I’ll never forget the first time I talked with a Muslim friend about Jesus. We were sitting on the edge of a crowded university café, surrounded by the hum of student life. He leaned in, smiling, and said, “You know we believe in Jesus too, right?” I nodded, intrigued. “But not like you do,” he added gently. That single sentence opened a door to one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve ever had about faith, identity, and what it means to follow God.

That exchange stuck with me because it revealed something that often gets missed in surface-level comparisons between Christianity and Islam. Yes, both traditions speak of Jesus. Yes, both honor him. But the Jesus we see through Christian eyes and the Jesus Muslims revere in the Qur’an are not the same. The differences are not just about doctrine, they reflect entirely different visions of who God is, what it means to be human, and how salvation works. In this chapter, I want to walk slowly and thoughtfully through these contrasts—not to win an argument, but to listen more carefully and speak more clearly.

So much of our dialogue today is rushed and reactionary. But the figure of Jesus calls for something deeper, more reflective. He is not just a point of overlap between two faiths—he is the dividing line. How we answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” changes everything else. And perhaps the best place to begin is by setting our preconceptions aside and letting both the Bible and the Qur’an speak in their own voices. From there, we can begin to understand not just how Christians and Muslims differ, but why those differences matter.

The Contested Christ: Jesus in the Bible and the Qur’an

Chapter 2 – A Personal and Scholarly Reflection

Jesus at the Center, Revered but Divided

Jesus has always had a way of drawing people in. Whether through the pages of the New Testament or the verses of the Qur’an, his presence commands attention. But when Christians and Muslims talk about Jesus, they are not just discussing a religious figure, they are revealing how they see God, humanity, and salvation. Christians know him as the crucified and risen Lord, while Muslims revere him as a prophet who never died. At first glance, this sounds like respectful disagreement. But when you dig deeper, you realize these differences run to the core. As a Christian, I find that beginning any conversation with my Muslim neighbors about faith often circles back to one pressing question: Who is Jesus, really? And answering that question requires more than surface-level comparison, it demands historical, theological, and personal engagement.

Paul’s Christ and the Qur’an’s Prophet

Paul’s letters offer us a clear window into the Christian understanding of Jesus. He doesn’t present Christ as just a spiritual teacher or moral example. Instead, he proclaims him as the very embodiment of God’s redemptive plan. In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul essentially reworks Israel’s Shema to include Jesus within the divine identity, “for us there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.” This was no small claim, especially for someone steeped in Jewish monotheism. Larry Hurtado (2005) called this early devotion to Jesus a “binitarian” pattern of worship, radical in its implications but rooted in the earliest Christian communities. I remember explaining this to a Muslim friend over coffee. He paused and said, “But if God is one, how can Jesus be divine?” That question doesn’t just raise theological alarms, it reveals how two faiths interpret the very nature of divine unity differently.

Miracles, Mercy, and Misunderstanding

Muslims, of course, hold Jesus—ʿĪsā ibn Maryam—in deep esteem. He is called Messiah (al-Masīḥ), Word of God (Kalimat Allāh), and Spirit from God (Rūḥun minhu) in the Qur’an (Qur’an 4:171). These titles sound familiar, but they function quite differently. In Islam, Jesus is fully human, born of the Virgin Mary, and empowered by God to perform miracles. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (2015) explains that affirming his divinity would be shirk, associating partners with God, a serious theological violation. This belief isn’t rooted in disdain, but in devotion to tawḥīd, the absolute oneness of God. I’ve seen this reverence firsthand in a mosque, where a Muslim leader explained Jesus’ miraculous birth with as much awe as any Christian sermon. But there was a line he wouldn’t cross, Jesus is not divine. From his perspective, to suggest otherwise would be to blur the boundary between Creator and creation.

The Cross and the Divide

One of the most striking differences between the Christian and Muslim portraits of Jesus is what each tradition says about the cross. For Christians, the crucifixion is not only historical, it’s essential. Paul declares, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Corinthians 15:17, NIV). The cross, for Christians, is the epicenter of God’s justice and mercy. John Stott (1986) defends the doctrine of penal substitution, arguing that Jesus bore the penalty we deserved so that we could be reconciled. Gustaf Aulén (1931) speaks of Christ’s death as a cosmic victory over evil, a triumph that liberates humanity. In contrast, the Qur’an flatly denies that Jesus was crucified (Qur’an 4:157). Early Muslim commentators like al-Ṭabarī speculated that someone else was crucified in Jesus’ place. To a Muslim, the cross is not redemptive, it’s a misrepresentation. This isn’t a minor disagreement, it’s a fundamentally different vision of how God deals with sin.

Two Paths to Salvation

Salvation, then, is understood very differently in both traditions. Christianity teaches that sin is not just a matter of bad choices, it’s a condition. It’s something that has twisted human nature and fractured our relationship with God. Paul writes that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), and that we are justified not by works but through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16). Islam, by contrast, teaches that humans are born in a state of fitrah, a natural disposition toward good. Sin is real, but it’s a matter of moral lapse, not ontological corruption. Forgiveness, according to the Qur’an, is readily available to those who sincerely repent, “Do not despair of the mercy of Allah” (Qur’an 39:53). The Christian idea of original sin and substitutionary atonement seems, to many Muslims, unnecessary, even unjust. This is where dialogue becomes difficult but also fruitful. We are not just talking about theology, we are wrestling with two different ways of seeing human nature and divine mercy.

Echoes of Apocrypha, Reframed in the Qur’an

The Qur’an’s portrayal of Jesus didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Scholars like Gabriel Reynolds (2018) and Sidney Griffith (2008) have shown how apocryphal Christian writings, especially Syriac texts like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, may have influenced some Qur’anic narratives. The image of Jesus speaking from the cradle (Qur’an 19:29–30) or forming birds from clay (Qur’an 5:110) has clear echoes in these earlier stories. But as Reynolds explains, the Qur’an doesn't simply copy these accounts, it reshapes them. Jesus performs miracles “by God’s permission,” not from his own authority. Mark Durie (2018) calls this “reflexive revelation,” where the Qur’an engages with earlier religious ideas not to affirm but to correct. It’s like the Qur’an is having a theological conversation with its predecessors, asserting that Jesus is not divine but still honored. This reframing is intentional, designed to uphold tawḥīd even while affirming Jesus’ special role.

Scripture Meant to Be Heard

Understanding the Qur’an also means understanding the culture from which it emerged. Andy Bannister (2014) offers a helpful lens with his “oral-formulaic” model. Drawing on the work of Milman Parry and Albert Lord, he argues that the Qur’an’s structure, its repetitions, thematic cycles, and abrupt shifts, makes perfect sense in an oral culture. Rather than reading the Qur’an like a modern book, we should hear it like a sermon, spoken into a real context, with real people listening. I’ve experienced this kind of oral recitation in a mosque in Istanbul. The rhythmic, chant-like delivery wasn’t just beautiful, it was designed to lodge truths in the memory and heart. Bannister reminds us that the Qur’an’s coherence is oral, not linear. Its repeated refrains like “God is Forgiving, Merciful” are not filler, they are theological anchors.

Conclusion, Who Do You Say That He Is?

As we reflect on these deep differences, it’s important to do so with both clarity and humility. Christians can’t say that Muslims honor the same Jesus in a different way. The differences are too great. Islam redefines Jesus in ways that depart significantly from the apostolic witness. As Daryl Evans and James Beverley (2015) point out, the Qur’anic Jesus may sound familiar, but he is not the crucified and risen Lord of the New Testament. He is honored, but not worshiped. Respected, but not redemptive. This is not to diminish Muslim faith, but to clarify the stakes. For Christians, Jesus isn’t merely a sign pointing to God, he is God come to save. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and that changes everything.

References

Aulén, G. (1931). Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement. SPCK.
Bannister, A. (2014). An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’an. Lexington Books.
Durie, M. (2018). The Qur'an and its Biblical Reflexes: Investigations into the Genesis of a Religion. Lexington Books.
Evans, J., & Beverley, J. A. (2015). Getting Jesus Right: How Muslims Get Him Wrong and Why It Matters. Credo House.
Griffith, S. H. (2008). The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the 'People of the Book' in the Language of Islam. Princeton University Press.
Hurtado, L. (2005). Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Eerdmans.
Licona, M. R. (2010). The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. IVP Academic.
Nasr, S. H. (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. HarperOne.
Reynolds, G. S. (2018). The Qur’an and the Bible: Text and Commentary. Yale University Press.
Stott, J. (1986). The Cross of Christ. InterVarsity Press.
Wright, N. T. (2003). The Resurrection of the Son of God. Fortress Press.
Wright, N. T. (2012). How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. HarperOne.