The Bible’s text
The Injil and the four Gospels
The Qur’an speaks of the Injil, the Gospel, that God gave to Jesus. Christians have four Gospels written about Jesus. Are they the same thing?
1The question
Is the Injil in the Qur’an the same as the four Gospels of the New Testament?
2What Christians believe
Christians answer that there is one gospel, the good news about Jesus, told by four witnesses. The word gospel means good news, and Mark begins “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (Mark 1:1).
Christians hold that Jesus’s message of the kingdom was fulfilled in his death and resurrection, so the four Gospels, which tell that story, are the gospel in its full form.
3What the texts say
Jesus preaches the gospel
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
“This gospel shall be preached”
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
Paul warns of “another gospel”
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
4What scholars say
The Greek word euangelion means good news. In the first century it meant a message, not a book. Justin Martyr, around 150, describes the books as “memoirs of the apostles, which are called Gospels” (First Apology 66), one of the first uses of the word for written books.
Martin Hengel (The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ, 2000) traces how the one message came to be known through four books, and how the early church held them together as “the gospel according to” each writer.
Scholars agree that Jesus preached “the gospel” during his ministry, before any of the four books existed.
5The Islamic perspective
The Qur’an speaks of the Gospel as something God gave to Jesus, just as he gave the Torah to Moses:
And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was (revealed) before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was (revealed) before it in the Torah - a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil).
Then We caused Our messengers to follow in their footsteps; and We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow, and gave him the Gospel, and placed compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. But monasticism they invented - We ordained it not for them - only seeking Allah's pleasure, and they observed it not with right observance. So We give those of them who believe their reward, but many of them are evil-livers.
He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet,
Muslims see the Injil as the message Jesus received and preached, the gospel he proclaimed in Galilee (Mark 1:14–15). The four Gospels contain parts of that message, but they are accounts written about Jesus by others, later.
6Objections and responses
“Arab Christians called the four Gospels the Injil, so that is what the Qur’an means.”
Response: The Qur’an says the Injil was given to Jesus (5:46; 57:27), and Jesus says God gave him the Scripture (19:30). That describes a revelation to Jesus, as the Torah was given to Moses, not books written about him after his time.
“If the Injil is lost, why does the Qur’an tell Christians to judge by it (5:47)?”
Response: Muslims answer that the message of the Injil has not vanished: its core, the worship of one God and obedience to his commands, still stands in Jesus’s words in the Gospels. Christians are called to judge by that message.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that Jesus preached “the gospel” before any of the four books were written. Christians see the four Gospels as that one gospel, told in full. Muslims see the Injil as the revelation given to Jesus, partly preserved in the four books about him.
Read Mark 1:14–15 and ask what “the gospel” meant to the people who first heard Jesus preach it.
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Sources
- Bible, King James Version:Mark 1:14Mark 1:15Matthew 4:23Matthew 26:13Galatians 1:6
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 5:46Qur’an 57:27Qur’an 19:30
- Martin Hengel, The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ (2000)
- Justin Martyr, First Apology 66–67