Jesus Christ – The Son of God Who Voluntarily Chose to Die for Me

Sam Shamoun

Muslim apologists are fond of pitting the Lord Jesus against his blessed Apostle Paul by quoting from the Gospels and Paul’s letters to show how their teachings supposedly contradict each other. One example of an alleged contradiction which these polemicists are fond of bringing up is Paul’s claim in Philippians 2:6-7 that Christ voluntarily set aside his divine status in order to become a slave, which supposedly contradicts Jesus’ own words in John 8:42 that he hadn’t come on his own initiative or desire.

In light of this assertion we are going to carefully examine the words of the Lord Jesus and his inspired emissary to establish that there is no genuine contradiction between them. Rather, this is nothing more than another sad and desperate attempt by Muslim apologists to distort God’s revealed truth in order to pit the Holy Bible against itself.

God sends forth His Son

Here we are going to see that both Christ and his blessed servant affirm that Jesus is God’s Son whom the Father sent to fulfill his will of saving believers from their sins.

Jesus

“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” John 5:22-23

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:37-40

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.’” John 8:42

“do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” John 10:36

Paul

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh… He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Romans 8:3, 32

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7

Christ willfully humbled Himself to die for the salvation of sinners

In this section we shall now how Jesus and Paul also perfectly concur that Christ wasn’t forced to come against his will, but willingly accepted to come out of his love for his creation in order to redeem it by his vicarious death on the cross.

Jesus

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”” Mark 10:45 – cf. Matthew 20:28

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”” Luke 19:10

“For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” Luke 22:27

“This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”” John 6:50-51

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” John 10:10-18

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.You are My friends if you do what I command you.No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:9-15

Paul

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Ephesians 5:1-2

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” 1 Timothy 1:15

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6

“looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:13-14

Concluding Remarks

With the foregoing in perspective, it should now become quite apparent what the Lord Jesus meant when he stated that he had not come on his own initiative. His point wasn’t that he didn’t willfully come to the earth in order to save sinners. Rather, his point was that his choice to come down from heaven wasn’t something which was in direct opposition to his Father, an act which went against his Father’s desires, since this was a decision which was in perfect agreement with the Father’s will. As such, there is no conflict between the message of Christ and his servant Paul, but perfect harmony and consistency, which is what we would expect seeing that the Apostle was inspired by the Spirit of the risen Christ to speak and record the revelation which God wanted to pass on to the Churches:

“which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” 1 Corinthians 2:13

“If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.” 1 Corinthians 14:37-38

“since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you… For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.” 2 Corinthians 13:3, 10

“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.” Ephesians 3:1-7

So much for this desperate Muslim polemic.

Unless noted otherwise, all biblical quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

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