30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World | www.30-days.net » sons of god http://www.30-days.net What Christians should know about Islamic background, history and culture. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:11:00 +0000 en hourly 1 Jesus, the Son of God http://www.30-days.net/islam/howmuslims/jesus-son-of-god/ http://www.30-days.net/islam/howmuslims/jesus-son-of-god/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:08:19 +0000 TDI http://www.30-days.net/?p=1004 son-of-god-30-days-net

Muslims almost always object to using the title “Son of God” concerning Jesus. The main reason is that many Muslims believe the phrase “Son of God” implies that God the Father had sexual relations with Mary and that Jesus (the Son) was born of this union. Some understand the Christian Trinity as consisting of the Father, Mary and Jesus. Christians actually do not believe this and like Muslims we find the idea repulsive and blasphemous. Unfortunately this is often the Muslim understanding of the phrase “Son of God.”

The Deity of Christ

The Qur’an does say that Jesus was born of a virgin. Various Muslim traditions ascribe miracles to Jesus such as healing the sick and raising the dead. However, the Qur’an states that He was no more than a human being, a prophet like all other prophets. Islam thinks that Chrisians are trying to elevate Jesus to be God. Yet, the reality is that Jesus is not a man whom we are trying to elevate to be God; rather He is God who humbled Himself to become man.

Islam refuses to ascribe deity to Christ and rejects the doctrine that Jesus is the Son of God.

In Christianity, the title, “Son of God” indicates the majesty, honour and glory of Jesus (2 Peter 1:16-18). The title is tied not only to His divinity but also to His kingship. Nathan’s prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:12-14, one of the early prophecies of the Messianic King, speaks of David’s descendant as God’s Son. “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me.” It is certain that the early believers understood Jesus’ role as “Son of God” as being related to kingship: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (John 1:49, 11:27, 20:31 and Romans 1:1-5). The messianic king’s appointment was described as begetting a son (Psalm 2:7, Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5). You can find a longer article on this subject on our site here “Explaining-Son-Of-God”.

Prayer Starters:

  • May God bring real breakthroughs in this area of Muslim misunderstanding. This subject is one of the most significant hindrances for Muslims coming to Christ. Believers need wisdom in addressing this issue.
  • Pray for Muslims to have a biblical understanding of the phrase “Son of God.” Meditate on and proclaim in prayer the texts cited above.

Special Section: Prayer for the Peoples of Sudan — The Guhayna people

The 1.3 million Guhayna are a largely nomadic people living in Central Sudan. Not much is known about this people group other than that they are Sudanese Arabs who trace their heritage to the Bedouin who wandered the deserts of Saudi Arabia centuries ago.

The Guhayna embrace rigid codes of honour, loyalty and hospitality, the strong role of men in society, the value of children, subservience of women and the five pillars of Islam. To confess Jesus as Lord is not well accepted and has serious consequences. Pray that fear of persecution from Islamic relatives will not hinder the Guhayna as they consider the Gospel. No one is actively reaching this people group.

Pray for missionaries and funds so the Guhayna can hear about Jesus.

Video: Hope Lights

Hope Lights from Salomon on Vimeo.

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]]> http://www.30-days.net/islam/howmuslims/jesus-son-of-god/feed/ 415 Explaining the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslm Contexts http://www.30-days.net/islam/howmuslims/explaining-the-biblical-term-sons-of-god-in-muslm-contexts/ http://www.30-days.net/islam/howmuslims/explaining-the-biblical-term-sons-of-god-in-muslm-contexts/#comments Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:38:12 +0000 TDI http://www.30-days.net/reveal/?p=439 Seekers and believers from Muslim backgrounds regularly single out the term ‘Son of God’ as the biggest obstacle to reading the Gospel. Worse yet, many Muslims are so frightened of this term that they refuse to read or listen to any text that asserts it.

Paul rarely uses ‘son of God’, and never in high Christological passages.

Download the PDF, Part 1: Explaining the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslm Contexts:

Part 2: by Rick Brown

In part one, “Explaining the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslim Contexts,” we saw that the term ‘son(s) of God’ has a broad range of meanings. Experience shows that there is no single measure one can take to resolve this problem. It requires a two-pronged approach. Basically the two prongs are to explain the original term and and what it means and to translate it according to its original meaning or in a way like ‘spiritual son(s) of God’ that blocks the unintended meaning.

There is a long history of trying to explain ‘Son(s) of God’ to Muslims, and explanations have usually failed to overcome the entrenched meaning of the phrase. Luke did not “remove” ‘Son of God’; he simply translated the meaning of the original Hebrew phrase into Greek—in three different ways. When Western missionaries hear ‘Son of God’ explained or translated as ‘the Christ’, they sense a loss of content.

SENSE: The standard of commercial translation in the modern world, whether Scriptural or otherwise, is to give priority to expressing the meaning of a passage rather than mimicking its linguistic form in the source language. So the normal approach to translating idiomatic phrases is to translate them according to their original contextual meaning. Sense translation, is the normal way of translating texts between languages. The drawbacks are (1) everyone may not agree on the intended sense of the phrase and (2) sometimes more than one sense is being evoked, especially in the case of metaphors. Is ‘meaning-based’ translation the answer?

For a comprehensive look at this, please download the following PDF: Brown2_SOG.pdf

Rick Brown is a Bible scholar and mission strategist. He has been involved in outreach tot he Muslim world since 1977.

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