Page 13 of 18: The Spirit

One restricts and confuses the doctrine of the Spirit. The other freely offers the Spirit as a full Person.

Muhammad

He severely restricts the role and nature of the Spirit. The references to the Islamic spirit in the Quran are far, far fewer than those to the Spirit in the New Testament. In fact, the Quranic references, below, are complete (or nearly so).

The spirit in the Quran has similar functions as those in the Bible, but the Quranic spirit’s role is weaker and less defined. Examples follow. This spirit seems to be involved in creation (Suras 15:98; 32:7-9; 38:71-72). He helped Mary conceive Jesus (Suras 19:18-19; 21:91; 66:12). The spirit appeared in the form of a man to Mary (Sura 19:18-19). He strengthened Jesus (Suras 2:87; 2:253; 5:110), and the believers (Sura 58:22). Jesus is called a "spirit from God" (Sura 4:171; cf. 2:253). The spirit inspired and revealed the Quran (Sura 16:102; 17:85; 26:192-193; 97:4). Finally, he is a witness or participates in some way in the Last Day (Suras 70:4; 78:38), warning of impending judgment (Sura 40:15).

Thus, the Quran’s view of the Spirit overlaps somewhat with the Bible’s (creation, conception of Jesus, and inspiration), but in other ways the Quran is confused and deficient (Jesus is a spirit; the spirit appears as a man; his helping believers is mentioned only once). But none of this confusion and deficiency matters, because traditional Islam erroneously reduces the Spirit to the archangel Gabriel. Why? A fully developed pneumatology (doctrine of the Spirit) wreaks havoc on a strict unitarian doctrine of God.

Jesus

Just before his resurrection and ascension, Jesus promises to send the Spirit to every believer who asks in his name (John 14:15-18; 16:5-15). He fulfills this promise in Acts 2:1-4. The Spirit fills the believers, and the church is formally created.

In an exhaustive concordance in which every word in the Bible is listed, the word "Spirit" or "spirit" of God or the Lord in the Old Testament takes up almost two columns. In the New Testament, the same words take over three columns. This gives us an idea of the importance of the Spirit in the New Testament. This is especially remarkable, since the Old Testament is much, much longer than the New. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit, as a full Person, lives in every believer to help him follow God and receive his love.

This long article (the readers may scroll down to "Who is the Spirit?") argues convincingly that the Spirit cannot be Gabriel without damaging other aspects of Islamic theology.

This one replies to Muslim polemics.