons for this.

Firstly, this Muslim statement is completely ahistorical. Even if we do not take into account the New Testament texts, which were compiled in the 1st century by contemporaries and eyewitnesses of Christ and were used in the community where the eyewitnesses of the apostles enjoyed enormous authority, even without them from the 1st and early 2nd centuries AD. Many texts written by early Christians have survived. And this is what we see in them.

Saint Clement of Rome, who personally knew the apostles Peter and Paul, writes at the end of the 1st century: “Brothers, you must think of Jesus Christ as God and the judge of the living and the dead” (2 Corinthians, I). “Let us pay attention to the blood of Christ, and we will see how precious His blood is before God, which was shed for our salvation, and brought the grace of repentance to the whole world” (1 Corinthians, VII). “The Lord said this about His Son: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You” (Ps. 2:7-8)” (1 Corinthians, XXXVI).

The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, who suffered in 107, who personally knew the apostles Peter and John, and, according to legend, saw the Savior Himself in childhood, testifies thus before his execution: “There is only one physician, carnal and spiritual, begotten and without beginning, God Jesus who appeared in the flesh Christ our Lord" (Ephesians, vii), "prepared for the building of God the Father; you are lifted up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, that is, by the cross, through the rope of the Holy Spirit; your faith carries you on high, and love is the way that leads you to God" (Ephesians, IX).

And not only writing, but also archeology gives us confirmation of this. For example, a cross was recently discovered in Crimea, carved on a wall by Christians of the 1st century, which they, of course, would not have done if Christ had not been crucified, and if His crucifixion had not been given special, sacred significance.

Evidence of a similar kind, but later, is the one-oriental gem with a fish design and the inscription: “Jesus Christ, protect!” Why fish? Because the monogram “IHTHYS” (in Greek “fish”) was deciphered by early Christians as Ihsouj Cristoj Qeou Uioj Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior). The first “ichthyses” discovered on the walls of ancient Christian catacombs date back to the second half of the 1st century.

Finally, the same thing is clearly evidenced by pagan and Jewish writers of the first two centuries AD, who cannot be suspected of deliberately distorting facts in a light favorable to Christians.

The Syrian Mara Bar Serapion (73) in his “Letter to his son” writes: “What did the Jews win by executing their wise King? Didn’t their kingdom perish soon after this? For in truth the Divine took revenge... the Jews, abandoned and driven out of his kingdom, scattered throughout every country. The wise King did not perish forever - He continues to live in His teaching."

Josephus (93): “At that time there was a wise man called Jesus. He was righteous and known for virtue. And many of the Jews and other nations became His disciples. Pilate sentenced Him to death on the cross. And those who became His disciples did not reject His teachings. According to them, He appeared to them alive three days after the crucifixion; therefore, He was perhaps the Messiah about whom the prophets spoke when describing miracles. The tribe of Christians who received their name from Him , alive to this day (Antiquities 18.33)";

Pliny the Younger, while proconsul of Bithynia, carried out a thorough study of Christianity; and this is what he ultimately writes to Emperor Trajan in 111: “The whole guilt of them (the Christians) was that they met on certain days and sang a song to Christ as God (letter N96).”

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (115): “The culprit of this name (Christian), Christ, was subjected to death during the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate (Annals, 15 book. 4 chapters).”

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin section (2nd century): “On the evening before Passover they hanged Jesus of Nazareth,” and in another place: he “was 33 years old when Pintius the Robber (i.e., Pontius Pilate) killed him... They say his mother was from a line of kings, but became the wife of a carpenter." Also in the Talmud it is written about Jesus: "Rabbi Elizar said: Looking into the future, Balaam saw that there would be a son of a woman who would exalt himself and try to make himself God and seduce the whole world... and deceitfully say that he would leave, but would return again in the end ".

Emperor Hadrian (130), in his letter to Servian, briefly notes about the Alexandrians that some of them “worship Christ.”

Marcus Cornelius Fronto (140): “They also say that they (Christians) honor a person punished for a crime with a terrible punishment, and the inglorious tree of the cross.”

Celsus (150), considering the crucifixion of Jesus a disgrace to Christianity, speaks “of the voice from the cross at the last breath, and of the earthquake, and of darkness”; he notes in one place that Christians “admit many Persons in God” and quotes in another the words of Christian preachers: “I am God, I am the Son of God, I am the Divine Spirit...”; and again: “Jesus, returning from Egypt, declared Himself to be God,” and in another place: “Christians blame the Jews for not believing in Jesus as God.”

Lucian of Samosata (160) writes that “they (Christians) adore their crucified sage and live according to His law,” and that He “was crucified in Palestine for having founded this new cult (Christianity) (On the death of Peregrinus).” .

In the light of these facts, it is obvious that the belief that Jesus is God incarnate and the Son of God, who took upon himself crucifixion and death for the salvation of mankind, is the original faith of Christians, coming from the apostles and eyewitnesses of Christ themselves. And Muslim claims that this appeared in the 3rd-4th centuries are untenable and contradict historical truth.

The second, even more important reason is the Old Testament prophecies about the Divinity, Suffering and Death of the Messiah (Christ, in Greek). Everything that will be listed here was written long before the Nativity of Christ - this is indisputable, and excludes the possibility of “retroactive prophecy.”

The Lord said to my Lord: sit at my right hand (Ps. 109:1); You are My Son; Today I have begotten You... Honor the Son, lest He be angry, and lest you perish on your way, for His anger will soon kindle. Blessed are all who trust in Him (Ps. 2:7:12); Thy throne, O God, endures forever; the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore, O God, Your God anointed You with the oil of joy (Ps. 45:7-8).

This is our God, and no one else can compare with Him. He found all the ways of wisdom and gave it to His servant Jacob and His beloved Israel... After that He appeared on earth and spoke among people (Bar. 3, 36-38). For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; dominion is upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).

The event itself: Christ will be put to death (Dan. 9:26) - and its purpose (redemption): He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our illnesses; and we thought that He was smitten, punished and humiliated by God. But He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; the punishment of the world was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed (Isa. 53:4-5).

Nothing else is predicted in the Old Testament as documented and accurately as this Sacrifice.

Betrayal from a friend is thus foretold: a man who was at peace with Me, in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, lifted up his heel against Me (Ps. 40:10); the prophet even names the price: and I will say to them: if it pleases you, then give Me My wages... and they will weigh out thirty pieces of silver to pay Me" (Zech. 11, 12); false accusations: false witnesses have risen up against Me and breathe malice ( Ps. 26:12); silence before accusers: but I am like a deaf man who does not hear, and like a dumb man who does not open his mouth (Ps. 37:14); ridicule and mockery: everyone who sees Me mocks Me; they say with his lips, nodding his head: “He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him, if he pleases him” (Ps. 21:8-9); scourging, beating and spitting: I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to those who smite ; I did not hide My face from mocking and spitting (Isa. 50:6), the crucifixion itself: dogs surrounded Me, a crowd of evil ones surrounded Me, pierced My hands and My feet (Ps. 21:17), and gave Me gall for food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink (Ps. 68:22), they divide My garments among themselves and cast lots for My clothes (Ps. 21:19), one could count all My bones, but they look and make a spectacle of Me (Ps. 21, 18); death with the evildoers - he gave up his soul to death, and was numbered with the evildoers (Isa. 53:12), witnessed by a solar eclipse - and it will happen on that day, says the Lord God: I will cause the sun to go down at noon and darken the earth in the midst of the bright day" (Am . 8, 9); piercing of the heart, and the grief of the disciples: they will look at Him whom they pierced, and will weep for Him, as they weep for the Only Begotten Son, and grieve, as they grieve for the firstborn (Zech. 12, 10); burial with a rich man - He was assigned a grave with evildoers, but He was buried with a rich man (Is. 53:9).

This is how the death of the Messiah is described in the Old Testament. All this was exactly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, as the eyewitnesses who compiled the writings of the New Testament testify. Since God Himself, centuries before His incarnation, through His true prophets, foretold this, not once, not twice, but dozens of times and in the smallest detail, then how can we not trust God when He gives us a clear sign through fulfilled prophecies?

Finally, the third reason is common sense. Only Christianity can explain the personality of Jesus Christ, including even what is said about Him in the Koran.

For example, the name "Jesus" ("Yeshua", "Isa") translated means "Savior". Why was this name given to him? Based on Islamic ideas, there is no answer to this question, but Christianity answers: He is called the Savior because by His sacrifice he saved man from sin and reunited him with God. The meaning of His name is directly spoken of by the Angel who appeared to Joseph, Mary’s betrothed: [Mary] will give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

Further, the word “Christ” (“Mashiach”, “Masih”) means “Anointed One”. What does it mean in relation to Jesus? Islam does not explain this in any way, but Christianity has the answer: this word reflects His ministry after the incarnation. Indeed, in ancient times, in the Old Testament, kings were elevated to ministry through anointing with consecrated oil, and they were called anointed. So, for example, when the prophet Samuel saw young David, the Lord said to him: get up, anoint him, for it is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him among his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rested on David from that day forward (1 Samuel 16:12-13). We have already mentioned that Jesus was executed as the King of the Jews, and this was officially written in the indictment tablet by the representative of the Roman authorities in Judea. But Christians honor Him as the anointed King over the whole world, as the eternal head of the Kingdom of Heaven, where all people are called, but only those who respond to the call and bother to enter it reach. In Islam there is absolutely no concept of the kingship of Christ, and the name "Masih" becomes completely meaningless.

Further, the Koran says that Jesus was born of a virgin. But why? What is the point of this if he is no different in nature and ministry from other Quranic “prophets”? Again, Islam has no answer to this. But in Christianity there is. First, He who has God as a Father does not need to have a human father. And secondly, this is explained precisely by the presence of original sin. As we remember: who will be born clean from an unclean? Not one (Job 14:4). In a sinless God, sin is impossible, and therefore, in order not to inherit original sin, as with other people, Christ the Savior is born from a sinless and virgin Mother.

Finally, in the Koran Christ is called the “Word of God” and “His Spirit.” Why? Is this compatible with the Islamic view of him as one of such prophets? Why is it that out of all the many Qur'anic "messengers of Allah" only Jesus is called the "Word of Allah"? This question has baffled Muslims from century to century, forced to look for the most ridiculous excuses. And in Christianity, where Christ is also called the Word, there is a clear and logical answer: this name reflects the eternity and inseparability of Jesus with God. For, naturally, there could not be a time and there will not be a time when God would be without His Word, “wordless,” but His Word always abided with Him and in Him.

Even the Monk John of Damascus remarked on this matter to Muslims: “If you say that Christ is the Word of God and the Spirit, then why do you call us partners with God, because the word and the spirit are inseparable from the one in whom they exist. So, if in God “If His word exists, then it is clear that it is God; but if it is outside of God, then in your opinion God is wordless and soulless.”

In polemic with the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the Koran asks the rhetorical question: “How could He have a child if He did not have a wife?” (6, 101). The position is quite ambiguous, since the Virgin Mary asked the same question, wanting to know how she could give birth to a son if she did not have a husband (Quran 3, 47). And in the next verse, the Qur'an declares that Allah can do what He wills, and it is enough for Him to say the word “be” and “it will be.” Giving such arguments, the author of the Koran could answer his own question in Sura 6, 101. And in fact, if God wanted to incarnate and live with people, then what is impossible for Him here? All that remains for people to do is to accept His gift with joy and reverence and enter upon the path indicated by Him, just as Christians do.

These two stories were taken by the author of the Koran from the apocrypha. The story of how Jesus spoke in the cradle is found in the Arabic Childhood Gospel, and the mention of him creating clay birds and bringing them to life is taken from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas.

Al - Maududi Abu al - Aala. Principles of Islam. M., 1993. - pp. 41; 72.

Al - Maududi Abu al - Aala. The life mission of a prophet. M., 1992. - P. 9.

Quote by: Zhuravsky A. Islam. M., 2004. - P. 161.

“What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at, what our hands have touched, about the Word of Life. For Life was revealed, and we have seen and testify, and proclaim to you this eternal Life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us.” - writes St. Apostle John the Theologian (1 John 1:1-2).

Golubtsov A.P. From readings on church archeology and liturgics. St. Petersburg, 1995.

Sir Norman Anderson. Jesus Christ: the testimony of history. St. Petersburg, 1995.

Averintsev S.S. From the shores of the Bosphorus to the shores of the Euphrates. M., 1994. - P. 115.

McDowell J. Decree. op. - P. 73. There was a lot of controversy regarding the authenticity of this passage by Josephus in the edition known until recently, but the text that is given here is considered authentic.

Posnov M.E. History of the Christian Church. Brussels, 1964. - pp.96-97.

McDowell J. Decree. op. - P. 76.

Graves Robert. King Jesus. M., 1997. - P. 8.

Sir Norman Anderson. Decree. op.

Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov). Dogmatic Theology. St. Petersburg, 1868. - T.I. - P. 237.

Ranovich A.B. Ancient critics of Christianity. M., 1990. - P. 342.

Origen. Against Celsus. M., 1996.

Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov). Decree. op. - T.I. - P. 201.

Lebedev A.P. Clergy of the ancient universal Church. St. Petersburg, 1997. - P. 44.

Ranovich A.B. Decree. op. - Ss. 275; 277.

Bobrinsky A. From the era of the birth of Christianity. M., 1995. - P. 40.

McDowell Josh. Decree. op. - P. 72.

The word "Christ" or "Messiah" is translated as "anointed one."

“From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45). Since the Jews believed that twelve hours passed from sunrise to sunset, the sixth hour corresponded to noon, and the ninth to three o'clock in the afternoon. Thus darkness occurred around noon.

Byzantine writings on Islam. M., 2006. - P. 19.

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Firstly, Islam is the only religion other than Christianity that considers faith in Jesus as one of the main pillars of faith. A Muslim is not considered a Muslim until he believes in the prophecy of Jesus, peace be upon him. We believe that Jesus was one of the five ulul azm prophets who were strong in spirit. We believe that he is the Messiah, we believe that he was miraculously born without a father, which many modern Christians do not believe! We believe that he raised the dead with the permission of Allah, we believe that he healed the blind and lepers with the permission of Allah! In this, sister, the position of Muslims and Christians coincides.
One might ask, then where do their positions differ? The discrepancy is that many Christians believe that Jesus declared himself to be God. If you read, sister, in the entire Bible, in no place does Jesus say about himself clearly, unambiguously and directly: “I am God, and worship Me.”

And regarding the teachings of Jesus, you said that the Koran tells us to follow his teachings. So, when Jesus was born, he was sent with a message only to the Jews. Only to the sons of Israel. This is clearly stated in the Koran in Surah “Rows”, verse 6: “But Isa (Jesus), the son of Maryam, said: “O children of Israel! I have been sent to you by Allah.” Also in verse number 40 of Surah “The Family of Imran “It is said: “He will make him a messenger to the children of Israel.”
Also in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 10 verse 5-6 Jesus says: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles” who are they? These are not Jews, but Hindus, Muslims, and so on. He says: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter the city of the Samaritans; but go ye especially unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The same thing is repeated in chapter 15, verse 24. “And he answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Therefore, Jesus was sent only to the Jews. And his message was intended for a certain period of time. The Holy Scriptures and the Koran speak about this.
But despite this, sister, if you read the Holy Scripture and analyze it, you will find in the Gospel of Luke the words that Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. We Muslims do circumcision. But many Christians don't do this. If you think that following the teachings of Jesus makes you a Christian, then I want to tell you that in this regard, I am more of a Christian than many Christians!
In the Bible, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, it says: “And do not get drunk with wine, which causes debauchery.”
The Book of Proverbs of Solomon, chapter 20 verse 1 says: “Wine is a mocker.” We Muslims don't drink wine! Verse 90 of Surah “The Meal” talks about the prohibition of intoxicating drinks, and we do not drink them! Let's not even get close to them! The Muslim society is the largest society that has abandoned intoxicating drinks.
But it turns out that according to the Bible we are also not allowed to drink wine! Also, in several places in the Bible it is said that it is forbidden to eat pork. This is stated in the book of Leviticus, chapter 11, verse 7-8, and in Deuteronomy, chapter 14, verse 8, and in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 65, verse 2-5, that is, in no less than five places The Bible says that pig meat is prohibited.
We Muslims do not eat pork, however, most Christians do. Therefore, if a Christian is a person who strictly follows the teachings of Jesus and his message, you we Muslims are more Christians than Christians themselves.
I can go on and on... When Jesus was asked about the most important aspect of his teaching, in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verse 29, Jesus says: “The first of all commandments is: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord.” We Muslims believe in only one God, while most Christians believe in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you say that Christianity is following the teachings of Jesus, then Muslims are more Christians than Christians themselves.