True Salvation: Is It Through Faith in the Crucifixion or Through Repentance and Obedience to God?
Did Christ establish a religion called Christianity, and did he name his followers Christians?
Honest research does not begin with bias toward a name or a group, but with returning to the texts, understanding what they actually say, and distinguishing between the words of Christ himself and what developed as beliefs and designations after his time.
Among the important questions worth reflecting on: Did Christ say in the four Gospels that he came to establish a new religion called "Christianity"? And did he name his followers "Christians"?
When we read the Gospels, we find that Christ was calling people to worship God and obey Him, and there is no explicit text in the four Gospels in which he says: "I established a religion called Christianity," or "Call my followers Christians."
The Appearance of the Name "Christians" in Antioch:
The Book of Acts says:
"And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
(Acts of the Apostles 11:26)
Note that the text attributes the appearance of this name to Antioch, and does not say that Christ himself chose it or commanded his followers to use it.
The name "Christians" does not appear in the Gospels as a name that Christ himself chose for his followers.
This means that the designation was known in Rome by the year 64 AD, that is, about 34 years after Christ's departure, according to the common estimate of the year of his departure.
And through time, there were always honorable individuals who refused to base their religious beliefs on fragile foundations such as the whims of others, the desires of peers, or family traditions.
And there are many people demanding answers to well-studied questions, seeking to understand the history of revelation and of humanity.
Thus, I hope to help readers identify the correct links in the chain of revelation, and to distinguish between God's true guidance and the falsehood of human corruption.
Among the facts that many people do not know is that the four Gospels did not reach us as books written by Christ with his own hand.
There is no statement in the four Gospels from Christ that he authored these books, nor a direct command from him to record four Gospels under the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
And there is no explicit text in any of the four Gospels saying that Jesus commanded the writing of a book called the "New Testament."
Also, the Gospels in their known form today were written decades after the life of Christ, according to the dating common among New Testament scholars.
Their dates of composition are usually estimated as follows:
The Gospel of Mark: around 65–75 AD.
The Gospel of Matthew: around 80–90 AD.
The Gospel of Luke: around 80–90 AD.
The Gospel of John: around 90–100 AD.
And all of them were written tens of years after the life of Jesus, and their true authors are unknown and were not among the disciples of Christ.
Neither Matthew, nor Mark, nor Luke, nor John claims in the introductions to their Gospels that they wrote them by direct inspiration from God or the Holy Spirit.
Why were the Gospels written in Greek?
The language of Jesus and his disciples was Aramaic. They spoke Aramaic in Palestine during the first century AD,
and they refused to learn Greek because it was the language of the pagans.
How could God inspire Gospels in a foreign language?
The American historian Bart Ehrman (professor of biblical criticism at the University of North Carolina) says:
"It is almost certain that Jesus did not know Greek. He spoke Aramaic, the language of the people in Palestine."
So is it reasonable that God would inspire a book in a language that Christ and his people did not speak?
Many respected scholars have discovered that many Christian laws actually come from sources outside the Bible.
The real impact is that many of those sources outside the Bible actually contradict the teachings of Jesus Christ.
For example, Christ did not mention original sin and the inheritance of guilt.
And it does not appear anywhere in the basic manuscripts of the New Testament that Jesus refers to himself as "the Son of God" literally. He describes himself as "the Son of Man" 88 times, but not once as "the Son of God" in the literal sense, begotten not created.
Also, Jesus does not defend the Trinity. In fact, in three separate passages he teaches the exact opposite, defining God as one, never as a trinity.
Here we have two crucial elements of Christian belief.
The first relates to the nature of Jesus, and the second to the nature of the Creator. In both cases, the Trinitarian doctrine does not come from the record of what Jesus said or taught, but from what others said or taught.
It was reported of Jesus in the Gospels that he called himself the Son of Man, while others affirmed that he was the Son of God.
Jesus taught that God is one, while others suggested that God is three in one.
Could these teachings be more contradictory?
And should this matter to us?
After all, Jesus died for our sins. Or so someone said. Someone, yes, but again, not Jesus. He did not say anything of the sort.
So, is there a problem here? And should we investigate it?
My dear friend:
For two thousand years, millions have been misled by a story saying that God sent His only son to be slaughtered on the cross for the sins of humanity.
A story that became entrenched in minds and hearts until it became the foundation of Christian faith.
But the simple question: Is this what Christ actually taught?
First: There is no text in the four Gospels in which Christ declares that he came to be crucified to atone for the sins of humanity, and Christ never uttered that at all.
The Gospels themselves testify that Christ's message was repentance and return to God and worship of the great Creator God:
Mark 1:15: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe."
Matthew 19:17: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
John 17:3: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
There is no mention here of the cross, nor of redemption, nor of shed blood.
Rather, Christ rejected the idea of blood sacrifices altogether, as the four Gospels tell us:
Matthew 9:13: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."
So is it logical that he would reject animal sacrifices and then become himself a human sacrifice?!
Paul is the one who invented the doctrine of the cross
The one who laid the foundation of the doctrine of "salvation through the cross" was not Christ but Paul. This man was not a disciple of Christ, but an enemy who persecuted his followers (Acts of the Apostles 8:3).
Suddenly Paul claimed that he had seen a vision, and appointed himself an apostle.
Paul himself declares:
"But if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?"
(Romans 3:7)
Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians:
"But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile."
(Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 12:16)
But where is the evidence that Christ chose Paul as an apostle for himself?
There is no text in the four Gospels mentioning that Christ chose Paul as an apostle for himself.
Paul did not see Christ with his own eyes, did not touch him with his hand, and did not speak to him face to face.
So how can any logical mind believe that he truly met Christ without evidence or witness?
All he mentioned were vague descriptions such as (a vision) and (a revelation of Christ), and he mentions no details.
The Gospels themselves do not mention anything about Paul's encounter with Christ, and do not mention Paul at all.
There is no letter or text attributed to Jesus confirming that Paul saw him or chose him.
And thus, the Book of Acts becomes the only source that narrates this story.
Who is the author of the Book of Acts?
Many think that the Book of Acts was written contemporaneously with the events, but the historical reality says otherwise:
Critical evidence indicates that the Book of Acts was written around the end of the first century AD (between 90–100 AD).
While Paul died in Rome most likely around 64 AD.
That is, the story was written at least thirty years after Paul's death.
As for its author, he is a person named Luke, and we do not have accurate information about him:
We do not know his full name or his social background.
Luke was not one of the disciples of Christ, and did not witness any event from the life of Christ directly.
Did Paul mention Luke as a close witness to him?
In Paul's letters, we see him mentioning the names of many of his companions and servants such as:
✦ Timothy
✦ Titus
✦ Silas
✦ Tychicus
But Paul did not mention Luke even once as a witness to any major event in his life.
And Luke never mentioned that he saw Paul's encounter with Christ with his own eyes; rather, he transmitted the story without being a witness to it.
So how can one rely on an account written by a person who was not present at the time it occurred?
Paul in his letters does not mention the details of the Book of Acts about his encounter with the risen one, and this striking silence raises a legitimate question: If those events were real, why did Paul himself ignore them?
An example of this: Paul's failure in his letters to mention these details that came in the Book of Acts:
· Paul does not mention "and as I went and drew near to Damascus"
· Paul does not mention "he fell to the ground and heard a voice"
· Paul does not mention "a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me"
· Paul does not mention "a voice speaking to me, saying, Saul, Saul"
· Paul does not mention "and they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me."
· Paul does not mention "a voice saying, Why persecutest thou me?"
· Paul does not mention "And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."
· Paul does not mention "But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee."
As if Paul declares explicitly:
"These stories were not part of my testimony."
The story that made Paul be titled "the apostle of Christ" is not based on any real foundation.
For Paul himself did not write a clear account of it, no one of his contemporaries witnessed it, no reliable Gospel mentioned it, and Christ never approved it.
And worse than that, Paul turned the message of Christ upside down:
Christ called for repentance and keeping the commandments as came in the Gospels.
Paul said (Romans 3:28): "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
That is: faith in the crucifixion of Christ, with no need for obedience to God; it is enough that you believe in the crucifixion and the resurrection!
The American historian Elaine Pagels (Princeton University) says:
"Paul transformed Christianity from a simple moral call to worship God into a mysterious doctrine of salvation based on the death and resurrection of Christ."
The False Salvation:
The truth is that the idea of "salvation through the cross" is Paul's invention, and is not from the teachings of Christ.
It is a great deception that has misled millions of people through the centuries, diverting them from repentance, good deeds, and worship of the great Creator God, to an empty faith.
Millions of people have been deceived by a false story, while true salvation is what all the prophets called to:
Worship of the one God, repentance, and good deeds.
Beware lest they deceive you as millions before you were deceived by the story of Christ's crucifixion to atone for sins.
And know that true salvation is in worshiping God the Creator and following His commandments, and it is preserved pure from distortion in Islam.
God Almighty said:
{And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain. (157) Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise. (158)}
(The Holy Quran 4:157)
In Islam, faith in God is linked to worshiping Him, obeying Him, and doing good deeds, along with acknowledging that entering Paradise is through God's mercy and grace.
God Almighty said:
{Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds - they will have the Gardens of Paradise as a lodging}
[The Holy Quran 18:107].
For a person should not make his faith merely a slogan, but its impact must appear in his morals, truthfulness, mercy, trustworthiness, and obedience to his Creator.
Eighth: What about Adam and the prophets who preceded Christ?
If the doctrine of redemption is the only way to forgive sins, then a person has the right to ask: How did God deal with Adam's repentance, and with the calls of the previous prophets to repentance and reform?
God says about Adam:
{Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.}
[The Holy Quran 2:37].
In this verse, God accepts Adam's repentance after he received the words from his Lord.
God also says:
{Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah."}
[The Holy Quran 39:53].
Muslims believe that God is Forgiving and Merciful, and that He accepts the repentance of those who return to Him sincerely.
What does the Quran say about the reality of the Messiah?
The Holy Quran presents a clear picture of Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon him: he is the Messiah, the messenger of Allah, and the servant of Allah, who called people to worship his Lord.
God Almighty said on the tongue of Jesus:
{Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.}
[The Holy Quran 19:30].
And God the Almighty says:
{The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; [other] messengers have passed on before him.}
[The Holy Quran 5:75].
And on the issue of the crucifixion, God Almighty says:
{And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them.}
[The Holy Quran 4:157].
This is the Islamic position: the enemies of the Messiah, the Jews and the Romans, were not able to kill the Messiah nor crucify him; rather, God saved him according to what the Holy Quran decides.
Muslims believe that the Messiah did not come to be a god to be worshiped, but to be a messenger calling to the worship of the one God, and that his call agrees with the origin of the call of all the prophets: sincere worship of God alone.
God Almighty said:
{Indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is the straight path.}
[The Holy Quran 3:51].
This call to worship God alone is the essence of the message that Islam defends.
Conclusion: Return to God Directly
My dear friend, I do not ask you to believe me just because I wrote these words. Rather, I invite you to read for yourself, and to open the Gospels
and the Quran, and to compare between the texts, and to ask God the Creator to guide you to the truth.
Reflect on the Messiah's call to God, to repentance, to obedience, and to a good life. Then reflect on the Quran's call to worship the one God, to seek forgiveness, and to hope in His mercy.
Islam invites you to a direct relationship with your Creator: you repent to Him when you sin, thank Him when He blesses you, worship Him alone, and ask Him for guidance and forgiveness.
God Almighty said:
{And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.}
[The Holy Quran 2:186].
So do not despair of God's mercy, and do not delay the search for truth, and do not let inherited tradition alone stand between you and
questioning.
O God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the hidden and the open, guide every sincere seeker to the truth, open our hearts to knowing the truth, grant us sincerity in worshiping You, and make us among those who listen to the word and follow the best of it.
