Prophets & prophecy

Jesus and Adam: Qur’an 3:59

Christians and Muslims both believe Jesus was born of a virgin, without a human father. For Christians this points to his divine nature. The Qur’an answers with a comparison: Jesus is like Adam. This topic looks at what that means.

1The question

Does a birth without a father mean that Jesus is more than a man?

2What Christians believe

Christians believe the virgin birth shows that Jesus is the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh. The child was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35), so his birth was unlike any other.

Christians also call Jesus “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Where the first Adam brought sin and death, Jesus brings life. For Christians the comparison with Adam points to Jesus’s greatness, not his ordinariness.

3What the texts say

The virgin birth

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:18 · KJVRead in context →
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:35 · KJVRead in context →

Adam, made by God

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7 · KJVRead in context →
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Luke 3:38 · KJVRead in context →

“The last Adam”

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45 · KJVRead in context →

4What scholars say

Raymond E. Brown (The Birth of the Messiah, 1977) notes that only Matthew and Luke tell of the virgin birth; Mark, John and Paul do not mention it.

Geoffrey Parrinder (Jesus in the Qur’an, 1965) shows how fully the Qur’an affirms the virgin birth, and how it uses the birth to teach God’s power to create rather than a divine nature in the child.

Scholars agree that the Bible and the Qur’an both teach that Jesus had no human father, and differ on what that means.

5The Islamic perspective

In the Qur’an Mary asks how she can have a child when no man has touched her, and the answer is God’s creative word. Then the Qur’an compares Jesus with Adam:

She said: My Lord! How can I have a child when no mortal hath touched me? He said: So (it will be). Allah createth what He will. If He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is.
Qur’an 3:47 · PickthallRead in context →
Lo! the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, then He said unto him: Be! and he is.
Qur’an 3:59 · PickthallRead in context →

Adam had neither father nor mother, and no one calls him divine. Jesus had a mother and no father. If a birth without a father made someone God, Adam would have the stronger claim. For Muslims, both births show the same thing: God says “Be!”, and it is.

6Objections and responses

“The virgin birth is unique. No one else was born of a virgin.”

Response: Muslims agree the virgin birth is unique; the Qur’an affirms it plainly (3:47). Being unique shows God’s power. Adam’s creation was also unique, and Eve’s too, but uniqueness does not make the one created into the Creator.

“Paul calls Jesus ‘the last Adam’, the one who gives life.”

Response: Paul compares Jesus with Adam too, and calls the first Adam “a living soul” and the last “a quickening spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Muslims read the comparison as the Qur’an does: both are created by God and given their role by him.

7Conclusion

Both faiths agree that Jesus was born of a virgin by God’s power. Christians see this as the sign of the eternal Son taking flesh. Muslims see it, like the creation of Adam, as a sign of God’s word “Be!”, and Jesus as a man created by God.

Read Luke 1:26–38 and Qur’an 3:42–59, and compare how each tells the story.

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