VERSES THAT ATTRIBUTE DIVINITY AND LORDSHIP TO JESUS (PBUH)
1- VERSES THAT ATTRIBUTE DIVINITY AND LORDSHIP TO JESUS (PBUH)
Christians present some passages attributing divinity and lordship to Jesus (PBUH), and they believe that these words are evidence for his Divinity. The first is his name “Yashua”, which derives from the Hebrew word “yehwa khalas” which means, “God has saved”.
Another passage is what comes in the Book of Isaiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6).
They also believe that David’s description of the coming savior is undisputable proof because David called him “Lord”. “The LORD says to my Lord; Sit at my right hand, until I you’re your enemies your footstool. The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." ” (Psalms 110: 1-4)
Ibrahim Saeed, an Egyptian priest, says:
“Any one, who is not convinced with Jesus’ Divinity after reading Psalm 110, is one of two people. Either he is an illiterate and ignorant, whose eyes are covered with stupidity so he will not be able to see, or he is an arrogant, whose heart is filled with stubbornness and he does not want to see”.[1]
There is another passage, which they also believe is proof of Jesus’ Divinity, that passage is in the Book of Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) for the word “Emanuel” means, “God with us”.
They believe that Jesus’ birth (PBUH) was a fulfillment of this prophecy, as the angel foretold Mary’s fiancé, Joseph the Carpenter.“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). (Matt. 1:18-23) According to Christians, calling him Emanuel, “God with us” is evidence of his divinity.
In addition, they present Paul’s, Thomas’, and Peter’s sayings in the New Testament regarding this issue.“According to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.(Rom. 9:5)
“Thomas answered and said to him: ‘My Lord and my God’.”(John. 20: 28)
“Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Be it far from you, Lord: this shall never happen to you”. (Matt. 16:22)
“As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).”(Acts 10:36)
In Revelation, there is another passage in this regard, “For he is Lord of lords, and King of kings.”(Revelation 17:14)
Names Do Not Prove Their Holders’ Divinity
None of these words makes Jesus (PBUH) God. Many of these words are used as names only, and if someone’s name is god, that does not make him God. According to the New Testament, people named Paul and Barnabas gods when they had performed some miracles. “And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"”(Acts 14:11)
The Romans had the tradition of naming people, who had done something good for the nation, gods. This naming does not change the fact, does not change the creature to a creator, and does not change the mortal servants to immortal gods.
The meaning of Ishmael’s name is “God hears”, the meaning of Jehoecham is “God raise” and of Joshua is “God saved”. These people are not gods, even though they had these names.
We read in the Book of Revelation, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” (Revelation 3:12) and in the Book of Numbers, “And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel”(Num. 6:27) but they are not gods.
Was “God”, Jesus’ (PBUH) name?
Muslims do not accept many of these passages, which the New Testament claims came from Jesus’ (PBUH) disciples, as true. They also believe that Christians intentionally fabricated these passages, as we found in the First Epistle of John (5:7). The fabrication and alteration may also happen because of bad and inaccurate translation.
The word “Lord" (capitalized), which we find in the Holy Bible’s translations, used to implicate the word “God”, but we find that some English translations are using the word “lord (with small “L", which means, “Master" or "Mister”. In the French translation, they use the word “Le mait” which means, “teacher”, and the same in other translations such as the German, the Italian and the Spanish.
The word “Rab”, which came in the Arabic translation, is not new; it is the Aramaic word “Rabbi”, which is of Jesus’ (PBUH) and his contemporary’s Aramaic language. This word, “Rabbi” is used as a respectful attribution to a master or a teacher.
The Gospel according to John mentions that the disciples used to call Jesus “Rabbi" or "Rabbony” and they meant teacher. Mary Magdalene turned to Jesus (PBUH) and said,“Rabboni; which is to say, Master….Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord” (John 20:16-17) in another passage, two of his disciples called him, “Rabbi, (which means teacher.”(John 1:38)
None of the disciples ever meant “God” when using that word to call Jesus (PBUH). What they really meant was teacher or master. Thus, they considered him like John the Baptist, as they said,“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”(Luke 11:1)
Using this word “lord” to mean master, is also common in the Greek language. Stephen Nail said, “The original Greek word that means ‘Master’, can be used as a way of respect. The prison guard spoke to Paul and Silas calling them rabbi or master.“And bringing them out, he said: Masters, what must I do, that I may be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house.”(Acts, 16:30), and this word is a word of honor”.
What proves this explanation is, Paul’s words, when he described Jesus (PBUH) as “Rabbi” (lord), but he still put him as a servant of Allah (S.W). “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ; the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of him.” (Eph. 1:17)
Thomas’ response was not a direct speech to Jesus (PBUH). When he saw Jesus (PBUH) alive, and he thought he was dead, it was a great surprise for him, so he gave an exclamation, and it was “My Lord and my God.”(John. 20: 28)
This meaning may be obscure in some translations, but it is clear in the Greek originals. In the Greek manuscripts, we find the words as follows, “apok-ree’-nom-ahee” which means (that was his reaction).
The proof for this explanation is that Jesus (PBUH) said, in the same paragraph, that he would be ascending to his God. (John 20:17) If Jesus (PBUH) understood Thomas’ words as if he meant his divinity, he would not accept it. He refused even calling him good, for once, when his disciple called him so, he answered, “Why did you call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.” (Matt. 19:17) If this was the case, how could he accept that someone call him God in reality?
Regarding Psalms (110:1), it did not mean Jesus (PBUH) in any way, but it meant the expected messiah whom the Jews were awaiting, and he is the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Peter made a mistake when considering the passage as it was for Jesus (PBUH), he said, “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.' Let all the house of Israel; therefore, know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart.” (Acts: 2:34-37)
The proof of Peter’s misunderstanding, and the Christians after him, was that Jesus (PBUH) denied that he was the expected messiah, whom David mentioned. “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What do you think about the Christ? (Whom the Jews were awaiting)Whose son is he? They said to him, The Son of David. He said to them, how is it then that David, in spirit, called him Lord, saying, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool? If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, nor from that day anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”(Matt. 22:41-46)
Jesus (PBUH) asked the Jews about the expected messiah who David and other prophets had prophesized. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, The Son of David.” He showed them that they were wrong and said, “If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
Mark also mentioned it,“"How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.' David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?(Mark12: 35-37)
We also find the same in Luke."How can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.' David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?"(Luke 20:40-44)
The expected messiah is not a descendant of David, and Christians believe that Jesus (PBUH) is from David’s offspring as recorded in his genealogy in Matthew and Luke. Does Priest Ibrahim Saeed still insist in considering us as illiterates and unreasonable contenders because we say that that passage was not for Jesus (PBUH)?
What came in Isaiah regarding Emanuel was not for Jesus (PBUH) either, for that was never his name, and no one had ever called him that. The story in the Book of Isaiah speaks about an event, which happened centuries before Jesus (PBUH), when Rosin, the King of Edom, conspired with Faqah ben Ramlia, the King of the Northern Israelite Kingdom, against the Southern Kingdom and its King Ahaz.
The birth of Emanuel was Allah’s (S.W) sign of the end of punishment on Judea’s Kingdom, the destruction of Rosin’s and Faqah’s Kingdoms, and the death of the two kings by the hands of the Assyrians.
Isaiah says, “Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz… Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey. when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah--the king of Assyria." In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ” (Isaiah 7:10 – 18)
“Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large tablet and write on with the pen of man, 'for Maher-shalal-hashbaz.'… and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz; for before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."” (Isaiah 8:1- 4)
It is clear that this passage is about the Assyrian invasion of Palestine, which happened centuries before Jesus (PBUH). During that time, the boy was born, his father gave him a name after King Ahaz’s victory, which is “Mahershalalhashbaz”, and that name means, “Dashing to pillage and robbery” “Because God is with him”.
This prophecy came true, and King Ahaz had his victory when the Assyrian king came and captured the two conspiring kings.“The LORD spoke to me again: … therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel." Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” (Isaiah: 8: 5-10)
I have to mention here, that Luke’s author used a fabricated passage from the Book of Isaiah. Neither in the old Hebrew originals, nor in the Torah’s old translation, have we found any trace of the word “betolah”, that means, “virgin”, which was invented and fabricated by the Seventieth Translation writers, and the evangelists copied it from them after that, for it suited them.
The word in the old Torah’s translations such as ecoela, thehodoshen, and semix translations, which belong to the second century, is “Alma” which means, “Young woman”.[2] In the Revised Standard Version, 1952, the editors had changed the word “Virgin” into “Young woman”, but only in the English translation.[3]
None of the names, which are in the passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6), were names for Jesus (PBUH).“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Where and when did any one call him wonderful, counselor, the mighty, the everlasting Father, or the Prince of Peace? There is not a single passage in the entire Bible that can show proof of that.
If the Christians say that these were characteristics of Jesus (PBUH) and not names, we also say that these titles were not for him in any way. These characteristics speak of a victorious king who will rule his people and inherit David’s kingdom, and that is too far from Jesus (PBUH) according to the facts and the Gospels’ passages. Jesus (PBUH) was never a King of his people even for a day. On the contrary, he was a fugitive, scared and worried of the Jews; he also fled when his people wanted to make him a king. “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (John 6:15)
He fled because his kingdom was not of this world and not on the throne of David, but was a spiritual kingdom in the hereafter.“Jesus answered, "My kingdom doesn't belong to this world. If it did, my followers would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. No, my kingdom doesn't belong to this world." ” (John 18:36)
In addition, Isaiah talked about the Prince of Peace and that cannot be an attribution to Jesus (PBUH), because the Gospels mentioned the opposite about him. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.”(Matt.10:34-36) Could this Gospels’ Jesus be a prince of peace?
Furthermore, Isaiah talked about a capable person, he did not talk about an incapable one, who cannot do anything by himself. “I can do nothing on my own: as I hear, I judge” (John 5:30)
“"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. ” (John 5:19)
