In the UK we have a unique opportunity to share the gospel with Muslims freely without fear of severe persecution. Having this freedom presents an important question: How can I effectively share the gospel with Muslims?
Muslims may raise several objections to Christianity. Most of these are to do with our beliefs. I have listed a few of their objections below and some possible answers you can give. However, the most important thing to remember is to get beyond these objections and get to the gospel.
There are three common Muslim objections.
- How can God die? The Bible teaches that Jesus is truly God who took to himself a true human nature. When Jesus died on the cross His human nature died not His divine nature.
- Where does the Bible teach that Jesus is God? You can find this teaching in passages such as John 1:1; John 20:27-29; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13 and many more.
- The Bible has been changed. The Bible has not been changed! We have thousands of ancient manuscripts, many of which predate the Quran, which testify to the preservation of the Bible.
It can be helpful to answer sincere concerns presented by Muslims as this shows that Christianity isn’t what they have been told. However, it is vital that you get to the gospel because, ‘it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’ (Romans 1:16). So how can we do this effectively with Muslims?
We need to show them their need of atonement. You might begin talking about this topic by asking the question, ‘How can Allah forgive your sins without a sacrifice?’ As Christians we believe Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, but Islam is deficient because there is no sacrifice for sins.
They may respond by saying, ‘Allah is most merciful. If we repent, he can forgive us.’
To this we present the question, ‘But what about justice?’
We believe God is merciful, but He is also just. Because He is just, He must punish all our sins otherwise He is not just. God cannot show us mercy at the expense of His justice. We have broken His law and the law’s penalty must be upheld. Yet God wants to show us mercy and forgive our sins.
For this to happen there must be atonement. There must be a sacrifice for sins. The Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place for our sins. He then rose again from the dead three days later, showing the Father was pleased with His sacrifice.
Now when a person repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, God forgives them. He forgives not because He is putting His justice to one side to show us mercy but because His justice has been satisfied by Jesus Christ on the cross. The problem with Islam, however, is that you have no sacrifice and therefore no atonement.
Another fruitful way of getting to the gospel with Muslims is speaking about assurance of salvation. An educated Muslim will never claim assurance of salvation. However, we can point out that we have assurance, and the reason for that is because we are saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ by grace through faith and not by our own good works. Muslims believe that their good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds for them to be accepted by Allah. This presents two problems. The first is addressed above, namely, what about justice? Good deeds cannot cover evil. That would never work in a court of law. The second problem is that a Muslim can never know if they have done enough good deeds. Hence, they can have no assurance of salvation. This provides a wonderful opportunity to show the superiority of the gospel message and their desperate need of Christ.
Sometimes when you speak with Muslims, they bombard you with questions. Be sure to be loving and kind in how you respond. Always stick with a particular question until you have answered it. But remember you must get to the gospel. Ask them questions like, ‘Do you have assurance of salvation?’ and ‘How can Allah forgive your sins without a sacrifice?’
By doing this, you leave them with questions that can only be answered by the gospel.
This article first appeared in the July – September 2024 edition of In the Open magazine. If you found this article helpful, why not subscribe to our quarterly magazine which is packed full of interesting reports about what the Lord is doing through street evangelism across the UK.
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For specific resources for reaching Muslims we recommend Word of Hope Ministries who publish a range of evangelistic literature written for people from a Muslim background.