Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 20:2 (Summer 2016)
Article: “Take Me And My Mother As Gods Apart From God”: Surat Al Maida And The Qur’an’s Understanding Of The Trinity
Author: James R. White

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SBJT 20:2 (Summer 2016) p. 29

“Take Me And My Mother As Gods Apart From God”: Surat Al Maida And The Qur’an’s Understanding Of The Trinity

James R. White

James R. White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a professor, having taught Greek, Systematic Theology, and various topics in the field of apologetics. He has authored or contributed to more than twenty-four books, including The Forgotten Trinity (Bethany House, 1998), The Potter’s Freedom (Calvary Press, revised, 2000), Scripture Alone (Bethany House, 2004), The God Who Justifies (Bethany House, 2007), and What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur’an (Bethany House, 2013). Dr. White is an accomplished debater, having engaged in more than 140 moderated, public debates around the world and over 40 of those debates have been with Muslims, including the debate in the Juma Masjid in Durban, South Africa. Dr. White is an elder of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church and an avid cyclist.

And when God said, “O Jesus son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind, ‘Take me and my mother as gods apart from God?’” He said, “Glory be to Thee! It is not for me to utter that to which I have no right. Had I said it, Thou wouldst surely have known it. Thou knowest what is in my self and I know not what is in Thy Self. Truly it is Thou Who knowest best the things unseen.1

One can read the central texts in Muslim Scripture relating to the Christian doctrine of God and what the Qur’an considers the errors of the Christian

SBJT 20:2 (Summer 2016) p. 30

faith in a single sitting, literally in a matter of minutes. And yet the vast majority of Christians are blissfully unaware of the fact that they are addressed, directly, by the Scriptures of one of the largest religions in the world, and exhorted to repent of their beliefs. Sadly, the Qur’an is a closed book to Christians, including Christian leaders, just as much as the Bible is a closed book to the world’s Muslims.

There are a limited number of truly significant texts in the Qur’an that address Christian belief and teaching about Jesus. But one particular surah, Surat Al-Maida, (Surah 5) is rich with texts directed to the Christian people in particular. We will utilize this surah as the base text upon which to ask, “Does the form and content of the Qur’an allow for the construction of a coherent understanding of the author’s knowledge of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity?” Through this lens we can likewise consider subsidiary questions such as the nature of the Qur’anic revelation and its relationship t...

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