the trinity and christian missions to muslims - by rev. bassam michael madany

8/4/2019 The Trinity and Christian Missions to Muslims - By Rev. Bassam Michael Madany

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-trinity-and-christian-missions-to-muslims-by-rev-bassam-michael-madany 1/12

The Trinity and Christian Missions to Muslims

By Rev. Bassam Michael Madany

Islam has engaged the attention of Christians ever since its rise in Arabia in the seventh

century. One obvious reason is the fact that most early Muslim conquests took place within

Christian lands. “The People of the Book,” as Jews and Christians were called, faced the

choice of adopting the faith of their conquerors, or of remaining in their particular religion.

Those who persisted in their Christian commitment gave a reason for this decision. They

could not, and would not forsake the Biblical Messiah, their Lord and Savior. By implication,

they refused to believe in the “heavenly” mission of Muhammad as God’s final Messenger commissioned to call the world to Islam. From the beginning of the Christian-Muslim

encounter, the main debate centered upon these fundamental doctrines: the person and work

of Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity . Some time later, when the

irreconcilable differences between the teachings of the Bible and the Qur'an were recognized,

the authenticity of the Christian Scriptures became another core issue of controversy.

The Qur’an refers to Jesus as the son of Mary who was sent by God to proclaim a specific

message to the people of Israel. The details of the birth of Christ, his teachings, and miracles,

as recorded in the Qur’an, are apocryphal. What were Muhammad’s sources for his accounts

of the person and mission of the Messiah? In dealing with this subject, Professor Neal

Robinson, a British scholar, wrote in his book, Christ in Islam and Christianity:

“Despite our extensive knowledge of Byzantine Orthodoxy and of the principal forms of

Christianity which flourished in Syria and Persia, we know all too little about Christianity

as practised in Najran [a city in Arabia inhabited by Christian Arabs] and Abyssinia

[another name for Ethiopia] in the seventh century and even less about Arab tribal

Christianity. The external evidence and the evidence of the Qur'an itself both point to a

predominantly heterodox influence on the early environment of Islam. Although the

external evidence would favour Nestorianism and Monophysitism, the internal evidence is

equally indicative of some form of Jewish Christianity. We should probably think in terms

of a variety of rival sects some of which may have vanished without trace.” [1]

As Islam developed over the centuries, so did its intolerant attitude towards Christianity. Its

polemics were primarily directed against the Christian doctrine of God as Triune. Muslim

theologians ridiculed the doctrine of the Holy Trinity because it had no basis in Allah’s “true”

revelation in the Qur’an. Furthermore, it was irrational. They also attacked the Christian

doctrine of the Messiahship of Jesus, as revealed in the Christian Holy Scriptures, and

confessed by the Church in the Nicene Creed. Therefore, these words of the Nicene Creed

are abhorrent to the ears of Muslims:

“We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things

visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten

http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/madany/contact.html






not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. And we

believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the

Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.”

Denying this Trinitarian affirmation of the Fatherhood of God, the deity of Jesus Christ, and

the personality of the Holy Spirit, the Qur’an responds:

“Qol hua Allah ahad, Allah assamad, lam yalid, wa-lam youlad, wa-lam yakon lahu

kuf‟on ahad.”

“Say: Allah is one, Allah the Eternal One, He begot none, nor was He begotten, and no

one is equal to Him.” [2]

[Translation mine]

Basically, Muslims cannot accept the deity of Christ in the Trinitarian formulation and it

inevitably leads to their rejection of the Trinity. Muslims charge Christians with the sin of

“ shirk,” i.e., associating a mere creature with the Creator. In Islam, this is the unforgivable

sin.

When this theological context is fully grasped, the challenge facing Christian missionaries in

Muslim lands becomes apparent in all its starkness. How can the saving message of the

Gospel break through the obstacle of Islamic theological intransigence toward one of

Christianity’s main tenets? When preaching the Word of God to Muslims, should

missionaries downplay the importance of the Trinity, or the deity of Jesus Christ?

Lately, some Western experts on world religions, having adopted theological pluralism,

minimize the great gulf separating Christianity from Islam. In his book “Jesus in the

Qur'an,” Geoffrey Parrinder, Professor Emeritus of the Comparative Study of Religions at

the University of London wrote:

“The encounter of the world religions is a major fact of our times and it demands a

restatement of traditional theological expression. This restatement must take account of all

the new knowledge available.” [3]

His “restatement” of the Christian religion illustrates how some Western scholars have

downplayed the sharp differences between Christianity and Islam. Should their views achieve

a wide acceptance among Western Christians, it would mark the end of their mission work

among Muslims.

It is evident that Parrinder seeks to make inter-faith dialogue a fruitful enterprise and his book

concludes with a radical reappraisal of fundamental Christian principles:

“ It is too easily assumed that all traditional doctrines are firmly based on the Bible. The

Semitic view of God may need to be cleared of some Greek theories that have overlaid it. ...

Terms like Son of God, Trinity and Salvation need to be re-shaped and given new point.

Concepts of prophecy, inspiration and revelation must be re-examined in view of the

undoubted revelation of God in Muhammad and in the Qur'an” [4]

At the same time he deplores and denigrates the orthodox Christian view of the Atonement:



“There is no doubt that Christians hold firmly to the Cross as a historical fact, but they are

not bound to accept theories that would interpret it in terms of legal satisfaction or

sacrificial substitution.” [5]

Such examples are cited to emphasize the fact that the consensus that had prevailed among

Western Christian missionaries from the days of William Carey (1792) to the early years of the twentieth-century, no longer exists today. In the past, regardless of certain doctrinal

differences that prevailed among Protestant churches, they affirmed the supreme and final

authority of the Bible, the Trinity, and the uniqueness, finality, and superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ and his substitutionary work on the cross . The consensus no longer

exists as was well documented by Professor S. Mark Heim, of Andover-Newton Theological

School, in his article, “Pluralism and the Otherness of World Religions,” published in

FIRST THINGS, August/September,1992[6]

What should be the Christian reaction to these developments? Parrinder’s thinking reflects

the mindset of secular, pluralistic Western societies. He seeks to bring Christian categories

and doctrine into its orbit. But the tenets of the historic Christian faith must never becompromised in any way regardless of how unbendingly doctrinaire it appears to pluralistic

secularists. Do the Western modernist theologians ever stop to think that their Islamic

counterparts will not bend to such categories either? By suggesting that Christian theologians

should gives Islam victory by default.

In the remaining part of this article, I would like to share with the readers of the Journal, how

I dealt with this the doctrine of the Ontological Trinity in my radio and literature ministry

among Arabic-speaking people over a period that spanned thirty six years.

I began proclaiming the Gospel in Arabic in 1958 over radio station ELWA, of Monrovia,

Liberia. Later on, the Lord opened other avenues for the broadcasting of the Word on radio

stations in Europe, and in the Middle East.

Even though I spent most of my active ministerial life in Canada and USA, I kept in touch

with my field of endeavor through short wave radio, Arabic language publications, and

frequent visits to the Arab world. The potential audience in the Arabic-speaking world is

predominantly Islamic. How was I to do the work of an evangelist proclaiming the saving

message of the Biblical Gospel?

Upon hearing a Christian radio program, most listeners would not have been sympathetic to

its contents. Sooner or later, they would discover that the purpose of the broadcast messageswas to call them to faith in the Biblical Messiah, who was not only the son of Mary, but

equally the Son of God. And this God was a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It

meant that I was asking them to change their loyalty from Islam to Christianity; from being

followers of Muhammad to being believers in Christ and all that it entailed. That was

tantamount to asking them to apostatize. In their tradition, apostasy is a sin punishable by

death. By what authority did I call people to make such a radical decision?

Ultimately, it was the Bible that gave me the authority, and the boldness to herald the Good

News of Jesus the Messiah. As a member of the community known to Muslims as “The

People of the Book,” I proclaimed the Good News that called for “repentance toward God,

and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20 (AV)



Realizing, therefore, the absolute necessity of proclaiming a Biblical message every time I

recorded a radio program, what specific approach did I use? Both my Christian heritage and

my knowledge of Islam, led me to adopt the evangelistic system Paul used in his Letter to

the Romans. Theologically speaking, it meant that I would begin with an emphasis on

Biblical anthropology, followed by an exposition of Biblical Christology and soteriology.

Then, I would go on to explain that salvation proceeded from the plan and unmerited love of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I would further explain that the existence of this

God, i.e., of the Holy Trinity, pre-dated the formulation of Trinitarian doctrine at Nicea (325

AD). The Trinity was a living reality, before the creation of the cosmos. A further reference

to Ephesians 1, helped expound the role of the three persons of the Trinity in planning,

procuring, and securing our redemption.

Continuing study of Islamic doctrine reinforced my decision to follow such a course of

exposition. For notwithstanding the strong criticisms that have been leveled by Muslims

against the Bible’s authenticity, the Trinity, and the deity of Jesus Christ, their greatest

objection is to Biblical anthropology. Whereas the Christian view of man’s predicament is

marked by recognition of the drastic results of the Fall, the Muslim view of man’s presentcondition is very optimistic. It may be described as a thoroughly Pelagian point of view.

This was articulated well in a 1959 article appearing in the quarterly The Muslim World in

which the Islamic doctrine of man was discussed. It contained a quotation from a paper read

by a Muslim professor in 1957, at a gathering of some Christian and Muslim scholars that

was held in Morocco. The Muslim professor said:

“The possibility of man‟s deliverance and the way to follow have been indicated by the

Qur‟an in its address to sinners, fathers of the human race: „Go forth all of you from

hence and if there comes to you guidance from Me then he who follows my guidance

shall have nothing to fear, nor shall they know distress.” (Surah 2:38) By this solemn

affirmation God Himself takes action for the salvation of man in the path of right.

Islamic tradition then has the means to lead man to final perfection, the effect of which

is liberation from the fear and from the sadness which prevent man from attaining the

eternal blessedness which is life in God and for God.”

In commenting on the paper, Edwin Calverley, the then editor of The Muslim World wrote:

“[This] exposition of Muslim theology and its concepts of man and his salvation raises

several deep questions. The Christian must always be perplexed about its ready confidence

that „to know is to do,‟ that man‟s salvation happens under purely revelatory auspices and that through the law given in the Divine communication is the path that man will follow

once he knows and sees it. The whole mystery of human recalcitrance and „hardness of

heart‟ seems to be overlooked.” [7]

[Emphasis mine]

According to Muslim anthropology, man has no need for a divine Savior; he needs only to

know in order to do the will of Allah. By performing the requirements of Allah’s Shari’a

(Law,) man achieves the goal of his existence and gains entrance to Paradise.

Following is a brief description of the approach used in the radio messages beamed to the

Arabic-speaking Muslim world. My starting point, following the order of the Letter to the

Romans, was to expound the Biblical anthropology showing the lost condition of man, andhis inability to please God by his own efforts. Actually, the Qur’an follows Rabbinical



Judaism in teaching that humans, by their own efforts, can achieve righteousness. The

critique of Judaism in Romans 9-11, supplies us with a similar critique of Muslim

“soteriology.” Read Romans 10 and imagine Paul addressing a Muslim attempting to

establish his own righteousness by works rather than believing in God’s righteousness.

“Brothers, my heart‟s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on

knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God, and sought to

establish their own, they did not submit to God‟s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law

so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Romans 10:1-4 (NIV)

In Chapter 2, Paul stressed the fact that a mere knowledge of God’s revealed will was not

sufficient to achieve reconciliation with Him. Muslims regard themselves as enlightened,

since they believe they possess God’s final revelation of His Law in the Qur’an. They believe

the followers of other religions are living in ignorance. The strong words of Paul in

unmasking the superficiality of Rabbinical Judaism fit Islam as well. But lest the bearer of the

Good News be perceived as exhibiting racial arrogance or superiority, Paul announces thefact that None Is Righteous.

“What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? No, not at all! We have already made

the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under of sin … Now we know that whatever

the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced,

and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous

in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”

Romans 3:19, 20 (NIV)

It must be a shattering experience for a Muslim to hear such words proclaiming man’s

inability to justify himself by the “deeds prescribed” in God’s sacred law. When the Holy

Spirit opens his heart to receive the teaching in Romans (1-3), then he is ready to welcome

the proclamation of the Gospel and its exposition in chapters 3:21-8.

“But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the

Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus

Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by

Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood .”

Romans 3:21-25a (NIV)

Once a Muslim accepts the Biblical teaching that the law, far from being a means for man’s

justification, manifests his enslavement to sin, he is open to accept the Gospel as expounded

in the Letter to the Romans. Patiently and methodically, the Christian messenger must teach

the Scriptures. Teach how they witness to Jesus Christ, who was both the son of David, and

the Lord of David. Teach how he alone could fulfill the law on our behalf, how he healed the

sick, and restored some to life, revealing his Messiahship and his primary mission to seek

and to save the lost.

According to Hebrews 1, our Lord brought about the completion of God’s revelation; but he

did more than that:



“After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty

in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is

superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, „You are my son; today I

have become your Father?‟ To which of the angels did God ever say, „Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet‟?” Hebrews 1:3b, 4, 5, 13 (NIV)

Thus far, I have outlined my approach in teaching the Holy Trinity, the Fatherhood of God,

the deity of Jesus Christ, and the personality of the Holy Spirit, in my radio ministry to

Muslims. I would like to reiterate, that the Trinity must be proclaimed from the Scriptures,

and by following the way it was gradually revealed within the Bible.

During my years of radio broadcasting, one episode remains fresh in my mind. Early in the

nineties, I received a letter from a Muslim merchant who was residing in London, England.

After commenting on my command of the Arabic language, he wondered how I could believe

in the Trinity. The letter did not surprise me; after all, he was sharing with me the classical

Islamic critique of the Christian doctrine of God.

The following is roughly a summary of my response to this honest inquirer:

“I appreciated very much your letter and its tone. I realiz e that you, as a Muslim believer,

do not accept the Bible‟s testimony about God. But let me assure you, at the outset, that

what I have been broadcasting over the years is a faithful exposition of the teachings of the

Holy Scriptures. There is nothing in m y radio and literature work that is contrary to God‟s

revelation.

“I am not surprised that you have a great difficulty in understanding this Biblical

teaching about the Trinity The reason I believe in the triune God is the fact it is part

and parcel of God‟s revelation. I trust that you will agree with me that when we deal

with such doctrines as the attributes of God, and His nature, we cannot fully

comprehend them. As believers in God, we are summoned to receive what His

revelation teaches. So, we should not be surprised if in a revealed religion, there are

mysteries that transcend the human mind.

“May I remind you of a theological controversy that took place in the ninth century in

Baghdad regarding the Qur‟an? Some Muslim theologians taught that the Qur‟an was

created at the time of its revelation to Muhammad, (610-632 A.D.) That was necessary

to safeguard the unity of Allah. However, an influential theologian and expert in the

Shariah Law, Imam Hanbal, refused to accept that formulation and declared that theQur‟an was eternal. He was persecuted and imprisoned by the caliph. As you may well

know, that event in your history is known as “The Ordeal of the Qur‟an.” Several years

later, it was the Hanbalite view that prevailed. To this day, it continues to be the official

teaching of Sunni Islam.

“Muslims believe that Allah is eternal, but they confess that the Qur‟an is also eternal. I do

know that this is your own belief, but I do not jump to the conclusion that you confess the

existence of two gods. I realize that there are mysteries that transcend our capacity to

comprehend. Should you not treat me in the same way, and not charge me with believing

in three gods?”



What I pointed out to the Muslim correspondent was his obligation, as a fellow human being,

to deal with me “quid pro quo.” Just as I do not accuse Islam with dualism, Muslims should

refrain from regarding Christians as propounding a plurality of gods.

When we study the history of Islamic teachings, we become aware of deficiencies inherent in

its doctrine of God. For example, Muslims teach that God is the “wholly Other.” He is atranscendent Being. There is no similarity whatsoever between the Creator and man, the

crown of creation. Muslim theologians have devised the notion that “Allah huwa bila

kayf” i.e. Allah is unlike anyone else. Neither in the Qur‟an, nor in the Tradition (Hadith),

is there anything close to the teaching of Genesis 1:26a, 27: “Then God said, „Let us make

man in our image, in our likeness … So God created man in his own i mage, in the image

of God he created them; male and female he created them .” (NIV)

The doctrine of the image of God in man is another fundamental Biblical teaching. In the

radio broadcasts I referred to it often, not only when dealing with creation, but also when

teaching the doctrine of redemption. But I would never mention the fact that man is made in

the image of God and after His likeness, without saying immediately, that I was actuallyquoting from the Pentateuch, or as the Muslims call it, “Tawrat Moussa.”

Since Islam propounds the doctrine of a solitary and transcendent God, it follows that no

Muslim claims that he or she, can know Allah. Muslims study Allah‟s Shariah and seek to

conform to its demands or prohibitions; but they cannot “know” Him. Nothing in their

tradition approximates these words of Paul: “I want to know Christ and the power of his

resurrection …” Philippians 3:10a NIV

It was this teaching about an impersonal God in Islam that contributed to the rise of the

mystical movement known as Sufism. The Sufis played an active role in Islamic history as

they tried to fill a spiritual vacuum created by the strict unitarianism of Islam. Over against

the teaching that Allah could not be approached except through obedience to the demands of

the Shariah, they pointed to a different way of pleasing the Almighty and thus attaining the

bliss of Paradise. Sufi leaders taught that through meditation and a strict discipline, a Muslim

might arrive at the goal of existence. One such spiritual exercise they advocated was the

recitation by a group of assembled men, of the Beautiful or Ninety-nine names of Allah.

Eventually, Sufism departed further and further from Orthodox Islam. As an Egyptian

scholar put it, “Sufis tended to be heretical. They taught that intuition was the way to

understanding. Some of them advocated monism, while others went as far as pantheism,

and claiming that there was no difference between good and evil.”

[8]

The basic problem with the Islamic doctrine of God is that He remains an impersonal and

remote being. A Muslim’s relation to his creator is that of a slave („abd ) to his master. This

explains the frequently given name of „Abdallah among Muslims. On the other hand, the

doctrine of the Trinity reveals the centrality of God’s attribute of love, as we notice in

Christ’s prayer on the eve of his passion. “Father, I want those you have given me to be

with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved

me before the creation of the world.” John 17:24 (NIV)

In conclusion, the relevance of the doctrine of the Trinity in Missions to Muslims and to

followers of other religions can appreciated by converts who find comfort and power to



persist in their new-found faith, by tracing it back to the actions of the three Persons of the

Trinity, as Paul taught in the opening words of Ephesians 1:

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the

heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the

creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5

he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will —

6 to

the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him

we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the

riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he

made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he

purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their

fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even

Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who

works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, whowere the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were

included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having

believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit

guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to

the praise of his glory. (NIV)

Notes

1. Christ in Islam and Christianity by Neal Robinson. Albany, NY: State University of New

York Press, Albany, New York, 1991. p.22

2. The Qur’an. Surah #112

3. Jesus in the Qur’an by Geoffrey Parrinder. Rockport, MA: Oneworld Publications, 1995. p.

14

4. Parrinder, p. 173

5. Parrinder, p. 169

6. From the introduction: “We have witnessed in recent years the flowering of various

Christian pluralistic theologies calling for unequivocal affirmation of the equal validity of all

world faiths. It is argued that Christianity (and to some extent other traditions) has been

infected by a virulent exclusivist virus, the disease of imagining its religious truth superior to

all others and its path to salvation the only one. Advocates of pluralistic theology maintain

that there is no antidote to this virus but a consistent reconstruction of the fundamentals of

Christian faith.” Pp. 29-35

7. The Muslim World, Vol. 49, No. 1, January 1959



8. “The Rational and the Irrational in Our Cultural Heritage,” by Dr. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud,

Dar Al-Shurouq, Beirut, Lebanon (This book is available in Arabic only, it shows no

publication date; most likely, it was published in the 1970s.)

APPENDIX

The Moslem World – April 1912 – Vol. II, No. 2

MODERN ANTI-TRINITARIANISM AND ISLAM

MISSIONARY work among Mohammedans is beset with many difficulties, which are not

encountered in other fields. Missionaries among Moslems have to deal with a fanatical

opposition to the Christian faith in God as triune. To speak of God as Father, Son and Holy

Spirit, causes in every bigoted Moslem an outburst of hatred that lies latent in his heart.

Taking this into consideration, would it not be better to emphasize the ethical character of

Christianity and to leave the obnoxious doctrine of the Trinity severely alone? If the signs of

the times do not deceive us, some missionaries are inclined to answer this question in the

affirmative. We would be sorry, indeed, if such a policy should ever prevail. This would

involve a compromise, which is impossible for a loyal Christian who believes that

Christianity is the religion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It would be a calamity

if anti-Trinitarian leanings ever obtained a foothold in mission fields among Moslems. Of

course, missionaries should make use of common-sense and pedagogical wisdom in

presenting the revelation of the Triune God to fanatical opponents, but as followers of Jesus

Christ they must also have the courage of their convictions.

There have been many anti-Trinitarian movements in the Church of Christ since she beganher course. I prefer to call these movements anti-Trinitarian instead of Unitarian, because

they are a reaction from the Trinitarian development of the Christian faith. It is true, modern

Unitarians look upon their conception of God as an advance upon the traditional Trinitarian

development; their view, they maintain, is more in harmony with culture and science, than

our Christian faith in the triune God.

This is a grave mistake; we also wear a modern dress, although Christianity is old. We

believe in progress on the right and safe tracks, but modern Unitarianism is an advance along

a wrong road; it is a descent and not an ascent; it does not represent progress but rather

retrogression. I also prefer the term anti-Trinitarianism to that of Unitarianism, because

Christians are, as far as their relation to polytheism is concerned, Unitarians, Monotheists inthe true sense of the word. It may be that the unity of God has been placed now and then in

the background, but as a rule the Christian Church has always upheld the unity of God. But

we protest on behalf of God’s unity against an abstract uniformity in God’s essence. We

adore, as true Theists, the mystery of the Holy Trinity, as revealed to us in the Holy

Scriptures, and we also admire the work of the Church in building up the doctrine of the

Trinity.

Let men criticize as they will the formulation of this doctrine in the works of Systematic

Theology, but let them have reverence for the mystery of the triune God. We cannot

comprehend this mystery in its height and depth, its length and breadth; we apprehend it,

however, by faith, and see so much glory and beauty in it that we rejoice and are glad. Ourfaith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the only true and living God, seems to us so



reasonable that no rationalistic attacks upon it can really alarm us. The rationalistic pseudo-

Trinity, viz. God, freedom and immortality, shows the barrenness of any monotheistic view

that is not based upon the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

We are rich in our Christian faith; we become poor if we enter into a compromise with anti-

Trinitarians in any form. F. C. Bauer, the father of the Tübingen School, who cannot beaccused of being a friend of traditional orthodoxy, was correct in his statement that

Christianity would have lost its character as the universal religion of mankind if Arianism had

been triumphant at Nicea. Let us with boldness proclaim it everywhere in the face of anti-

Trinitarians of every description, that Theism and faith in the triune God are intimately joined

together. We have real communion with God, because in Jesus Christ we are in blessed

relationship with Him. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, because He is the Son of God.

God created man as a religious being, forming him in His likeness. This endowment gave

him an indelible character as God’s offspring, which even the deepest degradation of his

sinful estate cannot efface. This is the reason why savage tribes still possess a craving after

God. How can this communion with God, which alone is eternal life, but which was lost inAdam’s fall, be restored to man?

By a God, perhaps, who in majestic transcendence is enthroned on high, out of the reach of

His creatures? Certainly not! Even if it were possible to be admitted to the court of this

heavenly monarch and to have audience with Him for a few moments as Mohammed claimed

to have enjoyed, would this be communion? The deistic conception of God excludes

communion with God most rigidly. Or is it, perhaps, possible by a God, who, without being

transcendent, is immanent in the monkey as well and in the same manner as in man, God’s

image bearer? Such an immanence, wherein as a rule modern Unitarians delight, does not

constitute conscious communion between God and man.

Neither Deism nor Pantheism lead us up to God; the former is cold and unattractive, the latter

attractive to a certain extent, but unreal. It is a fact, that the anti-Trinitarian conception of

God forces Mohammedans as well as modern Unitarians, as a rule, to vacillate between

Deism and Pantheism. No wonder these systems are rather philosophical than theological,

hence they share the character of most of the philosophical systems, viz. to be either deistical

or pantheistical, either Kantian or Hegelian.

In Christian Monotheism alone the transcendence and immanence of God are so intimately

joined together that the transcendence of God fills us with awe and reverence, which leads us

to adoration, while the immanence of this transcendent God pursues us to Himself with thecords of love, creating within us filial confidence and devotion. The unity of transcendence

and immanence, although it is beyond our comprehension, is more easily understood than the

abstract Monotheism of the anti-Trinitarians. When we say that we believe in the triune God,

we indicate thereby that we believe in a God who is separated from His creatures, having

placed His majesty above the heavens, and who is near them in His Son, who was willing to

be His servant, and assumed our nature in order to be obedient unto death. Our God is the

living and true God, because there is a divine movement in the eternal inter-relation between

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The true nature of this inner divine life we cannot

comprehend, but it is a reality, which we apprehend by faith. In the works of God, ad extra,

this life of God is clearly manifested. The Father is the source of everything, the Son reveals

the Father’s footsteps in creation, and the Holy Spirit changes the chaos into a wonderfulcosmos. This life of God, which truly is immutable but by no means immovable, guarantees



us our communion with Him, who is the life of His creatures. And applied to the sinful

condition of mankind, we have approach to God the Creator through the Son, who not only

reveals Him as our Father but who also dies to save us, in the Holy Spirit, who by indwelling

in us completes and perfects our communion with the triune God.

We repeat that the Holy Trinity is a mystery, but it is a mystery which secures to us not onlya pure theology, but also a joyful and active religion, and this is not a speculation or poetical

conception, but a positive reality. Rationalism has no place in it, but it is thoroughly rational.

Truly, there is communion with God, because He is triune in His unity. To know this God,

who is the only true and living God, is eternal life, because He unites us to Himself in Jesus

Christ, whom He has sent, and who as the Logos became the Son of man and the Lamb of

God. Away with that abstract unity which is the unity of a stone. I have often thought that the

stone in the Kaaba at Mecca, which the pilgrims kiss, is a fit symbol of the Moslem Allah.

How oppressive this abstract unity of God must feel when the soul longs for real communion

with its Maker. Some one has said, if the locus de Deo is wrong, then the whole system goes

wrong with it. It influences the doctrine of man in his integrity as well as in his sinful

condition and especially is the doctrine of salvation obscured, when there is no place for adivine Saviour. It sometimes seems that we are not always conscious of how great the

treasure is that we have in faith in the triune God.

Let us beware of compromises with Mohammedanism. Let us uphold the banner of

Christianity, notwithstanding all the enmity of the Moslem world against it. “Let us look to

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured

the cross and despised the shame.” If we are unwilling to preach to the followers of Islam the

truth, nothing but the truth and the full truth, it would be better to give up the evangelization

of the Moslem world and to leave the field to modern Unitarians, who soon would find out

their affinity with the followers of Mohammed in the doctrine of God, and be convinced that

they have nothing to give to hungry and thirsty souls who long for righteousness. Cultured

Unitarianism has a hopeless task to perform in grappling with the fanatical Unitarianism of

superstitious Moslems. The testimony of history is not at all favorable to Unitarianism as a

missionary agency. In Ulfila’s days Arians had succeeded in establishing Unitarianism

among the Goths, and it seemed for a time as if Arianism were to gain the day, in a

considerable part of Europe at least. But Arianism has vanished as snow and ice in spring.

The Unitarian churches established in those days have left no vestige behind them. They

exerted no influence on the nations among whom they dwelt, and of missionary enterprises

undertaken by them hardly anything is known.

And who were the great missionaries during the critical period of the migration of thepeoples? They came from Britain, and belonged either to the Catholic or the Chaldean

Churches. They had their differences and quarrels, yet they were to a man believers in the

triune God. By them the continent of Europe was evangelized. Their enterprises were blessed,

and their work was by no means ephemeral. Their methods of work were imperfect, their

faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, was strong and active. That the Churches of

the Middle Ages were not entirely uprooted during all the upheavals and catastrophes of

those dark days, that they were able not only to keep their own faith but also to spread faith in

regions beyond the civilized world of that day, they certainly owed to their firm belief in

Christ as the Son of God, which virtually is belief in the triune God.

Allow me to draw your attention also to the detrimental influence Unitarianism has exercisedon missions during the reign of the Rationalism of the eighteenth century. Pietists and



Moravian brethren had begun a fine missionary work, the former in India and the latter in

West India and other fields. The University of Halle, where Francke taught in the spirit of

Spener, was the centre of pietistical missionary enterprises. The beginnings were grand, and

promised much for the future. Ziegenbalg, Schwartz and Plütschau were very much

blessed in their work. It seemed as if India was to turn to Christ and to surrender to Him. But,

alas this was not to be. Pietism, with all its extravagances, yielded to the illumination; andHalle, strange to say, became the citadel of a dry and cold Rationalism, which discarded the

revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures and with it the doctrine of the Trinity, in order to

establish a kind of deistical natural religion. The missionaries, who were then in the field,

joined the ranks of the Rationalists, and they soon found out that there was no work for them

to do. They left the field, and the promising beginning ended in complete failure. The

modern Unitarianism of Rationalism acted as a night frost does upon vegetation. At the same

time the missionary efforts of the Moravian brethren continued to grow and flourish. Their

theological conception of the doctrine of the Trinity was possibly crude; still their faith in the

Godhead of the Son of God was strong and full of devotion. And this soteriological aspect of

the doctrine certainly is the core of the matter.

There is really no place for Unitarians in the mission field. Ethics divorced from faith in the

triune God is no lever to lift up sinful men from their lost condition. They need the Father in

heaven, who sends down from thence His Son as His servant to rescue them from perdition,

objectively through His atoning work and subjectively through the application of this work

through the Holy Spirit, whereby they learn to apprehend it by faith in Jesus Christ.

Trinitarian Christian workmen, full of the Holy Spirit, are the only ones who have reason to

expect success in their work anywhere, and especially among Moslems.

Unitarians may succeed in extending Western culture, but people are not saved by culture.

Cultured Moslems, stripped of their fanaticism and superstition, remain what they were —

enemies of the cross of Christ and of the doctrine of the Trinity. And if their hatred turns into

indifference, they are, perhaps, further away from the kingdom of God than their co-

religionists were in their former condition.

NICHOLAS M. STEFFENS.

Holland, Mich, U.S.A.

© Answering Islam, 1999 - 2011. All rights reserved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Hermann_Francke


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Jakob_Spener


http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/schwartz/schwartz.htm





the trinity and christian missions to muslims - by rev. bassam michael madany

Documents