Some Surprising Ideas the Quran Teaches About Jesus

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Rev. Neil Steven Lawrence, M.Div.

Many people assume most religions teach the same ideas. This misunderstanding comes more from the postmodern idea of pluralism than actual fact. All religions are fundamentally different and only superficially similar. When comparing the Bible’s portrayal of Jesus with the Quran’s description of Jesus (Isa), an amazing contradistinction occurs. Except for two major contradicting points made in the Quran, which the Bible shows are true about Jesus, the Quran basically affirms many of the major qualities of the Biblical Jesus. Here is: A. a summary description of what the Quran affirms about Jesus, B. a refutation of the two major points about Jesus which the Quran and Islam deny about Jesus, and C. a summary appeal to accept, value, and follow Jesus rather than Muhammad.

A. The Quran make some claims about Jesus, which agree with the Bible.   Yet, its overall portrayal is skewed from the Biblical depiction. The Quran uses the word Isa (92 times) to refer to the Islamic idea of Jesus. But ‘Isa’ is not an Arabic word but a Quranic word. So far no scholar has been able to trace the origin of this Quranic word, Isa. Interestingly, the Quran only uses the term Muhammad four (4) times. Throughout history and even today, Arabic speaking Christians do not use the Quranic name for Jesus but instead use a name for Jesus which comes from Biblical Hebrew.

“However, Arabic-speaking Christians use a different Arabic name, based on Jesus’ Hebrew name Yeshua, to refer to the Lord and Savior: “Yasūᶜ” (Yasu). For centuries, Arabic-speaking Christians have used the name Yasu and refrained from using Isa, in part to emphasize the fact that the Quranic portrayal of Jesus (Isa) is distorted in various ways when compared to the Biblical Yasu.”   —quote from online article:

https://biblicalmissiology.org/blog/2021/07/15/should-christians-use-the-quranic-name-of-jesus-in-arabic-bible-translations/

There are 49 affirmations which agree with the Bible that the Quran says about Jesus. Here is a brief sample.

  • Jesus is virgin born 3:40-45; 4:157-171; 19:20 (19:16-33)
  • Jesus worked multitudes of miracles—even raising the dead 2:253; 3:49; 5:110, 113
  • The Quran gives Jesus multiple lofty titles (messiah, Word of God, nearest to God, Righteous, Honored & Illustrious, Raised to Heaven, Knower of the Last Days, Returns in the Last Day, Judges during the Last Day, etc.)
  • The Quran says Jesus is perfect, holy and sinless: (19:17,19; 3:45-48)
  • The Quran says Jesus is alive with Allah:   “˹Remember˺ when Allah said, “O Jesus! I will take you1 and raise you up to Myself. I will deliver you from those who disbelieve, and elevate your followers above the disbelievers until the Day of Judgment.” Quran 3:55 “Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself.”  Quran 4:158

There are many other amazing affirmations of Jesus’ attributes the Quran affirms which are not listed here.

B. But, the Quran denies, Jesus is God and Jesus died on the Cross and Resurrected. One of the most distinctive Muslim doctrines is their denial that Jesus was ever actually crucified. They teach that Jesus did not, in fact, die on Calvary’s cross. It only “appeared” to the onlooking crowd that He had been crucified. This doctrine originates in Gnosticism and comes from one small verse in the Quran, which states:

“That they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of Allah’ – but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not – Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Quran 4:157).

A refutation of what the Quran denies about Jesus can be taken from: 

  1. what Jesus said about Himself, 
  2. what others in the Bible said about Jesus divinity, 
  3. the historical facts of Jesus resurrection.

1. Jesus made many claims about Himself:

During Jesus interaction with the Sanhedrin at His trial, He clearly claims to be God.  “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 —Jews tried to stone him for saying this. Mark 14:61-64 “Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”   “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”   The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy….”   Here, Jesus is making a direct reference to Daniel 7:13-14 —the heavenly figure equal with God and given all power to reign. Jesus claims He will ‘sit at the right hand of  Yahweh” —“at the right hand” is a Hebrew idiom for: “at the power of”. Thus Jesus clearly claimed equality with Yahweh.

Jesus also proclaimed eight  “I AM”  Statements which show His claim of Divinity:

  • I am the bread of life (John 6:35), 
  • I am the light of the world (John 8:12), 
  • “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58)
  • I am the gate (John 10:7), 
  • I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14), 
  • I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), 
  • I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6),
  • I am the true vine (John 15:1).

2. The Bible also makes many claims about Jesus being God:

  • David called him God (Mat.22:43-45)
  • Isaiah called him God (Isa. 7:14; 9:6)
  • Jeremiah called him God (Jer. 23:5-6)
  • Matthew called him God (Mat. 1:23)
  • Jesus called himself God (John 5:17-18; 8:58-59; 10:30-33; Rev. 1:8; 22:16)
  • Angels called him God (Lk. 2:11)
  • John called him God (John 1:1; 1 John 3:16; 5:20)
  • Blind Man called him God (John 8:35-38)
  • Thomas called him God (John 20:28)
  • Peter called him God (Acts 10:34-36)
  • Paul called him God (Acts 29:28; Phil. 2:5-6; I Tim. 3:16; Titus 2:13)
  • Father God called him God (Heb. 1:8-10)

3. There are many historical accounts, both scriptural and secular, which give proof of Jesus’ Resurrection:

Here is a list of Jesus’ Post-Resurrection Appearances from Scripture (Over a 40 day period, then later to Paul).

Resurrection Day Appearances of Jesus 

  • Jesus appeared to the women at the tomb (John 20:11-18; Mk. 16:9; Mat. 28:1-10; Luke 24:1-11)
  • Jesus appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Mk. l6:12-13; Lk. 24:13-35)
  • Jesus appeared to disciples hiding in Jerusalem (w/out Thomas) (Mk.16:14; Lk.24:36-49; Jn 20:19-23)
  • The report of the watch (Mat. 28:1l-15)

Subsequent Appearances of Jesus

  • Jesus appeared to Thomas 1 week later with the other disciples present (John 20:26-29)
  • Jesus appeared to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-24)

Ascension Appearances of Jesus (Ascension on Thursday May 18, 30 A.D.) 

  • Jesus appeared to large group of Disciples (Mk. 16:19-20; Lk. 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-11) 

Post-Ascension Appearances of Jesus

  • Jesus appeared to Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6; Acts 22:6-11; Acts 26:13-18) 

Jesus Resurrection Appearance Summary Listed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 

  • “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

C. So we see from the above information, both the Bible and Quran clearly show the superiority of Jesus over Muhammad.   This doesn’t mean we believe what the Islamic scripture teaches about Jesus, since it is not a revelation from God nor a historically reliable book when it comes to the life and teachings of the historical Jesus, or any of the other Biblical characters it mentions. We simply cite the Quran for the sake of Muslims who believe in its authority in order to answer their contention, which is created by their own religious text in denying the identity of Jesus; and to show that the attributes of Jesus the Quran actually does claim about Jesus,  makes him greater than Muhammad. The fact the Quran shows Jesus having all the lofty spiritual and moral and powerful qualities shown above and that none of these things does Muhammad even come close to doing, should cause everyone to see the clear distinction. Further, the fact that Jesus is way more highly esteemed by Islamic teachings in the Quran itself should cause Muslims to rethink why they value Muhammad as their supreme example and not Jesus.

By ourCOG