The Nugget:
2Ti 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (ESV)
The Muslim Challenge:
GOD says in the bible:
Hosea 11:9 “I am God, and not a man”
Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man”
Christians say “Jesus is both God and Man”
Don’t we see a major contradiction here? Major misinterpretation. Major error. Are Christians ready to face God and tell him He’s both God and Man after He plainly tells you He is NOT a man?
My Response:
When it comes to correctly understanding the Bible we must read it carefully. Careful reading takes into account the immediate context, the near context, and the whole context of Scripture.
Numbers 23:19
19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
King James Version
When referencing “God is not a man,” we must account for the immediate context, for it tells us in what respect God is not a man: in this case, with reference to the absolute character of God, for unlike man, God cannot lie.
Accounting for the whole context of Scripture, we are taught expressly that God cannot lie:
Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal;
American Standard Version
Numbers 23:19. God is not a man. This expression does not deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is God, for here God is a reference to the Father, not the Son. So, when it has been proved that Jesus is Jehovah (+1Pe 2:3 note. +Exo 3:2 note. +Gen 19:24 note), this is not to say that Jesus is the Father, but rather that there is more than one Jehovah in the Godhead (Gen 19:24 note). [From my Bible study resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury]
Hosea 11:9
9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.
King James Version
In the immediate context of Hosea 11:9 God is said to be “not man” with respect to His own character of extending patience and restraining anger, for God keeps His promises to His people and will ultimately extend His mercy to Ephraim, that is, to His people and nation of Israel, in accordance to promises He has already given.
In the near context of Hosea 11:8, God states He will not give up His love for Ephraim and will not utterly destroy Ephraim as God destroyed Admah and Zeboim which were destroyed in the overthrow and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 29:23).
This reflects the promises founded upon the character of God expressed in the wider context of the whole of Scripture:
Isaiah 41:9
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
King James Version
Lamentations 3:22
22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
King James Version
Malachi 3:6
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
King James Version
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
English Standard Version
Therefore, to say
“Don’t we see a major contradiction here? Major misinterpretation. Major error. Are Christians ready to face God and tell him He’s both God and Man after He plainly tells you He is NOT a man?”
is a forced misreading of the Bible designed to foist a supposed contradiction on the text when there is no contradiction when the Bible is read carefully and properly.
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verse from Isa 8,20 To the law and the testimony it if they speak not according to
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