Jesus, the Son of God: Biblical meaning, Muslim Understanding ...

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St Francis Magazine Vol 7, No 3 | August 2011!A March 2011 meeting in London of Christians working in Muslimareas resulted in a consensus that confirms what the term “theSon of God” primarily means to Muslims:The academic theologians and Bible translators who are proposing alternativesto ‘Son of God’ believe that Muslims misunderstand this title,and [that] changes are needed to make its true meaning clearer.However, the Christians meeting in London, who interact with Muslimson a daily basis, held a very different view: Muslims are offended by theterm ‘Son of God’ because they understand that it is implying that JesusChrist is of the same nature as God the Father....The reason why the alternativephrases remove offence from Muslims is that they water-downthe truth....it was generally agreed that the proposal to remove ‘Son ofGod’ from Scripture was mistaken, disingenuous and possibly heretical.37 [emphasis added]Another evangelist living and working among Muslims respondedto the claims in the Christianity Today article about what Muslimsbelieve about "the Son of God" and how they react to it:I have worked for many years among Muslims, most of the time overseas.I have never seen this violent reaction to the term "Son of God".I'm sure I have shared my faith with over a thousand Muslims. Youwould think that I would have seen this reaction at least once. Surethere is misunderstanding, but that just takes an investment to explainthe true meaning. Sure Muslims have a hard time grasping the divinityof Christ. However, I have seen many who have come to faith inthe true Jesus... 38This quote confirms that Bible literacy among Muslims requireseffort but is not at all hopeless. In fact many believers in Christhave seen God produce much fruit among Muslims, as they faithfullyserve them with sacrificial love, 39 showing them who Christ is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!37 Richard Buggs, "Don't Tamper!" in Evangelical Times, April 2011.38 Patrick D., February 13, 2011 (8:55 p.m.), comment on Colin Hansen, "The Sonand the Crescent" in Christianity Today, February 2011, www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/february/soncrescent.html?allcomments=true.39 See Warrick Farah, "5 Reasons Muslims Follow Jesus: Woodberry Study 2007,"Circumpolar (February 27, 2011) for a report about a Fuller seminary survey of 750Muslim converts from 30 different countries and 50 different ethnic groups. TheSt Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision!*&!
St Francis Magazine Vol 7, No 3 | August 2011!through their lives as well as through the teachings of the Bible.This man's testimony also demonstrates again that "the Son ofGod" communicates to Muslims the divinity of Christ and that it isthis concept that is hard for them to accept.5 Do “the Son of God” and “the Christ”mean the same thing?Even though, as the first section of this article has shown, Father-Son terminology reflects a reality that should not be changed tosomething else in a translation, there may still be some translatorsof Bibles for Muslims who believe there are accurate substituteterms for "Father" and "Son" that would communicate better thanthe original terms. A predominant substitute for "the Son of God"that has been suggested (and used in translations) is "theChrist/Messiah", which is why it is important to investigatewhether or not these two terms have the same meaning. 40The following discussion reveals that ‘the Son of God’ and ‘theChrist’ do not mean the same thing, and so it is not accurate to substitute“the Christ/Messiah” for “the Son of God” in a translation.What is the evidence from the Bible that the Jews who listened toJesus knew that these terms had different meanings?First let's look at “the Christ” in isolation: In Matthew 22:42,Jesus asked the Pharisees, "What do you think about the Christ?Whose son is he?" Then in verse 45 He asks, "So if David callsHim/Christ (his) Lord, how can He be his son?' No one was able to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!results of this survey show that the most important factor in these Muslims comingto know Christ was observing the "lifestyle of a true Christian," especially theirlove for non-Christians. Other key factors included experiencing visions, healingsand other supernatural acts of God, realizing the truth of Scripture through readingthe Bible in their own language, and coming to understand that God is a Godof love, as demonstrated in the life of Jesus. Also see "Why Many Muslims Come toChrist" in Revival Media (July 4, 2010) for another summary of this report.40 In "The Son and the Crescent", author Hansen says that "in the fall 2005 issue ofthe International Journal of Frontier Missions (IJFM), Brown argued that Jesusand the apostles used 'Son of God' as a synonym for 'the Christ'". [See Brown,Understanding the Messianic Titles, 45, 48, 49 for other examples of this claim.]Hansen also cites three supposed proof texts Brown uses for that idea. A review ofthe Biblical evidence shows that these claims of proof are not valid.St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision!*'!
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