Booklet

The Incarnation Argument Against Christianity

Several passages can be used to argue that Jesus consistently distinguishes himself from God. The strongest ones are:

1. John 17:3 — Jesus addresses the Father as “the only true God” and distinguishes himself as Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.
Argument: Jesus distinguishes between God and the one sent by God.

2. John 20:17 — Jesus says: “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”
Argument: Jesus explicitly calls the Father “My God.” This raises a direct question for the Incarnation doctrine: How can God have a God?

3. Mark 13:32 — Jesus says that concerning the Day and Hour, “neither the Son, but only the Father” knows.
Argument: The Father possesses knowledge that the Son does not possess. This appears difficult to reconcile with divine omniscience without introducing the later theological distinction between Christ’s divine and human natures.

4. John 14:28 — Jesus says: “My Father is greater than I.”
Argument: Jesus explicitly places the Father above himself. Christians commonly interpret this as referring to Jesus’ incarnate condition rather than his divine nature.

5. Matthew 26:39 — Jesus prays to the Father: “not as I will, but as You will.”
Argument: Jesus is praying to God and distinguishes his will from the Father’s will. This naturally raises the questions: To whom was Jesus praying, and why does his will differ from the Father’s?

6. John 5:30 — Jesus says: “I can of Myself do nothing” and explains that he seeks the will of the Father who sent him.
Argument: Jesus describes himself as dependent upon God, submitting to God’s will, and being sent by God.

7. Acts 2:22 — Peter describes Jesus as “a Man attested by God” through miracles, wonders, and signs that God did through Him.
Argument: The verse distinguishes between:
God → Jesus → miracles.
God performs the miracles through Jesus, while Jesus is explicitly described as a man.

8. 1 Timothy 2:5 — Paul states that there is “one God” and identifies Jesus as the mediator between God and humanity, “the Man Christ Jesus.”
Argument: Grammatically, the passage distinguishes the one God from the mediator and explicitly identifies the mediator as “the Man Christ Jesus.”

Additional Strong Passages

Acts 3:13 — Peter speaks of “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” and then refers separately to “His Servant Jesus.”
Argument: The God worshiped by Abraham is distinguished from Jesus, who is described as His Servant.

Acts 3:26 — “God, having raised up His Servant Jesus…”
Argument: Again, there are two subjects: God, who acts, and Jesus, God’s servant whom He raises.

John 8:40 — Jesus describes himself as “a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.”
Argument: Jesus identifies himself as a man who receives truth **from God**, distinguishing the speaker from the source of the revelation.

John 7:16 — “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
Argument: Jesus attributes his teaching to the One who sent him.

John 12:49 — Jesus explains that he did not speak on his own authority; rather, “the Father who sent Me gave Me a command.”
Argument: Jesus receives commands from God rather than presenting himself as the ultimate source of those commands.

Luke 6:12 — Jesus “continued all night in prayer to God.”
Argument: The distinction is especially straightforward: Jesus is the one praying; God is the one to whom Jesus prays.

Hebrews 5:7 — Jesus offered “prayers and supplications” to the One capable of saving him from death.
Argument: Again, Jesus is the supplicant and God is the One being supplicated.

A concise cumulative argument

Taken together, these passages present a recurring biblical pattern:

  • Jesus has a God — John 20:17
  • Jesus calls the Father the only true God — John 17:3
  • Jesus prays to God — Luke 6:12
  • Jesus submits his will to God — Matthew 26:39
  • Jesus receives commands from God — John 12:49
  • Jesus is sent by God — John 7:16
  • Jesus says he can do nothing of himself — John 5:30
  • Jesus does not know what the Father knows — Mark 13:32
  • Jesus says the Father is greater than him — John 14:28
  • Jesus calls himself a man who heard from God — John 8:40
  • Peter calls Jesus a man accredited by God — Acts 2:22
  • Peter calls Jesus God’s servant — Acts 3:13, 26
  • Paul calls Jesus “the Man Christ Jesus” — 1 Timothy 2:5

The resulting question in a Muslim-Christian discussion is therefore not merely “Can Christians provide a theological explanation for these verses?” They can, principally through the doctrine of Christ’s two natures. The sharper question is:

Where does Jesus himself explicitly teach that these distinctions exist because he is simultaneously fully God and fully man, possessing two natures in one person?

That shifts the discussion from whether the later doctrine can accommodate these passages to whether the doctrine is explicitly taught by Jesus in the biblical text.

Old Testament Prophecy

Isaiah 9:6 is one of the most important Old Testament passages used by Christians to argue for the divinity of Jesus. But the Hebrew wording “Isaiah called the Messiah God.”

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” — Isaiah 9:6, NKJV

 

Jesus Rejects Equality with God

John 10:30 “Jesus stated I and the Father are one”

 

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 10:38 “but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 20:28 “And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’”

John 10:30 “I and My Father are one.”
John 20:28 “And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”
Mark 2:5-7 Forgive Sins: Jesus forgave people’s sins, and authority that belongs to God alone
> When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ~ Mark 2:5-7

Shared Devine Titles

1) “The First and the Last”
> “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” ~ Revelation 22:12-13

2) “Lord of Lords”
Describes Jesus returning with the words “King of kings and Lord of lords” written on His robe and on His thigh ~ Revelation 19:16
States that the Lamb will overcome opposing forces because “he is Lord of lords, and King of kings” ~ Revelation 17:14
Refers to the blessed and only Sovereign as the “King of kings and Lord of lords” ~ 1 Timothy 6:15
Proclaims that “the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God” ~ Deuteronomy 10:17
Instructs believers to “Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever” ~ Psalm 136:3