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

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St Francis Magazine Vol 7, No 3 | August 2011!Jesus' warning in verse 20 highlights the thematic threadthroughout the Gospels of the increasing need for Jesus to keep alow profile in order to not jeopardize His ability to fulfill His mission.Using "the Christ" alone here especially draws attention tothe author's intent to give it prominence, helping the audience thinkthrough the fact that Jesus was a very different kind of Messiahthan the Jews had been expecting. This is also part of the author'sgoal to teach his audience who Jesus is. Eliminating "Son of theliving God" from the text or replacing it with a substitute wouldobscure these important discourse features and change the meaningintended by the author.3. Luke 1:31–33, 35: "You will be with child and give birth to ason, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. 32 He will begreat and will be called the Son of the Most High. The LordGod will give Him the throne of His father David 33 and Hewill reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom willnever end..... 35 The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and thepower of the Most High will overshadow you. So [that's why]the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."Because Jesus' kingship is mentioned here in the same context as"the Son of God", the MIT movement claims that this passage givesevidence for "the Christ" being a synonym and acceptable substituteterm. However, this claim is not valid. Rather, it is clear from theseverses that the central message being proclaimed by the angel Gabrielwas that Mary's son would be "the Son of the Most High"(verse 31), that is, "the Son of God" (verse 35). Between these twoprominent declarations of Jesus' identity as God's Son is the statementthat God would give to His Son the throne of David and thatHis Son would reign forever as King. 56 In other words, the angelwas telling Mary that her son would be God's Son and that He!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!see the importance of preserving that meaning in a translation. [Also see the previousnote on this topic.]56Other Scripture passages such as John 5:36 clearly teach this: "For the very workthat the Father has given Me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that theFather has sent Me." The work that the Father gave to Jesus His Son was the workof the Christ, the Savior-King.St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision!"$!
St Francis Magazine Vol 7, No 3 | August 2011!would fulfill the Messianic role of King, not that the child would bethe Messiah and would fulfill a role as God's Son (which is backwards57 ). Substituting "Christ/Messiah" here for "Son of God"would be an inaccurate translation since it would result in a significantloss and change of meaning.6 What about the other suggested substitutesfor “the Son of God”?In spite of claims to the contrary, to a Muslim, none of the suggestedsubstitutes mentioned in Christianity Today includes deityas part of its meaning and so none of those suggestions is an accuratetranslation of “the Son of God” (which has deity as a majorcomponent of meaning, and is understood correctly in that regardby both Christians and Muslims).For example, regarding the substitute, "Beloved Son who comesfrom God", former Sunni Muslim Hussein Wario of Kenya says,If for anything, this [Christianity Today] article exposes these expertBible translators' [lack of] knowledge of Islam and Muslims. In Islam,"the Beloved Son who comes (or originates) from God" has no divinequalities. Muslims believe all life originates from Allah. Jesus is notan exception. Please read Surah 4:171. All the Qur’an commentarieson this verse are unequivocal. “From” Allah in Islam does not comewith divine qualities. 58This is affirmed by Pierre Houssney, son of Arabic Bible translator,Georges Houssney:"Son of God" carries the connotation of equality with God..."Belovedson who comes from God"...drastically changes this meaning, stripping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!57 For an example of this erroneous viewpoint (which inherently denies the eternalSonship of Jesus), see Brown's statement, "Jesus is pre-eminently the Christ, theeternal Savior-King sent from God, and this is what makes him the Son of God"quoted in David Abernathy, "Translating 'Son of God' in Missionary Bible Translation",St Francis Magazine 6:1, 2010, p. 181.58 Hussein Wario, February 17, 2011 (12:03pm), comment on Colin Hansen, "TheSon and the Crescent", Christianity Today, February 2011, http//www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/february/soncrescent.html?all comments=true.St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision!"%!
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