I am having an ongoing discussion with a very intelligent Christian friend of mine and I thought I would share bits of the conversation, which may be of interest. They will remain anonymous.
My Christian friend brings up the subject of the Lord’s Supper in the gospels,
1) ‘the Lord’s Supper in Matthew and potentially Luke (depending on the textual variant) teach that [sacrifice for sin]. As for Luke, arguably Luke 7:47-50 requires faith in Jesus to be saved – yes this passage doesn’t mention sacrifice, but I’m not sure what Islam would think about having faith in Jesus to be saved.
2) Okay that’s fine, but I just don’t see how Allah expects Christians to be able to recognise what is the true Gospel within our texts and tradition and what is not? Perhaps only by using the Qur’an as a lens. But if that were the case, do you think the Qur’an isn’t claiming that the Bible evidentially points towards the truth of the Qur’an?
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I replied:
Looking closely at Jesus’s comments on salvation, forgiveness, justification, the Law, God, etc suggests a set of teachings quite different to Paul’s and the standard Christian view today.
NT scholarship long ago uncovered this fact (cf the work of Johannes Weiss) and this is readily acknowledged by more liberal scholars today (eg James Barr).
I mentioned the sacrifice-free forgiveness of sins taught by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer. This can’t be just ignored.
– on our justification before God Jesus states unequivocally that ‘humility’ justifies a sinner in Luke 18 (cf Paul in Romans);
– obedience of the Jewish Law is *central* to discipleship in the Kingdom of God in Matthew 5:17-20, (cf Paul);
– how do we enter eternal life? by obeying the commandments says Jesus in Matt 19:17, (something Paul would never say);
– that salvation itself had come to Zacchaeus (by metanoia) was pronounced by Jesus in Luke 19 (but only available after the death & resurrection according to Paul);
– John the Baptist, revered as a great prophet in Islam, appeared proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in Mark 1. People were baptised in the Jordan – thus their sins were forgiven;
– Jesus encouraged direct access to God the Father, (but Paul and later Christians introduced an intermediary between God and the believer);
There are numerous other examples I could recount. These sayings constitute the gospel *of* Jesus. Paul and later Christians preached a gospel *about* Jesus. The Proclaimer had become the one proclaimed. Jesus preached the Kingdom of God and it was the church that came.
The Quran acknowledges that the gospel of Jesus is to be found in the existing gospels but is not coterminous with it. Christians are called by God in his final Testament to mankind to judge what they believe by the gospel *of* Jesus, and this teaching is confirmed by the Quran. The Quran also corrects the mis-interpretations by Christians who wrongly believe Jesus is God. Jesus bears witness in the Quran that he is just a man.
Clearly the four gospels are not the Injil. They make claims (eg about the crucifixion) that God has made clear are quite unhistorical. The Quran suggests that the ‘Gospel’ (Injil) is something given to Jesus by God (surah 5:46). So it is evident that in the Qur’an the divine Gospel was one revealed to Jesus and not books written about Jesus.
A quote from Montgomery Watt (who was Professor in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh, and one of the foremost non-Muslim interpreters of Islam in the West):
“While it is stated that Jesus received from God a scripture called the Gospel (or Evangel – Injil), there is nothing to suggest that this was any more like our actual gospels in the New Testament than the tawrat received by Moses was like the actual Pentateuch. Indeed Muslims usually deny that our actual gospels are the book received by Jesus, since that consisted entirely of revelations from God and not of historical statements about Jesus.”
[William Montgomery Watt, Muslim-Christian Encounters. Perceptions And Misperceptions, Routledge, 1991, p. 24
I also refer you to the interesting discussion about the gospels/Injil in The Study Quran, surah 3: 3-4.
Categories: Bible, Biblical scholarship, Christianity, God, Quran
Blogging Theology 
“– how do we enter eternal life? by obeying the commandments says Jesus in Matt 19:17, (something Paul would never say);”
But he did say this, see Romans 2 v 13:
“13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”
However, he added that no gentile could live up to his own standard:
Romans 3 v 9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
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so if Jews could be saved by obeying the law why did Jesus die?
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btw Paul do you beat your children black and blue as the Bible advises you too?
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“so if Jews could be saved by obeying the law why did Jesus die”
Paul writes that Jews AND Gentiles are all under sin:
“Romans 3 v 9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;”
“btw Paul do you beat your children black and blue as the Bible advises you too?”
I don’t believe that the bible teaches this. The Quran on the other hand commands men to beat their wives, even as a preventative measure.
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You don’t believe that the bible teaches this? Its in the Bible dude
‘The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.’
Proverbs 20:30 KJV
btw if Jesus said peoples sin could be forgiven by just repenting who are you to disagree?
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I don’t disagree with you in principle but I would add the proviso that repentance has to take place within the context of whatever covenant is currently in force between God and man.
The teaching of the NT, in my view, is that the gospel is, since the resurrection of Jesus, a universal covenant with all mankind which God has put in place through the death and resurrection of Jesus:
Acts 17 v 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
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Mercy can be put before justice – that’s a universal principle covering all “covenants” at all times. To insist God cannot apply his own principles is just ridiculous.
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With the name of Allah the Gracious the Merciful
Stunning reply brother Paul, you sum it up nicely.
Although I believe that the Bible has foundation on the the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Qur’an, even if we keep this aside, those who read the Bible (The Torah and the synoptic gospels) as a whole without bias must be able to recognise that its true message: a law centric monotheistic religion that abhor idolatry and emphasis on piety as way of salvation.
Christianity however do not fall under the biblical teaching of following the ways of the prophets who are monotheists who abhor idolatry.
As for the Injil , I tend to held the view that, as The Study Qur’an has pointed out, it was “Good news” revealed to Jesus but not what the Quran refer to as “what was before it” ( مَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ ma bayna yadayhi).
“what was before it” which is understood to mean “previous to” by the commentators, but which can also mean “in the presence of,” as does the English word “before.” could only refer to oral tradition ascribed to Jesus which includes both the text and the normative tradition around that text insofar as they convey Jesus’ original message to his apostles (لْحَوَارِيُّونَ the hawariyyun), which was revealed to him by God (the Injil).
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thank you for the comments Eric.
I have added 2 sentences to the end of my article – I omitted to mention an important point:
‘The Quran suggests that the ‘Gospel’ (Injil) is something given to Jesus by God (surah 5:46). So it is evident that in the Qur’an the divine Gospel was one revealed to Jesus and not books written about Jesus.’
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quote from Montgomery Watt:
“While it is stated that Jesus received from God a scripture called the Gospel (or Evangel – Injil), there is nothing to suggest that this was any more like our actual gospels in the New Testament than the tawrat received by Moses was like the actual Pentateuch. Indeed Muslims usually deny that our actual gospels are the book received by Jesus, since that consisted entirely of revelations from God and not of historical statements about Jesus.”
[William Montgomery Watt, Muslim-Christian Encounters. Perceptions And Misperceptions, Routledge, 1991, p. 24
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Indeed, you paraphrase it better.
I consider the greek NT text just translation of what 1st century hellenised people heard of oral tradition of the actual sayings of Jesus ..(and in must be in Aramaic — It is scholarly consensus that Jesus (p) and his disciples native language was Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century AD). The greek and roman christian tradition is not genuine thus the breakaway of the semitic tradition.
To me the fact that there are remnants of Aramaic phrases and sentences in the gospel could be an indication that this oral tradition did exist. Prophet Jesus must have the same revelatory process like prophet Muhammad, it mean he would have also recited it verbatim in Aramaic thus the actual “sayings” of him (whether or not it is the recitation he received from God, like the Qur’an to prophet Muhammad, or Jesus own saying, like the hadith of prophet Muhammad).
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