I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a handful of Muslims over the past several years, and I’ll be the first to say that they are some of the most genuine and passionate people I know. What I most admire about Muslims is that they, perhaps more than most religious people, put first things first in their life. They know what’s truly important–God, truth, and salvation–and they assign appropriate weight to those matters in their day-to-day life. Their devotion and devoutness is admirable–something that many Christians can learn from and be inspired by.
I met two Muslim men earlier this week at a coffee shop, and we began talking about our faith backgrounds and our differences. We had a great conversation, but interestingly enough, they steered the conversation in same direction that most Muslims have whenever I’ve talked with them about Jesus. Muslims usually bring up 2 main objections for why they can’t get behind Christianity, and they ultimately focus on (1) the person of Jesus and (2) the work of Jesus. I’m glad they brought them up in conversation once again because they’re powerful, moving reminders that we can all be more acquainted with. I’ll list their two main objections, and then add commentary that can drive us deeper into the “hope that we have in Christ” (1 Pe. 3:15).
“Jesus cannot be God because God cannot be both God and man.”
They’re right to say that the Trinity sounds absurd. But perhaps in a odd way, this sentiment actually serves as a stronger counter-argument against the stance of absurdity than it does as an argument for it. What do I mean? The fact that God is one and three, three and one–at the same time–is truly an unbelievable, incomprehensible doctrine. And that seems to lend support to a very strong argument for why this doctrine was revealed to men and not manufactured by men. It’s fundamentally different than any other religious view of God. Every other view of God makes immediate sense to our finite minds, i.e., God as one or there being many, many gods. It’s something that we could have and would have made up on our own accord. But a monotheistic-trinitarian view of God does not fit historical religious thought, which may compellingly point to its novelty than its ubiquity, its origins in divinity as opposed to humanity. To be sure, this isn’t a proof, just a compelling premise to start from.
Muslims commonly motion that “God cannot become like man, like creation.” That seems fair. But… why not? It might sound strange, but theoretically, is this an actual issue? If God is the creator, why can’t he take upon what he himself has made? Assuming that the material world is not sinful (which neither Christianity or Islam assume) why should that be off-limits? It may sound more strange than logically incoherent. But strange does not mean untrue or illogical or impossible.
Most significantly, however, is what the nature of Jesus means as God-man. Jesus existing as the God-man (being 100% God and 100% man) means that God can relate to us, feel our pains, know our weaknesses and temptations, carry our burdens, and die for our sin. If there should ever be a bridge between God and man, surely it would be the God-man, Jesus. Unfortunately, Allah is ill-equipped to relate to humans. The notion of Allah, in contrast, is an impersonal, detached, transcendent deity who cannot relate or empathize. Only Christianity’s God is both transcending yet descending, sovereign yet sympathizing, powerful yet personal, impenetrable yet vulnerable. Only Christianity’s God has scars.† Only Christianity’s God came to seek and save the lost, came to suffer for sinners, and came to atone for sin. No other religion is remotely close. This is precisely why the gospel is such good news.
“Christians have forgiveness and grace, so the law means nothing.”
Most Muslims are not well-acquainted with Romans 6, a text that unreservedly upholds both the law and grace, and actually explains how law and grace coexist necessarily. Muslims hastily believe that Christians live in a lawless reality, where they’re “off the hook” to live however they want because Jesus has given them ‘forgiveness.’ I usually give them an analogy to help them understand why grace does not produce licentiousness, but rather, liberation.
Here’s my go-to: Let’s say that your son is playing basketball in the street, and little does he know, a Mac truck is coming down the street full-steam towards him. Immediately before impact, however, your neighbor jumps into the street, pushing your son out of the way, and absorbing the impact of the blow himself. He dies so that your own child can live. Now, if this was your son, you would feel incredibly indebted to the neighbor’s family since they sacrificed a life for your own son. To be sure, you wouldn’t honor your neighbors, serve them, and bless them because you should or have to or feel obligated to. No, you would be compelled to respond joyfully and gratefully to your neighbors in light of the weighty sacrifice that was made for you and your son. If it was your son who was saved, you’d do anything in your power to bless your neighbors.
This is a similar way we relate to the gospel. Encountering the love and grace of God for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ sets our hearts ablaze to honor him with our lives. God’s love and grace doesn’t prod empty, dry, compulsive obedience. No, Christians aren’t threatened by hell or the lightning bolt of Zeus. Rather, Christians are brought to their knees by amazing grace, and captivated by a different nature of obedience that is not coerced by fear, but compelled by love. Christians love God because God first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19).
Muslims are right to say that society (and every person) needs to be held accountable to law. However, Christians and Muslims see the purpose of the law differently. Laws are like train tracks; and if we want the train of our life to be on track, we will abide by the law. But there’s a difference between pushing the train down the tracks in our own strength versus feeding the train’s engine with coal. Christians and Muslims both agree to the necessity of the train tracks, but how we are compelled to follow the law come from completely different motivations.
Muslims live on obedience, submission, and doing the right things. It’s their blood. Christians live on obedience, too. Just not our own. We live on the blood of Jesus, who was perfectly righteous before God yet gladly took our penalty of sin. What drives Muslims is obedience to prove their love for God. What drives Christians is Jesus’ obedience, which is proof of God’s love for us.
Muslims obey in order to become righteous. Christians obey because they have been made righteous. Muslims practice righteousness to get a position of acceptance from God. Christians practice righteousness because they have been given a position of acceptance with God. Muslims work for salvation. Christians work from salvation. The former coerces you by fear; the latter compels you by gratefulness. The former leads to pride or despair; the latter leads to humility and confidence.
Additionally, (and rather ironically) when Muslims assert that Christianity’s ‘grace-based salvation’ cheapens the law, they don’t realize that this very grace-based salvation actually heightens the law much higher than their own view does. Christianity, for example, teaches that God requires perfect righteousness in order to be accepted by God. Islam teaches that Allah’s acceptance is attainable if you work hard enough and are moral enough.
In other words, Christianity’s salvation-by-grace is necessary precisely because the law is perfect and God is perfect, and both standards will not be lowered one bit. Christianity’s law is inflexible, which makes grace indispensable. Jesus said, “do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). And in line with the Apostle Paul, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Gal. 2:21).
Islam’s salvation-by-works actually proves that man is able to reach a height of the law on his own, making the law much lower than Christianity, making Allah’s holiness much lower than Christianity’s God, and making their sense of judgement much more diluted than Christianity’s because sin is not justly paid for, it’s just ‘covered’ with cosmic mercy. Muslims’ accusation that salvation-by-grace cheapens the law and God’s holiness is a fatal misunderstanding. It’s actually a salvation-by-works that cheapens the law and Allah’s holiness.
Overall, the mantra of Islam is ‘pull yourself from the bootstraps’ because the law is manageable. The essence of Christianity, however, is ‘Jesus pulling you up from the grave’ because the law was too high, you were too sinful, and God was too good. He took the grave so that we wouldn’t have to–fulfilling the righteous demands for justice, extending grace to his beloved, and transforming the hearts of the ones raised from death to life.
Muslims’ quip about the person of Jesus ultimately fails to see the God who became flesh, who is reaching out to them, who was pierced for them, and who can relate to them. While Allah is invisible and unknowable, Jesus is the the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15), the exact imprint of his nature (Heb. 1:3), and the Word they can know (Jn. 1:1).
And Muslims’ quip about the work of Jesus ultimately fails to see grace as the pure proof of the law’s necessity (Gal. 2:21) and the true fulfillment of the law’s purpose (1 Jn. 4:19).
May our “sharing of faith become effective for the full knowledge of ever good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ…” (Phm. 1:6). When we share the love of the One who loves us, it causes us to love him even more. It’s good news.
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Footnotes:
† Matt Smethurst, Tweet. 13 June 2018, https://twitter.com/MattSmethurst/status/1007088069554601984.
