This is entirely possible since God is not a physical, material entity. An infinite God, who is Spirit and invisible can therefore contain Himself in a finite being such as a human.
This is backed not only by the Bible and Quran but also via definition of what infinite means. The word infinite has different meanings depending on the context.
When a Christian or Muslim says God is infinite, we do not mean that God is infinite in physical size. For example, neither a Christian or Muslim would say “God is infinite metres tall” because if that were true then God would occupy all space in our universe, since we live in a universe that occupies space. If God had infinite space within the universe, then the universe would either not exist since it is finite or the universe would be identical with God. That would mean everything in the universe would be God, and God would be everything at the same time which is the belief found in Pantheism. This clearly contradicts monotheism and is also impossible since we live in a finite universe where everything has an origin at different points in time.
So, since Muslims do not believe that God is infinitely extended in space why do you use these same ideas to criticise the Christian understanding of Jesus being divine or even Jesus containing the essence of God within him?
Like I mentioned, there are different contexts and meanings for the term “infinite”, it doesn’t apply for everything at all times just like many words in our language can have more than one meaning. For example, “bank” can mean a building where you deposit money or the side of a river but cannot be both in the same context. The same goes with the word “infinite”.
Potential infinity is one definition used mostly in math with the infinity symbol when dealing with numbers. It is defined as potential because it can never be reached
Actual infinity is were real objects can form a complete set, such as an infinite set of books. This is still an abstraction because you cannot have an infinite set or number of anything, so it doesn’t actually exist. This definition is actually important in understanding the kalam cosmological argument.
Absolute infinity refers to things that go beyond numbers, they can only be measured qualitatively such as goodness, love, knowledge, power etc. Therefore when we say God is infinite we are talking about absolute infinity. The attributes and nature of God are absolute infinities, such as being omnipotent (absolute power), or omniscient (absolute knowledge/wisdom). Even God’s Word would be absolute, which is why in both scriptures, the Word of God is eternal, it is infinite. Potential and actual infinite deals with physical or temporal concepts such as space and time which can be measured in different units such as metres, centimetres, seconds, hours etc. Yet we can easily describe God in terms of absolute infinite, because He would be perfect in justice, holiness, goodness, truth, mercy etc. If God existed in time, He could be measured by time but instead He is eternal which means beyond or without time.
This might all sound like nonsense or off topic right now, but it’s important to deal with this first to understand how God can actually contain Himself in finite beings such as ourselves and this is backed by both the Quran and Bible.
God’s power is an absolute infinity which is different from the term power that we might use in physics with measures like watts or joules. Physical power, energy and matter are all created things. So the power to create came solely from God Himself when He used His Word to bring things into existence. In Genesis, God said “Let there BE light” and light formed (Genesis 1:3). Likewise in the Quran, Allah mentions the same thing “His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, “Be,” and it is.” (Surah 36:82)
Since absolute infinite’s do not have quantitative measures there is no contradiction in claiming that an absolute infinite can be expressed in a single being. For example, love cannot be measured in grams or in seconds, it is measured by the quality of the act. Jesus said there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13), something which he did for all of us.
So we can see here that God is not a space-time body, He is Spirit and invisible (John 4:24, Romans 1:20, 1 Timothy 1:17). Since God is an absolute infinite, He lacks physical dimensions which also explains why He is omnipresent, He is present in all places in our universe at once, seeing all and listening to the prayers of billions of people at once. Therefore it is logically possible that an absolute infinite such as God can be within a finite dimensional space such as the body of Jesus Christ. This is explained in Colossians 1 and 2:
1:”15 The Son is the image of the invisible God…19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.”
2:”9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”
There is also mention of many prophets in the Bible and Quran who had the Spirit of God within them, which helped support them in their cause:
Joseph (Genesis 31:48), Joshua (Numbers 27:18), Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), David (1 Samuel 16:13), Daniel (Daniel 5:14) and more. Likewise the Quran mentions similar things in Surahs 21:91, 40:15, 58:22, 66:12. Some English translations of the Quran put Gabriel in brackets where the word spirit is because some Muslim scholars have said Gabriel is the spirit which is completely false because in the original Arabic the word al-Ruh is used which means God’s spirit not Gabriel. Gabriel is mentioned by name in Surahs 2:97-98, 66:4.
In fact the Arabic term for Holy Spirit, al-Ruh al-Quddus, is used in association with Jesus 3 times in the Quran, giving him a unique position amongst the prophets in the Quran:
Surah 2:87 – We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit.
Surah 2:253 – Those messengers We endowed with gifts, some above others: To one of them Allah spoke; others He raised to degrees (of honour); to Jesus the son of Mary We gave clear (Signs), and strengthened him with the holy spirit.
Surah 5:110 – Then will Allah say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit…
Jesus, being the messiah of God possessed this Spirit in a unique way to any other human being as mentioned in Luke 1:35, Surah 2:87, 2:253, 4:171, 5:110, 21:91. This is why he was called the son of God, he contained the fullness of God’s Spirit within him.
Therefore, in this context even supported by the Quran, the finite can contain the infinite.
So how is it that both the Bible and Quran describe times when God was able to fill His servants with His Spirit? If the infinite cannot be contained in the finite, even just a small amount of the infinite power or support would not be logically possible.
This language is clearly not mean to describe an incarnation of God in a person such that the person is then accurately described as God Almighty. No. It is a way of saying that the person is closely united with the Divine will.
However to say of a human that they are also God is incoherent and contradictory. Such an entity would be simultaneously ignorant and all knowing, immortal and mortal, all powerful and weak etc. which is crazy…
In that sense I would agree but not completely. Being supported or filled with the Spirit of God is not merely just being closely united to the divine will. In some of the biblical examples I used, when these people were filled with the Spirit they were able to do extraordinary things, such as Samson’s supreme strength or Daniel being filled with wisdom and knowledge that were beyond his capabilities. Likewise, the Quranic verses I used also mention that sometimes God would speak directly to the person, or other times allow them to perform miracles such as with Jesus.
I take more of a Unitarian position personally. But I do believe that Jesus is the son of God and divine, and as I saw mentioned by another user here, the Quran also supports that it is possible for God to have a son. So Jesus more than any other person would have the closest connection to God since he embodies the spiritual qualities of God within him. That same Spirit that God supports and fills His servants with is the same one that Jesus was born with, this is distinct from the spirit or breath of life that God uses to create us, such as with Adam.
This is perhaps why he is seen as the image or representation of the invisible God, and perhaps why his early disciples and followers did not see it as a contradiction.
It is also clear that Jesus did in fact say one time that “even the Son does not know, only the Father”. So yes it would seem quite inconsistent to be God and not God at the same time.
But I think in terms of the majority of Christians worshipping Jesus, this has more to do with the fact that Jesus is more of a representation of the invisible God as I said above, but also because God has given authority to Jesus over all things. So like Jesus would say, if we are glorifying him then we are glorifying the Father because Jesus is the son of God after all.
I’m aware of that. But no one also thought that they were the sons of God either.
The circumstances and method of Jesus’ birth was a unique one amongst the prophets. This is why the Quran says that he was to be a sign for all people. There is something special about Jesus that is supposed to be a sign for us all.
Do you have any idea or suggestion as to what it could be? This isn’t a rhetorical question by the way. I’m curious to know what distinguishes Jesus from the other prophets in Islam or the Quran.
If you’re not too sure then no worries, perhaps I’ll investigate further if I have the time.
Blogging Theology 
This is entirely possible since God is not a physical, material entity. An infinite God, who is Spirit and invisible can therefore contain Himself in a finite being such as a human.
This is backed not only by the Bible and Quran but also via definition of what infinite means. The word infinite has different meanings depending on the context.
When a Christian or Muslim says God is infinite, we do not mean that God is infinite in physical size. For example, neither a Christian or Muslim would say “God is infinite metres tall” because if that were true then God would occupy all space in our universe, since we live in a universe that occupies space. If God had infinite space within the universe, then the universe would either not exist since it is finite or the universe would be identical with God. That would mean everything in the universe would be God, and God would be everything at the same time which is the belief found in Pantheism. This clearly contradicts monotheism and is also impossible since we live in a finite universe where everything has an origin at different points in time.
So, since Muslims do not believe that God is infinitely extended in space why do you use these same ideas to criticise the Christian understanding of Jesus being divine or even Jesus containing the essence of God within him?
Like I mentioned, there are different contexts and meanings for the term “infinite”, it doesn’t apply for everything at all times just like many words in our language can have more than one meaning. For example, “bank” can mean a building where you deposit money or the side of a river but cannot be both in the same context. The same goes with the word “infinite”.
Potential infinity is one definition used mostly in math with the infinity symbol when dealing with numbers. It is defined as potential because it can never be reached
Actual infinity is were real objects can form a complete set, such as an infinite set of books. This is still an abstraction because you cannot have an infinite set or number of anything, so it doesn’t actually exist. This definition is actually important in understanding the kalam cosmological argument.
Absolute infinity refers to things that go beyond numbers, they can only be measured qualitatively such as goodness, love, knowledge, power etc. Therefore when we say God is infinite we are talking about absolute infinity. The attributes and nature of God are absolute infinities, such as being omnipotent (absolute power), or omniscient (absolute knowledge/wisdom). Even God’s Word would be absolute, which is why in both scriptures, the Word of God is eternal, it is infinite. Potential and actual infinite deals with physical or temporal concepts such as space and time which can be measured in different units such as metres, centimetres, seconds, hours etc. Yet we can easily describe God in terms of absolute infinite, because He would be perfect in justice, holiness, goodness, truth, mercy etc. If God existed in time, He could be measured by time but instead He is eternal which means beyond or without time.
This might all sound like nonsense or off topic right now, but it’s important to deal with this first to understand how God can actually contain Himself in finite beings such as ourselves and this is backed by both the Quran and Bible.
God’s power is an absolute infinity which is different from the term power that we might use in physics with measures like watts or joules. Physical power, energy and matter are all created things. So the power to create came solely from God Himself when He used His Word to bring things into existence. In Genesis, God said “Let there BE light” and light formed (Genesis 1:3). Likewise in the Quran, Allah mentions the same thing “His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, “Be,” and it is.” (Surah 36:82)
Since absolute infinite’s do not have quantitative measures there is no contradiction in claiming that an absolute infinite can be expressed in a single being. For example, love cannot be measured in grams or in seconds, it is measured by the quality of the act. Jesus said there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13), something which he did for all of us.
So we can see here that God is not a space-time body, He is Spirit and invisible (John 4:24, Romans 1:20, 1 Timothy 1:17). Since God is an absolute infinite, He lacks physical dimensions which also explains why He is omnipresent, He is present in all places in our universe at once, seeing all and listening to the prayers of billions of people at once. Therefore it is logically possible that an absolute infinite such as God can be within a finite dimensional space such as the body of Jesus Christ. This is explained in Colossians 1 and 2:
1:”15 The Son is the image of the invisible God…19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.”
2:”9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”
There is also mention of many prophets in the Bible and Quran who had the Spirit of God within them, which helped support them in their cause:
Joseph (Genesis 31:48), Joshua (Numbers 27:18), Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), David (1 Samuel 16:13), Daniel (Daniel 5:14) and more. Likewise the Quran mentions similar things in Surahs 21:91, 40:15, 58:22, 66:12. Some English translations of the Quran put Gabriel in brackets where the word spirit is because some Muslim scholars have said Gabriel is the spirit which is completely false because in the original Arabic the word al-Ruh is used which means God’s spirit not Gabriel. Gabriel is mentioned by name in Surahs 2:97-98, 66:4.
In fact the Arabic term for Holy Spirit, al-Ruh al-Quddus, is used in association with Jesus 3 times in the Quran, giving him a unique position amongst the prophets in the Quran:
Surah 2:87 – We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit.
Surah 2:253 – Those messengers We endowed with gifts, some above others: To one of them Allah spoke; others He raised to degrees (of honour); to Jesus the son of Mary We gave clear (Signs), and strengthened him with the holy spirit.
Surah 5:110 – Then will Allah say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit…
Jesus, being the messiah of God possessed this Spirit in a unique way to any other human being as mentioned in Luke 1:35, Surah 2:87, 2:253, 4:171, 5:110, 21:91. This is why he was called the son of God, he contained the fullness of God’s Spirit within him.
Therefore, in this context even supported by the Quran, the finite can contain the infinite.
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The infinite cannot be contained in the finite. The Christian concept of the incarnation is incoherent and logically impossible.
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So how is it that both the Bible and Quran describe times when God was able to fill His servants with His Spirit? If the infinite cannot be contained in the finite, even just a small amount of the infinite power or support would not be logically possible.
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This language is clearly not mean to describe an incarnation of God in a person such that the person is then accurately described as God Almighty. No. It is a way of saying that the person is closely united with the Divine will.
However to say of a human that they are also God is incoherent and contradictory. Such an entity would be simultaneously ignorant and all knowing, immortal and mortal, all powerful and weak etc. which is crazy…
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In that sense I would agree but not completely. Being supported or filled with the Spirit of God is not merely just being closely united to the divine will. In some of the biblical examples I used, when these people were filled with the Spirit they were able to do extraordinary things, such as Samson’s supreme strength or Daniel being filled with wisdom and knowledge that were beyond his capabilities. Likewise, the Quranic verses I used also mention that sometimes God would speak directly to the person, or other times allow them to perform miracles such as with Jesus.
I take more of a Unitarian position personally. But I do believe that Jesus is the son of God and divine, and as I saw mentioned by another user here, the Quran also supports that it is possible for God to have a son. So Jesus more than any other person would have the closest connection to God since he embodies the spiritual qualities of God within him. That same Spirit that God supports and fills His servants with is the same one that Jesus was born with, this is distinct from the spirit or breath of life that God uses to create us, such as with Adam.
This is perhaps why he is seen as the image or representation of the invisible God, and perhaps why his early disciples and followers did not see it as a contradiction.
It is also clear that Jesus did in fact say one time that “even the Son does not know, only the Father”. So yes it would seem quite inconsistent to be God and not God at the same time.
But I think in terms of the majority of Christians worshipping Jesus, this has more to do with the fact that Jesus is more of a representation of the invisible God as I said above, but also because God has given authority to Jesus over all things. So like Jesus would say, if we are glorifying him then we are glorifying the Father because Jesus is the son of God after all.
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‘since he embodies the spiritual qualities of God within him’ a great definition!
But note no one ever thought Sampson or Daniel was God almighty the creator.
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I’m aware of that. But no one also thought that they were the sons of God either.
The circumstances and method of Jesus’ birth was a unique one amongst the prophets. This is why the Quran says that he was to be a sign for all people. There is something special about Jesus that is supposed to be a sign for us all.
Do you have any idea or suggestion as to what it could be? This isn’t a rhetorical question by the way. I’m curious to know what distinguishes Jesus from the other prophets in Islam or the Quran.
If you’re not too sure then no worries, perhaps I’ll investigate further if I have the time.
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