‘We are so accustomed, and rightly, to make Jesus the object of religion that we become apt to forget that in our earliest records he is portrayed not as the object of religion, but as a religious man.’
These words come from the pen of the late, great New Testament scholar TW Manson.
The earliest evidence we now possess portrays Jesus as a deeply religious man whose
ministry and teaching pointed unambiguously towards God and His Kingdom. Our earliest narratives show Jesus praying to his God, going on pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, and participating in synagogue worship on the Sabbath.
Truly, Jesus was a religious man. The Qur’an is a reminder of this fact and calls on
Christians to the worship of the One true God whom Jesus worshiped – and to renounce
the worship of Jesus.
____
The Teaching of Jesus, p. 101. TW Manson was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester.
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Christology, Gospels, Jesus, New Testament scholarship, Qur'an
Leave a Reply