Seeing the Unseen: The Face of God in the Bible

The “face of God” is a theme from Genesis to Revelation. Not surprisingly, the subject has also piqued the interest of amateur apologists for Islam and atheism. I have, over the years, seen several memes alleging the existence of a contradiction in that Christians both affirm that no one has ever seen God and that Jesus is God. As is often the case, there is a legitimate question behind it.

Recently, I had a friendly exchange with a Patristic scholar who studied the writings of the post-Apostolic Church Fathers some months ago. This individual made a claim that got my attention. He posits that God the Father will remain hidden from glorified believers even in the coming age. He got my attention and motioned the cogs and gears in my head. As it turns out, this is a rather fascinating and rich biblical theme. Below is my exploration of the subject.

In the Beginning in the Garden

The very first page of the Bible introduces a reader to a creator who molded humans and breathed into his nostrils. If this description is taken literally, we may reasonably surmise that the creator has a face – after all, the animated clay is supposed to have been made as an image of the creator, and it has a face. Also, as far as we can tell on Earth, breathing typically requires a face.

Continue Reading

Insights into the Third Commandment: Taking God’s Name in Vain?

Background

My six-year-old came running, “Daddy, daddy, my sister is being bad.” When I enquired about what the sister did, the older one said, “she is saying God’s name in vain.” So, I pressed further, “What exactly did she say?“ She answered,” “Oh my God.” I dismissed the issue by saying, “That’s not God’s name.”

I have no idea where my daughter got that lesson from, but it is pretty pervasive in our churches since the King James Bible gave us the following translation of Exodus 20:7,

Exodus 20:7 KJV
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

There are scholarly debates on how to number the commands. Some scholars believe Exodus 20:7 is the second command in the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue. In this piece, I shall stick with the common belief that it is the third Commandment.

Continue Reading

On John 10: Are We Also Gods? (Series Part 3, Finale)

Context of the Claim

John 10 is a chapter full of nuggets, and we have had reasons to park on a portion of the chapter in the past. In this piece, we are interested primarily in verses 34-36. In this pericope, Jesus’ Jewish audience asked him to tell them plainly if he was the anticipated Messiah. In response, Jesus says he had already told his interlocutors that he was the Messiah, but they did not believe him. Then, Jesus said to this Jewish crowd that he and his Father are one – a comment that the audience unmistakably understood as Jesus claiming to be divine, leading them to pick up stones to kill him. Before they could cast the stones, Jesus, wanting to ensure that they were still on the same subject of his Messiahship, reminded them that he had shown them many miracles in God’s name and asked for which miracle the Jews were going to stone him.

Continue Reading

On John 10: Parsing Psalm 82 (Series Part 2)

The Gods in the Divine Council

It’s probably no exaggeration that Psalm 82 is one of our churches’ many “forgotten passages” today. Yet, this Psalm has been described as one of the most important passages in the whole Bible. It is also one about which some scholars are losing hope of ever satisfactorily resolving its various parts. Some of the content of the Psalm is familiar to churchgoers because Jesus referenced it in John 10, and both its use by John and its original setting have been hotly debated.

Continue Reading

On John 10: The Sons of God in the Hebrew Bible (Series Part 1)

We have had to study John 10 when we were concerned about something Jesus teaches about salvation. We are back in John 10 in this series for a different reason. Indeed, we have addressed the matter of the gods in John 10 in the past, but that treatment was brief and left much room for misunderstanding. The goal is to build on the earlier material while retaining the earlier blog entry as a standalone article.

Continue Reading

The Covenant Promise: Abraham’s Blessing, Lost Sheep of Israel, and Jesus

Why Abraham?

Scholars have long known that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are an extended prologue, an etiological grounding, among other things, of the accounts to follow. Chapter 12 features the calling of Abram. Why did the calling of Abraham become necessary?

Genesis begins by narrating how God, wanting to make creatures that can image him, prepares a fitting environment. He then creates Adam and Eve and gives them instructions to live by – instructions they can perform. However, other forces are vested in God’s project. Before long, the project was derailed when only two humans were involved. Things only got worse. By the time four named humans were in the project, there was a murder. By Genesis 6, things had gotten so bad that even God regretted creating humans. Clearly, the Project was not going well. What was God to do — scratch the project altogether? No, that would be a resounding victory for the sinister forces that thwarted his original plans. Start afresh? Yes, but not entirely from ground zero. So, in a sense, the restart is a continuation. Abraham would have to do.

What is Abraham’s qualifying attribute for this mission? The most noticeable feature is that he was childless, and his wife was past the age of childbearing. In other words, though God wants a nation of people, he has chosen a barren couple for that mission. God has picked someone who would require a miraculous intervention to get the project back on track. He said to Abram:

Genesis 12:2 ESV
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.



Of course, becoming a great nation implies having many children and descendants. Sounding like a good deal to the ancient Near-Eastern businessman, Abram obeyed. While he was on his way to where God sent him away from his home country, at the oak of Moreh, and as if to make the point transparent:

Genesis 12:7 ESV
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Again, Abram is assured that he will have children of his own. This, especially from Abram’s perspective, is a significant blessing.

Continue Reading

The Quran and Judeo-Christian Pseudepigrapha (Part 5, Finale): The Crucifixion and Trinity

We have seen enough examples to demonstrate that some extra-biblical materials in the Quran ultimately derived from Judeo-Christian writings, whether commentaries or creative fictional works. There are other examples one may cite, such as how a raven taught Cain to bury his murdered brother, Jesus talking as an infant, Joseph’s torn tunic (establishing his innocence with Potiphar’s wife), and Jinn being created from fire. These all derived from Jewish exegetical works. These observations undermine certain critical Islamic beliefs.

First, the idea that the Quran is a perfect revelation from God given to restore corrupted biblical materials or details is undercut. Muslims typically believe this idea not because there is such evidence of corruption in the Bible but because many of them believe that the Quran says so, and they believe the Quran. (At this point, the typical Muslim reader thinks of differing details in the original Biblical manuscripts as evidence of corruption. Yes, “corruption,” but not the kind that helps the Quran’s narrative. Furthermore, Quranic manuscripts also show differing details as well. See our dedicated treatment of this issue here.) Second, the extra-biblical details that the Quran features are from known fictional sources. As we shall see soon, the Quran preserves evidence of seventh-century critics pointing out to Muhammed that his stories were not original but adaptations of old sayings. In light of all we have said, let us now look into the Quran’s position on two Christian doctrines: the crucifixion of Jesus and the Trinity.

Continue Reading

The Quran and Judeo-Christian Pseudepigrapha (Part 4): Quran 3:35-44 and the Protevangelium of James

John the Baptist was a weird but essential figure in the ministry of Jesus. The Gospels suggest that the men are cousins through their mothers. John’s parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth. Jesus’ parents need no introduction. The Gospels, especially Matthew and Luke, only go as far back in their stories as when Joseph and Mary were already betrothed. Hence, we have no biblical records of the birth of Mary or Joseph.


The Quran, on the other hand, has quite a bit to say about the birth of Mary, her childhood, and, as I will explain, how Joseph was chosen for her as a husband. We find this story in Quran 3:35-44,

Surah Aal-e-Imran, Verse 35:
إِذْ قَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ عِمْرَانَ رَبِّ إِنِّي نَذَرْتُ لَكَ مَا فِي بَطْنِي مُحَرَّرًا فَتَقَبَّلْ مِنِّي إِنَّكَ أَنتَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! Surely I vow to Thee what is in my womb, to be devoted (to Thy service); accept therefore from me, surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing.

Continue Reading

The Quran and Judeo-Christian Pseudepigrapha (Part 3): Quran 2, Genesis Rabbah, and the Apocalypse of Moses

Page 2 of the Bible tells the story of the creation of Adam. Of all the details given, nothing is said about how angels felt about the creation of humans. In fact, if one does not have other later biblical information to go by, one wouldn’t even know that angels existed.

The Quran, on the other hand, has much to say about how angels felt about God’s intent to create humans. All of them, at first, were opposed to the creation of humans. But after Adam demonstrated his superior knowledge, many angels changed their minds. Satan, however, never accepted the idea. In fact, the Quran teaches that Satan was cast away from heaven because he would not accept God’s sovereign choice to create humans.

Continue Reading

The Quran and Judeo-Christian Pseudepigrapha (Part 2): Quran 6:74 – 79 and the Apocalypse of Abraham

In the Judeo-Christian worldview, Abraham is a big deal. Narratively, he is a type of Adam, the human who carries forward the tasks of Adam and initiates the process of undoing his errors. When humanity at Babel went south, God called Abraham out from his family to reboot the Humanity Project. Abraham was to be how God would achieve the goal of having worldwide humans loyal to him. However, the Bible does not say much about his prior life. We know he originated from the Ur of the Chaldeans, and we have his genealogy. That’s about it.

The Quran, on the other hand, has more to say about Abraham’s prior life. For instance, the Quran tells about Abraham turning away from paganism to embrace Allah in Quran 6, after contemplating on some heavenly bodies:

Continue Reading