Is Jesus, the son of God?

 

Q: If Jesus is son of God, who is wife of God?

A: Generally this question (Can God have a son?) is raised and the verse which has inspired this question is Surah Al-Ikhlaas (Absoluteness, 112), aya  1- 4, which says like this:  

1- Qul huwa Allahu ahadun.  (Say: He is Allah, the One!*)

2- Allahu alssamadu.  (Allah, the eternally besought of all!*)

3- Lam yalid walam yooladu.  (He begetteth not nor was begotten.*)

4- Walam yakun lahu kufuwan ahadun. (And there is none comparable unto Him.*)   

Also, the verse which inspires the question, “who is wife of God?” can be found in Surah Al-Jinn (The Jinn, 72) aya 3, which goes like, “Waannahu taAAala jaddu rabbina ma ittakhatha sahibatan wala waladan”. (And (we believe) that He - exalted be the glory of our Lord! - hath taken neither wife nor son.)

Again in Surah Al-An’am (Livestock, 6) aya 100-101 says like this, “100-WajaAAaloo lillahi shurakaa aljinna wakhalaqahum wakharaqoo lahu baneena wabanatin bighayri AAilmin subhanahu wataAAala AAamma yasifoona. (Yet they ascribe as partners unto Him the jinn, although He did create them, and impute falsely, without knowledge, sons and daughters unto Him. Glorified be He and High Exalted above (all) that they ascribe (unto Him).)”, “101- BadeeAAu alssamawati waal-ardi anna yakoonu lahu waladun walam takun lahu sahibatun wakhalaqa kulla shay-in wahuwa bikulli shay-in AAaleemun.( The Originator of the heavens and the earth! How can He have a child, when there is for Him no consort, when He created all things and is Aware of all things?)”

If we read these verses, they make a strong point that God cannot have a son, BUT, if we read the verses, there is no reference of Jesus or Christianity, moreover verses from Surah All-Ikhlaas as mentioned above are Meccan (from Mecca) verses. In Surah al-Jinn, if you go through first and second verse of the chapter (72:1-2), which says like this: “Qul oohiya ilayya annahu istamaAAa nafarun mina aljinni faqaloo inna samiAAna qur-anan AAajaban. (Say (O Muhammad): It is revealed unto me that a company of the Jinn gave ear, and they said: Lo! we have heard a marvellous Qur'an)” and “Yahdee ila alrrushdi faamanna bihi walan nushrika birabbina ahadan. (Which guideth unto righteousness, so we believe in it and we ascribe no partner unto our Lord.)”, which makes it very simple for us to understand that these verses are talking about “Djinns or Jinns” (supernatural creatures made with smokeless flame), so definitely it isn’t talking about us human beings.  Again, as mentioned above in Surah Al-An’am, sons and daughters have been made by God. We are not talking about many sons and daughters, but just one son, henceforth, if we are asking, “Who is wife of God”, this question will be irrelevant.  We are representing Jesus as the son of God, not his physical relation, but the spiritual.

Q: Even if we talk about spiritual realm and say son of God has been born, aren’t we making God a beast?

A: We may relate God to a beast if we say that Jesus was born in a way that you and I were born, we do not believe that. Jesus was born of a woman without father in a supernatural way. And there is no verse in the entire bible which may go against this belief.

Q: Then why do you call Jesus the son of God?

A:  Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Gabriel in Luke 1:35 says, “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” While baptism of Jesus in John 3:16 the voice told, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

These are few of the many verses which make it very simple to understand that it is not us who named Jesus, the son of God, this has been prophesized as well as told even before Jesus was born as well as after Jesus’ birth. We only speak for what is written in the word of God.

Q: Even Greek gods had sons, is this same?

A: If we look at the genealogy of Jesus, they were all Jews, none was Greek. Jews were strong worshippers and much devoted monotheists in their beliefs as compared to many of us nowadays. Historical evidences definitely show that the concept of God and son has nothing to do with Greek mythology in relation to Christianity and the concept of Jesus being son of God inspired by them. There is no relation in this regards. Christians do believe that Jesus is the son of God not because he was born by God, but as per his role. In this same context, Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life, I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This clearly shows that the word “Son of God” is not used because God is the father, but to express the special relation for which how Jesus lowered himself to fulfill the prophecy accepted the death on the cross. As a obedient son, the way Jesus lowered himself as a being to accept the death on cross represents the relation of Jesus being the son of God.

Q: Saying that Jesus lowered himself isn’t a humiliation to God?

A: Lowering oneself and humiliating oneself are both different statements. Let us say that there is a child of 1.5 years, will we speak of things like Intelligent Design, Cosmological Arguments or The Big Bang Theory? Obviously not! He will not understand a single thing I say out of these. To give an example of lowering myself, sometimes I turn myself into a horse to give a ride to my 1.5 year old nephew on my back. I also may need to neigh really loud sometimes, to make it a good and realistic experience for him. This way I am lowering myself, and not being humiliated in the eyes of my nephew or myself, at the same time. Here lowering myself is not humiliating, since I am expressing my love to my nephew. Love doesn’t care for its respect or times when a sacrifice is required but it cares for the beloved.

Q: Is Jesus a man? If yes, how can Jesus be God? Does God have a face?

A: Jesus was definitely a fully humanbeing, but he was also fully divine. This was a greatness of God and an example of his divinity that he brought himself so close to his own creation. In regards to the question, “face of God”, Genesis in 1:26  says like this, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Moreover, even if we see in the holy scriptures of islam in Sahih Muslim book 32, Hadith number 6324 says like this, “When any one of you fights with his brother, he should avoid his face for Allah created Adam in His own image.”

I hope this helps. I shall end this article with a specific verse which has played a very important role in keeping my faith strong. I encourage all of you to read and understand the Gospel of John 20:31, which says like this, “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

God Bless!

Resources used: Picktall Translation of Holy Qur’an and Sahih Hadith from www.searchtruth.com as well as ESV Bible.