Was Jesus substituted?

Chapters

1. Introduction
2. Was Jesus crucified?
3. Did Jesus die on a cross?
4. Was Jesus substituted?
5. Did Jesus die at all?
6. What happened to Jesus?

« Did Jesus die on a cross?

Christians agree that Jesus was crucified. By contrast, Muslims hold a variety of views about what happened to Jesus. Let’s consider the most popular Islamic claim about Jesus, found in the Qur’an: the Theory of Substitution.

Christian Perspective

Jewish authorities plotted to kill Jesus for committing blasphemy

Why was Jesus sentenced to death? The Jewish authorities had plenty of reasons to convict him, and most related to the scandalous claims Jesus made about himself.{50}

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah – the long-awaited king of God’s people, and he also indicated that he was divine.{51} The Bible describes several occasions when Jesus’ Jewish opponents sought to take his life.{52} On one occasion, his enemies were very plain about why they wanted him dead: they considered him a blasphemer.

After Jesus’ betrayal and a late night arrest, he was quickly sentenced to death under Jewish law. He was then relayed to the civil authorities: Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and Herod Antipas, the Jewish client king. The whole process was witnessed by people who followed Jesus and by people who were hostile or indifferent to him.

Jesus was held under armed guard. Many of his disciples fled for their lives, while others watched helplessly as his sentencing went ahead.

Passed from the Temple authorities to Roman soldiers, Jesus was executed the following morning. Six hours later, and witnessed by the public crowds, Jesus was confirmed dead by his executioners. They removed his body, and it was later placed under armed guard in the tomb of a sympathiser, Joseph of Arimathea.

God raised Jesus from the dead, and he ascended into heaven

The very earliest Christian accounts of Jesus all agree that he not only died on the cross, but after three days was raised to life again:

Jesus’ first disciples regarded his death and resurrection as the peak of his earthly ministry. This was unusual, to say the least.

Jesus’ first disciples were ethnic Jews. From their youth, they would have learned from the Torah that death on a cross was a shameful thing, associated with God’s curse.{55} What had compelled them to preach a crucified Messiah? The simple answer is that Jesus was precisely the Messiah about whom the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms all testified.{56} But Jesus was not the Messiah many expected. It was his death, not a military campaign, which would establish his kingdom and bring freedom to his people.{57}

The Messiah would ‘give his life as a ransom for many’.{58} Just as the Prophet Isaiah had anticipated centuries before, Jesus’ innocent death on the cross would be a final sacrifice to free his people – not from Rome, but from the curse and the penalty of sin:

This was a strange message to first-century ears. Jesus’ disciples knew it sounded like foolishness to Jews, Greeks and Romans alike. After all, what great king, chosen by God, could die in such an appalling way?

The disciples spoke of the ‘scandal of the cross’{60} yet travelled far and wide to tell about their crucified Messiah. Why? Because the cross was the very place where Jesus had won his great victory. Referring back to the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus’ close disciple Peter explained Jesus’ accomplishment:

Jesus died for us, so that we may have everlasting life

In his death, Jesus’ innocent sacrifice promises freedom from the punishment for sins and reconciliation with God for everyone who truly accepts it.{62} During his ministry, Jesus remarked that ‘anyone who sins is a slave to sin’ – and being a slave to sin leaves us outside God’s family.{63} That’s bad news. After all, who among us can claim to have never sinned?

Jesus alone was without sin.{64} And he claimed his innocent death would free us from our sins, reconciling us to God:

This was what Jesus’ disciples celebrated. By his life and death, Jesus the Son of God made a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to God.{67} Like runaway children restored to a loving parent, we are not cut off from our Father’s affection or His inheritance.

Jesus was crucified to bear our punishment, cancel our terrible debt and restore us to God. It was costly for him – but it is good news for us!

Islamic Perspective

The disbelieving Jews plotted to kill Jesus, and tried to seize him

Why was Jesus sentenced to death? The Qur’an{68} implies the Jews were responsible. The explanation is simple: they envied Jesus’ miracles and prophethood. Ibn Kathir writes{69},

Seeing his many impressive miracles, Jesus’ Jewish opponents were jealous and wanted him dead. So they went to the king of Damascus who wrote to pronounce a sentence of crucifixion and a crown of thorns for Jesus.

God raised Jesus before his enemies could seize him

Jesus’ mission was to bring signs for the Children of Israel (the Jews) – but he had become aware of their disbelief and rejected them:{70}

The Qur’an describes how Jesus’ Jewish enemies searched for him so they might crucify him. They schemed against Jesus. But Allah’s rescue plan was greater…

What was the scheme by which Allah would subvert Jesus’ enemies? Allah simply found another to take Jesus’ place on the cross.

Allah schemed against Jesus’ enemies, and another person died in Jesus’ place

After Jesus’ enemies arrived to arrest him, a miracle took place. The person Jesus’ enemies believed to be him was found to be another person altogether. This was because Allah had transformed another person to resemble Jesus.{73} This person was taken away in his place, and the resemblance was so great that all those who sentenced him were convinced he was Jesus. In his tafsir on Quran 3.154, Ibn Kathir explains:

In this and other early Islamic accounts of Jesus being saved from the cross, a similar sequence of events is described. It shows that:

• The Jews attempted to arrest Jesus
• Jesus appointed another to take his place on the cross
• The other person was transformed to look like him
• The other person was crucified in his place

There are different views about who took Jesus’ place, and some traditions do not name the person. Some say it was Jesus’ disciple, while others say it was one of Jesus’ enemies whom Allah schemed against to resemble Jesus. Ibn Abbas (c.619-697) writes:

Tafsir Al Jalalayn (c.1459) similarly describes Jesus as being replaced by one of his enemies:

Shia tradition specifically names Judas, Jesus’ betrayer, as the person crucified in his place.{77}

Whether it was a volunteer from among Jesus’ disciples or one of his enemies, another person took Jesus’ place on the cross. He escaped and was raised to Paradise by Allah. This was the scheme which undermined Allah’s enemies: his prophet was saved from their efforts against him, and the shameful death which they sought to inflict upon him.

Comparison

It’s helpful for us to use precise evidence to build a reliable picture of what’s happened to Jesus. We must consider the witnesses as well as any archaeological evidence and the expertise of historians. Do these indicate whether Jesus was substituted?

What did the first witnesses say?

The first witnesses to describe Jesus all agree he was crucified.

The first written accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion are found in the New Testament, recorded by the first generation of Jesus’ followers between 45 and 95AD.{78} They include accounts from at least three of Jesus’ 12 disciples.{79} At least one of them had seen the crucifixion first-hand.{80}

In worldly terms, these disciples had nothing to gain and everything to lose by proclaiming this Jesus. Their message of a ‘crucified Messiah’ was bizarre to Jewish, Greek and Roman audiences, who mocked the idea that God’s power should be demonstrated through a crucifixion.

Despite the ridicule faced by the young church, the earliest Christians were adamant Jesus had been crucified and that his death was of ‘first importance’ to Christian faith:

In addition to the Bible, early and diverse writings from Romans,{83} Greeks,{84} Jews and Christians alike support the basic claim that Jesus was crucified and died as a result:

When did alternative theories begin to circulate? It was not until a hundred years after Jesus’ arrest – by which time all eyewitnesses, sympathetic and hostile, were dead – that people began to claim Jesus had only ‘appeared’ to be crucified.{87} These reports emerged from a specific group of sects, the gnostics. One gnostic writing, dated to 200AD, assumes the voice of Jesus himself to ‘correct’ the testimony of earlier gospels:

Claims like this were immediately and consistently rejected by the Christian church.{89} But despite the firm rejection of such accounts, they continued to be passed on through the generations in regions including the Arabian peninsula.

In the 21st century, a significant majority of scholars recognise Jesus’ death as a factual and well-evidenced historical event. Dr John Dominic Crossan, a leading non-Christian scholar on the historical Jesus, concludes, “that Jesus was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.”{90}

Is the story detailed and coherent? Is there hard evidence to support it?

The earliest accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion are clear, specific and unanimous in their description of how and why Jesus was crucified:

• When: It took place during the Passover festival in the Jewish month of Nisan, and during the first-century governorship of Pontius Pilate (26-36 AD). Jesus was arrested in the evening, tried overnight and crucified at 9am the following morning.
• Who: It was authorised by Jewish and Roman{91} authorities including Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate and a body of Jewish religious rulers, the Sanhedrin. Each of these groups, and the Jewish client king Herod Antipas, interacted with Jesus during his sentencing.
• Why: Jesus was convicted of blasphemy, having made himself ‘equal with God’. To make the sentence stick, his enemies among the Jewish elites bore false witness. They claimed Jesus tried to incite violent rebellion against Roman occupation.
• How: Jesus was publicly crucified early in the morning during the Festival of Passover, at Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem. Around 3pm, ‘the ninth hour’ in the Jewish calendar, Jesus died. He was pierced to confirm his death. His body was taken down before the end of the day (sunset, or 6pm) and placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The tomb was then patrolled by the Temple guard.

These orderly, early accounts leave no room for alternative readings. They frequently mention Jesus’ crucifixion, and bear witness to his “death on the cross.”{92}

The Qur’an offers a different version of events. In contrast to dozens of biblical chapters which specifically mention the crucifixion, the Qur’an provides only two verses (Quran 4.157-158) to explain its alternative version of events:

• When: No information is given.
• Who: [The Jews] said, “We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger.”
• Why: No information is given.
• How: They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; it only appeared so. The disciples have no knowledge of it except conjecture. In fact, Allah raised Jesus.

Muslim apologists argue the Qur’an did not need to say more about Jesus’ crucifixion. Yet clearly, this account raises more questions than it can answer. It fails to provide any details of people, places or other descriptive details that one might expect from a reliable testimony.

The Qur’an dismisses the Jewish and Christian accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion, claiming that they are mere ‘conjecture’ with no basis in knowledge. Clearly however, the Islamic version of events has generated much more internal dispute. Islamic writings, including a sixteenth-century gospel attributed to the disciple Barnabas, have promoted a variety of incompatible theories about how or why Jesus escaped the cross.{93}

Based on the earliest sources and their consistent version of events, there are good reasons to accept that Jesus was crucified. Most secular scholars accept this as a historical event, consistent with the culture, customs, politics and religious climate of first-century Judaea. It is also supported by hard evidence:

• The historical record confirms that crucifixion of insurgents was common in first-century Palestine. It took place outside Jerusalem in the days of Jesus’ ministry.
• Artefacts confirm the existence of the individuals who sentenced Jesus: Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate. They include first-century non-Christian writings and archaeological finds. Archaeology also demonstrates that Christians were quickly recognised as a group worshipping a crucified Messiah.{94}

Why did the crucifixion happen?

The Bible identifies Jesus’ crucifixion as two things at once:

• A wicked decision brought about by human beings.
• An atoning sacrifice brought about by God’s eternal plan, for all humanity.

At first glance, this is confusing. After all, how can we reconcile God’s perfect plan with the death of the righteous Jesus?

This doesn’t pose a problem for Christians, because the cross was not the end of the story. Jesus did not simply die. Rather, he rose again, showing that even death was subject to his unparalleled authority.{95} For Christians, the cross is not as shameful as it looks. Appearances can be deceptive. At the cross, God took the very thing Satan meant for evil and transformed it into an instrument of blessing and victory.

Questions to consider

• Read Quran 6.164. Is it just for Allah to substitute another person in Jesus’ place on the cross?
• Why did the disciples claim so consistently that Jesus was crucified? If they were mistaken, would Allah have notified them of their error?
• Should Allah condemn Christians for believing first-century claims that Jesus was crucified?
• Read Quran 4.157. Between Christians and Muslims, which group shows greater internal disagreement (‘conjecture’) about what happened to Jesus?

Did Jesus die at all? »