In this short post I am going to be responding to the following article https://unveiling-christianity.net/2017/11/30/god-means-trinity-testament/.
Muslim polemicist Ibn Anwar attempts to refute Trinitarianism by arguing that the term “God” never refers to the Trinity in the NT. He then cites the following Trinitarian scholars to prove that in the NT the word “God” is most often employed for the Father:
“In all but seven places in the New Testament the term theos refers to the one whom the Jews knew as their God and earliest Christians called “Father” or “Abba.”…The term [God] never refers to the Trinity in the New Testament…” (Ben Witherington III, New Testament Theology and Ethics [InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois 2016], Volume 1, p. 46)
“The scripture, when it mentions GOD, absolutely and by way of Eminence, always means the Person of the Father.” (Samuel Clarke, The Works of Samuel Clarke, Volume 4. [John and Paul Knapton, London 1738], Volume 4, p. 134)
It never ceases to amaze me how these Muslim antagonists routinely fail to see that the very objections which they level against Christianity end up proving that Islam is a false religion and that Muhammad was a false prophet.
For instance, doesn’t Ibn Anwar realize that this admission that the term God refers to the Father in the NT means that Muhammad was an antichrist? After all, the Quran plainly states that Muhammad’s god isn’t a father to anyone, since he is supposedly too glorious to have a son:
Say the Jews and Christians, ‘We are the sons of God, and His beloved ones.’ Say: ‘Why then does He chastise you for your sins? No; you are mortals, of His creating; He forgives whom He will, and He chastises whom He will.’ For to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth, and all that is between them; to Him is the homecoming. S. 5:18
Had God desired to take to Him a son, He would have chosen whatever He willed of that He has created. Glory be to Him! He is God, the One, the Omnipotent. S. 39:4
And Muhammad’s monad is most definitely not the Father of Christ,
The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the Son of God’; the Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the Son of God.’ That is the utterance of their mouths, conforming with the unbelievers before them. God assail them! How they are perverted! S. 9:30
Since the highest relationship one can have with the Islamic deity is that of a slave to a master, no more and no less:
And they say, ‘The All-merciful has taken unto Himself a son. You have indeed advanced something hideous! The heavens are wellnigh rent of it and the earth split asunder, and the mountains wellnigh fall down crashing for that they have attributed to the All-merciful a son; and it behoves not the All-merciful to take a son. None is there in the heavens and earth but he comes to the All-merciful as a servant; S. 19:88-93
And yet according to the Christian Scriptures, the one true God is the Father, since he is Father of the Lord Jesus, his uniquely divine Son, as well as of all those who believe in Christ:
“And a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘You are My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’” Mark 1:11
“Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.’” Mark 9:7
“He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.’” Mark 14:36
“Yet to all who received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God, to those who believed in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:12-14
“Jesus answered them, ‘MY Father is working still, and I am working.’ So the Jews sought even more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said that God was HIS Father, making Himself equal with God.” John 5:17-18
“So Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing of Myself. But I speak these things as MY Father taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.’… Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is MY Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. If I say, “I do not know Him,” I shall be a liar like you. But I know Him and keep His word.’” John 8:28-29, 54-55
“MY Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them from MY Father’s hand. MY Father and I are one… do you say of Him, whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of MY Father, do not believe Me. But if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” John 10:29-30, 36-38
“The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God!’” John 19:7
“Jesus said to her, ‘Stop holding on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to MY Father and your Father, to My God and your God.”’” John 20:17
“But for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist. And there is one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” 1 Corinthians 8:6
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ… so that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” Ephesians 1:3, 17
“one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:6
“With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.” James 3:9
“For we have not followed cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to Him from the majestic glory, saying, ‘This is MY beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we ourselves heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mountain.” 2 Peter 1:16-18
“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” 2 John 1:3
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are sanctified and called by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ:” Jude 1:1
The NT is equally clear that anyone who denies God’s Fatherhood and/or the unique divine Sonship of Christ is an antichrist:
“Who is a liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Whoever denies the Father and the Son is the antichrist. No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father.” 1 John 2:22-23
Hence, since Muhammad denied that his monad was anyone’s father, and cursed all those who would dare believe that Christ is God’s Son, this makes him an antichrist according to the very documents that Ibn Anwar appealed to in his attempt to refute the blessed and glorious Trinity!
We therefore want to personally thank Ibn Anwar for employing arguments that end up proving that his prophet and his religion are of the devil, and not from the one true God of the NT who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of all true believers.
All Biblical references taken from the Modern English Version (MEV) of the Holy Bible.
All quranic citations taken from A. J. Arberry’s version of the Quran.
IHS
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