Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 4. Atonement
Jesus taught people to seek forgiveness directly
In short
- 1.The **Lord's Prayer** teaches a direct petition: 'Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors' [Matthew 6:12].
- 2.'If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you' [Matthew 6:14] — conditional on repentance and mercy, not on blood.
- 3.The **prodigal son** is forgiven by a father who simply runs to meet him [Luke 15:20-24]; no sacrifice is offered.
- 4.The **tax collector** who says 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner' goes home justified [Luke 18:13-14].
- 5.None of these teachings mentions the cross.
The claim being examined
If the cross is the only channel of forgiveness, Jesus' own teaching should point people toward it.
The Islamic position
Islam notes that the Jesus of the Gospels teaches people to ask God for forgiveness directly and to forgive each other — the Islamic pattern exactly.
Analysis
These passages are not marginal; they are among the best-known material in the Gospels, and they consistently present forgiveness as God's free response to humility and repentance. The parable of the prodigal son in particular has no atoning mechanism in it at all. It is difficult to reconcile a theology in which forgiveness is impossible without a death with a teacher who repeatedly told people that God forgives those who ask.
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 66:8
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا
O you who believe, repent to God with sincere repentance.
Qur'an 2:222
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ
Indeed God loves those who repent and those who purify themselves.
From the Bible
Matthew 6:12
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Read it in their BibleFrom the Sunnah
Sahih Muslim 2749 · Sahih
By the One in whose hand is my soul, if you did not sin God would replace you with a people who would sin and then seek His forgiveness, and He would forgive them.
Sources
Abu Zakariya, Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · Luke 15, Luke 18, Matthew 6 · Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah — ch. 4, pp. 89-91
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