For billions of people walking through life with sincere questions about faith, spirituality, and the purpose of existence, few questions carry more weight than this: was Jesus (peace be upon him) truly God, or the Son of God? This episode of The Deen Show brings together host Eddie and Dr. Lawrence Brown — a former Christian, medical doctor, and holder of a PhD in religious studies — to examine eight evidence-based reasons why the concept of Jesus as the Son of God cannot be sustained by scripture, scholarship, or reason. Muslims hold Jesus in the highest honour as one of the mightiest Prophets God ever sent to mankind, born of a miraculous virgin birth as a divine sign and a bearer of God’s pure message — and it is precisely that love and reverence for him that compels us to restore his true station, free from the theological layers added long after he walked the earth.
The Word “Son” in Biblical Language Is Consistently Metaphorical, Not Literal
One of the most illuminating points Dr. Brown raises is how the biblical use of “son” — especially in the phrases “Son of God” and “sons of God” — follows a systematic figurative pattern throughout scripture. The Greek word pais Theou, often translated “Son of God,” carries the primary meaning of “servant of God,” and it appears eight times in the New Testament: five times in reference to Jesus, twice for David, and once for Israel. The more common Greek word huios (son) appears in expressions like “sons of the king,” “sons of peace,” “sons of light,” “sons of thunder,” and “sons of this world” — language that no reader takes literally. Scholars across traditions confirm that in first-century Jewish theology, any literal claim to divine sonship would have constituted blasphemy under Mosaic law and been punishable by death, which means the expression was never intended as a claim of divine origin but as an honorific for the righteous and obedient servant of God.
“Jesus never claims for himself the title Son of God.”
— Harper’s Bible Dictionary
- Reason 8: Jesus instructed his followers to pray “Our Father” — not “My Father” — making the fatherhood of God a universal form of address, not a marker of unique divine sonship.
- Reason 7: The Greek term pais Theou means “servant of God” first; if translated as “Son of God,” then David and Israel must equally be counted as sons of God, undermining any claim of exclusivity.
- Reason 6: The word huios is used metaphorically throughout the New Testament — sons of peace, sons of thunder, sons of the kingdom — confirming a consistent figurative pattern with no literal genealogical implication.
- Reason 5: Biblical scholars confirm the language cannot be literal: a direct claim of divine sonship in Jesus’s time and place would have been prosecuted as blasphemy under the very law he upheld.
What Jesus Actually Said About Himself — and the Contradiction at the Core of Church Doctrine
Dr. Brown draws an equally powerful contrast from Jesus’s own preferred self-description. In the New Testament, Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man” not once or twice but eighty-eight times — a title the New Catholic Encyclopedia calls “of special interest because it was the one employed by Jesus by preference to designate himself and his mission.” He never uses the title “Son of God” of himself in the source manuscripts, as both Hastings’ Bible Dictionary and Harper’s Bible Dictionary confirm. He is, however, called the “son of David” fourteen times in scripture — and no one believes he was literally David’s son — which proves once more that such expressions carry metaphorical weight throughout the biblical text. The so-called trilemma argument used by Christian missionaries — that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Son of God — dismantles itself: Muslims wholeheartedly agree that Jesus was neither a liar nor a lunatic and that he was exactly what he said he was, a noble Prophet who consistently pointed humanity toward the exclusive worship of the One God.
- Reason 4: Neither in original manuscripts nor in standard translations did Jesus directly call himself the Son of God — confirmed by both Hastings and Harper’s Bible Dictionaries.
- Reason 3: Jesus called himself “Son of Man” 88 times — his own preferred self-designation, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia — never claiming divine sonship in the literal sense.
- Reason 2: Jesus is called “son of David” 14 times in the Bible despite not being David’s literal descendant, demonstrating that “son of” throughout scripture operates as a term of lineage, honour, or closeness — never literal biology.
- Reason 1: The Bible itself identifies Israel, Ephraim, Adam, Solomon, and all peacemakers as “sons of God,” making the church doctrine of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God an internal contradiction that cannot be resolved within the scriptural text itself.
“Jesus said: ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”
— John 20:17
The evidence — marshalled from scripture, Greek linguistics, reputable Bible dictionaries, and the words of Jesus himself — points consistently in one direction: “Son of God” in the biblical tradition is an expression of closeness to God, a mark of piety, a metaphor for the righteous servant, not a declaration of divine paternity. Islam teaches, and has always taught, that God is One, that He has no partner, no son, and no consort, and that every Prophet from Adam to Abraham to Moses to Jesus to Muhammad (peace be upon them all) delivered the same foundational message: worship the Creator and not the creation. Dr. Lawrence Brown’s own journey from Christianity to Islam stands as a living testament to where sincere, evidence-driven inquiry leads. This life is our one test, and as Dr. Brown reminds us, there are no open-book corrections after the exam is closed — our deeds are sealed at death. The guidance is accessible, the truth is clear, and the invitation of Islam — pure, direct submission to the One God that Jesus himself worshipped and prayed to — remains open to every sincere heart today.
