28 - Answering Islam's Great Objection to Christ

One of the principal reasons why Muslims reject Christianity can be summed up in six words: "How can God have a Son?" The problem is that the Islamic concept of sonship is strictly naturalistic. In order to produce a son, they say, God would have to engage in a physical relationship with a wife. They consider this idea the worst sort of blasphemy.

But the Bible teaches that the sonship of Jesus Christ is relational, not naturalistic. God did not produce a son; God has always been the Son. Being born of the virgin Mary did not make Jesus the Son of God any more than it made Mary the wife of God. The purpose of Christ's virgin birth was to facilitate the entrance of the eternally existent Son into the world in human form, to die for sinners. As 1 John 3:8 tells us, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested" -- made visible to man.

How can God have a Son? The Bible's explanation is our focus this week as we continue our series, Christ Above All: Studies in Colossians.