While some misunderstandings can be cleared with Muslims, the main offense is Jesus Christ (see 1 Peter 2:4-8). The truth about the Lord and Savior must not be compromised. Muslims reject God the Father who sent His Son to die for sinners. Most deny both the necessity and historicity of Christ’s death. While Muslims honor Jesus as a noble prophet, they depend on Islamic faith and works—submission to one Allah, belief in Muhammad’s revelation of Allah, obedience to the Qur’an and the Five Pillars—for entrance to paradise. Many Muslims believe that Christians worship three gods, deify a man, and have corrupted the Bible.
Christians and Muslims should discuss doctrinal misunderstandings. Christians must understand biblical theology so they can . . .
• explain the Trinity: God is one in essence, three in Person.
• give evidence of the Bible’s trustworthiness.
• show how God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness require Christ’s atoning death.
• clarify beliefs about Jesus: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:14-15).
With love, humility, and patience, Christians must present Jesus as Lord and Savior. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).