Who is God's grandfather?
- by Dick Bailey
- Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
- Series: Muslim Questions and Bible Answers
These questions and answers are from Dick Bailey who has serve most of his life as a missionary to Muslims. Dick served in Pakistan for 15 years and also spent many years in the New York City area ministering to Muslims. These answers come from a life of interaction and witnessing to Muslims. We hope that these questions and answers will encourage you and equip you to share the good news of Jesus Christ, even to Muslims.
“If Jesus is God’s son, then who was God’s grandfather?”
This may seem like a frivolous, “wise guy” type of question, but it really is a serious but sarcastic attempt to show how absurd the Christian belief about the Son of God seems to Muslims. When Christians use the term, “Son of God,” it conveys to Muslims the thought (strengthened by Roman Catholic veneration of Mary as the “Mother of God.”) that we actually believe God had sexual intercourse with Mary and the result was the birth of Jesus. The Qur’an also teaches that we worship Mary as part of the trinity; in other words, they think we believe the trinity to be God the Father, Mary the Mother and Jesus the Son. Logically, therefore, it would make sense to think that if God could have a son, he also must have a father and a grandfather!
Some of the verses in the Qur’an which strengthen this way of thinking are the following:
- (Sura 5:75,76) “They do blaspheme who say: ‘God is Christ the son of Mary.’ But said Christ, ‘O children of Israel, Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.’ Whoever joins other gods with God, God will forbid him the garden, and the fire will be his abode… for there is no god except One God.”
- (Sura 5:119) “And behold! God will say, “O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, ‘Worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of God’? He will say, ‘Glory to thee! Never could I say what I had no right (to say)…”
- (Sura 9:30) “The Jews call Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the Son of God…God’s curse be on them; how they are deluded away from the truth!”
- (Sura 23:91) “No son did God beget, nor is there any god along with Him.
- (Sura 72:3) “And exalted is the majesty of our Lord; He has taken neither a wife nor a son.”
- (Sura 112:3) “He begetteth not, nor is he begotten.”
- (Sura 4:171) “…So believe in God and His apostles…(Far exalted is He) above having a son..”
[Yusuf Ali, who translated the Qur’an into English, writes in his notes 675 & 676: “…the Christian attitude is condemned, which…attributes a physical son to God… The doctrines of Trinity, equality with God, and sonship are repudiated as blasphemies. God is independent of all needs and has no need of a son to manage His affairs…”]
SHORT ANSWERS:
ANSWER #1: This isn't used with a physical meaning. The Bible does not teach that God got married and had a baby! That is blasphemy! Almighty God is not a man or a physical being, so such a thing is unthinkable! The term, “Son of God” is used in a spiritual sense.
ANSWER #2: The term, “Son of God” is an “anthropomorphic” metaphor and there are many similar expressions in the Qur’an as well – The eyes of God, the hand of God or the throne of God. These are not meant to convey a physical meaning, but are used metaphorically to help us understand something non physical by drawing a comparison with something familiar but physical.
ANSWER #3: “Son of God” is a title, not a description of a physical relationship. He was not sexually “begotten” by God. In Hebrews 1:4,5 God says that Jesus “inherited” the title “Son,” in Romans 1:4 he says that Jesus was “declared” to be the Son of God, and in Hebrews 5:4,5 he says that Jesus was “called” or chosen to be the Son of God. He was not born of God in the physical sense!
ANSWER #4: Even if I don’t fully understand the meaning of this term, I call him the Son of God because the Bible calls him the Son of God. I have no right to deny he is the Son of God when God Himself says he is!
LONGER ANSWERS:
ANSWER #5: Jesus has been repeatedly revealed to be the “Son of God.” A study of the four occurrences of the phrase from Psalm 2, You are my Son; today I have become your Father reveals that Jesus did not became God’s Son on any certain day. Instead it is clear that Jesus has been revealed to be the Son of God on all these occasions:
- Hebrews 5:1-10: - the day he become our High Priest and offered His own blood as a sacrifice for us on the cross;
- Acts 13:30-33: - the day He rose up from the dead (see also Romans 1:4);
- Hebrews 1:1-5: - the day He sat down at the Father's right hand in heaven;
- Psalm 2:7-9: - the day He will be enthroned as king to rule the earth;
- Hebrews 7:3: - no day! The Son of God was never “born” in the sense that He began to exist at some point in time. He is eternal and has no beginning.
ANSWER #6: In God’s use of this human, physical word to symbolically describe a divine, spiritual relationship, He draws upon various uniquely meaningful aspects of the word “son,” among which are:
a. the one the father loves: [“firstborn son” shows an even more unique love relationship]
- Israel: ..Israel is my firstborn son...Let my son go, so he may worship me. (Ex.4:22,23)
- David: ...David my servant...My faithful love will be with him...I will also appoint him my firstborn...I will maintain my love to him forever... (Psalm 89:20-28)
- Solomon: ...tell my servant David...I will raise up your offspring to succeed you....I will establish his kingdom...I will be his father, and he will be my son...my love will never be taken away from him as I took it away from Saul. (2 Samuel 7:8,1 2-15)
; - Jesus: As soon as Jesus was baptized...a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16,17; also see John 5:20; Matt.17:4,5)
b. one just like the father: [“a chip off the old block” or “like father, like son”]
- Jesus: The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. (Hebrews 1:3)
- Jesus: No one has ever seen God, but the only son who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (John 1:18)
- Jesus: the image of the invisible God.
- Jesus: ...the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does...For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it... (John 5:19-21,26)
- Jews: If you were Abraham’s children, said Jesus, then you would do the things Abraham did. (John 8:39)
- Jesus: Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, “I am God’s Son?” Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may learn and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. (John 10:36-38)
c. one who came out of the father:
- Jesus: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father... (John 1:14)
- Jesus: ...you are from below; I am from above...for I came from God... (John 8:23,42)
- Jesus: ...that I came from God. I came [out] from the Father and entered the world... (John 16:28; see also John 6:38,51)
d. one who obeys his father:
- Jesus: Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you...I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. (John 17:1,4)
- Jesus: My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. (John 4:34)
- Jesus: As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. (John 9:4)
e. one produced by the power of the Father:
- Jesus: How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin? The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:34,35)
- Adam: ...Adam, the Son of God (Luke 3:38)
ANSWER FROM QUR’AN:
ANSWER #7: The Qur’an calls Jesus the “Kalamat-ullah” (word of God), which means He came out of God and therefore can be called “the Son of God.”:
- (Sura 4:171) “…Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary…”
- (Sura 3:45) “O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: His name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary…”
This agrees with the Bible’s teaching that Jesus came out from God and is therefore called the “Son of God.” (see Answer #6 c. above)