Do Christians, Jews, and Muslims Worship the Same God?

Jesus slammed the door shut on this question in John 8:19 when he blasted the Pharisees for not acknowledging his deity: “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

In other words, if you do not worship Jesus, you do not worship the Father, either. Neither Jews nor Muslims worship Jesus; therefore, they do not worship the same God.

Why Is This Question Even Asked?

While this question is likely raised because postmodernism demands that all roads lead to God, it still has some validity because of a man we meet in the book of Genesis: Abraham.

Islam claims Abraham is the father of their religion, but that does not automatically mean we worship the same God. For starters, the Koran teaches that Abraham’s promised descendants come through Ishmael, not Isaac. Worse than that, the Koran does not portray Abraham’s Allah as the kind, compassionate, loving Yahweh of the Bible (Exodus 34:6–7; John 3:16).

Allah loves only those who first love him (Qur’an 3:31–32) or who do good deeds (2:195). God first loves us while we are yet sinning (I John 4:10; Romans 5:8). The Koran’s Allah and the Bible’s Yahweh are simply not the same deity with the same attributes.

Things get a bit trickier with Judaism because the Old Testament God is “the Father” of the Christian Trinity. Jesus made it clear that Jews who worship only one-third of the Trinity do not rightly worship the true and living God. That is why every single orthodox creed of Christianity states that only those who worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be saved.

You might think this is uncharitable, but conservative Muslims and Jews agree that the three Abrahamic faiths do not worship the same God. As for liberal Muslims and Jews who claim we do, their refusal to bend the knee to Jesus renders their claim meaningless.

What Do We Do With This Knowledge?

Knowing that incorrect theology is damnable should give us two unshakable convictions:

1. It is the Christian’s duty to contend earnestly for the faith that has been handed down to us (Jude 3).
2. It is the Christian’s high honor to proclaim that salvation is found in no other name than Jesus (Acts 4:12).

Jesus himself would tell the most devout Muslim or Jew, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). If we love Muslims and Jews, we will (lovingly) tell them the same thing.