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FIRSTBORN OF CREATION REVISITED… AGAIN!

The following is taken from the monumental work titled The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense, authored by Robert M. Bowman Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, published by Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, 2024, Part 2: Like Father, Like Son: Jesus’ Divine Attributes, Chapter 13. Was Christ the First Creature?, pp. 255-263.

In my estimation this is THE best and most comprehensive exposition and defense of the biblical basis for the Deity of Christ. Every serious Trinitarian Christian student of the Holy Bible, apologist, and/or theologian must have this book in the library.

FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION (COLOSSIANS 1:15)

In Colossians 1:15, the apostle Paul calls God’s Son “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Throughout church history, the expression “the firstborn of all creation” has been one of the most popular proof texts against the deity of Christ—perhaps the most popular. But what does it mean?

Competing Interpretations of “the Firstborn of All Creation”

The alternative Christologies we are considering throughout this book have offered varying interpretations of Colossians 1:15. Latter-day Saints believe it refers to Jesus as the literal firstborn of God’s billions of spirit sons and daughters who lived in heaven before becoming mortals on earth.22

This is the official LDS interpretation of the verse, expressed in a statement published in 1916 by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles.23

Jehovah’s Witnesses contend that the expression “the firstborn of all creation” means that Christ was “the first creation by Jehovah God.”24 Specifically, the Watchtower Society teaches that Christ in his prehuman state was the archangel Michael. Historically, Jehovah’s Witnesses have emphasized Colossians 1:15 as one of their main proof texts against the deity of Christ. Danny Dixon, a non-Jehovah’s Witness advocating an Arian Christology, also appeals to Colossians 1:15–16 to defend this position, though without identifying Jesus as Michael.25

Unitarians take a radically different approach to the interpretation of Colossians 1:15, while still regarding it, as Kegan Chandler asserts, as “one of the strongest evidences against the deity of Christ.”26 Since Unitarians do not believe that Christ existed before his human life, they cannot take “firstborn of all creation” to mean the first creature chronologically. Here is how Chandler interprets the verse:

To say that Jesus is “the first born of all creation” (v. 15b) furthermore places him squarely within the realm of created things. The designation “firstborn” means simply that he is preeminent within that group, that he has priority among the other subjects in that category.27

Finally, we may briefly mention how Oneness Pentecostal leader and theologian David Bernard interprets the expression “firstborn of all creation.” He also denies that Christ preexisted his human life, and so interprets the expression to mean that Christ is “the firstborn of the spiritual family of God that is called out of all creation” and that he is “first in power, authority, and preeminence, just as the eldest brother has preeminence among his brothers.”28 This Oneness interpretation of Colossians 1:15 is quite similar to the Unitarian interpretation, despite their theological differences.

Before discussing the meaning of Colossians 1:15, we might pause to reflect on just how differently the various alternative Christologies interpret this verse. It has been taken to mean that Jesus Christ is the first spirit offspring of God and a heavenly Mother (Latter-day Saints), the first creature God made (Jehovah’s Witnesses), a man exalted by God to the position of preeminent member of creation (Unitarians), and God’s self-manifestation in a human being who is thereby the preeminent human being (Oneness Pentecostals). Members of these groups (especially Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses) sometimes think that their understanding of Colossians 1:15 is obviously correct, and they often assert that orthodox Christians reject that understanding because of their theological bias. Evidently, though, freedom from an orthodox perspective does not make the meaning of the text obvious or easy to determine. Such is often the case with proof texts used by critics of the doctrine of the incarnation.

Interpreting Colossians 1:15 in Context

Words vary in their precise meaning and connotation depending on context. If we want to understand what Paul meant by the expression “firstborn of all creation,” then, we need to read it in context. This means looking at what the passage says leading up to that expression as well as what it says in the lines following it. Here is the statement in its context (translating very literally):

12 giving thanks to the Father, who qualified you for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light;

13 who delivered us from the domain of the darkness and transferred [us] into the kingdom of the Son of his love,

14 in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins;

15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,

16 because in him all things were created— in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him;

17 and he is before everything, and all things in him hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might become preeminent in everything. (Col. 1:12–18)

This passage strongly emphasizes Christ’s relationship to God the Father as his Son. Note the references to “the Father” (v. 12) and “the Son of his love” (v. 13). Between these references Paul says that the Father has qualified Christians “for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” The idea here is that the Father’s beloved Son is the primary heir of this “inheritance” from the Father, and yet those redeemed in Christ are graciously invited to receive a “share” of that inheritance. The other key theme that introduces our passage is that of kingdom or rule: we have been rescued from the domain or authority (exousia) of darkness and transferred into the kingdom (basileia) of God’s beloved Son (vv. 13–14).

It is in this context of Father, Son, kingdom, and inheritance that we should understand the word “firstborn” (prōtotokos). Although the literal meaning of the word is the first offspring born to a biological parent, the cultural significance of the word is that of the father’s primary heir. In ancient Israel and the ancient Mediterranean world generally, the firstborn son in a family was customarily the father’s primary heir, inheriting the largest or best portion of his estate (and sometimes all of it). In the context of the preceding explicit reference to an “inheritance” and the use of the titles Father and Son, this significance of firstborn as the primary heir is clearly the point of the term “firstborn.” As God the Father’s beloved Son, Christ rules the divine kingdom. Probably the main Old Testament text influencing this reference to Jesus as the “firstborn” is God’s promise to David to establish his kingdom forever above all other rulers: “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (Ps. 89:27). The title “firstborn” thus has clear messianic significance, in which, according to Paul, the Messiah (Christ) rules over all creation.

This understanding of Paul’s meaning is amply confirmed by what follows. Immediately after calling the Son “the firstborn of all creation,” Paul says that “in him [the Son] all things were created.” Paul here distinguishes the Son from the creation by stating that all things were created in the Son, which means he was not one of the members of those created things. The words “all creation” (pasēs ktiseōs, v. 15)29 and “all things were created” (ektisthē ta panta, v. 16) are clearly synonymous in what they signify: pasēs and panta are two different grammatical forms of the same adjective meaning “all” or “every,” and ktiseōs (“creation” or “creature”) is the noun corresponding to the verb ektisthē (“were created”). In the Greek text, as in most English versions, these two expressions are separated by only three words, “for in him” (hoti en autō). Thus, Paul clearly is not including the Son in the category of “all creation.” Instead, he is saying that “all creation” was created in the Son.

Paul goes on at the end of verse 16 to say that “all things were created through him and for him.” Now Paul has distinguished the Son from the created things using three similar phrases: all things were created “in him . . . through him and for him” (en autō . . . di’ autou kai eis auton). The last part of this statement about the Son closely parallels what Paul says about God in another epistle (translating literally):

. . . all things through him and for him have been created. (Col. 1:16b)

. . . through him and for him [are] all things. (Rom. 11:36)

If all things were created in, through, and for the Son, then the Son is not one of the created things. It is that simple. Paul’s statement does not mean that the Son was God’s first creature, as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim. As Murray Harris has pointed out, “If Paul had believed that Jesus was the first of God’s creatures to be formed,” verse 16 “would have continued ‘for all other things were created in him.’”30 Notoriously, in order to fix this problem and circumvent the clear teaching of verses 16–17 that the Son Jesus Christ is not part of the created world, the Watchtower added the word “other” four times in these two verses (as well as once in verse 20) in its New World Translation (NWT):

Because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist. (Col. 1:16–17 NWT)31

In an article that appeared the same year as the first edition of the NWT, the publishers explained the reasoning behind their addition of the word other to the passage:

But now trinitarians confront you with Paul’s words at Colossians 1:15– 20 according to the King James Version. They argue that, if Jesus Christ was before all things and all things consist by him and were created by him and for him, then he must be the very same as the Almighty, Most High God, or be one person with God. But we must harmonize these verses with all the other scriptures that Jesus Christ was God’s Son and a creation of His. So the Greek word here must be rendered in the sense of “all other.” Note, then, how the New World Translation blasts the trinitarian argument.32

One could not ask for a more candid explanation: the translators added the word other to make Colossians 1:16 cohere with their theological assumptions (supposedly validated by other biblical passages). Read the passage (even in the NWT) without adding other and the text clearly affirms that absolutely every created thing was created in, through, and for the Son.

Jehovah’s Witnesses defend these insertions by pointing to other places in the Bible where the word “other” seems to be implied by the context. “But how could Jesus be a creature if ‘in him all things were created’? At times the Bible uses the word ‘all’ in a way that allows for exceptions.”33 None of the supposed exceptions supports the Watchtower’s rendering of Colossians 1:16–17. If anything, their examples actually undermine their conclusion. Perhaps the text most commonly cited in this regard (as in the article just cited) is Paul’s statement, “But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him” (1 Cor. 15:27). However, Paul is definitely not saying that God is a member of the category denoted by “all things”; quite the contrary. He is saying that God is outside or apart from that category. This is why English versions—including the NWT— uniformly translate the expression as “all things” (or “everything”) and not “all other things.”34 So this text is in no sense precedent for what the NWT does in Colossians 1:16–17. The issue is not whether the word “other” can ever be implied or even added to a translation to make for more idiomatic or smoother English (e.g., Luke 13:2, 4). The issue is whether it is proper to add the word in order to make a text say the opposite of what it would mean without it. That is what the NWT does in Colossians 1:16–17. Where Paul says that all things were created in, through, and for the Son, the NWT attempts to convey the idea that the Son is one of the things that were created.

In three of the four places the NWT has “all other things,” Paul uses the specific expression ta panta (Col. 1:16 [bis], 17b), which is the nominative (subject) neuter plural form with the article (“the all [things]”).35 As A. T. Robertson pointed out in his Greek grammar almost a century ago, the neuter plural was commonly used “in a collective sense for the sum total,” like the English “the all,” citing Colossians 1:16 as an example.36 That is, the neuter plural refers to the totality or whole category, and thus does not allow exceptions. Although the expression ta panta can be used in other contexts, when it is used in the context of creation (as is explicitly the case here), it is a standard Jewish expression referring to the totality of God’s creation (Gen. 1:31; Neh. 9:6; Eccl. 3:11; 11:5; Job 8:3 LXX; Jer. 10:16; 51:19 [28:19 LXX]; 3 Macc. 2:3; Wis. 1:7, 14; 9:1; Sir. 18:1; 23:20; 43:26; Acts 17:25; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:3; 2:10; Rev. 4:11). An excellent example appears in 3 Maccabees: “Lord, Lord, king of the heavens and sovereign of all creation [pasēs ktiseōs] . . . you, the creator of all things [ta panta]” (3 Macc. 2:2–3a NRSV). This text uses the same two expresions we find in Colossians 1:15–16a and in the same context of the creation of the world. As Richard Bauckham points out, the expression “belongs to the standard rhetoric of Jewish monotheism, in which it constantly refers, quite naturally, to the whole of the created reality from which God is absolutely distinguished as its Creator and Ruler.”37 By placing the Son outside the category of “the all” that was created, Paul excludes the notion that Christ was the chronologically first of all creatures.

In verse 17 Paul again distinguishes the Son from the created order, stating, “and he is before everything.” Paul uses the word translated here “before” (pro) eleven other places in his epistles, always with the temporal meaning of “before” (Rom. 16:7; 1 Cor. 2:7; 4:5; 2 Cor. 12:2; Gal. 1:17; 2:12; 3:23; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; 4:21; Titus 1:2). For that reason, virtually all commentators agree that “he is before everything” expresses primarily the idea that the Son existed prior to everything that was created as well as secondarily the idea that he has priority of rank over all creation, with this second idea being entailed or implied by the first.38 The Unitarian claim that Paul means only “supremacy of rank rather than priority in time”39 is not a tenable interpretation. We have here, then, yet another clear statement of the Son’s personal preexistence before creation. This finding is not only a problem for Unitarianism; it is also a problem for Oneness Pentecostalism, which regards the Son as strictly the human manifestation of the Father.

To sum up what we have said so far, Colossians 1:16–17 tells us three things of relevance to interpreting what Paul means in 1:15 by “firstborn of all creation”: (1) the Son is distinct from “all creation”; (2) the totality of all things in creation were created in, through, and for the Son; and (3) the Son exists before everything that was created. On the basis of these three ideas in verses 16–17, commentators in recent decades have reached a consensus that the expression “firstborn of all creation” cannot mean that the Son was the first being in creation to be created or born.40 This “partitive genitive”41 interpretation of “all creation” (in which the “firstborn” is the earliest “part” of all creation) is the view assumed by the Arians in the fourth century. Jehovah’s Witnesses and other modern Arians also assume that “all creation” is partitive.

The LDS interpretation of “firstborn” in Colossians 1:15 is similar to the Arian view, but it understands Christ to have been the first literal son born to our “heavenly Parents” (Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother) rather than the first being whom God created. The problem with this view (beyond the unbiblical theology it presupposes) is that Paul uses the term firstborn to express the Son’s relation to “all creation,” not his relationship to God or to other supposed spirit children. Had Paul intended to identify Christ as the chronologically first of many sons, he could easily have said something like “the firstborn of the sons of God.” Such a wording would have followed a recognizable (and undeniably partitive) form used in the Old Testament (reflected literally in the NKJV: “the firstborn of your/our sons,” Exod. 22:29; 34:20; Neh. 10:36; “the firstborn of the children of Israel,” Num. 3:46, 50; 8:17, 18). Alternatively, if Paul had meant to use the word literally to mean the first one born to heavenly Parents, he could have said something like “the firstborn of God.” This wording (which is not partitive) would also have used a familiar form in the Old Testament (“Reuben the firstborn of Israel,” Exod. 6:14; 1 Chron. 5:1, 3; “the firstborn of Pharaoh,” Exod. 11:5; 12:29; “Er, the firstborn of Judah,” 1 Chron. 2:3; etc.). He said nothing like these things.

The near consensus view among scholars now is that Paul means that “the firstborn” has, as the Father’s heir, dominion or rulership over “all creation.”42 This “genitive of subordination” is found in other places in the New Testament, as when Christ is called “the ruler over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5 NET, NKJV), where of course Christ is not one of the earthly kings, or when God is called “King over the nations” (Rev. 15:3 NET).43 A good Old Testament example is the statement that the king of Egypt made Joseph “ruler of all his possessions” (archonta pasēs tēs ktēseōs autou, Ps. 104:21 NETS). Conceptually, Paul’s description of the Son as “the firstborn of all creation” parallels the statement in Hebrews that the Son was “the heir of all things” (klēronomon pantōn, Heb. 1:2), which also uses the genitive of subordination.

Based on such considerations, a large number of contemporary English versions translate the second part of Colossians 1:15, more traditionally translated as firstborn “of all creation” (ESV, NABRE, NASB, NJB, NRSV), as firstborn “over all creation” (CEB, CSB, LEB, NEB/REB, NET, NIV, NKJV, NLT).44 Chandler criticizes the NIV for its rendering (apparently unaware of how many other versions do the same), suggesting that bias against the idea of Christ being part of the creation was the reason.45 In fact, careful exegesis of the passage has led most interpreters and a majority of recent translators to the same interpretation.

22. Pyle, I Have Said Ye Are Gods, 360–61; Andrew C. Skinner, “The Premortal Godhood of Christ: A Restoration Perspective,” in Jesus Christ: Son of God, Savior, ed. Paul H. Peterson, Gary Layne Hatch, and Laura D. Card (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, BYU, 2002), 50–78, accessed online at rsc.byu.edu.

23. “The Father and the Son: A Doctrinal Exposition.”

24. “Colossians Study Notes—Chapter 1,” in NWT (Study Edition), at Col. 1:15.

25. Danny André Dixon, “An Arian Response to a Trinitarian View,” in Son of God, by Irons, Dixon, and Smith, 32.

26. Chandler, The God of Jesus, 300.

 27. Chandler, The God of Jesus, 301.

28. Bernard, Oneness of God, 119.

29. The KJV translated this expression “every creature,” but every modern version we reviewed says “all creation.” For a detailed explanation of why “all creation” is correct, see G. K. Beale, Colossians and Philemon, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019), 86.

30. Murray J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon, rev. ed., EGGNT (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 40.

31. Earlier editions of the NWT enclosed “other” in these verses in brackets, as was done with added words in other places in the Bible, but later editions, as well as the major 2013 revision, dropped all use of brackets.

32. “Further Enrichment of Understanding,” Watchtower, 15 Oct. 1950, 396.

33. “Jesus Christ as ‘the Firstborn of All Creation,’” Awake! (April 8, 1979): 29.

34. This mistake also appeared in Stafford, Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended, 3rd ed., 384.

35. In Colossians 1:17a, which we translated, “and he is before everything,” Paul uses the genitive pantōn (which could be masculine or neuter), as required by the use of pro (“before”), without the article, rather than the nominative ta panta with the article, perhaps emphasizing that Christ exists prior to all beings such as those mentioned in 1:16.

36. A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, 4th ed. (New York: George H. Doran, 1923; reprint, Nashville: Broadman Press, 1934), 653–54.

37. Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel, 23.

38. See esp. David W. Pao, Colossians and Philemon, ZECNT (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 98; Beale, Colossians and Philemon, 95–96.

39. Buzzard, Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian, 190.

40. A partial exception is James Dunn, who holds that firstborn “can mean first created being and/or that which has precedence over creation,” with the former possibility assuming a direct relationship between Colossians 1:15 and texts about wisdom being created (Prov. 8:22 LXX; Sir. 1:4; 24:9). Yet Dunn also says that the church fathers were correct to prefer “begotten” to “created.” See James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 90. In our view and that of many scholars today, Dunn’s view overstates the role of wisdom motifs in Colossians 1:15–20.

41. That is, this interpretation understands the expression pasēs ktiseōs, which is in the genitive case, is an example of the partitive use of the genitive.

42. E.g., Morna D. Hooker, “Colossians,” in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, ed. James D. G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 1406; C. H. Talbert, Ephesians and Colossians, Paideia (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 187; Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, PNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 119–20. For an especially thorough discussion see Beale, Colossians and Philemon, 86–91, esp. 90–91.

43. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 103–4.

44. The BBE paraphrases “coming into existence before all living things.” A few versions include both temporal priority and supremacy: “He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation” (NLT); “He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation” (CEV, GNT).

45. Chandler, The God of Jesus, 355.

FURTHER READING

JWS ADMIT: JESUS IS THE ETERNAL CREATOR!

JESUS CHRIST: SUPREME OVER ALL CREATION

CHRIST: THE OFFSPRING OF CREATION?

CHRIST & CREATIO EX NIHILO

IS PROTOTOKOS INTRINSICALLY A SO-CALLED “PARTITIVE WORD”?

REV. 3:14 REVISITED… ONE MORE TIME!

A HYMN TO THE DIVINE CHRIST

HOW MANY THEOIS IN THE NT?

GOD GAVE JESUS LIFE?

JESUS AND THE GOSPEL

The Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus as being sent to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God, announcing to the Jews that God’s rule had come and it was therefore time for them to repent and believe:

“Now after John had been delivered up into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” Mark 1:14-15

“And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus rose up, went out of the house, and went away to a desolate place, and was praying there. And Simon and his companions searched for Him; and they found Him, and said to Him, ‘Everyone is looking for You.’ And He said to them, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came out for.’ And He went, preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and casting out the demons. Mark 1:35-39

One vital aspect of Jesus’ proclamation is that individuals had to be willing to abandon everything for his sake, including giving up their own lives if necessary:  

“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38

“And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.”’ And he said to Him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.’And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” Mark 10:17-21

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:34-39

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple… So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” Luke 14:26-27, 33

The reason Christ could demand such a devotion is because he is that very sovereign King of the kingdom, which he came to announce. As such, one cannot enter the kingdom without first embracing and loving its Ruler.

In this post I will set out to prove that Jesus’ proclamation in all the Synoptic Gospels centered on his being the unique divine King whom everyone must submit to in order to be saved.

DIVINE SON OF MAN AND KING

Throughout the Synoptics Jesus speaks of himself as the Son of Man who comes on the clouds with his angels to judge mankind:

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of HIS Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.” Mark 13:26-27

“But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him and said to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”” Mark 14:61-62

Christ is clearly referring to the vision of the prophet Daniel, where he sees two distinctly divine figures:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; ALL nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14 New International Version (NIV)

By identifying himself as the Danielic Son of Man, Jesus was essentially proclaiming himself to be the eternal divine King whom all nations are to worship forever and ever.

Interestingly, even the rabbis took Daniel’s prophecy as a reference to the King Messiah:  

one like a man was coming. That is THE KING MESSIAH.

and… up to the Ancient of Days. Who was sitting in judgment and judging the nations.

came. arrived, reached. (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16490/showrashi/true#v13)

Jesus further confirmed his divine royalty by entering Jerusalem on a donkey:

“And as they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples,and said to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.’ And they went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it.And some of the bystanders were saying to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’And they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.And they brought the colt to Jesus and put their garments on it; and He sat on it.And many spread their garments in the road, and others spread leafy branches, having cut them from the fields.And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!’

“And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.” Mark 11:1-11 – Cf. Matt. 21:9-17

This same episode is found in John’s Gospel with some added details:

“On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.’ And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.’ These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him.” John 12:12-16

As John noted, Jesus was deliberately fulfilling a prophecy that is found in Zechariah, as well as another one located in the Psalms:

 “This is the day which Yahweh has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Yahweh, save! O Yahweh, succeed! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh; We have blessed you from the house of Yahweh.” Psalm 118:24-26

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, Lowly and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His reign will be from sea to sea And from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” Zechariah 9:9-11

What makes Zechariah’s prophecy all the more remarkable is that elsewhere in the book, the prophet identifies the King who rides the foal of a donkey as YHWH God Almighty!

“And Yahweh will be king over all the earth; in that day Yahweh will be the only one, and His name one… Then it will be that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, there will be no rain on them.” Zechariah 14:9, 16-17

Since YHWH is the One coming to Jerusalem to rule over all the earth, this means that it is YHWH whom the prophet announced will enter Jerusalem on a donkey!

Therefore, by riding on a donkey into Jerusalem Jesus was basically identifying himself as that YHWH God whom Zechariah prophesied was coming to Jerusalem to reign.

Once again, we have the rabbis agreeing with the New Testament that Zechariah 9:9 is in fact a Messianic prophecy:

In the land of Hadrach. R’ Judah the son of Ilai expounded: THIS IS THE MESSIAH, who is sharp against the nations and soft to Israel. R’ Yose the son of a Damascene mother said to him [to Judah the son of Ilai]: “Judah, our master, how long will you pervert the verses for us? I call heaven and earth to testify for me, that I am from Damascus, and there is a place named Hadrach. [Rabbi Yose continued:] Now how do I explain: ‘And Damascus is His resting place?’” That Jerusalem is destined to reach as far as Damascus. ‘His resting place’ means only Jerusalem, as it is said: (Psalms 132:14) “This is My resting place to eternity.” He said to him [i.e. R’ Judah to R’ Yose]: “Now how do I explain (Jer. 30:18) ‘And the city shall be built on its mound?’” He replied: “That it is not destined to move from its place.” So was the baraitha taught in Sifre (Deut. 1:1).(The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16213/showrashi/true#v1; emphasis mine)

Behold! Your king shall come to you. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INTERPRET THIS EXCEPT AS REFERRING TO THE KING MESSIAH, as it is stated: “and his rule shall be from sea to sea.” We do not find that Israel had such a ruler during the days of the Second Temple.

just and victorious. saved by the Lord.

and riding a donkey. This is a symbol of humility.

and a foal of she-donkeys. as in (Gen. 32:16) “and ten foals.” (Ibid., https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16213/showrashi/true#v9; emphasis mine)

The next example is so remarkable, that Muhammad plagiarized our Lord’s words and ascribed them to his deity:

“‘But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

“‘Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

“‘Then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.” Then they themselves also will answer, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?” Then He will answer them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’ When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.’” Matthew 25:31-46; 26:1-2 NASB1995

Note here that Christ identifies himself as the very Lord and King of the day of judgment, being the Owner of the glorious throne!

It is so plainly obvious that Jesus was making himself out to be God Almighty in the flesh that Muhammad stole the aforementioned statements of Christ and put them in the mouth of his god:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah said:

Allah (mighty and sublime be He) will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant So-and-so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me.

It was related by Muslim.

Hadith Qudsi 18 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/qudsi40/18)

By taking Jesus’ words and attributing them to Allah, Muhammad bore witness to the fact that Christ made himself out to be God Almighty since he does what even Islam’s false prophet realized that only the one true God shall do. I.e., Jesus Christ comes to judge mankind on the last day, on the day of resurrection, since he is the Master and Ruler of the day of judgment!

The Synoptics have more to say.

In one episode, Jesus heals a paralytic in order to prove that, as the Son of Man, he has power to do what even the Quran acknowledges only God can do, namely, forgive sins:

“And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. And being unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof over where He was; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.’

“But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?’ Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, ‘Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”; or to say, “Get up, and pick up your mat and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, and go to your home.’ And he got up and immediately picked up the mat and went out before everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’” Mark 2:1-12 – Cf. Matt. 9:1-8; Luke 5:17-26

This isn’t the only time that Jesus personally forgave a person’s sins:

“Then He said to her, ‘Your sins have been forgiven.’And those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’And He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” Luke 7:48-50

Astonishingly, these texts demonstrate that Christ possesses the very characteristics and performs the unique functions, which the Hebrew Bible only attributes to God.

According to the OT, it is YHWH who forgives sins, heals diseases, and knows what is in the hearts of men:

“then listen in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and give to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men,” 1 Kings 8:39

“Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” Psalm 44:21

“Bless Yahweh, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;” Psalm 103:2-4

And, as I already noted, even the Islamic scripture attests that forgiveness of sins is a unique divine prerogative:

who, when they commit an indecency or wrong themselves, remember God, and pray forgiveness for their sins — and who shall forgive sins but God? — and do not persevere in the things they did and that wittingly. S. 3:135 Arberry

Interestingly, the Quran echoes the very objection which the Jews leveled at Jesus for claiming to be able to forgive sins!

I will have a lot more evidence to share in the next part in this series.

JOHN’S EGO EIMI SAYINGS REVISITED

A careful examination of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, typically known as the Septuagint (LXX), with that of John’s Gospel will conclusively prove that Jesus’ “I AM” statements are clearly intended to identify him as the human incarnation of YHWH God (cf. John 1:1-18). The way in which John has communicated Christ’s words into the Greek tongue makes it obvious that the Apostle is making a direct connection with the “I AM” sayings of YHWH in the Hebrew Bible, specifically the book of Isaiah.

In the following chart, I cite from the LXX version of Isaiah in order to help readers see how Jesus’ “I AM” statements deliberately echo that of YHWH’s.


“Therefore shall my people know my name in that day for I am he, the one who is speaking to you (ego eimi autos ho lalon).” Isaiah 52:6 LXX  

“All the nations are gathered together, and princes shall be gathered out of them: who will declare (anangelei) these things? or who will declare (anangelei) to you things from the beginning? Let them bring forth their witnesses (martyras), and be justified; and let them hear, and declare the truth. Be my witnesses (martyres); and I too am a witness (martyrs), says the Lord God, and the servant whom I have chosen (exelexamen)so that you may know, and believe, and understand that I am he (hina… gnote pisteusete… hoti ego eimi): before me there came to be (egeneto) no other god, nor shall there be any after me. I am God, and besides me there is none who saves. I declared (anengeila) and saved; I reproached, and there was no stranger among you: You are my witnesses; I too am a witness, says the Lord God.” Isaiah 43:9-12       
“The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim (anangelei) all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you (ego eimi autos ho lalon).’” John 4:25-27 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)  

“Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.’” John 4:39-42 NRSVUE  

“In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I am (ego eimi) the one testifying (martyron) about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies (martyrei) on my behalf.” John 8:17-18  

“He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are from this world, I am not from this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he (pisteusete hoti ego eimi).’” John 8:23-24 NRSVUE  

“So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he (gnosesthe hoti ego eimi) and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’” John 8:28-29 NRSVUE    

“‘Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham came to be (genesthai), I AM (ego eimi).’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” John 8:56-59  

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God (pros ton theon)… ‘I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen (exelexamen). But it is to fulfill the scripture, “The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.” I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it comes to be you may believe that I am he (hina hotan genētai pisteusete hoti ego eimi).’” John 13:3, 18-19
       

What makes the septuagintal rendering of Isa. 43:10 rather intriguing is that the servant is depicted as being distinct from both YHWH and the nation of Israel, whereas in the Hebrew version the servant and Israel are equated:

“You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” NRSVUE

“Be my witnesses; and I too am a witness, says the Lord God, AND the servant whom I have chosen so that you may know, and believe, and understand that I am he.” LXX

Notice how the LXX gives the impression that the servant whom YHWH has chosen is personally distinct from the Israel that is summoned to also bear witness to YHWH being the only God that exists.

This comports with the fact that in Isaiah there are two servants, both of whom are called Israel, namely, the nation and the specific individual whom the NT and later Jewish tradition identifies as Messiah (Cf. Isa. 42:1-7; 49:1-10; 50:4-6; 52:13-15; Matt. 8:14-17; 12:17-21; Luke 22:37; Acts 8:30-35; 1 Peter 2:21-25).

Jesus’ ego eimi statements in John 13:19 is also significant in light of its context where John tells us that the Son “had come from God and was going to God (pros ton theon).”

These words deliberately the Prologue where Jesus is identified as the eternal Word who was with God (pros ton theon) from before the creation of all things:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (pros ton theon), and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (pros ton theon). All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people… The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him… And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-4, 9-10, 14

Elsewhere in John, Christ plainly speaks of his coming down from the Father to enter into the world, and of his leaving the world to go back to the Father:

“‘I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but will tell you plainly of the Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father (pros ton patera).’ His disciples said, ‘Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe?’” John 16:25-31 NRSVUE

Note, once again, John’s use of the preposition pros, which again points us to Jesus being the divine, uncreated Word who was pros (“with”) God from before the creation.  

In fact, the Lord makes this very same point in his prayer to the Father:

“So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed… for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me… Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:5, 8, 24 NRSVUE

Here, Jesus affirms that he personally existed alongside the Father where they both shared the same glory from before the creation the world. This is why he could say that he had come forth from the Father and was now returning back to the glory that he had shared alongside of him.

Nor is this the only time where Christ spoke of his prehuman, heavenly existence with the Father:

“No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” John 3:13 NRSVUE

“‘for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.’ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’” John 6:38-42 NRSVUE

“Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” John 6:62 NRSVUE

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.’” John 8:42 NRSVUE

Clearly, then, Jesus’ ego eimi saying in John 13:19 means much more than “I am the Messiah who was foretold by the prophets.” The context shows that Christ is deliberately echoing the “I AM” sayings of YHWH found throughout Isaiah, specifically in Isa. 43:10, in order to make it known to his disciples that they were beholding the God of Israel himself in human flesh.  

FURTHER READING

JESUS CHRIST: ISRAEL’S ANI WAHO WHO SAVES

JESUS: THE I AM HE INCARNATE

Even More Proof That Jesus is Jehovah God Most High! Pt. 2

Jesus as the Great I AM

Jesus as the Great I AM Excursus

The Early Church Fathers On John 8:58

MATERIAL FOR THE ANDANI DISCUSSION

In this post I will show how the Quran attests that the Christianity delineated within the New Testament is the true religion of Jesus Christ, revealed and preserved by God.  

1. JESUS’ FOLLOWERS WERE TO BE VICTORIOUS TILL THE RESURRECTION DAY.

Behold! Allah said: “O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee SUPERIOR to those who reject faith, TO THE DAY OF RESURRECTION: Then shall ye all return unto Me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.” S. 3:55 Y. Ali

O ye who believe! Be ye helpers of Allah: as said Jesus the son of Mary to the Disciples, “Who will be my helpers to (the work of) Allah?” Said the Disciples, “We are Allah’s helpers!” then a portion of the Children of Israel believed, and a portion disbelieved: But We gave power to those who believed against their enemies, AND THEY BECAME THE ONES THAT PREVAILED. S. 61:14 Y. Ali

The Muslim exegetes list Paul as among those whom Allah empowered to spread the true message of Jesus, which is why he prevailed:

“God has sent me (Muhammad) to all men, so take a message from me, God have mercy on you. Do not hang back from me as the disciples hung back from Jesus son of Mary. They asked how they hung back and he said, ‘He called them to a task similar to that which I have called you. Those who had to go a short journey were pleased and accepted. Those who had a long journey before them were displeased and refused to go, and Jesus complained of them to God. (T. From that very night) every one of them was able to speak the language of the people to whom he was sent.’ (T. Jesus said, ‘This is a thing that God has determined that you should do, so go.’)

“Those whom Jesus son of Mary sent, both disciples and those who came after them, in the land were: Peter the disciple AND PAUL WITH HIM, (PAUL BELONGED TO THE FOLLOWERS AND WAS NOT A DISCIPLE) to Rome. Andrew and Matthew to the land of the cannibals; Thomas to the land of Babel, which is in the land of the east; Philip to Carthage which is Africa; John to Ephesus the city of the young men of the cave; James to Jerusalem which is Aelia the city of the sanctuary; Bartholomew to Arabia which is the land of Hijaz; Simon to the land of the Berbers; Judah who was not one of the disciples was put in place of Judas.” (The Life of Muhammad, A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Karachi Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth Impression 1995], p. 653; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Now it makes sense to include Paul among those sent out to proclaim the true religion of Jesus. This is because Paul could not have hijacked and/or perverted the teachings of Christ without this implying that the Apostle prevailed against Allah by managing to defeat the true followers of Jesus, something which the aforementioned Quranic ayat emphatically affirm did not, and could never, happen.   

Interestingly, this is the same sirah which identifies John’s Gospel as the inscripturation of the Gospel that God had given to Jesus for his followers:

“Among the things which have reached me about what Jesus the Son of Mary stated in the Gospel which he received from God for the followers of the Gospel, in applying a term to describe the apostle of God, is the following. It is extracted FROM WHAT JOHN THE APOSTLE SET DOWN FOR THEM WHEN HE WROTE THE GOSPEL FOR THEM FROM THE TESTAMENT OF JESUS SON OF MARY: ‘He that hateth me hateth the Lord. And if I had not done in their presence works which none other before me did, they had not sin: but from now they are puffed up with pride and think that they will overcome me and also the Lord. But the word that is in the law must be fulfilled, “They hated me without a cause” (i.e. without reason). But when the Comforter has come whom God will send to you from the Lord’s presence, and the spirit of truth which will have gone forth from the Lord’s presence he (shall bear) witness of me and ye also, because ye have been with me from the beginning. I have spoken unto you about this that ye should not be in doubt.’

“The Munahhemana (God bless and preserve him!) in Syriac is Muhammad; in Greek he is the paraclete. (Ibid., pp. 103-104; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Ibn Ishaq references John 15:23-16:1 as the Gospel which Christ Jesus passed on to his disciples.

Again, this makes perfect sense in light of the claims of Q. 3:55 and 61:14 since John’s Gospel could not have been spread and been widely embraced if it didn’t come from one of Jesus’ true followers whom Allah swore would and did overcome the disbelievers, a dominance that would be theirs and those who follow their message till the day of resurrection. If John’s Gospel isn’t authentic then this means that the message of Christ’s followers was lost and/or perverted, and therefore Allah either failed or lied to Jesus since he failed to preserve what he had sent the disciples to preach throughout the world.   

2. MUHAMMAD CONFIRMS WHAT WAS WITH THE JEWS AND CHRISTIANS.

Children of Israel, remember My blessing wherewith I blessed you, and fulfil My covenant and I shall fulfil your covenant; and have awe of Me. And believe in that I have sent down, confirming that which is with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And sell not My signs for a little price; and fear you Me. And do not confound the truth with vanity, and do not conceal the truth wittingly. And perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and bow with those that bow. Will you bid others to piety, and forget yourselves while you recite the Book? Do you not understand? S. 2:40-44 Arberry  

When there came to them a Book from God, confirming what was with them — and they aforetimes prayed for victory over the unbelievers — when there came to them that they recognized, they disbelieved in it; and the curse of God is on the unbelievers. S. 2:89 Arberry   

The medieval Muslim exegete al-Qurtubi states that the above verse refers to the Torah and the Gospel being with them at Muhammad’s time:

‘Them’ means the Jews, and the ‘Book’ here is the Qur’an, while ‘what is with them’ refers to the Torah and Gospel. The word for ‘praying for victory’ here (yastaftiḥūn) comes from the root fataḥa and implies the opening of something which is locked, and is used, for instance, for the opening of a door. An-Nasā’ī reports that Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī said that the Prophet said, ‘Allah gave victory to the community because of its weak members by means of their supplication, prayer and sincerity.’ An-Nasā’ī also reports from Abud-Dardā’ that the Messenger of Allah said, ‘Help me in seeking out the weak. They are supported. You are provided for on account of the weak among you.’ Ibn ‘Abbās reported that the Jews of Khaybar fought the tribe of Ghaṭafān and were defeated and so the Jews used this supplication, saying, ‘We ask You by the right of the unlettered Prophet whom You promised to send us at the end of time to make us victorious against them.’ They then defeated the tribe of Ghaṭafān. But when the Prophet was indeed sent, they rejected him and so Allah revealed this. (Tafsir al-Qurtubi: Juz’ 1: Al-Fātiḥah & Sūrat al-Baqarah 1-141, translated by Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley [Diwan Press, 2019], Volume 1, pp. 338-339; bold emphasis mine)

Elsewhere al-Qurtubi cites a sound narration where Muhammad admitted that the Jews and Christians had the Torah and the Gospel in their possessions:

and pay heed to what is in it,

This means ‘reflect and observe Allah’s commands and warnings in it and do not neglect that and waste it’. It is the same with all the Divine Books: you must act according to them and not just recite them on the tongue. To do otherwise is to waste them. This is what is stated by ash-Sha‘bī and Ibn ‘Uyaynah as will be discussed later. (2:101) An-Nasā’ī related from Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī that the Messenger of Allah g said, ‘The worst of people is an impious man who recites the Qur’an and pays no heed to any of it.’ So he explained that the goal is to put it into action. Mālik said, ‘The Qur’an can be recited by someone who has no good in him. This was an obligation for those before us just as it is obliged for us.’ Allah says: ‘Follow the best that has been sent down to you from your Lord.’ (39:55) So He commanded us to follow His Book and act by it, but we have abandoned it just as the Jews and Christians did. There remain people with many books and copies of the Qur’an who do not benefit from that at all because they are dominated by ignorance, desire for power, and the following of appetites. We find in at-Tirmidhī that Abu-d-Dardā’ said, ‘We were with the Prophet and he looked towards heaven and said, “This is a time in which knowledge will be snatched away from its people until they have none left.” Ziyād ibn Labīd al-Anṣārī asked, “How can it be snatched away from us when we recite the Qur’an! By Allah, we recite it and our women and children recite it.” He replied, “May your mother be bereft, Ziyād! I consider you to be like those in who know the Torah and Gospel WHICH the Jews and Christians HAVE. What help was it to them?”’ An-Nasā’ī transmitted it from Jubayr ibn Nufayr from ‘Awf ibn Mālik al-Ashja‘ī by a sound path. (Ibid., pp. 295-296; bold emphasis mine)

Here’s another version of the aforementioned hadith:

41 Chapters on Knowledge

(5) Chapter: What Has Been Related About Knowledge Leaving

Narrated Jubair bin Nufair:

from Abu Ad-Darda who said: “We were with the Prophet when he raised his sight to the sky, then he said: ‘This is the time when knowledge is to be taken from the people, until what remains of it shall not amount to anything.” So Ziyad bin Labid Al-Ansari said: ‘How will it be taken from us while we recite the Qur’an. By Allah we recite it, and our women and children recite it?’ He said: ‘May you be bereaved of your mother O Ziyad! I used to consider you among the Fuqaha of the people of Al-Madinah. The Tawrah and Injil ARE WITH THE JEWS AND CHRISTIANS, but what do they avail of them?‘” Jubair said: “So I met ‘Ubadah bin As-Samit and said to him: ‘Have you not heard what your brother Abu Ad-Darda said?’ Then I informed him of what Abu Ad-Darda said. He said: ‘Abu Ad-Darda spoke the truth. If you wish, we shall narrated to you about the first knowledge to be removed from the people: It is Khushu’, soon you will enter the congregational Masjid, but not see any man in it with Khushu’.’”

Grade: SAHIH (Darussalam)

Reference: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2653

In Book Reference: Book 41, Hadith 9

English translation: Vol. 5, Book 39, Hadith 2653 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/41/9; capital emphasis mine)

More on the Gospel’s availability a little later.

We’re not done with the Quran’s witness just yet:

And when they were told, ‘Believe in that God has sent down,’ they said, ‘We believe in what was sent down on us’; and they disbelieve in what is beyond that, yet it is the truth confirming what is with them. Say: ‘Why then were you slaying the Prophets of God in former time, if you were believers?’ S. 2:91 Arberry

Say: “Who was an enemy to Gabriel, so that he descended it on your heart/mind with God’s permission, confirming to what (is) between his hands (musaddiqan lima bayna yadayhi), and (a) guidance and a good news to the believers.” S. 2:97 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/2/st19.htm)

When there has come to them a Messenger from God confirming what was with them, a party of them that were given the Book reject the Book of God behind their backs, as though they knew not, S. 2:101 Arberry

You who have been given the Book, believe in what We have sent down, confirming what is with you, before We obliterate faces, and turn them upon their backs, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-men, and God’s command is done. S. 4:47 Arberry

And this the Koran was/is not that it be fabricated from (by) other than God, and but confirmation (of) what (is) between his (Prophet Mohammad’s) hands (tasdeeqa allathee bayna yadayhi), and detailing/explaining The Book, no doubt/suspicion in it, (it is) from the creations all together’s/(universes’) Lord. S. 10:37 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/10/st19.htm)

In their narration/information (stories there) had been an example/warning to those of the pure minds/hearts (it) was not an information/speech to be fabricated and but confirmation (to) which (is) between his hands (tasdeeqa allathee bayna yadayhi) and detailing/explaining/clarifying every thing, and guidance, and mercy to (a) nation believing. S. 12:111 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/12/st19.htm)

And those who disbelieved said: “We will never/not believe with this the Koran, and nor with what (is) between its hands (bayna yadayhi).” And if you see/understand if the unjust/oppressive (were) made to stand/suspended at their Lord, some of them return to some the saying/words/opinion and belief, those who were weakened say to those who became arrogant: “Where it not for you, we would be believers/believing.” S. 34:31 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/34/st19.htm)

And what We inspired/transmitted to you from The Book, it is the truth confirming to what (is) between his hands (musaddiqan lima bayna yadayhi), that truly God (is) with His worshippers/slaves expert/experienced (E), seeing/knowing. S. 35:31 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/35/st19.htm)

3. THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES WERE IN EXISTENCE AT MUHAMMAD’S TIME.

The Quran instructs folks inquire of the messengers who came before Muhammad:

Ask those of Our Messengers We sent before thee: Have We appointed, apart from the All-merciful, gods to be served? S. 43:45 Arberry

Now the only way anyone could possibly ask these messengers who were no longer on earth is by consulting their scriptures which they left behind. This is precisely how the Muslim exegetes interpreted this text:

And ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you Did We ever appoint besides the Compassionate One that is to say any other than Him gods to be worshipped? It is said that this is to be understood literally in other words that God gathered for him all the messengers on the Night of the Journey; but it is also said that this meant that he should ask any communities belonging to either of the two Peoples of the Scripture. According to one of the two opinions he never asked anyone since the point of this command to ask is to affirm to the idolaters of Quraysh that no messenger or scripture ever came from God with the command to worship any other than God. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=43&tAyahNo=45&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)  

(And ask those of Our messengers) such as Jesus, Moses and Abraham; this was on the night when he was taken up to heaven and he led in prayer 70 prophets, among whom were Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Allah commanded His Prophet, saying: ask them (whom We sent before thee) O Muhammad: (Did We ever appoint gods to be worshipped beside the Beneficent) did We command that any other deity beside the Beneficent be worshipped? It is also said that this means: ask those unto whom We sent the messengers before you, i.e. the people of Book, did We appoint any other deities beside the Beneficent to be worshipped? And it is also said that this means: ask them, did the messengers bring anything other than the profession of Allah’s divine Oneness; the Prophet did not have to ask because he was certain that Allah did not appoint any other deities to be worshipped beside Him. (Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas  https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=73&tSoraNo=43&tAyahNo=45&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)

45 This verse is understood to mean that when the Prophet met all of the other prophets on the Night Journey (see 17:1c; introduction to Sūrah 53), he was to ask them this question (JJ), or that he was to ask it of the People of the Book (JJ, Ṭ), in which case some say there is an implied “unto whom” (ilayhim) in the verse so that it could be rendered, “Ask those before you [unto whom] We sent from among Our messengers” (Ṭ). The verse can also be understood as a purely rhetorical question, reaffirming that all of the messengers called their people to the same truths to which the Prophet Muhammad calls his people, as in 16:36: We indeed sent a messenger unto every community, “Worship God, and shun false deities!” (IK). (The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary , editor-in-chief Seyyed Hossein Nasr, HarperOne, 2015; bold emphasis mine)

I.e.. “look into the earlier revelations and ask thyself”. (Muhammad Asad Footnote: 38 https://www.alim.org/translation/asad/43/)

That is, by examining their Message, and asking the learned among their real followers. It will be found that no Religion really teaches the worship of other than Allah. (Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Footnote: 4648 https://www.alim.org/translation/yusuf-ali/43/; bold emphasis mine)

3B. CHRISTIANS OF MUHAMMAD’S TIME HAD THE GOSPEL.

And We sent after (following) on their tracks with Jesus, Mary’s son confirming for what (is) between his hands from the Torah/Old Testament (musaddiqan lima bayna yadayhi mina al-tawrati), and We gave him the New Testament/Bible in it (is) guidance and light, and confirming to what (is) between his hands from the Torah/Old Testament (wa’musaddiqan lima bayna yadayhi mina al-tawrati), and guidance and a sermon/advice/warning to the fearing and obeying. And the New Testament’s/Bible’s people should judge/rule with what God descended in it, and who does not judge/rule with what God descended, so those, they are the debauchers. S. 5:46-47 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/5/st19.htm)

Al-Qurtubi noted a variant reading, which a minority accepted as genuine:

Al-A’mash and Hamzah read ‘judge’ as ‘yahkumu’ with a lam attached to the beginning, meaning ‘in order to’, and the others read it in the apocopate form: yahkum, as a command. In the first reading, the words are connected to ‘We gave him’ and it is not permitted to stop, implying ‘We gave him the Gospel so that his people would judge by what Allah revealed in it.’ If it is read as a command, then it is like the words: ‘Judge between them.’ (5:49), starting a new sentence meaning: ‘Let the people of the Gospel judge at that time.’ Now it is abrogated. It is said that it is a command to the Christians to now believe in Muhammad. The obligation to believe in him is found in the Gospel. Abrogation is conceivable in secondary rulings, not in basic principles. Makki said, ‘The command IS PREFERRED because THE MAJORITY have it and because of what comes after it is a threat which indicates that it is an obligation from Allah Almighty for the people of the Gospel.’ An-Nahhas said, ‘What I believe to be correct is that they are both good readings because Allah only revealed a Scripture in order for it to be acted on and He commanded that people should act by what is in it. So both are sound.’ (Tafsir al-Qurtubi: Sūrat al-Mā’idah, translated by Aisha Bewley [Diwan Press, 2021], Volume 6, pp. 173-174; bold and capital emphasis mine)

3C. THE QURAN IS SUPPOSED CONFIRMATION THESE SCRIPTURES IN ARABIC.

Then, We gave Musa (Moses) the Book [the Taurat (Torah)], to complete (Our Favour) upon those who would do right, and explaining all things in detail and a guidance and a mercy that they might believe in the meeting with their Lord. And this is a blessed Book (the Qur’an) which We have sent down, so follow it and fear Allah (i.e. do not disobey His Orders), that you may receive mercy (i.e. saved from the torment of Hell). Lest you (pagan Arabs) should say: “The Book was only sent down to two sects before us (the Jews and the Christians), and for our part, we were in fact unaware of what they studied.” Or lest you (pagan Arabs) should say: “If only the Book had been sent down to us, we would surely have been better guided than they (Jews and Christians).” So now has come unto you a clear proof (the Qur’an) from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy. Who then does more wrong than one who rejects the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah and turns away therefrom? We shall requite those who turn away from Our Ayat with an evil torment, because of their turning away (from them). [Tafsir At-Tabari, Vol. 8, Page 95]S. 6:154-157 Hilali-Khan

And from before it (is) Moses’ Book, a leader/example, and mercy, and that (is a) confirming Book (in an) Arabic tongue/speech, to warn/give notice (to) those who caused injustice/ oppression, and good news to the good doers… They said: “You our nation that we heard/listened to a Book (that) was descended from after Moses, confirming to what (is) between his hands (musaddiqan lima bayna yadayhi), it guides to the truth and to (a) straight/direct road/path.” S. 46:12, 30 (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/46/st19.htm)

4. JEWS AND CHRISTIAN WERE TO ACT UPON ALL THE REVELATIONS GIVEN TO THEM.

Had they followed the Laws of the Old and New Testaments and what was revealed to them from their Lord, they would have received Our bounties from above and below in abundance. Some of them are modest people, but many of them commit the worst sins… (Muhammad), tell the People of the Book, “You have nothing unless you follow the Old and New Testaments and that which (the Quran) God has revealed to you.” Whatever has been revealed to you (Muhammad) from your Lord will only increase their disbelief and rebellion (against you). Do not grieve for the unbelieving people. 5:66, 68 (Muhammad Sarwar https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/5/st23.htm)

Here’s another translation:

And if that they took care of the Torah/Old Testament, and the Bible/New Testament and what was descended to them from their Lord, they would have eaten from above them and from below their feet; from them (is) a nation economizing/moderate , and many from them what they were making/doing became bad/evil/harmful… Say: “You The Book’s people, you are not on a thing, until you keep up the Torah/Old Testament and the Bible/New Testament , and what was descended to you from your (P) Lord.” And what was descended to you (S/M) from your Lord increases (E) many of them tyranny/arrogance, and disbelief, so do not grieve/sadden on the nation, the disbelieving. (Muhammad Ahmed–Samira https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/5/st19.htm)

To the Christians, this would mean that they were to act upon the writings of the New Testament, and not just the Gospel. As the following Muslim expositors acknowledge:

(If they had observed the Torah and the Gospel) if they had accepted what is in the Torah and the Gospel and demonstrated the traits and description of Muhammad contained therein (and that which was revealed unto them from their Lord) and had they elucidated that which their Lord had explained to them in the Torah and the Gospel; it is also said that this means: if they had believed that ALL the scriptures and messengers are from their Lord, (they would surely have been nourished from above them) through rain (and from beneath their feet) through vegetation and fruit. (Among them) among the people of the Book (there are people who are moderate) a group of just and upright people, i.e. ‘Abdullah Ibn Salam and his followers, the monk Bahirah, the Negus and his followers, and Salman al-Farisi and his fellows, (but many of them are of evil conduct) evil is what they do in terms of concealing the traits and description of Muhammad. Among such people are Ka’b Ibn al-Ashraf, Ka’b Ibn Asad, Malik Ibn al-Sayf, Sa’id Ibn ‘Amr, Abu Yasir, and Judayy Ibn Akhtab. (Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs, Q. 5:66 https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=73&tSoraNo=5&tAyahNo=66&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; emphasis mine)

(Say) O Muhammad: (O People of the Scripture!) i.e. the Jews and Christians. (You have naught) of the religion of Allah (till ye observe the Torah and the Gospel) until you truly believe in what is in the Torah and the Gospel (and that which was revealed unto thee (Muhammad) from your Lord) in ALL Scriptures given to all messengers. (That which is revealed unto you (Muhammad) from your Lord) the Qur’an (is certain to increase the contumacy) constancy in disbelief (and disbelief) and firmness in disbelief (of many of them) of their disbelievers. (But grieve not for the disbelieving folk) do not be saddened for their destruction in their state of disbelief, if they do not believe. (Ibid., Q. 5:68 https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=73&tSoraNo=5&tAyahNo=68&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; emphasis mine)

For a Christian to uphold all the scriptures s/he would have to implement and act upon the canonical books of the New Testament, since these are all a part of what was revealed to them. There’s simply no way around it.

4B. MUSLIMS ARE TO BELIEVE IN THE REVELATION GIVEN TO THE JEWS AND CHRISTIANS.

Muhammad and his followers are commanded to believe in all the revelation given to the Jews and Christians:

The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and the believers; each one believes in God and His angels, and in His Books (wa’kutubihi) and His Messengers; we make no division between any one of His Messengers. They say, ‘We hear, and obey. Our Lord, grant us Thy forgiveness; unto Thee is the homecoming.’ S. 2:285

O believers, believe in God and His Messenger and the Book He has sent down on His Messenger and the Book which He sent down before. Whoso disbelieves in God and His angels and His Books (wa’kutubihi), and His Messengers, and the Last Day, has surely gone astray into far error. S. 4:136  

Dispute not with the People of the Book save in the fairer manner, except for those of them that do wrong; and say, ‘We believe in what has been sent down to us, and what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is One, and to Him we have surrendered.’ S. 29:46

Note that Muhammad and his followers were to have the same attitude and belief in the previous scriptures that they have towards the Quran. What this entails is that Muslims must believe that the books in the possession of the Jews and Christians have been preserved, just as they believe about the Quran.

After all, it is an act of kufr (disbelief) to deny that the Quran has been corrupted. Therefore, since Muhammad’s followers are adopt this same view of the previous scriptures this means that it is an act of rebellion and disbelief to argue that the previous revelations have been corrupted.  

Moreover, this attitude towards the scriptures includes believing in all the revelations not mentioned in the Quran by name. That is because the latter expressly teaches that there are messengers whose names are not to be found in the Muslim scripture:

Say you: ‘We believe in God, and in that which has been sent down on us and sent down on Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes, and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the Prophets, of their Lord; we make no division between any of them, and to Him we surrender.’ S. 2:136 Arberry

We have revealed to thee as We revealed to Noah, and the Prophets after him, and We revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, Jesus and Job, Jonah and Aaron and Solomon, and We gave to David Psalms, and Messengers We have already told thee of before, and Messengers We have not told thee of; and unto Moses God spoke directly – S. 4:163-164 Arberry

Therefore, the Muslims are to consult the Jews and Christians in order to know who these other messengers were, and what revelations were given to them.

In other words, the Quran is indeed confirming the books of the Old and New Testament canons since these would have been the revelations which they had in their possession at Muhammad’s time.

Again, there’s simply no way around this for the Muslim who desires to honest and faithful to what his/her scripture actually teaches.

FURTHER READING

INJIL, IBN ABBAS & Al-BUKHARI

THE QURAN’S GOSPEL

THE QURAN ON INSCRIPTURATION

THE GOSPEL THAT IS WITH THEM

THE UNCLEAR QURAN: WHAT IS THE INJIL?

MUHAMMAD’S CONFUSION ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES

THE APOSTLE PAUL IN EARLY ISLAMIC EXEGESIS

PAUL IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC SOURCES REVISITED