I have explored the question, Is Jesus God?, by looking first at the claims Jesus made about himself. After all, if Jesus didn’t really claim he was God, we would have to wonder about others who make that claim. Among other things, the religious authorities or his time understood what Jesus was saying – that he was equivalent to God – and they condemned him for it. If his detractors thought he was making that claim, that’s pretty good evidence that he di, indeed, claim to be God.
I also explored what people in the time of Jesus said about him. Some people claim that the early followers of Jesus didn’t really think he was God, that the God-claim arose generations later in the way of a legend. Unless the Gospels and letters collected in the New Testament were written generations later, clearly, his early followers, and even people opposed to him, believed that he was God (or at least claimed to be God).
One puzzle that remains, though, is how the claims made by Jesus and his Jewish followers fit into their theological framework. Judaism was built on the foundation of one true God. Jesus, himself, quoted the sacred text handed down from Moses: “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Luke 4:8, quoting Moses Deut. 6:13) So how do we square affirmation of the monotheistic theology of Judaism with his claims that put him on a par with God?
There is no dearth of Christian commentary on the Trinity, but I turn to a former Muslim for help. Muslims have a robustly monotheistic view of God (Allah). In Islamic theology, Allah is not a father and does not beget sons. He is single, undivided, and unequivocally one God.
For that reason, I turn to Nabeel Qureshi as my source for an explanation of the Trinity. Nabeel was a devout Muslim turned Christian after his college years, and he went on to become a Christian apologist.
Nabeel recalls that one of the most recited passages of the Qur’an is Surat-al-Ikhlaas, 112:2 – “God is not a Father, and He is not a Son.” He says this “doctrine above all doctrines” in Islam is known as Tawhid – God is absolutely one and cannot be father or son.
The question that troubled Nabeel when he was comparing the two religions is the same question I seek to answer today: How can the Trinity be harmonious with a monotheistic doctrine?
Continue reading “The Plurality of One God”
Navigating by Faith 