A Muslim will vehemently declare to you that God (Allah) has no son. Really? What does the Tanakh have to say regarding that subject? Let’s examine a few verses in what some call the Old Testament and see what they reveals on the subject.
I understand the word ‘nature’ to be a reference to what is fundamental, or essential, about a being. It is that which makes a being – any being – what it is.
Christian notions concerning the nature of Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) are derived from selected interpretations of scripture, augmented by the opinion of sympathetic scholars. The process is simple enough: Read……interpret……discuss......reach a decision……formulate a notion……make a declaration……claim sole possession of the ‘truth’……and declare as ‘heresy’ all opposing notions. Thank you very much, and have a nice day!
According to the Nestorians, Yeshua is one person, two hypostases and two natures. According to Trinitarians, he is one person, one hypostasis and two natures. Monophysites, on the other hand, hold that he is one person, one hypostasis, and one nature. For Unitarians – and the rest of us folk – he is just a man: one person; one nature; no hypostasis.
Mike Robinson (a Christian apologist) writes:
‘Jesus as the Son of Man and the Son of God has two natures found in one person……The Bible reveals the dual nature of Christ and humanity’s salvation demands that be the case. It’s a mystery, but a mystery that in selected ways not only makes sense, but is necessary for redemption. Jesus, in the incarnation, did not lose His divinity. He did not lose His authority or His deity. He voluntarily came to the earth as a human baby to live perfectly as He fulfilled the Law…..He took on our humanity in order to die in our place….’ (‘How Jesus Became God In The Flesh: The Proper Exaltation Of A Prophet From Nazareth: Bart Ehrman Refuted’).
There is broad agreement among New Testament scholars (and has been for decades) that Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) did not consider himself to be God.
Consider, by way of example, the following quotations:
'Any case for a "high" Christology that depended on the authenticity of the alleged claims of Jesus about himself, especially in the Fourth Gospel, would indeed be precarious.' (The Rev. C.F.D Moule: ‘The Origin of Christology’).
'Jesus did not claim deity for himself' (Archbishop Michael Ramsey: ‘Jesus and the Living Past’).
‘There (is) no real evidence in the earliest Jesus tradition of what could fairly he called a consciousness of divinity' (James Dunn: ‘Christology in the Making - a New Testament inquiry into the origins of the doctrine of the incarnation’).
‘It is no longer possible to defend the divinity of Jesus by reference to the claims of Jesus' (Canon Brian Hebblethwaite: ‘The Incarnation’).
‘There is good evidence to suggest that (Jesus) never saw himself as a suitable object of worship' and that it is impossible to base any claim for Christ's divinity on his consciousness once we abandon the traditional portrait as reflected in a literal understanding of St. John's Gospel' (The Rev. David Brown: ‘The Divine Trinity’)
‘The historical Jesus of Nazareth did not teach or apparently believe that he was God, or God the Son, Second Person of a Holy Trinity, incarnate, or the son of God in a unique sense.’ (John Hick: ‘Believable Christianity’. See also his ‘The Metaphor of God Incarnate – Christology in a Pluralistic Age’.
Trinitarians claim that Yeshua has two natures….one entirely human…one entirely divine. Let’s call this ‘notion A.’
Unitarians claim that Yeshua was just a man; and in no way divine. Let’s call this ‘notion B.’
Two mutually exclusive notions about one particular man.
According to the Council of Basel, Yeshua was ‘consubstantial with us as regards his humanity;
like us in all respects except for sin…’(Session 13).
If Yeshua has two natures (one human and one divine, as per ‘notion A’), then he cannot
possibly be ‘
like us in all respects (except for sin)’.
That leaves ‘notion B’.
If Yeshua is just a man – an entirely human being, like the rest of us – then he cannot possibly be God.