Christianity and the Identity of Jesus Essay

Although Muslims believe in one God, as do Christians, they reject as heresy that this one God is three persons. For more detail on what Christians believe on this, see the slot we did on this a few weeks ago which is posted on our website. For now, let’s suffice to say that Muslims reject the idea of God being three in one. Especially, the Qu’ran (main holy book of Islam) is strong on saying that Jesus isn’t God; ‘Isa (Jesus) was simply a created human being, and a slave of Allah’ An-Nisa’ 4:172 Jesus is given great honour in the Qu-ran, his status as a prophet and as a miracle-worker, even as God’s Christ is strongly affirmed. But he’s not God. In contrast the Bible is adamant that far from being just a created being, that Jesus is God himself become a human being. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God†¦The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ John 1:1 and 14 The Islamic and Christian views of Jesus: a comparison The person of Jesus or Isa in Arabic (peace be upon him) is of great significance in both Islam and Christianity. However, there are differences in terms of beliefs about the nature and life occurrences of this noble Messenger. Source of information about Jesus in Islam Most of the Islamic information about Jesus is actually found in the Quran. The Quran was revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and memorized and written down in his lifetime. Today, anyone who calls him or herself a Muslim believes in the complete authenticity of the Quran as the original revealed guidance from God. Source of information about Jesus in Christianity Christians take their information about Jesus from the Bible, which includes the Old and New Testaments. These contain four biblical narratives covering the life and death of Jesus. They have been written, according to tradition, respectively by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They are placed at the beginning of the New Testament and comprise close to half of it. Encyclopedia Britannica notes that none of the sources of his life and work can be traced to Jesus himself; he did not leave a single known written word. Also, there are no contemporary accounts written of his life and death. What can be established about the historical Jesus depends almost without exception on Christian traditions, especially on the material used in the composition of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which reflect the outlook of the later church and its faith in Jesus. Below are the views of Islam and Christianity based on primary source texts and core beliefs.