Muslim Response: Jesus believed as god, but a god who pray to another God in John 17:3, proclaiming the other God.

QuestionAs to John 17:3 which you have quoted "There is no verse where Jesus (A.S.) said he is God", "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This means that the revelation of God is through Jesus Christ. Although mentioned separately, they are independently referred to as the Oneness of God as God the Father and God the Son. God is revealed through God the Son, and vice versa. Where can we see that? Colossians 1:14-18 provides: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Whos is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."

Answer

Introduction

Assalamu ‘Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu, may peace and blessings of God be with you readers. It is always exciting to study scripture using historical criticism . My approach below assumes the perspective of a historical approach instead of using my Islamic perspective. That way, it is fair for the Christian brother who raised this and also that we don’t end it because Islam clearly denies Jesus divinity so there is nothing to talk about if we use that lens. However, for the sake of academic discussions and for the sake of giving light to the Christian readers as well, we’ll approach this from a fair stance of historical criticism using logic and sound reasonings. Before we start, let’s look at the verse in question, John 17:3.

Bible John 17:3

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Translation · NRSV

Basic English

Unfortunately, the response of our Christian brother may be disappointing for all readers, because we have to teach basic English. Why is that? John 17:3 is by far the simplest, clear, and explicit statement of Jesus regarding who God is. The statement is so clear that anyone with basic English can understand this. Explicit in the sense that no one would think of any interpretation, and anyone who do so will fail in logic as we will see shortly for the argument presented below.

My bride is the one and only true love of my life - says the Groom

Guess what? When the groom proclaimed that in a Church a Christian guy exclaimed “the groom is a liar!” The outsiders hearing this were confused, so they ask this guy who called this, and the guy explained the following:

The groom is a liar, because just as Jesus said in John 17:3 as clear and explicit as how the groom said here, Jesus did not meant that God the Father is the one and only true God, but rather Jesus and God the Father are the one and only true God. So therefore, don’t believe in the literal words of Jesus because that is a lie. Similarly, don’t believe in the grooms proclamation because that is a lie. To help you understand this, don’t consult the Groom rather let’s consult someone else who is more authoritative in justify this, and his name is Polo, just as how we look at John 17:3, where we should not clarify it to Paul even if Jesus said he has god or has prayed.

Reflect on the Logic

Thank you for your time reading this, I understand that the Christian brother who raised this wanted to defend his belief, but no Christian would come to me and say that the evidence of Jesus is God is John 17:3, rather they always put John 1:1, John 10:30, John 8:58 (I’ve talked about these before, study these before bring it up to me please). The main reason is that John 17:3 is a prayer of Jesus (how can God even pray to another God - if you use logic or reasoning) declaring God the Father is the one and only true God, negating this literal declaration is also saying Jesus lied.

0 verse over 3,771 in Bible’s Gospel

There is 0 verse where Jesus declared ‘he is God’ or ‘he has no God’ or ‘he don’t pray to God’, because he did all of that which make him not God. So the answer of the Christian brother using Collosian, simply shows that they don’t really follow Jesus’ words in John 17:3.

Connect and Harmonize

When we defend a claim, we should not look at it from just few verses like John 1:1, John 10:30, John 8:58 (all of which are not explicit and has their own contexts, study this before asking please), rather the Bible’s Gospel already has 3,771 verses. To say that Jesus is God and is found across the said Gospels, is for readers or researchers to expect a significant portion of it.

Jesus the praying God of John 17:3

But if the texts contains significant portion of where Jesus is believed as prophet, Jesus praying (Mark 2:35, Mark 6:46, Mark 14:32, Luke 3:21, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:18, Luke 11:1, John 17:1), or Jesus saying he has god (John 20:17), are the least thing you expect from such claim. So it is not enough for someone to claim Jesus is God and can be seen across the Gospels, yet the data (Gospels) is not showing that but rather a significant of the data is showing the other way around.

Conclusion

The one and only true God by definition is the ultimate supreme being, highest among other gods. Meaning anyone who prays to Him, even if considered god is not a true God. If your god prays to another God, he is not God. And the worst thing a god will do, is to pray to another God and declare that other God is the one and only true God. That is exactly what Jesus did in John 17:1-3, and that is the simplest logical reasoning on why Jesus is not God.