Here are 10 reasons taken from the Bible as to why Muslims believe Jesus (pbuh) is NOT God but His prophet, servant and messenger sent “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24).
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 1
Jesus recognized that the Father was the ONLY TRUE God.
In prayer, he said to God “…that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). For Jesus to have prayed this way surely meant that he did NOT consider himself to be “the only true God.”
Take another look at John 17:3. Did Jesus say “I the only true God”? Or “WE the only true God”? NONE of those.
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 2
It was God who did miracles and wonders through Christ (Matt 9:8; Acts 2:22; 10:38).
If Christ were God, the Bible would simply say that Christ did the miracles himself without making reference to God.
The fact that it was God supplying the power for the miracles shows that God is GREATER than Christ.
If Jesus was God, he should have been able to perform miracles by his own power. But is that what he claimed?
“By myself I can do NOTHING” (John 5:30) [emphasis added]
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 3
When the disciples prayed to God in Acts, they called David as God’s “servant” (4:25). Later in that same prayer they called Jesus “your holy servant” (4:30).
It is very OBVIOUS that the 1st century disciples did NOT believe Christ was God, but thought of him, like David, as a servant of God. (c.f. Matt 12:18 and Acts 3:26, which also refer to Jesus as God’s “servant”).
If Jesus was God’s servant, how then could he be God? Does God serve Himself? Does that make sense?
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 4
If God is GREATER than Christ, then God is his leader just as Christ is the leader for his followers. This is exactly what the Bible teaches:
“Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor 11:3).
It is obvious from this verse and 1 Cor 3:23 that the Trinitarian formula that Christ and God are “co-equal” is NOT biblical & patently FALSE.
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 5
Christ made a DISTINCTION between speaking against him and speaking against the Holy Spirit.
Luke 12:10: “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
If both the Holy Spirit and Christ were co-equal persons in one God, then there would be no difference between speaking against Christ and speaking against the Holy Spirit.
Hence, Jesus is NOT God. NEVER was.
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 6
Ephesians 4:5 and 6 says there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” The “one Lord” is Jesus. The “one God” is the Father. There are clearly two SEPARATE beings represented here, NOT “one God” composed of Jesus and his Father.
Furthermore, there is NO verse that says that Jesus and the Father are “one God.”
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 7
Jesus called the Father, “the ONLY God” (John 5:44) [emphasis added]. The New American Standard Version goes so far as to translate it as “the ONE and ONLY God.”
Jesus would NOT have said this had he believed he himself were God also.
According to Jesus, God is spirit (John 4:24), yet even after his alleged resurrection Jesus said of himself that he was NOT a spirit, but flesh and bone (Luke 24:39).
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 8
“The only wise God” receives His glory through Jesus Christ (Rom 16:27: “To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ”).
To reference “God” APART from Christ and say at the same time that God was the “only” God is very clear. Jesus is NOT, and is NOT part of, the “only” God.
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 9
Jesus counted himself and his Father as two, NOT “one.”
John 8:17 and 18: “In your own law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father.”
Jesus confirmed this truth in John 14:1 when he said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”
There are literally hundreds of scriptures like these that set forth Jesus & God as SEPARATE & DISTINCT beings.
Why Jesus is NOT God? # 10
Christ said his doctrine was NOT his own. John 7:16: “My teaching is NOT my own. It comes from Him who sent me” [emphasis added]. Christ could not have said this if he were God because the doctrine would have been his.
Jesus and God have SEPARATE wills. Luke 22:42: “NOT my will but yours be done” [emphasis added] (c.f. John 5:30).
Compiled by Mohamed Sirajudin, Treasurer of IPSI
