Two men sit across a table, a Bible beside one and a Quran beside the other. Their conversation turns to the nature of God.
The Muslim asks, “Show me the word Trinity in the Bible.” The Christian opens his Bible. “The passages describe the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” His Muslim friend points to the page. “The word itself. Show me where it says Trinity.” The Christian answers, “It doesn’t appear. That’s the word we use to describe what we understand the Bible to reveal.” The Muslim replies, “Then you’re using a word that isn’t in your book.”
The Christian then asks, “What word do you use to describe the oneness of Allah?” His Muslim friend answers, “Tawhid.”
The Christian asks, “Show me the word Tawhid in the Quran.” The Muslim opens his Quran. “The passages describe the oneness of Allah.” His Christian friend points to the page. “The word itself. Show me where it says Tawhid.” The Muslim answers, “It doesn’t appear. That’s the word we use to describe what we understand the Quran to reveal.” The Christian replies, “Then you’re using a word that isn’t in your book.”
The Muslim moves to another challenge.
“Show me where Jesus says, ‘I am God,’ in the Bible.” The Christian turns to John’s Gospel. “John identifies the Word as God and tells us the Word became flesh.” His Muslim friend points to the page. “Those are John’s words. Show me where Jesus says it Himself.” The Christian answers, “The account tells us who He is. He doesn’t have to say every true thing about Himself personally.” The Muslim replies, “Then you’re accepting something about Jesus that He didn’t say in those exact words.”
The Christian then asks, “Do you believe Jesus is the Messiah?” His Muslim friend answers, “Of course.”
The Christian moves to another challenge.
“Show me where Jesus says, ‘I am the Messiah,’ in the Quran.” The Muslim turns to the announcement to Mary. “The angels identify Him as the Messiah when they announce His coming birth.” His Christian friend points to the page. “Those are the angels’ words. Show me where Jesus says it Himself.” The Muslim answers, “The account tells us who He is. He doesn’t have to say every true thing about Himself personally.” The Christian replies, “Then you’re accepting something about Jesus that He didn’t say in those exact words.”
Both books remain open.
The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, and the Bible does not record Jesus saying the exact sentence “I am God.” The Christian nevertheless uses the descriptive term and accepts testimony identifying Jesus.
The word “Tawhid” does not appear in the Quran, and the Quran does not record Jesus saying the exact sentence “I am the Messiah.” The Muslim nevertheless uses the descriptive term and accepts testimony identifying Jesus.
The Christian has not offered those absences to prove the Quran false. He has applied his friend’s rule equally to his friend’s own beliefs. The rule cannot be binding on one side and optional on the other.
The double standard is reduced to ashes.
“We may disagree about what the passages mean,” the Christian says, “but the same rule has to apply to both of us. If my descriptive word must appear in my book, your descriptive word must appear in your book. If I can accept only statements Jesus personally makes about Himself, you can accept only statements Jesus personally makes about Himself.”
He points first to his Bible, then to his friend’s Quran.
“If the absence of ‘Trinity’ from the Bible disqualifies my description, the absence of ‘Tawhid’ from the Quran disqualifies your description. If the absence of Jesus saying ‘I am God’ in the Bible disqualifies my belief about Him, the absence of Jesus saying ‘I am the Messiah’ in the Quran disqualifies your belief about Him.”
The Christian pauses for a moment of silent prayer, then rests his hand beside the passage in John and looks into his Muslim friend’s eyes. “Your objections have not shown that the Bible is wrong.” He continues, “Now, let me show you why we believe what we do.”
He begins with the question of one God, turning to Mark 12:29, where Jesus repeats Israel’s confession that the Lord our God is one Lord. “We are not defending three gods,” he explains. “The Bible teaches one God. We don’t have to surrender that to read what comes next.”
He opens Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus comes up from the water, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven, calling Jesus His beloved Son. His friend follows the scene upon the page while the Christian explains, “The Father speaks about the Son as the Spirit descends upon Him. They are distinct and present together. This isn’t one person taking turns wearing three names.”
The Christian turns farther into Matthew, to the risen Jesus sending His disciples to the nations. Jesus commands baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. “The same Bible that teaches God’s oneness names all three,” he says. “Our explanation has to account for everything it says.”
Their reading brings them back to John. The Christian summarizes what they have read: “The Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him. That same Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He traces the passage with his finger. “John identifies Him as God before describing His coming in the flesh. Becoming human did not mean He ceased to be God.”
Farther into the Gospel, they find Thomas standing before the risen Jesus and addressing Him as “My Lord and my God.” Jesus responds by speaking of Thomas’s belief and blessing those who would believe without seeing. His friend studies that exchange while the Christian finds another in Acts 5, where Peter confronts Ananias for lying to the Holy Ghost, then tells him he has lied to God.
“The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God,” the Christian explains. “They are distinct persons, yet there is one God. Trinity is the word we use to describe those truths together. We mean one divine being, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
The word has not appeared upon the page. The reason for using it has.
“Now, about the Messiah,” the Christian continues, returning to John. Their reading takes them to a well in Samaria, where a woman tells Jesus that the Messiah is coming and will explain all things. Jesus answers her directly: “I that speak unto thee am he.”
The Christian leaves John 4:25–26 open between them. “She names the Messiah. Jesus tells her He is the One speaking to her. His answer is clear without repeating her whole sentence.” The meaning is carried by the conversation. Insisting upon a particular arrangement of words would obscure an answer Jesus has already given.
The Christian draws the passages together. Scripture teaches one God while distinguishing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It identifies the Word as God and tells of His coming in the flesh. It records Jesus identifying Himself as the Messiah. The explanation has come from the Bible itself; nothing from the Quran is needed to establish it.
His friend looks again at John. “I still don’t accept your explanation.”
The Christian answers, “We can examine why. The missing word cannot settle it. Neither can a demand for one exact sentence. You don’t use those rules for your own beliefs.”
Their disagreement remains, but the two objections have reached the end of what they can accomplish. Neither has disproved the biblical testimony, and neither has established that Islamic teaching should replace it.
The Christian cannot choose his friend’s response. He can answer honestly, keep the passages open, and leave the man’s dignity intact without surrendering what Scripture says. God’s truth does not depend upon his ability to win an afternoon’s argument.
He turns the Bible so his friend can read beside him. The search for missing words has given way to the testimony already written. Before them are the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the declaration that God is one, the testimony that Jesus is God in the flesh, and His own answer identifying Himself as Messiah.
The double standard has fallen. The testimony remains.
God’s Word needs no confirmation from another religion.
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” —Acts 17:11
—Jeff Wager
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