Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 7. Paul
Was Jesus sent to the whole world or to Israel?
In short
- 1.'I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel' [Matthew 15:24].
- 2.'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans' [Matthew 10:5-6].
- 3.The Canaanite woman is initially refused: 'it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs' [Matthew 15:26].
- 4.The great commission [Matthew 28:19] sits in tension with these, and its Trinitarian formula is debated.
- 5.The Qur'an: Jesus (PBUH) is a messenger to the Children of Israel [3:49, 61:6]; Muhammad (SAW) is sent to all people [34:28].
The claim being examined
The great commission presents Jesus (PBUH) as sending his followers to make disciples of all nations.
The Islamic position
Islam holds that Jesus (PBUH) was sent specifically to the Children of Israel, and that universality begins with the final Prophet.
Analysis
Matthew preserves both a restrictive mission and a universal commission, and the tension between them is a standard problem in Gospel scholarship, usually resolved by seeing the restrictive sayings as earlier tradition and the commission as reflecting the Church's later Gentile mission. On the Islamic reading, the earlier layer is the historical one: Jesus (PBUH) is Israel's prophet, and the universal message is the mission of the one who came after him.
From the Qur'an
وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَـٰبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ إِنِّى رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ إِلَيْكُم مُّصَدِّقًۭا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَىَّ مِنَ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَمُبَشِّرًۢا بِرَسُولٍۢ يَأْتِى مِنۢ بَعْدِى ٱسْمُهُۥٓ أَحْمَدُ ۖ فَلَمَّا جَآءَهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ قَالُوا۟ هَـٰذَا سِحْرٌۭ مُّبِينٌۭ
wa-idh qāla ʿīsā ub'nu maryama yābanī is'rāīla innī rasūlu l-lahi ilaykum muṣaddiqan limā bayna yadayya mina l-tawrāti wamubashiran birasūlin yatī min baʿdī us'muhu aḥmadu falammā jāahum bil-bayināti qālū hādhā siḥ'run mubīnun
O Children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of God to you.
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ إِلَّا كَآفَّةًۭ لِّلنَّاسِ بَشِيرًۭا وَنَذِيرًۭا
wamā arsalnāka illā kāffatan lilnnāsi bashīran wanadhīran
We have not sent you except comprehensively to mankind as a bringer of good tidings and a warner.
From the Bible
οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Read it in their Bibleεἰς ὁδὸν ἐθνῶν μὴ ἀπέλθητε
Do not go among the Gentiles… go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
Read it in their BibleSources
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