Quranic Muslims quote Surah 4:157, scratch their head at times and ask, “How could God allow Jesus the prophet to go through such a terrible end as crucifixion? It is unthinkable.” Biblical Christians respond, “Love.” This is God’s love. God loved us by sending his Son to be our propitiation.

Almost every system or religion proposes some sort of love. From systems in the east to the west, they feature some concept of love. Both the Qur’an and the Bible do so. They both teach that God is loving. But, what do they mean by love? And, what is it about the God of the Qur’an and the God of the Bible that renders them loving? Most assertions of love remain in realm of abstract or human-to-human benevolence. How can we tangibly measure love?

Today’s post is our sixth and final part of a series studying various differences between the sacred book of Islam, the Qur’an, and that of the Christianity, the Bible. In part one, we looked at a brief introduction to Quranic Islam, observing the development of the Quranic text. In part two, we noted the major differences between the God of the Qur’an and that of the Bible. Third, we studied nine differences between the Jesus of the Qur’an and the Bible. In part four, we observed the differences between the doctrine of salvation in the Qur’an and the Bible, noticing that the Qur’an teaches a works-based righteousness. Part five covered the difference between the integrity of the Qur’an and the Bible, noting a catastrophic conundrum for Quranic Islam. Finally, we examine the differences between the love of the God of the Bible and that of the Qur’an.

When matched against one another verse-by-verse, there is a gaping difference between the love of the God of the Qur’an and the God of the Bible. For example, there is is nothing like Romans 8 in the Qur’an, and thus no enthusiastic sovereign assurance of love from eternity past through eternity future. There is no John 10 in the Qur’an, and thus no stunning statements of a life-giving, sacrificial love of God. There is no Psalm 23 in the Qur’an, because the God of the Qur’an is not said to be an ever-present, loving Shepherd-leader. There is no Isaiah 54:5-8 or Ephesians 5:25, and thus no likening God’s love to that of a perfect and passionate husband. There is no Psalm 62, 34, or, 37. There is no John 3:16-21, Romans 5:8, nor a Revelation 21:6-7. We could go on.

The God of the Qur’an is said to love, and not love, certain type of people. For example, he loves Moses (Surah 20:39), those who do good (Surah 2:195, ,3:134, 3:148, 5:14, 5:96), those who are pure and clean (Surah 2:222, 9:108), those who are righteous (Surah 3:76, 9:4, 9:7, 19:96), those who judge with equity (Surah 5:45, 49:9, 60:8), those who trust him (Surah 3:159), those who are steadfast (Surah 3:146), those who follow Muhammad (Surah 3:31), and he loves those who fight in his cause (Surah 61:4). But this is a conditional love based upon the merit of the recipient, and not a sovereign-grace based love as that of the God of the Bible.

As it pertains to the love of God, the greatest difference between the Qur’an and the Bible comes down to the death of Christ for our sin. Christ’s finished work on the cross sets the love of the Bible in an entirely different category. One verse will be sufficient to observe the great gulf that lies between the love of God in Christ and all other love.

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Read More