The Son of God
In a previous post I tried to explain some difficulties in relating the Gospel to Muslims. In this post I would like to shed light on the one huge stumbling block that Muslims face. They are confused and very offended when we call Jesus the Son of God. What Muslims think we teach and believe is that God somehow came to earth, had sexual relations with Mary, and produced Jesus as a half man, half God creature. Coupled with the Catholic veneration of Mary, they also think that we worship three gods, Mary, Jesus, and God the Father. They find this repugnant.
So do I. We need to let Muslims know that we DO NOT believe that.
So how do we explain to a Muslim what we mean by the Trinity and the sonship of Jesus? What do we actually mean when we say that Jesus is the Son of God? This question will usually come up in any serious conversation with a Muslim.
I have heard the Trinity explained using the analogy of an egg, with a shell, a yoke, and a white—all three parts making up one egg. Water, existing in three phases, ice, water, and steam, has also been used to explain the Trinity. But to explain what we mean by the Son of God, I prefer to go to Scripture and use Jesus' own words.
In John chapter 8, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and made the oft quoted phrase, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). To this the Jews replied, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone." (They conveniently omitted the years they were enslaved in Egypt or their years of captivity.) But Jesus agreed with them that they are Abraham's descendants (v.37). The Jews then repeated the claim but used a different word. Instead of saying they were descendants of Abraham, they said that “Abraham is our father” (v.39). This time Jesus did not agree with them. He said, you are not doing the works of Abraham but "You are doing the works of your own father” (v. 41). To this the Jews replied, “The only Father we have is God himself.” Again, Jesus did not agree with them (vs 42- 44). He said God is not your father, "You belong to your father, the devil".
What was Jesus saying here? Yes, they were physical descendants of Abraham, but they were not sons of Abraham. He was making a significant distinction. A descendant results from biology. But in this passage Jesus shows that a son:
belongs to the father forever, (v. 35)
speaks the words of his father, (v. 38)
dwells in the presence of the father, (v. 38)
does the work of his father, (v. 39)
hears the words of the father, (v. 41)
is sent by the father, (v. 42)
does the desires of the father, (v. 44)
honors the father. (v. 49)
In Hebrews 2:16, we read that Jesus "took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham " (KJV). Jesus, through Mary, became a physical descendant of Abraham. But he was the son of God, he belonged to the father, he spoke the words of the father, he lived in the presence of the father, he did the work of the father, he heard from the father, he was sent by the father, he had the desires or the spirit of the father, and he honored his father. That's what we mean when we say that Jesus is the son of God.
Jesus was and is the physical representation of the Father, the invisible God. No man has seen that father, but Jesus has shown us his nature. In Revelation, John described seeing the throne on which God the father sat, he saw the glory, the majesty, the light emanating from the throne. But he never saw the father. Instead, he saw the Son, as a lamb that had been slain, yet standing with all authority. This is The Son of God.