True Meaning and Implication
of the Name “Christ” and “Word”
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my
word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.
—John 8:31–32
Reverend Franklin Graham:
In my last letter, I
mentioned that Muhammad was sent after Jesus as his testifier fulfilling his
prediction and prayer and also making him free from all the myths and
misconceptions that his followers began cherishing about him as the integral
parts of their faith. In this letter, I intend to discuss some of Jesus’ popular
names or titles which his followers took to be completely mystic, mysterious,
or “divine” in nature, and finally it led them to worship Jesus as God or as His
equal. Let us begin with his name “Christ.”
While studying our Holy
Scriptures, the Bible and the Quran, I find the name Christ is neither mystical
nor mysterious. It is rather, a misunderstood or a misinterpreted name. Some of
my missionary friends tried to convince me that Jesus was an inseparable part
of God. They believed the name Christ was meant exclusively for their Lord, who
appeared to them later as God incarnate. According to their explanation, the
name Christ was kept hidden by God Himself, from the beginning of His creation
for His only begotten. So when Jesus was born without a father and was referred
to in the Bible as the “Christ,” some of the overly enthusiastic men took him
for the “Son of God or God’s only begotten in human flesh.”
After I read about it in the
Bible, the Quran, and other religious books written by many learned and
renowned scholars, both Christians and non-Christians, I found the true meaning
and the implication of the name Christ was completely different from what they
believed to be absolutely true.
Both “Christ”
and “Messiah” are synonymous
The word Christ comes
from the Greek word “Christos,” meaning anointed or appointed. And Christos was
translated into Greek from the Hebrew word “mashiyach,” which also means to
anoint, to rub, or to appoint. In Arabic, it is called “masih,” meaning simply
a chosen or appointed messenger of God.
There is a long-rooted
tradition among the Jews regarding their religious faith and practices. They
used to anoint their prophets, priests, or kings ceremonially before they held
their position, rank, or authority. Accordingly, the person who was anointed or
appointed in this way was also called Messiah or Christ by their people.
There are many instances
in the Holy Bible that tell us how the procedure of getting someone anointed
took place among the Jews.
And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all
that was therein, and sanctioned them. (Leviticus 8:10)
Then Samuel took the horn of oil,
and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren … … (1 Samuel
16:13)
He is the tower of salvation for
his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for
evermore. (2 Samuel 22:51)
Thus saith the Lord to his
anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, … (Isaiah 45:1)
There
are many verses in both the Bible and the Quran where we have been told the
desperate, deprived, and God-fearing people used to wait eagerly for the
arrival of some designated messengers who they called Messiahs. The people usually
came to know about their arrival through the prediction of other messengers who
were sent before them. The example of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad could be cited,
for instance. Common people used to wait
eagerly for their promised Messiahs to come and to save them from the injustice
and suffering in the hands of their oppressors. Accordingly, both “Christ and “Messiah” are
synonymous and refer to a chosen Messenger of God. Let me justify my point in
the light of our Holy Scriptures, the Bible and the Quran.
The woman saith unto him (Jesus), I
know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. (John
4:25–26)
And Jesus walked in the
temple in Solomon’s porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto
him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. (John10:23–24)
[Remember] When the angels said, O
Mary! Verily, Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word [be] from Him: his
name will be Christ Jesus … … (Quran 3:45)
Other
prophets also had God-given names and titles
Reverend,
it was not Jesus alone, many other chosen messengers of God also received their
names and titles from God Himself. Let me quote here a few instances from the
Bible and the Quran both.
And the angel of the Lord said unto her [Hagar],
Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shall call his name
Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. (Genesis 16:11)
And God said, Sarah thy wife [by this
time God had changed Abram’s name to Abraham and his wife, Sarai’s, name to
Sarah] shall bear thee a son indeed; ; and thou shalt call his name Isaac. … …
(Genesis 17:19)
And
God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more
Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. (Genesis
35:10)
There are many verses in
the Quran, where Abraham was called Hanif, meaning upright by nature and
worshipper of none but One True God. And in other places, he was also called Khalilullah, meaning friend of Allah.
Who can be better in
religion than one who submits his whole self to Allah, does good and follows
the way of Abraham-the Hanif. For Allah did take Abraham as His Khalil [friend].
(Quran 4:125)
Moses was also called “Kalimullah,”
meaning to whom God spoke directly.
And Messengers We have
mentioned to you before, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you, and to
Moses Allah spoke directly. (Quran 4:164)
The Quran also tells us
that Jesus was named “Masih,” meaning the Christ or a designated messenger of
God. He was also called “Kalima” meaning “Be” the commanding word of God.
[Remember] When the angels said, O
Mary! Verily, Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word [Be] from Him: his
name will be Christ Jesus. (Quran 3:45)
In many places of the
Quran, Muhammad, the last prophet of God, was called Nabial Ummi,
meaning Unlettered Prophet. He was also
addressed as Khataman nabiun, meaning
the Seal of the Prophets, and also Rahmatal-lil-aalamiin, meaning a blessing for the whole world.
Those who follow the Apostle—the
unlettered prophet [Muhammad] whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the
Gospel; for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil. (Quran
7:157)
Muhammad is not the
father of any of your men but (he is) the Apostle of Allah and the Seal of the
Prophets. (Quran 33:40)
Reverend, it is interesting to note here
that Jesus was not given any special name or title, like his predecessors Abraham
and Moses or his successor, Muhammad. I think that God, being the omnipresent
and omniscient, knew perfectly well that a day would come soon after Jesus,
when his followers would worship him as God, by forgetting his true status or
position or by ignoring the crystal clear instruction of His first commandment.
So by the name “Christ,” God simply wanted them to know and remember that Jesus
was only one of His messengers and he was sent to earth for the guidance of his
own people, the misguided Jews. (Matthew15:24)
The status
of God is unattainable
Muslims believe the
status of God is unattainable, because He is the Creator, the Controller and
the Sustainer of the entire heavens and earth and everything that comes in
between. So the status of God is the highest of all and it could in no way be
attained by any of His created things. The Muslims, therefore have no clue at
all why Jesus, whom God created in his mother’s womb by His command and later
chose him for the guidance of his own people, should be worshipped like God for
having his name Christ, the meaning of which is Messiah or a chosen messenger of
God?
An
unexpected visitor
Something quite
unexpected happened, when I was in the middle of my writing. I was visited by a
young missionary lady with a copy of Bible in her hand. I felt myself quite
excited to know that I could share with her certain things about Jesus, especially
at that moment, when I was writing about his true status and mission in the
light of the Bible and the Quran both.
This woman was probably
in her mid-forties, tall, slim, and light-skinned. She also looked very smart
and dignified in her white blouse and long black skirt that matched well with her
black cap and black shoes. I took a moment to appreciate a perfect blend of
beauty and brightness standing right before me, after I opened the door at the
first knock.
While walking to the
living room, she, let’s call her Mrs. Martha Miller, told me she was a teacher
of science in the local high school and a volunteer worker for the local Church
of the Trinity. I also told her a few things about me. She looked happy when I
said to her that I was also a teacher like her before I came to America. But she
seemed to me a little reserved when I told her that I was a Muslim and a bit apprehensive
when I mentioned to her my special love and respect for Jesus as a mighty
messenger of God.
We
sat in our living room couches face to face besides a coffee table the top of
which was loaded with my lap, a copy of the Bible, two books on the meaning of the
Quran in English, several books on Islam and Christianity along with notepads,
pencil holders, a bottle of water and a box of soft tissue. Mrs. Miller was
kind enough to ignore the mess and exclaimed happily, “Oh, my God, do you read
the Bible?”
“Yes
Madam. It is a copy of the King James
Version.”
“Same
is mine. But as far as I know your Holy Book is Quran, Right?” She asked me
while putting her own copy of the Bible at the corner of the table.
“Right.
But a Muslim is required to believe in all
the messengers of God equally and what God revealed to them for the guidance of
their people. ”
“Really?
But I know many Muslims who practically avoid us when they find us at their
door with a Bible.”
“Maybe,
they are too busy to waste their time on something which they already know.
“You mean they also read the Bible as they
read the Quran?”
“No, I mean they already have learnt
from the Quran what God revealed to Jesus, Moses, Abraham and other prophets of
God who were sent before Muhammad.” Then I added in a hurry, “But my case is
different. I’ve been reading the Bible very seriously for the last one year.”
“Very interesting” She remarked. “May
I please know why?”
“Sure. I
have a website where I’ve been writing about Jesus as I found him in the Quran
and also in the Gospel. So, when I saw you first, I felt you were God-sent, because
you arrived at that moment when I was trying to understand a verse in the
Gospel that I found very confusing.”
“May I please know which verse?”
“It
is the first verse in John 1. Do you want me to read?” I picked up the Bible
from the table and opened it.
“Just
give me a second,” she said, while turning over the pages of her Bible. Then she
stopped, saying, “Yes, here it is. You may now read.”
It was a short verse, but
I tried to read it slowly and as correctly as possible with my unavoidable
foreign accent. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
After
I finished reading, I said to her politely, “I feel confused, because some of
my missionary friends told me the ‘Word’ in the verse refers to Jesus and God
both. Do you think that, too?”
“Yes,
absolutely,” Mrs. Miller confirmed, making me both shocked and surprised.
“But
the verse did not mention anything about Jesus. So I don’t understand what
makes you think the ‘word’ here refers to Jesus? And if it does, how could Jesus and God be one
and the same?”
“I understand your confusion. But, you
need to remember that the verses of the Bible are complementary to one another.
So to understand the meaning of verse 1, you also have to read the verse 14 below
it.” So saying, Mrs. Miller put her
index finger on verse 14, which I read no less than twenty times, since I
intended to write about Jesus in reply to your comment about the God of Islam being
different from the God of the Judeo-Christian Faith.
Then she said, “Okay, let
me read the verse and explain to you.” And, I heard her read in her soft, sweet, and well-modulated
voice. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his
glory, the glory of as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth. (John 1:14)
After she finished
reading, she looked up at me and then said with tone of assurance, “I think now
you can see the connection, because this verse has mentioned clearly the ‘Word,’
referring to God in verse 1, was made flesh. It means God appeared Himself in
the physical form of Jesus and then dwelled among the people, with full of
grace and truth. In that case, what choice do we have but to believe the Word
refers to God and Jesus both, meaning both are one or the same?” She sounded
absolutely cool and confident.
I kept quiet for a while
and then said with a bit hesitation, “Please excuse me of my shortcomings. But
there are some elements in the verses 1 and 14 that I still find confusing. For
example, you said the ‘Word’ in both the verses refers to God and Jesus
equally. But I really don’t see how, because the ‘Word’ did not come into
existence by itself. It needed to be made flesh in the physical form of Jesus
and be sent to earth to dwell among the people, Right?”
“Yes, it is what the
verse said.”
“But, I really don’t
understand how the Maker and being made or the sender and being sent can be
accepted as one and the same?”
“I think you have missed here one
thing,” said Mrs. Miller. “It was God Himself who made Him appear in the form
of Jesus. So the question of the Maker and being made does not arise here.”
Do you want me believe that it was
God Himself who begot Him in the womb of Virgin Mary and then manifested
Himself on earth through Jesus? But I kept my question
to myself and said to her, “But I still have some confusion. The verse 14 has
mentioned beholding of his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father in parenthesis. Do you have any idea why did God mention His appearance
through Jesus in the parenthesis?”
“Frankly
speaking, this type of question does not bother a true follower of Jesus, because
whatever the Bible says, within the parenthesis or without it, we believe and
accept them as the words of God, without having any doubt in it.”
After this straightforward answer, I thought I should better stop
mentioning anything to her from the Gospel, and start telling her what the
Quran has said about Jesus’ being “the word of God”. May be, she would find my explanation more
reasonable than what she just explained to me. So, I said to her supporting, “Sure. A true believer should take the words of
God very seriously. I think you will be happy to know that we also believe Jesus
as the “Word of God”.
“Really?”
“Yes. And, we also don’t mind to believe that Jesus remained with God as
His Word from the beginning.”
“Then why can’t you accept him
being equal to God?”
“We can’t, because we believe it
is not only Jesus, everything in the creation of God has remained with Him in
His ultimate plan and then comes into existence according to His will or command.
There are many verses in the Quran where we have been told that whenever God
wants to do anything, He just says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.
“Same thing happened when
God wanted Mary to conceive her son without a father. He just commanded, “Be,”
and she conceived. Let me read a few
verses of the Quran from my lap in support of that.” So saying, I went to a particular
file on my lap and read to her three verses that I quoted below.
She [Mary] said: ‘O my Lord! How
shall I have a son when no man has ever touched me?’ He said: ‘Even so. God
creates what He wills; when He decides to do anything, He only says to it, ‘Be’
and it is! (3:47)
….Allah gives you [Zachariah]
glad tidings of Yahya [John the Baptist] confirming the Word from Allah [meaning the creation of Jesus by His commanding
word ‘Be’]. (3:39)
Verily, the likeness of Jesus
before Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him (Adam) from dust, then
He said to him: “Be” and he was. (3:59)
After I finished reading, I looked
at Mrs. Miller and said, “I hope now you know why the Muslims have no problem
accepting Jesus as the ‘Word’ of God but have a problem accepting him as God?”
Mrs. Miller did
not answer.
The Bible says, “Let
there be” and the Quran says, “Be”
Luckily, by this time I had completed most of the books of the Bible,
beginning with Genesis, and I remembered very well how the creation of God
first came into existence. So I said to
her politely, “Mrs. Miller, you certainly have read the book of Genesis and also
remember how God created light and other things of His creations, Right?”
Mrs. Miller looked apprehensive and said, “Yes I
do.”
“Then you certainly remember what
happened when God wanted to create light. He said, “Let there be light,” and there
was light. So He said with His other creations. Doesn’t it tell us that, I
asked her politely, “ both in the Bible and the Quran, God used more or less
the same commanding word to bring things into
existence?”
After a moment of silence, I said to
her again, So, I don’t understand how could
we consider the Commander and His commanding word “Be” as one and the same?”
“May
I please know, Mrs. Miller asked “if everything in the world came to existence
by His Commanding Word “Be,” why then Jesus alone was called the “Word of God?”
“Good question. I also pondered over the matter for quite
some time. Then I thought Jesus was called so only to remind the people how his
virgin mother conceived him by the will and the command of God so that they could
always remember why Jesus was called ‘Word’ or why he could not be God Incarnate
because of his birth without a father. ”
“I wish I could stay
with you longer and talk about Jesus more, but I have to leave now to attend a
seminar in my church.” Mrs. Miller said to me apologetically while looking at
her wristwatch.
“Sure.
But I thank you very much for giving me a chance to talk about Jesus so freely.”
“Don’t mention it, please. Talking
to you about Jesus had also been a great pleasure to me.”
“Thanks. I think, the more we talk
about Jesus, the better we know about him.” I said to her honestly.
“You are right.” Then Mrs. Miller surprised me saying, “I’ll
come again soon to talk with you. I promise.”
“Thanks. I’ll be waiting for you.”
We
shook our hands warmly and she left gracefully after I opened the door and held
it for her.
Interpretation of the “Word”
as found in the Modern Versions of the Bible.
Reverend, a few weeks after Mrs.
Miller left, I had a chance to read the interpretation of the “Word” in John
1.1 and few other verses of the Gospel in some Modern Versions of the Bible,
which I like to share with you and with my other readers-both Christians and
non-Christians.
Modern scholars of the Bible tell
us that in the original Greek manuscript, the Word was used to mean divine or
god, and it was never used to mean Divine or God. Accordingly, the New World
Translation of the Bible has translated John 1:1 as follows:
In
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was divine.
The Dictionary of the Bible by John McKenzie translates John 1:1 as
follows:
The word was with God [the Father] and the
word was a divine being.
They actually confirm those verses of the Quran where Jesus was
addressed as the “word” of God and was described as being noble, chaste,
righteous, and close to God.( 3:39, 3:45, 3:47)
On Jesus’
Incarnation: Points to ponder
Reverend, I think, it
will not be irrelevant, if I mention here another essential element of your
faith related to Jesus’ incarnation, meaning God manifested Himself in flesh
through Jesus. I would like to draw your attention to the following statement,
which I have quoted below from the Grolier’s
Encyclopedia, for your kind perusal.
Incarnation
denotes the embodiment of a deity in human form. The idea occurs frequently in
mythology. In ancient times, certain people, especially kings and priests, were
often believed to be divinities. In Hinduism, Vishnu is believed to have nine
incarnations, or Avatars. For Christians, the incarnation is a central dogma
referring to the belief that the eternal son of God, the second person of the
Trinity, became man in the person of Jesus Christ. The incarnation was defined
as a doctrine only after long struggles by early Church Council. The Council of
Nicaea (325 CE) defined the deity of Christ against Aryanism; the Council of
Constantinople (381 CE) defined the full humanity of the incarnate Christ
against Apollinarianism; the Council of Ephesus (431 CE) defined the unity of
Christ’s person against Nestorianism; and the council of Chalcedon (451 CE) defined
the two natures of Christ, divine and human, against Eutyches.
The above statement makes
it absolutely clear how Jesus, the son of Mary, was gradually turned into a
human God or became an object of worship by his followers, after he left.
The only verse quoted so far to validate the doctrine of incarnation was
also proved to be a forgery about six centuries after Jesus’ ascent to heaven.
It is also interesting to note here that after its official injunction to the
Christian faith, the Council of Churches needed biblical evidence to fulfill
their purpose. They made a subtle change in 1Timothy 3:16. Please have a look how
this verse was read before and after the incarnation was made an essential
doctrine of the Christian faith.
1
Timothy 3:16, as read before the sixth-century amendment: And
without ceremony great is the mystery of godliness: which was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
1 Timothy 3:16, as read after the sixth-century
amendment: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Reverend, I hope you will
now agree with me that how a subtle change in a word or words may create a heaven
to earth difference in the meaning or understanding the message of a particular
issue. But for the truth-seeking people, it is a matter of great relief that
the Modern Versions of the Bible have been trying to detect those changes and to
bring them to the knowledge of the public.
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