THE BOOK OF NESTOR THE PRIEST
Theme of Matthew: “Behold your King is coming to you” (Zech.9:9; Mt.21:4-5) CHARTING THE COURSE
OF THIS STUDY Ø The
Book of Nestor the Priest Ø The
Importance of the Old Testament for Understanding the New THE ACCOUNT OF THE DISPUTATION OF THE PRIEST AND
THE BOOK OF NESTOR THE PRIEST
A. The Account of the Disputation of the Priest (written in Arabic) and the Book of Nestor the priest (Hebrew translation of The Account of the Disputation) are Jewish works dating from the 9th or 10th century Islamic east. B. Most Jewish anti-Christian discourses find their roots in these works. There are also find many similarities between Muslim anti-Christian apologetics and the Book of Nestor the Priest. THE BOOK OF NESTOR THE PRIEST AND THE
INCARNATION
A. Repudiation of the Incarnation: You testify that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were all three of them existing together, and none of them existed before the other; rather, they were all [existing] in one power, one governance, one divinity and one substance. Tell me know, was this son entitled “his father’s child” before the Father begot him, or [only] after He begot him? Or [perhaps] the Father called him “My son” before He created him, although he was not yet created? If you say, “He was His son before the Father begot him,” then it was futile and of no benefit to beget him, since he was already known [as His son] before He begot him. And if you say, “He became a son [only] after He begot him,” then until the Father brought him into being and perfected him, he was nothing. Had the Father not begotten him, he would have been nothing. And if you say, “The Father named him ‘son’ before He created anything, although he was [as yet] unborn,” then they are two [gods], since the Father called him “my son.” … you have committed polytheism, since you made them two [gods], and you contradicted the Gospel, since in the Gospel you find it written that he is a newborn child. (The Account of the Disputation paragraphs 25-26) B. “I do not believe in a god who dwelt in the filth and menstrual blood in the abdomen and womb” (The Account of the Disputation paragraph 75). THE BOOK OF NESTOR THE PRIEST AND THE DEITY OF
JESUS
A. The Book of Nestor the Priest asks, “How can you consider Christ a God, when he himself told you explicitly that he is not divine? Do you not know that a man said to him, “O, righteous teacher, teach me that by which I can attain eternal life.” And he said, in the Gospel, in the thirtieth part of the book of Matthew: “Do not call me ‘righteous;’ God alone is righteous.” If Christ were a God, he would not have denied his divinity and would not have called himself a human being, nor would he have responded to the man who said to him “O, righteous teacher,” by saying: “God alone is righteous.”” (The Account of the Disputation paragraph 51). This is an argument commonly used by Muslims. B. A careful study of Matthew 19:16-21 will show that Jesus did not deny being God. Jesus does not deny that He is good, but affirms that goodness is an attribute of God. 1. Jesus quotes from the Second Table of the Law (Commandments 5-10). 2. By telling the man to sell His possessions and “follow Me” Jesus is summarizing the First Table of the Law (Commandments 1-4) 3. Jesus command to the rich man needs to be understood in the context of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament land belonged to God: i. “The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me” (Leviticus 25:23). ii. “No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers” (Numbers 36:7). iii. In I Kings 21 we Naboth refused to sell the inheritance of his fathers to King Ahab. Naboth wouldn’t sell his land because it was unlawful. Naboth couldn’t sell his vineyard to the king because it was the inheritance of his fathers. 4. As the Son of God, Jesus was making a land claim in Matthew 19. He is saying that He has the right to command others to sell the land and their possessions. THE BOOK OF NESTOR THE PRIEST AND THE HUMANITY
OF JESUS
A. The Book of Nestor the Priest asserts, “Were Jesus God, he would not have prayed to himself and fallen on his knees, pleading with God and fasting. He also said, pleading with God, “If it be your will, remove from me the cup of death. But let it be as you please, not as I please, and by your command, not by mine. It is made thereby clear that he is not a God, but a human being, subject to sadness and fatigue, who fasts and prays to someone else” (The Account of the Disputation paragraph 53). B. This is a common argument made by Muslims. THE BOOK OF NESTOR THE PRIEST AND THE CROSS
A. The Book of Nestor the Priest asks, “Do you not see him, calling for help, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” If, despite these true testimonies, you come claiming that he is a Lord and a God, will people not spit in your face? Woe to you, because of these lies and because of this insolence!” (The Account of the Disputation paragraph 54) B. This is a common argument made by Muslims, “Do you really think that Allah will disgrace one of the holiest and the greatest prophets by killing him at the cross?” HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN
THE INCARNATION? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN
THE TRINITY? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE
CRUCIFIXION?
A. The Incarnation, Trinity and crucifixion need to be explained with the Old Testament as a foundation. B. The Old Testament is not optional when it comes to the church’s witness to the millions of Jews and hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world. 1. The Old Testament was foundational for the Gospels (“fulfill”: Matthew 1:22-23; 2:5-6, 15,17,23; 3:15; 4:14-16; 5:17; 8:17; 12:17-21; 13:14-15,35; 21:4-5; 26:54,56; 27:9-10). 2. Scholars have estimated that the Gospel of Matthew makes anywhere between 94-130 quotations and allusions to the Old Testament. 3. “more than 10 per cent of the New Testament text is made up of citations or direct allusions to the Old Testament” (quoted by Ronald F. Youngblood “New Testament Use,” in The NIV: The Making of a Contemporary Translation p.138) “there is no significant idea developed in the Gospels that does not in some way reflect or depend on the Old Testament” (C.A. Evans, “Old Testament in the Gospels” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels). C. The Qur’an claims to be the final revelation. But Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament (Matt.5:17-20). THE OLD TESTAMENT
AND THE INCARNATION “Here are two mysteries for the price of one -- the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus... ‘The Word was made flesh’ (John 1:14); God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation.” J.I. Packer, Knowing God
Where do we find the
divine Sonship of Jesus in the Old Testament?
1. To call Jesus the “only begotten” of the Father means that the relationship of Christ to the Father is unique (Psalm 2:7; John 1:14,18; 3:16; Hebrews 1:5). 2. That Jesus is the begotten of the Father means that He is “flesh of God’s flesh and bone of God’s bone”; Jesus is of the same nature of the Father. “Scripture employs them to underscore the absolute oneness of essence between Father and Son. In other words, such expressions aren’t intended to evoke the idea of procreation; they are meant to convey the truth about the essential oneness shared by the Members of the Trinity” (John MacArthur, “Reexamining the Eternal Sonship of Christ”; Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Vol. 6, pp.22-23). It is important to note the nature and
limits of the interest which motivates NT thinking about the incarnation,
particularly that of Paul, John and the author of Hebrews, who deal with the
subject comparatively fully. The NT writers nowhere notice, much less handle,
the metaphysical questions about the mode of the incarnation, and the
psychological questions about the incarnate state, which have been so
prominent in Christological discussion since the 4th century. Their interest
in Christ’s person is not philosophical and speculative, but religious and
evangelical. They speak of Christ, not as a metaphysical problem, but as a
divine Saviour; and all that they say about his person is prompted by their
desire to glorify him through exhibiting his work and vindicating his
centrality in the redemptive purpose of God. They never attempt to dissect
the mystery of his person; it is enough for them to proclaim the incarnation
as a fact, one of the sequence of mighty works whereby God has wrought
salvation for sinners. The only sense in which the NT writers ever attempt to
explain the incarnation is by showing how it fits into God’s over-all plan
for redeeming mankind (see, e.g., Rom. 8:3; Phil. 2:6-11; Col.
1:13-22; Jn. 1:18; 1 Jn. 1:1-2:2; and the main argument of Hebrews, 1-2;
4:14-5:10; 7:1-10:18). (J.I. Packer in The New Bible Dictionary) THE OLD TESTAMENT
AND THE DEITY OF JESUS Where do we find intimations of the deity of Jesus in the Old
Testament? A. The deity of the Messiah is implied in the following Old Testament passages: Psalm 45:6; 110:1; Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 23:5,6; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 2:8, 9. B. The Angel of the LORD is an intimation of the Incarnation and deity of Jesus. (Genesis 18:1-2; 32:24-32; Exodus 23:20-23) THE OLD TESTAMENT
AND THE HUMANITY OF JESUS A. The Old Testament taught that Messiah would pray/cry out to God (Psalm 22:1; 89:26-29). Psalm 89:26-29 (NASB95) 26 “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ 27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. 28 “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. 29 “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven. B. Jesus was not only God but also man. As man, Jesus lived His life as we do in dependence upon God (Psalm 40:6-8; Hebrews 2:17). C. The
humanity of the Messiah according to the Old Testament is most clearly seen
by the Old Testament emphasis upon “seed” (Genesis 3:15) and
genealogies. Thirty-eight times in Matthew 1, we come across the phrase, “father
of…” (More literally “begot”) THE
OLD TESTAMENT AND THE CROSS (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53) Daniel A. Madigan. The Qur'an's Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam’s Scripture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001, pp.23-45.
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