The Sinlessness of Jesus Christ
The Uniqueness of Jesus in the Qur'an and the Bible
Chapters
It is a simple matter to prove from the Qur'an and the Bible that Jesus was absolutely without sin through out his life. When the angel appeared to Mary, the Qur'an says that he told her "I am only a messenger of thy Lord that I may bestow on thee a faultless son" (Quran 19.19). The Arabic word for "faultless", zakiyya, implies that he was totally without sin.
In the Bible there are numerous proofs of the sinlessness of Jesus Christ. Passages proving the point are:
He committed no sin, no guile was found on his lips. 1 Peter 2:22
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5. 21
You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in in him there is no sin. 1 John 3:5
At this stage, however, it will be profitable to note that in the Qur'an and the Bible, Jesus Christ alone is described as sinless. He is emphatically described as such in both books. No other prophet or man is so described. Nevertheless both books describe the sins of other prophets and both leave us with the firm impression that Jesus alone was without sin. (In the Qur'an, in Quran 19.19, the unique birth of Jesus is explained by the angel as the medium for the faultlessness of the son of Mary. This implies that a man cannot be faultless unless he is born of a virgin-woman. Hence Jesus Christ, being the only man to be born in this way, must of necessity also be the only sinless man who ever lived). The Qur'an attributes sin to the following prophets:
Adam. "And their Lord called them, saying: Did I not forbid you from that tree and tell you: Lo! Satan is an open enemy to you? They said: Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If thou forgive us not and have not mercy on us, surely we are of the lost". Quran 7.22-23.
Abraham. "And Who, I ardently hope, will forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgment". Quran 26.82
Moses. "He said: My Lord! Lo! I have wronged my soul, so forgive me". Quran 28.16
Jonah. "And the fish swallowed him while he was blameworthy". Quran 37.142
Muhammad. "So know, O Muhammad, that there is no God save Allah, and ask forgiveness for thy sin and for believing men and believing women". Quran 47.19
Jesus Christ was never commanded to pray for forgiveness because he was faultless. We also never find him praying for any faults, wrongs and sins such as the Qur'an attributes in the verses quoted to other prophets. He never wronged his soul, nor was he blameworthy. Instead the Qur'an emphasizes that he was entirely without sin and was faultless. We can therefore conclude by saying that the Qur'an teaches that of all men, Jesus Christ alone was sinless.
In the Bible the universal effect of sin is recorded often, but it will be sufficient to quote these words to prove the point:
None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one. Romans 3:10-12.
The Bible plainly teaches that no man, other than Jesus Christ, has ever faithfully sought out God and done good all his days. Every other man has at some time turned away from him and sinned against him.
Once again, we find that Jesus Christ alone is sin- less. So we find that as the Qur'an and the Bible both teach the virgin-birth of Jesus Christ, so they both al- so teach that he alone was sinless and faultless.