Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p.

Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh

The Gospel according to John begins with an affirmation of the deity of Jesus
through an expression which, though not generally understood by Muslims, is
commonly accepted by them: that Jesus is the Word of God. The occurrence of this
expression in both John and Qurn seems at first glance to carry a promise. Is this a
point of contact between the two scriptures which may establish a foundation of
agreement about the person of Jesus?
The deity of Jesus is never in doubt in the Gospel of John. The concern of Johns
good news is mainly how the deity of Jesus was revealed to the world, and how this
deity is to be portrayed. A deeper question he addresses is the kind of God who Jesus is.
Jesus deity is certainly affirmed in the language of the Son of God. The important
material on the Son and its meaning in the Gospel will be considered in chapter 5.
However, the deity of Jesus is portrayed in many other ways in the Gospel. Most
Muslims object strongly to calling Jesus the Son of God, working as they do from
Qurnic understandings of this title. Unfortunately, this may cause them to miss the
overall affirmation of the deity of Jesus in the Gospel. In this chapter those other
dimensions of the deity of Jesus will be sketched out through the clue of the Word.
The opening affirmation of the deity of Jesus in John is the statement that the
Word was God (John 1:1). The climax of that claim at the end of the Gospel is the
confession which the disciple Thomas makes to Jesus at meeting him after his
resurrection from the dead: My Lord and my God (John 20:28). Neither of these
statements uses sonship language. And yet, these two affirmations serve as
parentheses for the Gospels presentation of the deity of Jesus.

1. The deity of Jesus was a concern of Muslims from the start

In the Muslim tradition, the assertion of the deity of Jesus is portrayed as a
Christian claim in Muslim accounts of the very earliest encounter between Muammad
and Christians living in the Arabian peninsula. A famous feature of this story is that
after replying to Christian claims about Jesus, the prophet of Islam announces that the
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 2

verses he has recited make up the true narrative about Jesus, and he challenges the
Christians to a mutual invoking of curses.1
The Sra of Ibn Isq (d. 767), perhaps the earliest work in existence which
purports to present the origins of Islam,2 tells the story of a visit of a delegation of
Christians from Najrn to the prophet of Islam in Medina.3 According to Muslim
tradition, the authority of Muhammad was growing in the Arabian peninsula during
the final years of his life, and this delegation of Christians had come to make terms
with their new overlord. In Ibn Isqs story, however, the Christians begin the visit by
making a statement of their Christology. They confess immediately that Jesus is God.4
This is close to the wording of the claim which the Qurn seeks to deny at Q5.17 and
5.72. In fact, Ibn Isq portrays the Christians as making their claims for the deity of
Jesus in purely Qurnic terms. When Muammad hears them out and considers their
claims, Allah sends down a reply which Ibn Isq says eventually made up more than
eighty verses from the beginning of the third sra of the Qurn, l Imrn.
According to Muslim tradition, therefore, the deity of Jesus was a concern of
Muslims right from the beginning: Christians confessed their beliefs about Jesus as
conquered peoples. Muslims brought the polemical challenge to Christians, not the
other way around. Other early versions of this story tell of the Christians first asking
Muammad, Why do you abuse and dishonor our master?5 Apparently the Christians
had heard what Muammad was saying about Jesus, and they felt that Muammad was
taking away from Jesus the divine glory which they believed truly belonged to their
Lord.

1
Ibn Isq, Srat al-Nab, Muammad Muy al-Dn Abd al-Hamd, ed. (Cairo: Maktaba Muammad Al
abh wa Awld, 1963), Vol. II, 421. English translation by Alfred Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad
(Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1955), 277.
2
R. Stephen Humphreys, Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 69. Patricia Crone, Slaves on Horses (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 3, 202 (n. 10).
The version of the Sra which we presently possess is an edition of Ibn Isqs work by Ibn Hishm from
the beginning of the third Islamic century.
3
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 270-277.
4
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 271.
5
Tafsr Muqtil ibn Sulaymn, Abd Allh Mamd Shihta, ed. (Beirut: Msasat al-Trkh al-Arabiyya,
2002), Vol. I, 280. Gordon Nickel, We Will Make Peace With You: The Christians of Najrn in Muqtils
Tafsr, Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 3 (2006), 5. Cf. al-Whid, Asbb al-Nuzl (Beirut: Dr al-Ilmya,
2006), 54 (on Q3.59). English translation: Mahmoud Ayoub, The House of Imrn, The Quran and Its
Interpreters, Vol. II (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 183.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 3

Muammads reply to the Najrn Christians in the Sra incorporates many of the
verses at the beginning of the third sra. Well into this sra comes a solemn
pronouncement: This certainly is the true story. (Q3.62)
In the Muslim account, at this point the identity of Jesus has been sufficiently
clarified by God and his apostle, and the Christians should recognize this. If the
Christians wont accept this direct revelation, however, there is no point in further
talk. Muammad challenges the Christians to a ceremony of mutual cursing. The idea is
that when the two sides begin cursing each other, the effects of the curse will fall upon
whoever is lying. In various Muslim versions of this story, there is some ambiguity
about just what happens next. Ibn Isq writes that the Christians discuss the matter
among themselves, and their chief adviser warns them that since Muammad truly was
a prophet of God, their participation in the ceremony would result in their destruction.
So they part ways with Muammad and return to Najrn.6 Other early accounts have
the Christians reasoning, Whether our faith is right or wrong, cursing someone who
has military dominance over us will not turn out well. So they say to Muammad, we
will make peace with you, accept his terms of surrender, and return home.7
The first part of Srat l Imrn presents the first extended discussion of the
identity of Jesus in the Qurn. Other major passages on Jesus come in the fifth sra, al-
Mida, and in the 19th sra, Maryam. The passage in l Imrn includes a story about
the birth of Mary and about Zachariah her guardian (Q3.35-37). Zachariah asks God
for offspring and is promised a son named Yay (Q3.38-41). Angels promise Mary a son
as well (Q3.42-47). The passage also describes what Jesus will do (Q3.48-55), including a
number of miracles (Q3.49). In the midst of this description comes an ambiguous verse
about Jesus death and/or ascension (Q3.55), which will be examined in chapter 11. The
passage on Jesus apparently concludes in verses 58-64. These verses include the
statement, the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him
of dust, then he said to him, Be, and he is. (Q3.59)

6
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 277.
7
Tafsr Muqtil ibn Sulaymn, I, 281-282. Nickel, We Will Make Peace With You, 9. Ibn Sad, al-abaqt
al-Kubr (Beirut: Dr dir, 1957), Vol. I, 357-358. Ab Jafar Muammad ibn Jarr al-abar, Tafsr al-
abar, Jmi al-bayn an tawl al-Qurn, Mamd Muammad Shkir and Amad Muammad Shkir, eds.,
Second edition (Cairo, 1955-69), Vol. VI, 478. Al-Whid, Asbb al-Nuzl, 55 (on Q3.61). English translation:
Ayoub, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II, 189.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 4

The Sra story weaves these verses together with extra material in order to
provide the occasion of revelation of the Qurnic passage. Ibn Isq adds
commentary which is part exegesis, part Muammads speech to the Christians. Since
God is the Living and Ever-existent (Q3.2), reasons Ibn Isq, Jesus could not be God,
because Christians claim that Jesus died.8 Jesus was formed in the womb of Mary, so
how can he be God when he had occupied such a place?9 Muammad argues with the
Christians about what the deeds of Jesus reveal about his deity: he says there were
things over which God did not give Jesus power. Muammad says that if he were a
God, Jesus would have had power over all these things.10 Though he has earlier used
the Christian confession that Jesus to deny Jesuss deity, Ibn Isq quotes Q3.55 in such
a way that he takes it to mean that this is a refutation of the Christian claim that the
Jews crucified Jesus.11 In explanation of Q3.59, Ibn Isq denies that the virgin birth of
Jesus is a proof of his deity. The creation of Jesus without a male, he writes, is no
more wonderful than the creation of Adam.12
These quranic verses about Jesus, whether spoken by Muammad in the way the
Sra claims or not, come near the beginning of the Quran and stake out the position
which Muslim scripture will maintain on Jesus. At the end of this passage the Quran
states, this is the true story. The Sra understands this to mean the story which the
messenger of Islam has just recited about Jesus. When the Quran challenges at Q3.64,
Come to a common word between you and us, the Sra and many Muslim
commentaries understand this to be part of a refutation of the beliefs of Christians
about Jesus.13 These refutations concern central teachings of the Gospel and major
Christian beliefs.

8
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 272.
9
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 272.
10
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 274. Ibn Isq gives a number of interesting examples, among them
that Jesus had to flee from kings and because of them he moved about the country from town to town.
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 274.
11
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 276.
12
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 276-7.
13
Ayoub, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II, 202-8. Gordon Nickel, A Common Word in Context:
Toward the roots of polemics between Christians and Muslims in Early Islam, Collectanea Christiana
Orientalia 6 (2009), 167-200.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 5

Before returning to biblical material, it needs to be noted that the denial of the
deity of Jesus in this and other quranic passages is made according to a Muslim
concept of God. Jesus is judged by Muslim criteria and is found not to be divine. For
example, Muammad in the Sra makes the point that Jesus was formed in the womb.
How can he be God when he has occupied such a place?14 The question shows a
similarity of reasoning to that of Quranic passages. In the fifth sra, in the midst of an
important denial of the deity of Jesus, the Quran reads, The Messiah, son of Mary, was
only a messenger; messengers before him passed away (khal); his mother was a just
woman. They both ate food (Q5.75). These expressions seem to indicate an assumption
that God could or would never dwell as a human among the people He created. They
may represent a concern to protect the transcendence of Allah. However, at some
point in the interscriptural conversation about Jesus such assumptions must be
carefully examined. What if God is not bound by these limitations? What if the nature
of the true God, the Creator of the universe, is to humble himself andfor the sake of
saving humanitytake on human flesh?

2. The Word of God in John

Though the Najrn Christians in the Sra story are portrayed as claiming the deity
of Jesus using Qurnic language, the Gospel according to John begins its presentation
of the deity of Jesus through the language of the Word. In the beginning was the
Word. The start of the Gospel echoes the beginning of the Torah, In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. The Gospel continues, the Word was with
God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
The Gospel states that the Word was God. It clearly affirms the deity of the Word.
Along with all the rich meanings which will come from this affirmation, it is important
to note a number of statements which are sometimes attributed to Christians but
which the Gospel does not make. The Gospel does not say that the Word was a god
apart from God, or that a merely human word is now being associated with God.
Rather, the Gospel is saying that the Word was with God already at the beginning, and
that the Word was God.

14
Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 272.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 6

According to John, the good news continues: the Word was present at the
creation of the universe, and in fact the Word was actively involved in the work of
creation. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has
been made (John 1:3). The deity of the Word means that he is also the Creator. This
matches affirmations about Jesus which are found in other parts of the New Testament.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by
him and for him (Colossians 1:16). In these last days [God] has spoken to us by his
Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe
(Hebrews 1:2). The writer of Hebrews also understands the text of Psalm (Zabr) 102:25
to be about Jesus: In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and
the heavens are the work of your hands (Hebrews 1:10). The concept of Gods powerful
word of command, which we find in the Torah (Genesis 1:1-3), is also relevant here. The
writer of Hebrews wrote, By faith we understand that the universe was created by the
word of God (Arabic translation: bi-kalimati llh), so that what is seen was made out of
things which do not appear (Hebrews 11:3). The Hebrews text in turn echoes the
language of the Psalms: By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all their
host by the breath of his mouth (Psalm 33:6).
In similar words, the Gospel according to John affirms, the world was made
through him (John 1:10). Later in the Gospel, Jesus indicates that he was aware of his
existence with God before the creation. He prays, Father, glorify me in your
presence with the glory I had with you before the world began (John 17:7). When Jesus
answers a question about his identity by saying, I am from the beginning what I have
told you (John 8:25), he is speaking both about what he has been saying about himself
since the beginning of his earthly ministry, and about his identity from before the
foundation of the world. In the ensuing argument with religions leaders about
Abraham and his true children, Jesus solemnly affirms, Before Abraham was, I am
(John 8:58).
Then the Gospel states that this Word, with God from the beginning, became a
human being. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1.14).
This surprising affirmation is supported in other New Testament passages, most
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 7

striking among them the confession of Philippians 2:6-7: being in very nature God,
[Jesus the Messiah] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but
made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness. These statements of the incarnation of the Word contain many mysteries
about the deity of Jesus which need to be explored. However, it is crucial to note the
direction of movement in both texts. The Word who was God became human. The
Gospel is not saying that a mere human is now being associated with God. The direction
of Gods initiative is from eternal to temporal, from divine to human, from spirit to
flesh. In the expression which will be repeated many times in the Gospel, the
movement of the Word is from above.
John testifies that we have seen his glory. When the Word becomes human and
dwells among people, people can experiencehear, see and even touch (1 John 1:1-3)
Gods own Word. John writes that this Word-become-human has made God known
(exgsat, John 1:18). This is the end of the prologue of the Gospel which sets out what
the subsequent story is all about.

3. The meaning of the Word of God in John

A prominent theme in the story of Jesus as we find it in the Gospel according to
John is that Jesus shows humanity what God is like. The theme comes up repeatedly in
the tense verbal encounters in which Jesus engages with the Jewish religious leaders,
especially in chapters 5-10. After Jesus healing of the cripple at the beginning of John
5, when Jesus claims to be doing the same work as his Father, the Jewish leaders
understand him to be making himself equal with God and want to kill him (John
5:18). Jesus responds not with the language of equality but rather with the language of
relationship and obedience. Jesus uses the imagery of Father and Son, the meaning of
which must be fully explored. At this point it is important to note that the central
theme of Jesus reply to the religious leaders is that he reveals God the Father by doing
what his Father is doing.
Again, after the healing of the man born blind in chapter 9, at the end of John 10
Jesus claims to be doing many good works from the Father (John 10:32, 25), and says,
I and the Father are one. The Jewish leaders understand Jesus, though only a human
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 8

being, to be making himself God, and want to stone him for blasphemy (John 10:33).
Jesus here does not deny his deity, acknowledges that he had said I am Gods Son,
makes use of Psalm 82:6, and sticks with the point that his deity is shown in doing what
his Father does (10:37-38).
In this extended passage, John 5-10, the deity of Jesus is affirmed in many ways and
through many different sets of imagery. The religious leaders accuse Jesus of making
himself equal with God (John 5:18; cf. 10:33), but is this in fact what Jesus is doing?
According to the Gospel, Jesus is not a mere human. He is not the human made
divine, but rather the divine Word made flesh. He is from above. In all of his
explanations of his relationship to God the Father, Jesus uses the language of
relationship and obedience. It is the religious leaders whofalsely in the terms of the
Gospelcharacterize what Jesus says and does in the language of claiming equality. But
Jesus the Messiah, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness (Philippians 2:5-7).
The theme of revealing God to humanity continues in John 14. Philip asks Jesus to
show us the Father (John 14:8). Jesus seems distressed that his disciple does not yet
understand. Dont you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long
time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9). According to the
Gospel, the failure is not in Jesus making God known or in explaining what he is
doing. Rather, the failure is in humans to understand and believe. No better example
could be given of human incomprehension than the disbelief of Thomas (John 20:24-
25). His confession before Jesus, My Lord and my God, must be seen in the structure
of the Gospel as the fulfillment of the task of the Word as introduced in the prologue.

4. The word of Allah in the Qurn applied to s

The Qurn also uses the language of word in relation to Jesus. This language
first appears in the third srathe l Imrn passage on Jesus described earlier. There
Zakariah prays for offspring. And the angels called to him, standing in the sanctuary
at worship, Lo, God gives thee good tidings of John, who shall confirm a word of God, a
chief, and chaste, a prophet, righteous (Q3.39). A few verses later, angels speak to
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 9

Mary and provide more information about this word: Mary, God gives thee good
tidings of a word from him whose name is Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary (Q3.45). In
both of these cases word (in Arabic kalima) is indefinite. The Qurnic word for
Jesus in Q3.45 is s, a curious term which will be discussed in chapter four.
The third occurrence of word applied to Jesus comes in a complex verse in the
fourth sra. Q4.171 seems to affirm some New Testament confessions about Jesus and to
deny others. Jesus here is the Messiah, the son of Mary, the messenger of God and
his word that he committed to Mary, and a spirit from him. In this case kalima is a
definite noun attached grammatically to God. In other words, Jesus here is called
Gods word.
What does this affirmation mean in the Qurn? From the earliest commentaries
on the Qurn, the expression has been something of a mystery for Muslim scholars.
Word of God appears in association with no other figure in the Qurn. The simplest
comment which exegetes could make was that the unidentified word in 3.39 was
Jesus. Muqtil ibn Sulaymn (d. 767), for example, wrote in a very early commentary
that John was the first person to confirm Jesus.15 But commentators also brought in
material about Jesus and John in infancy which does not appear in the Qurn. Al-
abar (d. 923) told the story of how Mary and the mother of John had met when
both were pregnant, and how John had moved in the womb. The child in my womb is
bowing down in reverence.16 The story was also recounted in the commentaries of
Qurub (d. 1272) and Ibn Kathr (d. 1373).17
Such explanations in the commentaries seem to communicate a sense of wonder
about what the unique attribution of word of God to Jesus might mean. True, Muslim
orthodoxy eventually found a standard way of treating these verses, as we will explore
further along in this chapter. But that the meaning of word of God remained open for
many Muslims is reflected in the fact that Christians living in the Muslim Empire
confidently used the expression to explain the identity of Jesus. Christians quickly
learned that Muslims would not accept their confession that Jesus is the Son of God.

15
Tafsr Muqtil ibn Sulaymn, I, 274. Al-abar agreed, attributing the tradition to al-ak. al-abar,
Jmi al-bayn, Vol. VI, 371-2.
16
al-abar at Q3.39, Jmi al-bayn, Vol. VI, 371-2.
17
Ayoub, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II, 108.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 10

How then were they to explain the deity of Jesus and show him to be one of three
persons in the Godhead? When they learned that Jesus is called word of God in the
Muslim scripture, they seized upon this expression in hopes of a theological
connection.

5. Christians in the Muslim Empire attempt to engage

Instead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which they knew were rejected by Muslims,
Christians made a case for the trinity as Allah, His Word, and His Spirit. One of the first
Christians within the Muslim Empire to attempt to engage the ideas of the new rulers
through the language of the Word was John of Damascus (d. 749). John of Damascus
was a Melkite (Byzantine) Christian who worked as chief administrator to the Muslim
caliph in Damascus. John wrote a chapter in a book on heresies titled The Heresy of
the Ishmaelites.18 In this chapter he showed himself familiar with Muslim claims about
the identity of Jesus, including about Jesus sonship and his death.19 John wrote that the
Arab conquerors called the Christians associators (Arabic mushrikn), because, they
say, we introduce beside God an associate to Him by saying that Christ is the Son of God
and God.20
Johns argument in return made use of the Arab confession that Jesus is Word and
Spirit of Godapparently showing a knowledge of the wording of Q4.171. John argued
that the Word and the Spirit is inseparable each from the one in whom this has the
origin.21 If the Word is in God, John continued, it is obvious that he is God as well. But
if Muslims say that Gods Word and Spirit are outside of God, then they are saying that
God is without word and without spirit. John suggested that in trying to avoid making
associates to God, Muslims have mutilated God. Therefore, by accusing us falsely, you
call us associators: we, however, call you mutilators of God.22

18
Daniel J. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam: The Heresy of the Ishmaelites (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1972), 132-141.
19
Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 132-5. Cf. John W. Voorhis, John of Damascus on the Moslem Heresy,
The Muslim World 24 (1934): 395. John Ernest Merrill, On the Tractate of John of Damascus on Islam, The
Muslim World 41 (1951): 88-97.
20
Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 134-7.
21
Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 136-7.
22
Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 136-7.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 11

John also wrote a Disputation between a Saracene and a Christian, in which the
Saracene has an answer for Johns argument about the Word of God.23 The Saracene
wants to say that the Word of God is created, and therefore not eternal with God. Here
Johns question is, Before God created the Word and the Spirit did he have neither
Spirit nor Word?24 In both of these passages, John had in mind that in Greek spirit
(pneuma) also means life, and word (logos) also means reason.
Another Christian document which was written in the early centuries of Islam
presents itself as an exchange of letters between the Byzantine emperor Leo III (ruled
717-741) and the Umayyad caliph Umar II (ruled 717-720).25 In this document, Leo III
explains on behalf of Christians, For our part, we know only one God, the Creator of
heaven and earth, a wise God, whose Word, holy and full of reason, created all things
and governs them.26 In this way he attempts to introduce the deity of Jesus through
the language of the Word. Later in the document, Leo III tries to deal with the mystery
of the Incarnation. The Muslim objection to this Christian confession is that it is
impossible for deity to have contact with human flesh. Leo III replies that since God
created humans in his own image he was willing to be born in human flesh.27

6. The word of Allah as applied to the Qurn

Muslim commentators on the Qurn eventually developed a way of interpreting
the word verses so that the apparent suggestion of the deity of Jesus would be
silenced. The standard interpretation became that Jesus is indeed called a word from
Allah (Q3.39, 45) and His Word (Q4.171), but that this simply means Jesus came into
being by Gods word.28 Commentators wrote that Jesus was created through Gods word
of command, Be, citing Q3.47. In this verse, Mary asks God how the conception and

23
Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 142-155. John explained that the Arab conquerors, called Hagarenes
or Ishmaelites, also call themselves Saracenes (Greek Sarras kenous), allegedly for having been sent away
by Sarah. Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 132-3.
24
Sahas, John of Damascus on Islam, 148-9. John W. Voorhis, The Discussion of a Christian and a Saracen,
The Muslim World 25 (1935): 266f.
25
Arthur Jeffery, translator, Ghevonds text of the correspondence between Umar II and Leo III,
Harvard Theological Review 37 (1944): 269-332.
26
Jeffery, Correspondence between Umar II and Leo III, 301.
27
Jeffery, Correspondence between Umar II and Leo III, 318f.
28
for example al-abar and al-Zamakhshar (d. 1144). Ayoub, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II, 131,
108.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 12

birth of Jesus would be possible. The answer is, God creates what He will. When He
decrees a thing He does but say to it, Be, and it is (Q3.37). Commentators may also
bring in the Qurns likening of Jesus to Adam in Q3.59: He created him of dust, then
said unto him, Be, and he was. In this way, the Gospel affirmation that nothing in the
universe was created except through Jesus (John 1:2, 10)and therefore that Jesus
himself is Gods Word of command going back to Genesis 1:1-3was changed into the
Qurnic claim that Jesus was merely created by Allahs word of command.
An interesting aspect to the Muslim denial of the Gospel meaning of Word of
God for Jesus was the crisis which developed among Muslim scholars over calling the
Qurn the Word of God at the end of the second Islamic century. Scholars disagreed
about whether the Qurn should be thought of as created or uncreated. Traditionist
scholars argued that since the Qurn was the Word of God, it could not be said to be
separate from God. Therefore they decided that the Qurn must have been with God
from the beginning, pre-existent and eternal. For a time, the view that the Qurn was
created was enforced in the Muslim Empire by the Abbsid caliph al-Mamn (ruled
813-33). However, it was the opposing view of the traditionist scholars (symbolized in
the figure of Amad ibn anbal, d. 855), which eventually became the orthodox
position on this question.
This orthodox Muslim position on the status of the Qurn has been described as
inlibrationor embookmentby Harry Wolfson, in deliberate comparison to the
Christian belief in Incarnation.29 Traditionists believed the Qurn to be the pre-
existent, uncreated Word of God, Wolfson explained. In this view the Qurn existed
from eternity as an attribute of God; at a second stage it came onto the preserved
tablet mentioned in Q 85:21-2. The transition from the first state to the second was
conceived of as some kind of act whereby the Word would not cease to be an
uncreated attribute in God.30
This development in Muslim thought about the Qurn is so striking that Kenneth
Cragg uses it in an attempt to create space for Muslims to understand what Christians
mean when they speak about the Incarnation of Jesus. Cragg argues that the concept
29
Harry A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Kalam (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976), 246-8.
30
Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Kalam, 247. See also Morris S. Seale, Muslim Theology: A study of origins with
reference to the Church Fathers (London: Luzac, 1964), 66-69, 103-112.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 13

need not be unduly difficult. He appeals to Muslim thought on the command of God
(al-amr) and on the presence of God (al-sakna), as well as the Islamic concept of the
sending down (tanzl) of the heavenly speech of God as a scripture on earth. The
difference is not, Cragg writes, one of mystery (for they are closely comparable) but
one of form and manner. In Islamic faith we have the words made Scripture, the Book:
in the Christian faith we have the Word made flesh, the Christ who is Jesus.31

7. Lingering mysteries of association

Even with this striking comparison, Muslim orthodoxy attempted to shut down
the possibilities in the interpretation of the Qurnic affirmation that Jesus is the word
of God. However, an official interpretation does not take away the mystery, and it is
interesting to detect in some Muslim commentaries a clear polemical element designed
to warn Qurn readers away from seemingly straightforward meanings. At a number
of points, exegetes wrote that the verses referring to Jesus as word of God were
ambiguous (mutashbi, cf. Q3.7). Thus the great al-Rz (d. 1209) wrote that Q4.171 is
an ambiguous verse. Among the errors of the Christians is their insistence on the
literal meaning of some of the verses which refer to Jesus, such as that he is the spirit
of God and His Word. Such verses are not to be taken literally, al-Rz wrote, because
they are ambiguous.32 Similarly in relation to verses thought to be ambiguous
according to Q3.7, Ibn Kathr (d. 1373) decried the fact that some readers interpreted
word of God in the direction of Jesus deity when in his view there was so much else
in the Qurn to show Jesus was not divine.33 In these interpretations the literal
meaning seems to be explained away, perhaps exactly because the immediate
meaning is mysterious and open to possibility. The mystery remains among Muslims in
modern times, as shown by the comments on 3.39 and 3.45 by the Egyptian Islamist
Sayyid Qub (1906-1966). He concluded that the interpretation of the expression word
of God is not settled. Only God knows the meaning of these verses, he wrote.34

31
Kenneth Cragg, Jesus and the Muslim: An Exploration (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1985), 251.
32
Ayoub, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II, 28-29.
33
Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Quranic Hermeneutics: The views of al-abar and Ibn Kathr, in Approaches
to the History of the Interpretion of the Qurn, Andrew Rippin, ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1988), 59.
34
Ayoub, The Quran and Its Interpreters, Vol. II, 151.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 14

The problem may be, as hinted earlier in this chapter, in the criteria which
Muslims use in judging Jesus to be only a human. In the Gospel according to John, the
deity of Jesus is never in doubt. The Word was God. But what kind of God was the
Word? If God is conceived of as a supreme, transcendent monad who creates humanity,
gives his law, declines to intervene in human life to redeem the world, then judges
humanity harshly on the Judgment Day, Jesus is not this god. Rather, the God who Jesus
is shows himself full of grace and truth, great and glorious in his sacrificial love. In
order to communicate this particular quality, the author of the Gospel according to
Johnas well as the author of Isaiahemployed a striking and unusual image, which
we shall explore in the next chapter.
 Jesus the Word of God Made Flesh, p. 15

Resources on Jesus the Word of God

Ary, Roest Crollius, S.J. Christ, A Word from God, in the Qurn. In Revelation in
Christianity and other Religions. Rome: Gregorian University Press, 1971, 141-162.
Ayoub, Mahmoud. The Word of God in Islam. Greek Orthodox Theological Review 31
(1986), 69-78.
Chidiac, R. Refutation excellente de la divinite du Christ. Paris, 1936.
Cragg, Kenneth. Jesus and the Muslim: An exploration. London: George Allen & Unwin,
1985.
Hatem, Jad. Ho Logos sarx egeneto dans les traductions arabes. Proche Orient chrtien
39 (1989), 237-250.
Holmes, Mary Caroline. The Express Image of his Person. The Muslim World 14 (1924),
111-113.
Kessler, Christel. Abd al-Maliks Inscription in the Dome of the Rock: A
reconsideration. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1970),
2-14.
Lataire, Bianca. Jesus Equality with God: A critical reflection on John 5,18. in The
Myriad Christ: Plurality and the quest for unity in contemporary Christology. T. Merrigan
and J. Haers, eds. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2000, 177-190.
Morrison, S.A. Jesus, the Word of God and the Only-begotten Son. The Muslim World 26
(1936), 329-336.
Nickel, Gordon. We Will Make Peace With You: The Christians of Najrn in Muqtils
Tafsr. Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 3 (2006), 1-18.
OShaughnessy, Thomas. The Koranic Concept of the Word of God. Rome: Pontificio Istituto
Biblico, 1948.
Seale, Morris S. Muslim Theology: A Study of Origins with Reference to the Church Fathers.
London: Luzac and Company, 1964.
Straface, A. ull and Taassud: Islamic Accounts of the Concept of Incarnation. In
Law, Christianity and Modernism in Islamic Society. Louvain : Peeters, 1998, 125-132.
Thomas, David. Ab Manr al-Mturd on the Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Islamochristiana 23 (1997), 43-64.
Wiles, M. Person or Personification? A Patristic Debate about Logos. in The Glory of
Christ in the New Testament. FS G.B. Caird, ed. L.D. Hurst and N.T. Wright. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1987, 281-89.
Wolfson, Harry Austryn. The Philosophy of the Kalam. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1976.