Denying Something of Ourselves

In “Christianity Face to Face with Islam,” published in the January 2009 issue of First Things, Robert Louis Wilken tries to draw parallels between Christianity and Islam and describe their “kinship”:

Given the experience of centuries, it is tempting for Christians to see Islam as the enemy. Often it has been the enemy. But if that remains our dominant paradigm for looking at the religion, we deny something of ourselves. Christianity’s historic mission was to bring the worship of the one God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to the nations. Let us not forget that the first and greatest sin is idolatry, to worship something other than the one God as god. “You shall have no other gods before me,” reads the first commandment. Christians confess, “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth,” and Muslims recite, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger.” (25)

Yet the Bible teaches far more than monotheism. James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.” If a monotheist is not trusting Jesus as the Divine Redeemer and is not following obediently in relationship with God, this monotheism alone will be of little benefit to him. How can someone know the God of Abraham without knowing the Author of life whom He has sent? (John 14:8-10) The Apostle Peter preached in the temple in Jerusalem,

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus . . . . But you denied the Holy and Righteous One . . . and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. . . . Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out . . . . (Acts 3:13-15, 19)

If the Body of Christ minimizes the role of Jesus, we indeed do deny something of ourselves. Yes, let us bring the worship of the one God to the nations. But let us remember who He is.