The Son Who Was Descended from Heaven
The Son Who Was Descended from Heaven
Christians believe that we should distinguish the son-ship of Jesus (PBUH) from the son-ship of the others. They do not argue that the passages, which mentioned the son-ship of others, are metaphoric, but Jesus (PBUH) is the Son of God in reality, for he is the only son who is descendant from above or from heaven. “He that cometh from above is above all.” (John 3:31)
They believe that the sign of his divinity shines in his saying, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. (John 8:23) and that shows, according to Christians, that he is a unique divine son unlike the other sons.
The meaning of this heavenly descending is the descending of the signs and the statutes, and not the descending of the person himself and that makes him equal to all prophets. John the Baptist (PBUH) is one of them. Jesus (PBUH) asked the Jews, saying, “The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, of men; we fear the people.” (Matt. 21:25-26)
I need to mention also that there are many true heavenly descendants in the Bible, but Christians do not consider them gods.
The angel of Allah (S.W) was descended from heaven. “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven.”(Matt. 28:2)
The disciples were also descendants from above or from Allah (S.W), as mentioned in the Gospels, which means they believe in his name. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12).This is a spiritual birth, which gives the heart of the sinner a great, complete and continuous change, as he or she is born again, and this happens when he or she believes and repents.
The believers in Jesus (PBUH) are born from above by the faith that Allah (S.W) has given them. They are alike with other believers, as Jesus (PBUH) said, “Truly, truly I tell you, unless a person is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3), “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.” (John1 5:1), and “that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”(John1 2:29)
Jesus’ (PBUH) saying, “I am not of this world”, is not a proof of his divinity in any way, for he meant that he is different from other humans by refusing this secular world, for which other people are longing.
He (PBUH) said the same about his disciples when he felt that they wanted the eternal life, leaving this secular world. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”(John 15:19)
In another passage, he said, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14),
He (PBUH) said about his disciples what he said of himself, they were not of this world. If those words could make him God, it should also make all the disciples gods as well, but his expression was metaphoric as if we say, “this person is not from this world” and we mean, that he or she do not desire this materialistic world, but seeking Allah’s (S.W) love and the eternal life in the hereafter.
