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John 1:14
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Today we will set the heart of the Christian gospel alongside the Islamic system to see how thoroughly the two part ways and how the truth of the incarnation must be lovingly pressed in our witness to Muslims.
Today’s verse contains the central scandal that Islam cannot accept: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The eternal Son of God, who was with the Father before time began and through whom all things were made, took to Himself a true human nature and lived among us as a man. This is the doctrine of the incarnation, and it is the very heart of Christianity. The Qur’an explicitly denies it. To Muslims, the suggestion that Allah could have a Son is blasphemous, and the suggestion that the eternal God could become a man borders on the unthinkable. Yet this is what Scripture plainly teaches, and the Christian gospel cannot be preached without it.
Several truths flow from the doctrine of the incarnation. First, God has truly come near to us. The Allah of Islam is utterly transcendent, infinitely removed from his creatures, knowable only through the words of the Qur’an. The God of Scripture is transcendent, but He is also immanent, drawing near to His people throughout redemptive history and finally taking on flesh to dwell with us.
Second, the death of Christ is the heart of our salvation. The Qur’an denies that Jesus was crucified. Yet without the cross, there is no atonement. Apart from the death of the Son of God in the place of His people, the wrath of God against sin remains and no sinner can stand. The Christian gospel is built on the historical reality of the crucifixion, attested to by every New Testament writer and confessed by the church from its earliest days.
Third, salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. Islam offers a religion of submission and obedience, in which the believer’s eternal destiny depends on the balance of his good and bad deeds and on the inscrutable mercy of Allah. Even the most devout Muslim cannot have assurance. The gospel offers something different: a finished work, a perfect righteousness imputed to those who believe, and the certainty that those who trust in Christ have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
In witnessing to Muslims, we must lovingly but firmly hold out the Son whom they have been taught to deny. We pray that the Spirit will open eyes to see the glory of the Word made flesh.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The incarnation is no peripheral Christian doctrine but is at the very heart of the gospel. The God who is high above us has truly come near in His Son, and through that Son alone we may come near to Him. Let us treasure this glorious truth and pray for those for whom it remains a stumbling block.
For further study
- 1 Corinthians 15:3–4
- Galatians 4:4–5
- Philippians 2:6–11
- Hebrews 2:14–18
The bible in a year
- Isaiah 4–6
- Galatians 5