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

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St Francis Magazine Vol 7, No 3 | August 2011!deity out of the equation and reducing Jesus to a prophet. All prophets"come from God" in Islam. 59Other supposed substitutes for “the Son of God” do not faremuch better. For example, some translators have suggested substituting"the Word" for "the Son" 60 (and "God" for "the Father" 61 ) inpassages such as Matthew 28:19 so that it would read, "...baptizingthem in the name of God and of the Word and of the Holy Spirit..."However, when Muslims hear that Jesus is "the Word", most thinkit means that Jesus was created by divine decree "Be!" (see Qur'an4:171 above), which from a Muslim perspective means Jesus ispurely human and has no deity. 62 Since this is obviously the wrongBiblical understanding, "the Word" is hardly a good substitute for"the Son".Proposed substitutes for Father-Son terminology in the Bible (inreference to Jesus and His Father) do not communicate to Muslimsthe truth that Jesus is God. That's why these substitutes do notoffend them. Rather it is the term "the Son of God" that offendsthem "because they understand that it is implying that Jesus Christis of the same nature as God the Father." 63 So there is no excuse forany honest discussion of this issue to not clearly address the factthat the main offense for Muslims regarding "the Son of God" isthat it communicates correctly to them that Jesus shares God's divinity,which to them is shirk.7 ConclusionIn 1 John 4:6, the apostle John gives guidelines for how to recognizetruth and falsehood: "We are from God, and whoever knows Godlistens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!59 Pierre Houssney, February 11, 2011, comment on Trevan Wax, "Islam and Contextualization,"Kingdom People blog.60 Rick Brown, “Translating the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslim Contexts,”II. International Journal of Frontier Missions 22:4 (Winter 2005): 139–140.61 Hansen, The Son and the Crescent, p. 4.62 Again, because of this teaching in the Qur'an, passages such as John 1 that contain"the Word" as a reference to Jesus will require extra Bible literacy efforts sothat Muslims understand those passages correctly.63 Buggs, "Don't Tamper!" in Evangelical News (April 2011).St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision!"&!
St Francis Magazine Vol 7, No 3 | August 2011!This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."John then proceeds in verses 9 through 15 to give a few examplesof that truth:This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and onlySon into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: notthat we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoningsacrifice for our sins... And we have seen and testify that the Fatherhas sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledgesthat Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.God obviously considers it a serious matter for people to acknowledgethat Jesus is His Son, that is, God incarnate. A translationthat changes this truth or diminishes it in any way is not accurateor truthful on this foundational issue and is by God's definitionin verse 6 spreading falsehood, that is, teaching a changed, inaccuratemessage. In fact, removing Father-Son terminology from theBible text is a form of denying the Father and the Son, which inturn is an inherent denial that Jesus is the Christ (see 1 John 2:22above).With that in mind, Bible translators should faithfully maintainFather-Son terminology for Jesus and His Father in a translation;they should not remove it from the Bible text and/or change it, especiallysince there is no accurate substitute for that terminology. 64Rather than expend so much energy in efforts to change the Bibletext and its meaning, the focus should be to place more emphasis onteaching the true teachings of the Bible through quality Bible literacystrategies. In fact, multi-pronged Bible literacy efforts shouldbe a major part of every serious translation and discipleship effort,especially in areas where false teaching or misunderstanding of anypart of the gospel message has resulted in significant obstacles tofaith in Jesus, the Son of God.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!64 Any published materials that change Father-Son terminology that is in the Bibletext should be clearly marked as transitional material, not as a translation or paraphrase.St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision!"'!
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