In this brief clip from his new series, Exploring Islam, James Anderson explains what Islam teaches about the crucifixion of Jesus.
Transcript
The Qur’an notoriously denies the crucifixion of Jesus. According to Surah 4:157, “The Jews said, ‘we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ They did not kill him nor did they crucify him though it was made to appear like that to them. They certainly did not kill him. God raised him up to himself.” Well, that's what the Qur’an says, but even the most liberal and skeptical of biblical scholars today will affirm the historicity of the resurrection. Let me give you just one example. This comes from Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar who's very critical of the Bible—no friend of Christianity—but he says this in one of his works: “one of the most certain facts of history is that Jesus was crucified on orders of the Roman prefect of Judea Pontius Pilate.” So the challenge for Muslims is this: why should we believe one verse in a book written in Arabia six hundred years after the life of Jesus rather than multiple sources in the New Testament written within decades of the events and based on eyewitness testimony?
Learn more in James Anderson’s new series, Exploring Islam or download R.C. Sproul’s free ebook Who Is Jesus?.
