Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 1. God in Christianity
The early Church had many views of Jesus, not one
In short
- 1.Ebionites: Jewish followers who kept the Law and held Jesus (PBUH) to be a human prophet and messiah.
- 2.Arians: held the Son to be created and subordinate — 'there was a time when he was not'.
- 3.Docetists and Gnostics: held Jesus (PBUH) only appeared to be human, or that the crucifixion was an illusion.
- 4.In the fourth century Arianism held the upper hand in the Greek-speaking East while Trinitarianism dominated the Latin West — neither was a fringe sect.
The claim being examined
Popular presents the divinity of Jesus (PBUH) as the unbroken faith of the Church from the beginning, with heresies appearing later as deviations.
The Islamic position
The Qur'anic account — that later communities divided over Jesus (PBUH) after him — matches the historical record of a Christianity that was plural long before it was orthodox.
Analysis
The picture of one apostolic faith later spoiled by heretics is the winning side's account of the argument. What the sources show is competing Christianities: Jewish followers of Jesus (PBUH) who never accepted that he was divine and went on keeping the Law; groups who held the Son to rank beneath the Father; and others who separated the human Jesus (PBUH) from the divine Christ, or held that he only appeared to be human. The label "heresy" was applied afterwards, once one party had imperial backing. This is exactly the situation the Qur'an describes when it speaks of the sects differing among themselves about Jesus (PBUH).
From the Qur'an
فَٱخْتَلَفَ ٱلْأَحْزَابُ مِنۢ بَيْنِهِمْ ۖ
fa-ikh'talafa l-aḥzābu min baynihim
But the factions differed among themselves.
فَٱخْتَلَفَ ٱلْأَحْزَابُ مِنۢ بَيْنِهِمْ ۖ فَوَيْلٌۭ لِّلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمٍ أَلِيمٍ
fa-ikh'talafa l-aḥzābu min baynihim fawaylun lilladhīna ẓalamū min ʿadhābi yawmin alīmin
But the factions from among them differed. So woe to those who have wronged from the punishment of a painful Day.
From the Bible
πόσαι μυριάδες εἰσὶν ἐν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις τῶν πεπιστευκότων καὶ πάντες ζηλωταὶ τοῦ νόμου
How many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and all of them are zealous for the Law.
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