Transcription
Picture this: you win a trip to Egypt to see the Sphinx and the pyramids. You love ancient monuments, so you fly to Cairo. The smell is awful, but that won't stop you. You catch a yellow bus heading towards Giza. You're checking out the sights through the bus window when you suddenly realize that the guy sitting next to you is wearing a suicide vest. He's a terrorist heading to the Sphinx to blow it up because images are forbidden in Islam, unless you're a prepubescent girl, in which case they'll let you slide — just ask Aisha.
Your new Jihadi friend doesn't want to draw attention to himself because he's on a mission, so he tries to distract you by asking, "Why do Christians call Jesus the son of God?" What do you say? Are you ready to answer him? Trust me, it's a good idea to plan out your response now before it happens.
So, why do Christians call Jesus the son of God? According to the Quran, Christians call Jesus the son of God because we're imitating the pagans (Surah 9, verse 30). "And the Jews say, 'Ezra is the son of Allah,' and the Christians say, 'The Messiah is the son of Allah.' That is the saying with their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah Himself fighteth against them; how perverse are they?"
It's ironic that the Quran accuses Jews and Christians of imitating pagans when some of Islam's most basic practices—like taking the pilgrimage to Mecca, walking circles around the Kaaba, kissing the black stone, and so on—were copied directly from idol-worshiping pagans. But let's ignore that for now.
So, Jews and Christians are perverse because we imitate the unbelievers of old. This verse comes right after Surah 9, verse 29, where Allah commands his followers to violently subjugate Jews and Christians. Verse 30 provides the justification for subjugating us. Jews and Christians have to be subjugated because we're actually polytheists according to the Quran. Strange, I thought Islam was the religion of peace.
Of course, Allah says that Jews call Ezra the son of Allah. Have you ever in your entire life, anywhere on the planet, heard a Jew calling Ezra the son of Allah? Neither have I. Neither has anyone. So, as is so often the case, Allah doesn't seem to know what he's talking about when he's commanding his followers to violently subjugate people.
But even though he's wrong about Jews, is he right about Christians? Do Christians call Jesus the son of God because we're imitating the unbelievers of old, or do we call Jesus the son of God because he was identified as the Son of God by a mind-boggling, unparalleled cloud of witnesses? Let's find out.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and in Matthew 3, when Jesus comes out of the water, the Spirit of God descends as a dove, and a voice out of the heavens proclaims, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." A voice out of the heavens says, "This is my beloved Son," which means that the voice was the voice of the Father. But how do we know whom the Father was referring to? How do we know he wasn't talking about John the Baptist or someone else? Well, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and landed on Jesus. Notice: the Father and the Holy Spirit together identify Jesus as the Son of God.
Jesus repeatedly identifies himself as the Son of God. At his trial, for instance, in Mark 14, the high priest asks him, "Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed?" Jesus answers, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven."
So, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in complete agreement that Jesus is the divine Son of God. In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." Jesus is to be called the Son of the Most High according to the angel Gabriel.
What about the prophets? John the Baptist was a prophet according to both Christianity and Islam. In John 1, he tells his followers about Jesus and says, "I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." That's the testimony of the prophets.
How about Jesus' apostles? At the end of John 1, the Apostle Nathanael says to Jesus, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Now, if Jesus were just a prophet, this would have been a really good time to rebuke Peter. Instead, Jesus says to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
In Matthew 14, Jesus walks on water during a storm. After stepping into the boat, the wind stops, and his disciples bow down and worship him, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God." But it's not just his male followers who call him the Son of God.
In John 11, Lazarus dies, and Martha, the sister of Lazarus, meets Jesus on his way to raise Lazarus from the dead. We read: Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world."
Martha, the apostles, and John the Baptist were all Jews who believed in Jesus. But even the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus admitted that he was claiming to be the Son of God. At his crucifixion, they mocked him and said, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now if he desires him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
So, whether they believed him or didn't believe him, the Jews of his time acknowledged that Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God. Even some of the Romans called Jesus the Son of God. When Jesus died by crucifixion, there was an earthquake, and the Roman centurion and those who were with him shouted, "Truly, this was the Son of God." Even demons would call Jesus the Son of God as he was casting them out of people. We read in Luke 4: "And demons also came out of many, crying, 'You are the Son of God!'"
Now think about the diversity of witnesses we have here: the Father identifies Jesus as the Son of God; Jesus identifies himself as the Son of God; the Holy Spirit identifies Jesus as the Son of God; the angel Gabriel identifies Jesus as the Son of God; the prophet John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Son of God; Jesus' apostles identify him as the Son of God; Martha identifies him as the Son of God; Roman soldiers identify him as the Son of God; demons identify him as the Son of God; and people who certainly didn't believe that he was the Son of God publicly proclaimed that he was claiming to be the Son of God.
All three persons of the Trinity, prophets and apostles, angels and demons, men and women, Jews and Gentiles—anyone who could possibly identify Jesus as the Son of God identified him as the Son of God. But about six centuries later, an illiterate caravan robber who married a six-year-old girl, who married the divorced wife of his own adopted son after causing the divorce by lusting after her, who bought, owned, sold, and traded black African slaves—whose first impression of his revelations was that they were demonic, who repeatedly tried to kill himself—this guy comes along and tells his followers that Jesus isn't the Son of God and never claims to be.
And Muhammad's followers believed him—the least reliable person in the history of humanity. Instead of believing the unparalleled cloud of witnesses who affirmed that Jesus is the Son of God, why would Muhammad's followers believe him when he contradicts every single reliable witness from the first century? For the same reason they'll believe Muhammad when he says that Jews call Ezra the Son of God, even though 34 centuries of Jews will say that's complete nonsense.
Muhammad is an idol to his followers, and in the minds of his followers, what Muhammad says trumps millions of witnesses, all of history, prophets, angels, even God himself. But what was Muhammad's main objection to the claim that Jesus is the Son of God? We find it in Surah 6, verse 101 of the Quran, where Allah says, "The inventor of the heavens and the Earth, how can he have a son when he has no female companion?"
So, how can God have a son when he has no wife? According to the Quran, it's impossible for Allah to have a son unless he has a wife. Allah declares that you can't possibly have a son without a mommy and a daddy; it takes two to tango. Even Allah Almighty himself can't make a son without a woman. This response is hilarious for two reasons.
One, it completely contradicts what Allah says in Surah 19. In Surah 19, the Spirit of Allah appears to Mary and tells her that she's going to have a son. Mary replies, "How can I have a son when no man has touched me?" Allah answers, "It's easy for me." So, no daddy required! Did you catch that? Suddenly, it's easy for Allah to make a son with only one parent. Total contradiction.
Two, when Father, Son, Holy Spirit, angels, prophets, apostles, and so on declare that Jesus is the Son of God, are they talking about a son produced through sexual intercourse? Are they talking about God having sex with a woman and producing Jesus as an offspring? No. So, once again, the god of the Quran has no clue what he's talking about.
What does "Son of God" mean in the Bible? Well, it means several things depending on the context. The one thing it never means is that God had sex and produced an offspring, and yet according to Islam, that's the only thing it can possibly mean. Let's go through the different meanings of "Son of God" in the Bible. This is important because Muslim apologists will sometimes claim that calling Jesus the Son of God is irrelevant because other people are called sons of God in the Bible—hence the famous "Sons by the tons" objection.
I said, look, it means nothing, man. To say, "I'm the Son of God" means nothing. God has got sons by the tons in the Bible. Deducts fans were impressed by this response because they didn't realize what an absolute deceiver he was. And soccer fans are generally some of the most ignorant people on the planet.
Think about this: I could say that all human beings are brothers; we're all related. I could say that all Americans are my brothers; we're all from the same country. I could say that Vocab Malone is my brother in Christ; we're both Christians. I could say that John and Manny are my brothers; we had the same mother. I would be using the word "brother" in different ways in all of these claims.
What I mean when I use the word "brother" will depend on how I'm using the word. If I say John and Manny are my brothers, would it make sense for someone like Ahmad to reply, "Ah, but all human beings are brothers in a sense, so David doesn't really mean anything when he calls John and Manny his brothers"? No, because they're my brothers in a specific way. You'd have to be insanely stupid to think that a word or a phrase like "brother" or "son" or "Son of God" can only be used with one meaning.
So how is the phrase "Son of God" used in the Bible? Let's go through some different ways it's used. First, human beings in general are called God's children in Acts 17 because, as the Apostle Paul says, "In him, in God, we live and move and have our being." God creates us and sustains us; the idea is that as a human father provides for his family, God provides for us—though in a much more significant way.
Second, spirit beings also live and move and have their being in God. So in Job 1, angels are called "sons of God," not only because God creates them and sustains them in existence, but also presumably because of their role in carrying out God's commands.
Third, the nation of Israel is called God's son. In Exodus 4, God tells Moses to say to Pharaoh, "Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son." This is related to Deuteronomy 32, where Moses says to the nation of Israel, "Is not he your father who created you, who made you and established you?" So the nation of Israel wasn't a normal, naturally developing nation; God produced the nation through divine intervention and was therefore Israel's father.
Fourth, the reigning Davidic king—the king who was a descendant of King David—was called "Son of God" because he was put on his throne by God and he was to rule under God's authority as God's representative.
Fifth, people who reflect God's will through their conduct can be called sons of God since this gives them a kind of family resemblance to God. Thus, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
So the phrase "Son of God" can have a variety of meanings in the Bible. Why then do Christians think it's so important to call Jesus the Son of God? Well, when the Father and the Holy Spirit together identified Jesus as the beloved Son, do you think they were saying that Jesus is the Son of God like other human beings?
When the angel Gabriel and John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Son of God, do you think they were saying that Jesus is the Son of God in some generic sense that applies to lots of other people? When Jesus called himself the Son of God, was he simply saying that God created him?
When Jesus was casting out demons and the demons were screaming that he's the Son of God, do you think they were only saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God"? No, Jesus is the Son of God in a divine sense. It's his position in the Trinity.
In the first century, most people thought of a son as someone who carried on the family trade. Sons didn't go away to college; they did whatever their fathers did. If your father was the butcher, you were the butcher. If your father was a baker, you were a baker. To say that someone is the Son of God in this sense would mean that he does the work that God does, and this is exactly what Jesus claims about himself.
Consider some examples. According to both the Bible and the Quran, God is the one who raises the dead at the resurrection. But in John 5, Jesus says that he's the one who will raise the dead at the resurrection. According to both the Bible and the Quran, God is the final judge of all mankind, but in Matthew 25, Jesus tells his followers that he will be the final judge of all people.
According to both the Bible and the Quran, God is the one who can ultimately forgive sins, and yet Jesus claims in Mark 2 that he's the one who ultimately forgives sins. So Jesus does the work that only God does, and he claims to have a unique relationship with the Father. In Matthew 11, Jesus says, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."
And this relationship has always existed, as we read in the opening verses of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."
The Word—Jesus, the Son—was with God, and the Word was God. How could the Word be with God and be God? It only makes sense if you're thinking in Trinitarian terms. The same difficulty arises with the phrase "Son of God." Muslims ask, "Well, what was he? God or the Son of God?" Their confusion arises because they hear "Son of God" and, like their Prophet, they think of God producing some sort of separate offspring.
Christians don't claim that God produced a son as some sort of separate offspring. We claim that within the one nature or essence of God, the person of the Son is eternally with the person of the Father. So we can talk about Jesus being the Son of God because within the Trinity, he's the Son of the Father. And we can talk about him being God because he has the same Divine Essence as the Father.
For some reason, Muslims mock the idea of these eternal relationships, even though these same Muslims will tell us that the Quran is co-eternal with Allah and that it eternally proceeds from Allah. According to Muhammad, the Quran allows eternal speech can even appear in the form of a pale man and talk to people.
So there's a person who eternally proceeds from Allah and appears as a pale man. I thought that eternal relationships involving God were something to be mocked and ridiculed.
So according to the Bible, Jesus is the divine Son. Interestingly, because he's the divine Son, he's the supreme example of the "Son of God" in all the other senses we looked at. Human beings are called sons of God, but Jesus is the greatest human being. Spirit beings are called sons of God, but Jesus is the highest spirit being. The Davidic kings were called sons of God, but Jesus is the Messiah, the eternal Davidic King.
The nation of Israel was called the Son of God, but according to the Bible, the Messiah is the new Israel who succeeds where Israel failed. People who reflect God's character in their conduct are called sons of God, but Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father's character, so much so that he could say, as he does in John 14, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
God revealed something about his eternal nature to human beings. The appropriate response should be, "Wow, thank you, Lord, for revealing that. We'll try to understand what you've revealed as far as our limited minds allow." Unfortunately, six centuries after the Eternal Son entered creation as Jesus of Nazareth, the most obvious false prophet in history came along and said, "How can God have a son when he has no wife?" And billions of people accepted his idiotic response.
This caravan robber has been robbing people of the knowledge of God for 1400 years, and you want to blow up the Sphinx for him and take as many people with you as possible? I can't let you do that, my Muslim friend, which is why, as I was distracting you with this conversation, I used my Gerber multi-tool to cut the wires on your suicide vest. And as much as I despise snitching, I did use my phone and the SIM card I bought to contact the authorities.
I hope you'll use your time in prison to think about what we've discussed.
So that's how you save countless lives and a precious ancient monument from a terrorist who asks you why Christians call Jesus the Son of God. Of course, I should point out that you can share all of this information in less dangerous situations, like friendly discussions with Muslims at your school, at work, in your neighborhood, or at the Apologetics Roadshow.
[Music] Thank you. [Music]