The Religion of Jesus
Now this may be interesting to some people. What was the religion of Jesus Christ (pbuh). Was he a Christian?
He never claimed to be a Christian, infact he never even heard the word “Christian” in his life.
It is not a Greek/Aramaic word. The Hebrew word for “rub, massage, anoint” is “Masaha” from which we get the Hebrew word “Messiah” in Arabic as “Maseeh” Which when translated into Greek becomes “Christoss” i.e. the anointed one, and when we chop of the “oss” we are left with “Christ”. The word “Christianity” doesn’t even exist in the Bible. The word that is found in the Bible is “Christian” which was used first time by the people who did not believe in Jesus.
“and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” (Acts 11:26)
The word “Christian” is nowhere to be found in gospels. So the question arises what was the religion of Jesus if not Christianity.
Suppose we get hold of Jesus Christ (pbuh) in his second coming and ask him what is his religion. Will he say “Christian”? No! He never heard the word in his life. If Christian, then which Christian Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah’s Witness? He never heard either of those words. When we ask him this question, we’ll expect him to say “My religion is total submission to God’s will” and one short word for this in Arabic language is “Islam”
Now someone may say, well how can this be his religion because Islam came into existence only 1400 years ago and did not even exist at the time of Jesus?
The answer is that it is a GRAVE misconception that Islam started 1400 years ago. Infact, Islam is there since man first set foot on the earth and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was not the founder of this religion, infact he was the final messenger of God to whom was revealed the Holy Quran. Islam (Submission to God’s will) was the religion of ALL the Prophets of God, they all taught human beings to submit their wills to Almighty God. Jesus too did the same. See what the Bible says
“By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:30)
"Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36)
Anyone who says “not what I will but what God wills” in Arabic that person is called a Muslim. Jesus Christ (pbuh) also commanded his followers to submit their wills to the will of God.
“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mathew 7:21)
The Holy Quran too testifies that Jesus Christ and his disciples were Muslims
“When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: "Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah." Said the disciples: "We are Allah.s helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.” (Quran 3:52)
In a nutshell, Jesus Christ (pbuh) was one of the mightiest messenger of Almighty God who submitted his will to God and asked people to do the same. In other words, he (Jesus) was a Muslim and he commanded his followers to become ones as well.
