Who Is Jesus?
This question is unavoidable
This question is unavoidable
Islam honors Jesus as a prophet, but denies His crucifixion and resurrection.
Christian Scripture presents Jesus as more than a prophet: the Son of God, crucified, and raised.
These claims cannot both be true.
If Jesus was not crucified, the gospel collapses.
If He was, then salvation must be reconsidered.
A common objection is the question: “How can God die?”
Christians do not believe that God ceased to exist, nor that God’s divine nature was destroyed.
Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is one person with two natures: fully God and fully man.
Death, by definition, is the separation of body and spirit.
Jesus experienced death in His human nature, not the annihilation of His divine nature.
God’s divine nature is eternal and unchanging.
What occurred at the cross was not the death of God’s essence, but the real death of the incarnate Son in His humanity.
This distinction matters.
If Jesus were only a man, His death could not address guilt before God.
If Jesus were only God without true humanity, He could not truly die.
The Christian claim is that the eternal Son took on true humanity so that He could truly suffer, truly die, and truly rise again.
How Scripture describes this
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
— John 1:1, 14
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
— Colossians 2:9
“Since the children have flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death.”
— Hebrews 2:14
Jesus did not cease to be God. He entered human history as man.
The question, then, is not whether God can die, but whether God can enter history to rescue humanity without ceasing to be God.
A question Jesus’ own words raise
The Qur’an describes Allah using titles of absolute uniqueness, including “the First and the Last”: “He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden.”
— Qur’an 57:3
In the New Testament, Jesus uses this same title for Himself: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.”
— Revelation 1:17–18
This creates an unavoidable question: If this title belongs to God alone, why does Jesus apply it to Himself?
If Jesus falsely claimed a divine title, He could not be a true prophet.
If He spoke truthfully, then His identity must be reconsidered.
Either way, His own words force a decision.