muslims have developed several arguments that in their view prove that the quran is indeed the word
of god here are three examples of the evidence they put forward for the quran's divine origin
one the man who received the revelation muhammad was known for his sincerity and integrity
such that even his enemies called him al-amin the trustworthy he was persecuted resisted offers to
compromise and steadfastly maintained his message for over 23 years he died with very few material
possessions having given away all his belongings to those in need historians have to conclude that
he was sincere second it is an extraordinary fact that the quran speaks to the prophet
commands him and even criticizes him this is not consistent with the idea of muhammad as the
self-conscious author the author declares himself to be the creator of the heavens and the earth
three the quran makes mentions a wide variety of physical phenomena to teach mankind lessons
the statements are not intended to teach science yet modern scientists are amazed at the accuracy
of these statements for example the quran says things about the development of the human embryo
which remain accurate today so it would have been impossible for a man in the 7th century to have
known these facts with certainty these and many other arguments together suggest a strong case for
the divine origin of the quran but i have always been impressed by the extraordinary convergence
of the quranic teaching about the status and role of jesus and the majority view
of western new testament scholars on this issue unless the quran has a divine origin how can we
explain the remarkable agreement between those historians whose life work it is to uncover the
truth about the historical jesus with the quranic statements about his status role and teaching was
muhammad just very lucky to get it right just as he was most fortunate in his understanding
of the evolution of the embryo and spot on concerning the physical origins of the universe
is this extraordinary convergence yet another sign of the quran's divine origin
let's explore this in more detail who was jesus of nazareth this is the title of the final chapter
of a book by professor graham stanton a professor of the bible at the university of cambridge
called the gospels and jesus and i read i want to read you from the last two paragraphs
so this is the title of the chapter who was jesus of nazareth the key to the story
is the ending jesus went up to jerusalem for the last time not simply in order to minister
to its inhabitants he went to jerusalem in order to confront the religious political establishment
with his claim that the kingdom of god was at hand on the basis of his convictions about the presence
power and the will of god jesus called for a re-ordering of israel's priorities
in that sense he brought he sought the renewal of judaism renewal movements generally involve
the discovery of basic principles and a call for loyalty to an inherited tradition
the jesus movement was no exception in due course what jesus and his followers intended as a recall
to basics led to the parting of the ways between christianity and judaism but that is another story
jesus certainly did not intend to found a new religion he did not repudiate
scripture though on occasion he emphasized some scriptural principles at the expense of others
with a few rare exceptions he did not call in question the law of moses but he did challenge
some established conventions and priorities jesus believed that he had been sent by god
as a prophet to declare authoritatively the will of god for his people acceptance or rejection
of him and his message was equivalent to acceptance or rejection of god end quote
now compare and contrast this with what jesus says in the quran about his ministry
he jesus said i am indeed a servant of god he has given me revelation and made me a prophet
1930. he god will send him as a messenger to the children of israel 349. i have come to confirm
the truth of the torah which preceded me and to make some things lawful to you which used to be
forbidden 350. when jesus came with clear signs he says now i have come to you with wisdom in order
to make clear to you some of the points on which you dispute therefore fear god and obey me god he
is my lord and your lord so worship him this is a straight path and behold god will say on the day
of judgment oh jesus son of mary did you say unto men worship me and my mother as gods in derogation
of god he will say glory to thee never could i say what i had no right to say had i said such a thing
you would indeed have known it you know what is in my heart though i do not know what is in yours for
you know in full all that is hidden never did i say anything except what you commanded me to say
worship god my lord and your lord and i was a witness over them while i lived among them
when you took me up you were the watcher over them and you are a witness to all things quran 516-117
that this extraordinary convergence of the quranic teaching about the status and role of jesus
and the majority view of western new testament scholars deserves to be much more widely known
and merits further research by muslims
and christians but there's another further piece of perhaps extraordinary evidence
of this convergence and that is jesus the law and the quran which i have discussed before
certainly certain early christians claim that jesus abolished the law with its commandments
one such individual was of course paul of tarsus who never met jesus during the latter's lifetime
in paul's letter to the ephesians he writes he jesus has abolished the law with its commandments
and ordinances ephesians 2 15 in paul's letter to the romans paul told the christians jews and
gentiles alike that we are discharged from the law 7-6 significantly other christians claim
that jesus taught precisely the opposite that the law was valid in all its details
matthew in his gospel attributes this view to jesus jesus is quoted as saying that no one should
think he has come he came to abolish the law since he did not come to abolish but to fulfill
matthew 5 17. most christians in my experience then ignore what jesus is alleged to have said
in the immediately following verses where jesus insists on obedience to every commandment in the
torah therefore whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same
will be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them will be called
great in the kingdom of heaven matthew 5 19. towards the end of jesus ministry matthew quotes
jesus as saying the scribes and the pharisees sit on moses seat therefore do whatever they teach
you and follow it but do not do as they do for they do not practice what they preach matthew 23
so according to this teaching every commandment of the torah is still to be followed even the
least but confusingly matthew has jesus cancel some torah laws in matthew 5 31 jesus cancels
the law about divorce found in deuteronomy 24 and issues new a new regulation to replace it
now there is a third possible explanation available however and this is to be found in the
teaching of jesus in the quran and in professor graham stanton's study of the historical jesus
in the book as we have seen stanton concludes with a few rare exceptions he did not call in question
the law of moses he did not repudiate scripture though on occasion he emphasized some scriptural
principles at the expense of others compare this to the quran i have come to confirm the truth
of the torah which preceded me and to make some things lawful to you which used to be forbidden
exactly the same i wonder if professor graham stand had been reading the quran rather than
examining anything else so jesus did not abolish the law as paul erroneously claimed
and recall that paul never met jesus during his ministry and neither did jesus teach his disciples
to obey even the smallest commandment of the torah as matthew erroneously portrays jesus as doing
and it's relevant to note here that most new testament scholars do not think that matthew's
gospel is an eyewitness account but that's another story the truth is somewhere in between
and it is to be found in the remarkable convergence i believe between the best new
testament scholarship represented by moderate mainstream scholars such as professor stanton
and the teaching of god himself in the quran now some people might harbor the suspicion
that stanton is the lone voice among the cream of new testament scholars so let us take a note
of another prestigious scholarly work the new jerome biblical commentary which i've mentioned
in a previous video this is recommended by the church times as it can confidently be recommended
as the one volume critical exegetical commentary of the bible in its commentary on matthew 5
17 onwards the new jerome biblical commentary states the problem arises because the plain sense
of the words is that jesus affirms the abiding validity of the torah but this contradicts paul
there are contradictions within the new testament on penultimate matters matthew 5 17-20 was written
against the hellenizing christians particularly paul and his followers that's page 641
concerning verses 17 19 and 20 it notes that these reflect the outlook of jewish christianity which
as a separate movement was eventually defeated by paulinism and died out perhaps to be reborn
in a different form as islam 641 this last quote is a remarkable acknowledgement that islam has
much in common with the practice and beliefs of christians in the first century jewish christians
muslims though will not be surprised that the quran gets it just about right and some may wonder
if this extraordinary convergence is yet another sign of the quran's divine origin until next time