Muhammadan Objections

118	OBJECTIONS TO SOME CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES

98. M. If God had a son, He must have had a wife: but to assert that is blasphemy¹.

C. Certainly it is, and therefore such a thought has never entered into a Christian's mind. Your argument shows that you do not understand in what sense we believe in Christ's Divine Sonship (§ 114)².

99. M. Where is it written in the Bible that Jesus Christ is God?

C. In many places, e.g. Isa. ix. 6; John i. I; xx. 28, &c.

100. M. If Christ was God, how was it possible for Him to be hungry, to be tempted, to be killed, as your Gospels say He was. Can God die?

C. The Gospels tell us that there are three hypostases (اقانيم‬ )³ in the Divine Unity⁴, as we shall

¹ A more learned form of somewhat the same objection is thus given by the Rev. T. R. Wade from a written controversy:— M. Between the begetter and the begotten there must necessarily be either the likeness of species or that of genus. But everything that implies, as this does, lack or change in the Self-Existent Eternal One is impossible. C. The Christian doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son does not imply lack or change in the Godhead. (Vide also §§ 114, 135-7, 147-166.) The question ultimately turns not upon metaphysics but on the Divine authority of the Biblical teaching on the subject, upon which rests our doctrine of the Trinity.
² See Rev. Dr. Rouse's tract, God our Father (Christian Literature Society for India).
³ The Arabic word (sing. aqnum, pl. aqanim) comes from the Syriac qnum, which is used in the technical Christian sense of ουσια or υποστασις . Its derivation is doubtful, but I suggest that it is the Assyrian qinum, from the Sumerian gin. It would thus mean "that which is firm, enduring."
⁴ Cf. Matt. xxviii. 19.

AS ALLEGED TO BE TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE

119

see in discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. One of these, the Son or Word, assumed the perfect nature of a man (John i. 14), and in His human nature was hungry, tempted, slain. God cannot, but man can, be tempted (Jas. i. 13), or be hungry, or die: hence, in order to suffer thus for and with us, Christ assumed human nature.

101. M. How could Jesus be the Son of God or one with God, since on the cross He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me"?

C. This is a quotation from Ps. xxii. I, and calls attention to the fact that His death was there prophesied of. That Christ was the Son of God and one with His Father is clear from His own statements. If these were false, how can the Qur'an speak of Him as a prophet? He spoke in His human nature on the on the cross, just as in His human nature He suffered and died. The words show (I) that His was a real human body, in which He suffered mental and physical pain for your sake and for mine: and (2) they are therefore a proof of His Humanity. We need proofs of His human nature as much as proofs of His Deity, for both natures in union were requisite to make His atoning work perfect (§ 100)¹.

102. M. From John xvii. 3 it is clear that He was distinct from God, and was merely sent from

¹ Of course this is not intended as a full explanation of the passage.

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