“For, as I said, this was no mere earthly invention which was delivered to them, nor is it a mere human system of opinion, which they judge it right to preserve so carefully, nor has a dispensation of mere human mysteries been committed to them, but truly God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven, and placed among men, [Him who is] the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and has firmly established Him in their hearts.He did not, as one might have imagined, send to men any servant, or angel, or ruler, or any one of those who bear sway over earthly things, or one of those to whom the government of things in the heavens has been entrusted, but the very Creator and Fashioner of all things-by whom He made the heavens…As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Saviour He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God…For God, the Lord and Fashioner of all things, who made all things, and assigned them their several positions, proved Himself not merely a friend of mankind, but also long-suffering [in His dealings with them.] Yea, He was always of such a character, and still is, and will ever be, kind and good, and free from wrath, and true, and the only one who is [absolutely] good; and He formed in His mind a great and unspeakable conception, which He communicated to His Son alone. As long, then, as He held and preserved His own wise counsel in concealment, He appeared to neglect us, and to have no care over us. But after He revealed and laid open, through His beloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the beginning, He conferred every blessing all at once upon us, so that we should both share in His benefits, and see and be active [in His service]. Who of us would ever have expected these things? He was aware, then, of all things in His own mind, along with His Son, according to the relation subsisting between them…He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!”
-Mathetes, Epistle to Diognetus 7, 8, and 9
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-08.htm#P688_125181
“I have greatly rejoiced with you in our Lord Jesus Christ, because ye have followed the example of true love [as displayed by God], and have accompanied, as became you, those who were bound in chains, the fitting ornaments of saints, and which are indeed the diadems of the true elect of God and our Lord; and because the strong root of your faith, spoken of in days long gone by, endureth even until now, and bringeth forth fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] “whom God raised froth the dead, having loosed the bands of the grave.”…To Him all things in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also…“For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;” and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil…Let us then continually persevere in our hope, and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, “who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,”… But may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Son of God, and our everlasting High Priest, build you up in faith and truth, and in all meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, forbearance, and purity…”
-Polycarp, Epistle
to the Philippians 1, 2, 7, 8, and 12
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-11.htm#P776_145896
“Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fulness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory, being united and elected through the true passion by the will of the Father, and Jesus Christ, our God: Abundant happiness through Jesus Christ, and His undefiled grace… I have become acquainted with your name, much-beloved in God, which ye have acquired by the habit of righteousness, according to the faith and love in Jesus Christ our Saviour. Being the followers of God, and stirring up yourselves by the blood of God, ye have perfectly accomplished the work which was beseeming to you…here is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our Lord…Let us therefore do all things as those who have Him [Jesus] dwelling in us, that we may be His temples, and He may be in us as our God, which indeed He is, and will manifest Himself before our faces. Wherefore we justly love Him…For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by His passion He might purify the water.”
-Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians Salutation, 1, 7, 15, and 18
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-16.htm#P1094_206540
Ignatius
calls Jesus “God” or the “Son of God” a dozen or so more times throughout the rest of his writings. Also, throughout the New
Testament apocrypha, Jesus is constantly referred to as “God” or the “Son of God,” and Trinitarian formulations (i.e. “In the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…”) are frequently found.
The Prophetic Theme of the Old Testament:
Throughout the Old Testament, there is a constant theme in the prophecies that the Messiah would suffer and die for the sins of His people. Thus, it must be asked of the Muslim: If you believe that the Old Testament was altered in order to support the Christian doctrine of the crucifixion, then why would the Jews (i.e. Rabbinic Judaism) change their own Scriptures in order to support their enemies (i.e. the Christians, Messianic Judaism)? Furthermore, the Muslim cannot say that the Old Testament was changed after the time of Christ because archaeologists have discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) which date back to at least 200 B.C., and the DSS read the same as the books of the Bible that we have today! Here are some of those passages that refer to the sufferings of the Messiah. All quotes are from the NASB (emphasis mine):
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance
are the words of my groaning…But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer
at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him,
because He delights in him.”…Many bulls have surrounded me; strong bulls of
-Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 12-18
[This was clearly fulfilled when Christ was crucified: Matthew 27:33-48, John 19:34.]
“He was despised
and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we
did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening
for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did
not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut
off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with
wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But
the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself
to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”
-Isaiah 53:3-12
[This clearly shows that the Messiah would be killed in order to bear the sins of His people. See 1 Peter 2:23-24.]
"I
will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will
look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him
like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
-Zechariah 12:10
[This
was also fulfilled at the cross: John 19:34, 37.]
The Entire Theme of the New Testament:
The entire theme of the New Testament, from beginning to end, centers on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God. In the Gospels, Christ is constantly saying that He will be crucified and emphasizing its necessity. Here are a few examples:
“But
He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign
of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.””
-Matthew 12:39-40
“And while they were gathering together in
-Matthew 17:22-23
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever
believes will in Him have eternal life.”
-John 3:14-15
Furthermore, entire New Testament books are centered on the fact that Christ’s crucifixion was for the atonement of believer’s sins (Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews), and the rest of the New Testament epistles make mention that the crucifixion is the center of the faith (1 Corinthians 15:1-19, Ephesians 1:20, 2:13, Philippians 3:10, Colossians 2:12, etc.). The New Testament ends with the Revelation of Jesus Christ Who is “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life” (Revelation 2:8).
Thus, in order for the Muslim assertion to be true, the entirety of the New Testament would have to have been re-written. The possibility that a few words or sentences were changed just won’t fly. Also, because of manuscript dating, we know that the New Testament that we have today dates back to the time of the apostles and other eyewitnesses of Jesus (see the above sections on Manuscripts and Retractions of Liberal Scholars). Thus, if the Muslim theory is true, then the New Testament would have had to have been changed and distributed during the time period right after the birth of Christianity. A period in which the apostles and other eyewitnesses (including enemies of Christ) could have pointed out the obvious re-writing of historical events! Therefore, the argument that the Muslim has created is a giant conspiracy that goes far beyond bounds of credulity! It would take an act of God to accomplish this! In conclusion, the historical and textual evidence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible that is held by Christians today was, is, and ever will be the same Bible that was originally penned by Moses, the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Evangelists. It was, is, and ever will be the very Word of God.
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Muslim Argument: The Gospel of Barnabas
Muslim apologists frequently appeal to the so-called Gospel of Barnabas as “proof” of what an original Gospel was like (i.e. in accordance with Muslim theology). However, as Western scholars have pointed out time and again, the “Gospel” of Barnabas is a Gnostic work which teaches dualism, denies that Jesus was human, allows the drinking of wine, teaches monogamy, and allows the eating of pork, all of which the Koran condemns! Second, the only manuscript that is in existence has been proven to be a forgery that dates to the fifteenth century! The first mention of such a book comes in the fifth century by Pope Gelasius, and no Church father ever mentioned it. This is contrary to the custom of the early Christian writers and apologists who were always refuting Gospels that taught doctrines opposing Christian orthodoxy (see Irenaeus’ Against Heresies). Furthermore, the Gospel of Barnabas presents anachronisms such as placing feudal government back in the first-century! It is amazing to me how Muslim apologists can be either this ignorant or absolutely dishonest about something that is so obviously a fake! For more on the refutation of the Gospel of Barnabas, go here:
http://answering-islam.org/Barnabas/saleeb.html
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Some helpful online reading can be found here:
http://www.answeringislam.org/Quran/Bible/index.html
http://answering-islam.org/Barnabas/saleeb.html
Suggested
reading:
- Robert Morey, The Islamic Invasion (Las Vegas, NV: Christian Scholars Press, 1992).
- Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1993).
- Dr. Anis A. Shorrosh, Islam Unveiled (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1988).
- Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1999).
A Defense of the
Accurate Transmission of
The Bible
(Part 2)