Among the most profound questions in the history of interfaith dialogue — and one that Islam answers with clarity through the Qur’an and reason — is whether Jesus (peace be upon him) is truly God. This episode explores the Biblical evidence directly, examining what the scripture actually says versus what centuries of theological tradition have constructed on top of it. When the Gospels are read honestly, the title “Son of God” turns out to be a Hebraic idiom applied liberally throughout scripture — and the very verses Christians cite as proof of Jesus’s divinity contain powerful internal testimony that points in the opposite direction entirely.
“Son of God” — A Title of Honour That the Bible Gives to Many
In the Hebrew scriptural tradition, “Son of God” is an expression denoting a righteous, God-fearing person — one who submits to God’s will and plan. This is not a fringe Islamic reinterpretation; it is embedded in the very texts Christians hold sacred. Exodus 4:22 declares Israel “my firstborn son.” Jeremiah names Ephraim God’s firstborn. Chronicles calls Solomon God’s son. Most strikingly, Jesus’s own genealogy in Luke 3:38 ends with Adam — described plainly as “the son of God.” In Matthew 5:9, Jesus tells his followers that peacemakers “will be called sons of God,” extending the title to all believers. Even within the Gospel of John — written explicitly to argue for Jesus’s divinity, and whose authorship was disputed by Christian scholars as far back as the second century CE — Jesus himself says, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17), making God equally the Father of his disciples. The same Gospel that is used as the centrepiece of Trinitarian argument contains its own internal rebuttal, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica itself recorded scholarly doubts about its fabricated origins long before modern Islamic scholarship raised them.
“As many as are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God.” In the idiom of the Hebrew tradition, “Son of God” signifies a righteous person who follows God’s will — a title the scripture applies to Israel, Solomon, Adam, and all who believe, not uniquely to Jesus (peace be upon him).
- The phrase “Son of God” is used in the Old and New Testaments for Israel, Ephraim, Solomon, Adam, and all righteous believers — not as a unique claim to divinity.
- Peter declares in Acts 2:22: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him” — the miracles were God’s, performed through Jesus, not by Jesus as God.
- Jesus says in Matthew 23:9, “Call no man your father on earth, for there is only one who is your Father, which is in heaven” — explicitly distinguishing himself, a man walking the earth, from the Father in heaven.
- Within Christian theology itself, claiming “Jesus is the Father” is an ancient condemned heresy — Patripassianism or Monarchianism — excommunicated over a thousand years ago. Every orthodox denomination insists Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, never the Father.
- Jesus refers to himself as “Son of Man” 83 times in the New Testament — the human figure who had nowhere to lay his head, who hid from those seeking to stone him, and who prayed to God rather than receiving prayer as God.
What Scripture Says God Is Not — And Why No One Born of a Woman Can Be Him
The Bible does not only describe what God is — it establishes, with remarkable directness, what God is not. The Book of Job 25:4-6 poses the question plainly: “How then can man be justified with God? How can he be clean that is born of a woman?” The implication is categorical — anyone born of a woman, however miraculous the circumstances, cannot be God. The moon and stars are nothing in God’s sight; how much less, then, is man. In Islam, the Qur’an gives us ninety-nine attributes of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) — Kind, Merciful, Just, Holy — alongside the declaration of what He is not: nothing in creation resembles Him, and He is utterly beyond comparison. Both the Qur’an and these very Biblical passages agree: a child carried for nine months, whether Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, or any other — peace be upon them all — cannot be equated with the Lord of the Worlds. Muslims and Christians both affirm the miraculous nature of Jesus’s birth from the blessed Virgin Maryam (peace be upon her), but Islam holds that a miraculous birth confers prophethood and distinction among mankind, not divinity. The Qur’an honours Jesus profoundly — as a Word from Allah, a spirit from Him, a mighty Messenger — while exalting Allah infinitely above having a son, a partner, or an equal.
“How then can man be justified with God? How can he be clean that is born of a woman?” — Job 25:4. Anyone carried in a mother’s womb — however chosen, however miraculous their birth — cannot be the Almighty. This is not only the position of Islam and reason; it is the testimony of the Bible itself.
For the Muslim, this question is not merely academic — it is a matter of Tawhid, the absolute and undivided Oneness of Allah, which is the very foundation of our faith, our purpose, and our spiritual wellbeing. The guidance available to seekers of truth is abundant: the testimony of the Prophets (peace be upon them all), the internal logic of the Biblical texts, and the luminous clarity of the Qur’an all converge on the same reality. Jesus (peace be upon him) called God his God and the God of his disciples. His early companions knew him as a man walking among them — a man approved of God, a man through whom God’s signs were made manifest. When we approach these questions with the sincerity and reflection that Islam encourages, the straight path becomes clear: Lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad — “He begets not, nor is He begotten, and there is none comparable to Him” (Al-Ikhlas, 112:3-4). May Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) grant us steadfastness in faith, guide sincere seekers from all backgrounds to His light, and bless us with the deepest gratitude for the gift of Islam.
