Islam and the Gospel

It is important to seek to communicate the Gospel's essentials with those of differing faiths.

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Islam and the Gospel

It is important to seek to communicate the Gospel's essentials with those of differing faiths.

Date

November 4, 2024

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Contributing Author

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Necessary Context

In the previous article on Islam, the story of Islam was shared, its primary beliefs were identified, and the different types of Muslims were defined. Another important note is that Muslims receive information or get answers to their questions through the Imam. An Imam is a leader in the Mosque (place of worship for Muslims) who generally leads daily prayers and stands in front of the worshippers. In today’s internet-centric culture, Muslims can ask questions for themselves through chat applications and articles about Islam.

Necessary Conversation

Due to the reasons above, many Muslims are more open to conversations about differing religions than one would think. Instead of suggesting that there are paramount tips and tricks for sharing the Gospel with Muslims, seek to communicate the Gospel's essentials with those of differing faiths. Similarly to sharing the Gospel with any individual, we can misunderstand words we use in conversation. In conversation with someone who is Muslim, it is important to clearly explain the following Gospel essentials: God, Jesus, man, and sin.

God

Something to start with is that both Muslims and Christians agree that there is a being that created all things and that God has certain qualities (like holiness and justice). Because Islam accepts certain parts of the Bible to be accurate, there are parts of God they deem as a part of his nature. On the other hand, there is disagreement about his oneness. Clearly, we must state what we believe about God being one god in three persons. Some will assert that Allah is God but just called something different. This cannot be true because of the trinitarian nature of God. From the opening of the first page, we see that all three persons were present at Creation (see Gen. 1:2; CF John 1:1; 14). These connections are not made in the Quran.

Jesus

In Islam, Jesus is someone who did good things because speaks a corrupt message. In the same way that some Muslims believe that Allah gave his revelation to Muhammad, we believe that God gave his truth by the Holy Spirit to human authors over time. Again, Islam accepts parts of the Bible as accurate (like the Gospels), so it is essential to explain who Jesus is using those Scriptures. The Bible is a testament to the work of God, considering that multiple authors, over many years, wrote a united message about man's sinfulness, God’s goodness, and Jesus’ work on behalf of man. It is crucial to explain that the biblical characters and the stories were anticipating the coming of Christ. Psalms had written about him hundreds of years before His birth, and the bible story's climax is Jesus. The Gospels are about the son of God coming to Earth to save humans from their sinfulness. Jesus is not merely a good man. A good man couldn’t take on the world's sins and reconcile those who would believe back to God. Even more so, a good man couldn’t rise from the dead physically, displaying his defeat over sin and death.

Man and Sin

Man being created in God's image is not something that Muslims believe. An important thing to clarify is that God is the perfect image of the goodness we can see in humankind. Muslims assert that there are definite wrongs in this world on various levels. Similar to someone who may believe that their goodness on Earth now can get them to Heaven later on. Christians believe that sin was introduced by Adam, condemned mankind, and corrupted mankind. The consequence of sin being death explains the need for Jesus.

Necessary Consideration

When interacting with anyone in spiritual or religious conversations, asking questions about what they believe can be very helpful. Even if it sounds like you are talking about the same things, asking others to define what they mean by sin, righteousness, judgment, God, Jesus, and humanity can help you understand what another person believes. Lastly, pray that your conversations would plant a seed of the Gospel truth in their life.