Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?
By Albert Mohler •
December 1, 2013 •
Does God care what we call Him? Do Muslims and Christians worship the same
god? These are questions many Christians are asking these days, and for good
reason.
For some time now, feminist theologians and a host of others have suggested
that Christians should adopt new names for God. One denomination went so far as
to affirm names like “Giver, Gift and Giving” in place of the “Father, Son and
Holy Spirit” to be used in worship. Feminist theologians have demanded that
masculine pronouns and names for God be replaced with female or gender-neutral
terms. But to change the name of God is to redefine the God we reference.
Changing the name of God is no small matter.
As a matter of fact, God takes His name very seriously, and the Ten
Commandments include the command that we must not take the name of the Lord in
vain. We are to use the names God has given for Himself, and we are to recognize
that God takes His name seriously because He desires to be rightly known by His
human creatures. We cannot truly know Him if we do not even know His name.
Moses understood this. When he encountered the call of God that came from the
burning bush, Moses asked God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to
them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is
his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). God answered Moses, “I Am
who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). God told Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The
Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be
remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15).
As these verses make clear, we are not to tamper with God’s name. We are to
use the names whereby God has named Himself, and we are to recognize that any
confusion about the name of God will lead to confusion about the nature of God,
if not to idolatry.
Christians must keep this central principle from the Bible constantly in mind
as we consider some of the most urgent questions we face in the world today. We
must certainly have this principle in mind when we think about Islam.
Several years ago, a bishop in the Netherlands attracted controversy when he
argued that Christians should call God “Allah” in order to lower theological
tensions. He also argued that calling God “Allah” would be commonplace in
Christian churches within a century and that this would lead to a synthesis of
Islam and Christianity.
More recently, an Islamic court in Malaysia ruled that only Muslims can use
the name “Allah” in print publications. “The usage of the word will cause
confusion in the community,” the chief judge ruled. Oddly enough, Christians may
well agree with this Islamic judge. To call God “Allah” is to invite
confusion.
In the Bible, God reveals Himself to us in many names. These names are His
personal property. We did not invent these names for God. To the contrary, God
revealed these names as His own.
We have no right to modify or to revise these names—much less to reject them.
Jesus Christ made this abundantly clear. In the simplest way imaginable, Jesus
teaches us to know God as Father, and to use this name in prayer. The Lord’s
Prayer begins with the words, “Our Father, who is in heaven.” By the grace that
God has shown us in Christ, we can truly know Him as Father.
Muslims do not speak of God as their heavenly Father. In the Islamic faith,
Allah is not only a different name for god; the deity it designates is far more
impersonal than the God of the Bible. Father—the very name that Jesus gave us as
the designated name for use in prayer—is a name that simply does not fit Allah
as depicted in the Quran.
Furthermore, Muslims claim that Allah has no son. This represents a head-on
collision between the God of the Bible and Allah. For, as the Bible makes clear,
the one and only true God is most perfectly revealed as the Father of the Son,
Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly teaches that no one has
truly known the Father, except by the Son. In one of the most clarifying verses
in the New Testament, Jesus declared Himself to be “the way, and the truth, and
the life,” adding, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John
14:6).
Because Muslims deny that God has a son, they explicitly reject any
Trinitarian language. From the very starting point, Islam denies what
Christianity takes as its central truth claim: the fact that Jesus Christ is the
only begotten of the Father. If Allah has no son, then Allah is not the God who
reveals Himself through the Son. How then can calling God “Allah” not lead to
anything but confusion—and worse?
Islam teaches that the doctrine of the Trinity is blasphemous. But the
Christian faith is essentially and irreducibly Trinitarian. The Bible reveals
that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God.
Jesus is not merely a prophet, as acknowledged by Muslims, He is God in human
flesh. This is precisely what Islam rejects.
The Trinitarian language is the language of the Bible, and it is essential to
Christianity. Indeed, the Christian faith points to Christ and announces that we
can only know the Father through the Son. Confusing the God of the Bible with
Allah of the Quran is not only a mistake, it is a dangerous distortion of the
Gospel of Christ.
The Trinitarian nature of God is embedded within the Great Commission. Jesus
tells His disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations and
to baptize them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Christians are those who bear the names of God even in
our baptism, and those names are Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This has become a matter of significant controversy in recent years as some
Christians, including some serving with mission agencies, have argued that
Christians can use the name “Allah” in talking about God. In some languages,
especially those based on an Arabic source, there is no generic word for
god. In such a situation, it might be necessary to begin a conversation
by using this word, but the Christian cannot continue to call God “Allah.” It is
hard to imagine that anyone can hear the name “Allah” without thinking of him as
claimed in the Quran (see following article). Indeed, Muslims who speak
languages other than Arabic use “Allah” as the name of god. But as soon as the
Christian begins to explain that the true living God is the Father of Jesus
Christ the Son, the Christian is making clear that the true living God is not
Allah, but our Heavenly Father.
Continuing to use the name “Allah” to refer to the God of the Bible in such
situations invites deep confusion. Some now argue that Muslims who come to faith
in Christ can even remain within the mosque and continue to worship God as
Allah. It is hard to see how that is anything other than a theological
disaster.
We can now see that the name of God is no small matter. The deity we name is
the God we believe in. Christians believe in only one God, and He is the Father
who sent the Son to save us from our sins. Allah has no son, and, thus,
Christians cannot know God as Allah. In this light, Muslims and Christians do
not only use different names for God; in reality, these different names refer to
different gods.
God takes His name with great seriousness, and so must we. Thankfully, we are
not left in the dark, groping for adequate language. God has revealed His names
to us, so that we can rightly know Him. We are not called to be clever or
creative in referring to God, only faithful and accurate.
We are living in challenging days. One of the most pressing challenges of our
times is the task of speaking rightly about God. This is particularly
challenging when Christians encounter Muslims, but it is also a challenge when
Christians encounter secular people in Western cultures. But this really isn’t a
new challenge. It was the same challenge faced by the children of Israel as they
encountered the Canaanites, and the same challenge faced by the Apostle Paul at
Mars Hill.
Our challenge is to speak truthfully about God, and the only way we can do
that is to use the names God gave Himself. The God of the Bible is not Allah,
and Allah is not the God of the Bible. Any confusion about that undermines the
very Gospel we preach.
©2013 R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard
Version.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., is president of The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, in Louisville, KY.
By Albert Mohler •
December 1, 2013 •
Does God care what we call Him? Do Muslims and Christians worship the same
god? These are questions many Christians are asking these days, and for good
reason.
For some time now, feminist theologians and a host of others have suggested
that Christians should adopt new names for God. One denomination went so far as
to affirm names like “Giver, Gift and Giving” in place of the “Father, Son and
Holy Spirit” to be used in worship. Feminist theologians have demanded that
masculine pronouns and names for God be replaced with female or gender-neutral
terms. But to change the name of God is to redefine the God we reference.
Changing the name of God is no small matter.
As a matter of fact, God takes His name very seriously, and the Ten
Commandments include the command that we must not take the name of the Lord in
vain. We are to use the names God has given for Himself, and we are to recognize
that God takes His name seriously because He desires to be rightly known by His
human creatures. We cannot truly know Him if we do not even know His name.
Moses understood this. When he encountered the call of God that came from the
burning bush, Moses asked God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to
them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is
his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). God answered Moses, “I Am
who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). God told Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The
Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be
remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15).
As these verses make clear, we are not to tamper with God’s name. We are to
use the names whereby God has named Himself, and we are to recognize that any
confusion about the name of God will lead to confusion about the nature of God,
if not to idolatry.
Christians must keep this central principle from the Bible constantly in mind
as we consider some of the most urgent questions we face in the world today. We
must certainly have this principle in mind when we think about Islam.
Several years ago, a bishop in the Netherlands attracted controversy when he
argued that Christians should call God “Allah” in order to lower theological
tensions. He also argued that calling God “Allah” would be commonplace in
Christian churches within a century and that this would lead to a synthesis of
Islam and Christianity.
More recently, an Islamic court in Malaysia ruled that only Muslims can use
the name “Allah” in print publications. “The usage of the word will cause
confusion in the community,” the chief judge ruled. Oddly enough, Christians may
well agree with this Islamic judge. To call God “Allah” is to invite
confusion.
In the Bible, God reveals Himself to us in many names. These names are His
personal property. We did not invent these names for God. To the contrary, God
revealed these names as His own.
We have no right to modify or to revise these names—much less to reject them.
Jesus Christ made this abundantly clear. In the simplest way imaginable, Jesus
teaches us to know God as Father, and to use this name in prayer. The Lord’s
Prayer begins with the words, “Our Father, who is in heaven.” By the grace that
God has shown us in Christ, we can truly know Him as Father.
Muslims do not speak of God as their heavenly Father. In the Islamic faith,
Allah is not only a different name for god; the deity it designates is far more
impersonal than the God of the Bible. Father—the very name that Jesus gave us as
the designated name for use in prayer—is a name that simply does not fit Allah
as depicted in the Quran.
Furthermore, Muslims claim that Allah has no son. This represents a head-on
collision between the God of the Bible and Allah. For, as the Bible makes clear,
the one and only true God is most perfectly revealed as the Father of the Son,
Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly teaches that no one has
truly known the Father, except by the Son. In one of the most clarifying verses
in the New Testament, Jesus declared Himself to be “the way, and the truth, and
the life,” adding, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John
14:6).
Because Muslims deny that God has a son, they explicitly reject any
Trinitarian language. From the very starting point, Islam denies what
Christianity takes as its central truth claim: the fact that Jesus Christ is the
only begotten of the Father. If Allah has no son, then Allah is not the God who
reveals Himself through the Son. How then can calling God “Allah” not lead to
anything but confusion—and worse?
Islam teaches that the doctrine of the Trinity is blasphemous. But the
Christian faith is essentially and irreducibly Trinitarian. The Bible reveals
that the Father is God, that the Son is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God.
Jesus is not merely a prophet, as acknowledged by Muslims, He is God in human
flesh. This is precisely what Islam rejects.
The Trinitarian language is the language of the Bible, and it is essential to
Christianity. Indeed, the Christian faith points to Christ and announces that we
can only know the Father through the Son. Confusing the God of the Bible with
Allah of the Quran is not only a mistake, it is a dangerous distortion of the
Gospel of Christ.
The Trinitarian nature of God is embedded within the Great Commission. Jesus
tells His disciples to go into the world and make disciples of all nations and
to baptize them “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Christians are those who bear the names of God even in
our baptism, and those names are Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This has become a matter of significant controversy in recent years as some
Christians, including some serving with mission agencies, have argued that
Christians can use the name “Allah” in talking about God. In some languages,
especially those based on an Arabic source, there is no generic word for
god. In such a situation, it might be necessary to begin a conversation
by using this word, but the Christian cannot continue to call God “Allah.” It is
hard to imagine that anyone can hear the name “Allah” without thinking of him as
claimed in the Quran (see following article). Indeed, Muslims who speak
languages other than Arabic use “Allah” as the name of god. But as soon as the
Christian begins to explain that the true living God is the Father of Jesus
Christ the Son, the Christian is making clear that the true living God is not
Allah, but our Heavenly Father.
Continuing to use the name “Allah” to refer to the God of the Bible in such
situations invites deep confusion. Some now argue that Muslims who come to faith
in Christ can even remain within the mosque and continue to worship God as
Allah. It is hard to see how that is anything other than a theological
disaster.
We can now see that the name of God is no small matter. The deity we name is
the God we believe in. Christians believe in only one God, and He is the Father
who sent the Son to save us from our sins. Allah has no son, and, thus,
Christians cannot know God as Allah. In this light, Muslims and Christians do
not only use different names for God; in reality, these different names refer to
different gods.
God takes His name with great seriousness, and so must we. Thankfully, we are
not left in the dark, groping for adequate language. God has revealed His names
to us, so that we can rightly know Him. We are not called to be clever or
creative in referring to God, only faithful and accurate.
We are living in challenging days. One of the most pressing challenges of our
times is the task of speaking rightly about God. This is particularly
challenging when Christians encounter Muslims, but it is also a challenge when
Christians encounter secular people in Western cultures. But this really isn’t a
new challenge. It was the same challenge faced by the children of Israel as they
encountered the Canaanites, and the same challenge faced by the Apostle Paul at
Mars Hill.
Our challenge is to speak truthfully about God, and the only way we can do
that is to use the names God gave Himself. The God of the Bible is not Allah,
and Allah is not the God of the Bible. Any confusion about that undermines the
very Gospel we preach.
©2013 R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard
Version.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., is president of The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, in Louisville, KY.
