|
If Jesus
is God, then who did He pray to?
This is a very common question among critiques of
Jesus' deity, Muslims included. The answer is found in understanding
the Trinity and the incarnation of
Jesus.
The Trinity is the doctrine that there is only
one God in all existence. This one God exists as three persons: The
Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are not three gods, but one
God. Each is a separate person, yet each of them is, in essence,
divine in nature.
A close analogy of the Trinity can be found by
looking at the concept of time. Time is past, present, and future. There
are three "aspects" or "parts" of time. This does not
mean that there are three "times," but only one. Each is
separate, in a sense, yet each shares the same nature, or essence. In a
similar way, the Trinity is three separate persons who share the same
nature.
The Incarnation
The doctrine of
the incarnation in Christian teaching is that Jesus, who is the second
person of the Trinity, added to himself human nature and became a man.
The Bible says that Jesus is God in flesh, "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.....and the word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1,
14); and, "For in Him all the
fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Col. 2:9).
Jesus, therefore, has two natures. He is both God and man.
Jesus is completely
human, but He also has a divine nature.
As a man, Jesus
needed to pray. When He was praying he was not praying to Himself, but to
God the Father.
Return to Islam
|