Quran and Nag Hammadi Scriptures confirm nature of Jesus' Crucifixion

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Peter Sees the Crucifixion and the Savior Explains It (81,3-82,3)

 

When he said this, I saw him apparently arrested by them. I

said, " What do I see, Lord? Is it really you they are seizing, and

are you holding on to me? And who is the one smiling and laughing

above[49] the cross? Is it someone else whose feet and hands they are

hammering? "

 

The Savior said to me, " The one you see smiling and laughing above

the cross is the living Jesus. The one into whose hands and feet they

are driving nails is his fleshly part, the substitute for him. They

are putting to shame the one who came into being in the likeness of

the living Jesus. Look at him and look at me. "

 

When I looked, I said, " Lord, no one sees you. Let's get out of here. "

 

He answered me, " I told you they are blind. Forget about them. Look

at how they do not know what they are saying. For they have put to

shame the son of their own glory instead of the one who serves me. "

 

The Savior Appears to Peter in a Bright Light (82,3-83,15)

 

Then I saw someone about to approach us who looked like the one

laughing above the cross,[50] but this one was intertwined[51] with

holy spirit, and he was the Savior. And there was an unspeakably

bright light surrounding them and a multitude of ineffable and

invisible angels praising them. When the one who glorifies[52] was

revealed, I myself saw him.

 

He said to me, " Be strong, for these mysteries have been given to you

so that you might know clearly[53] that the one they crucified is the

firstborn, the abode of demons, the stone vessel in which they live,

[54] the man of Elohim, the man of the cross, who is under the law.

[55] But the one who is standing near him is the living Savior, who

was in him at first and was arrested but was set free.

 

He is standing and observing with pleasure that those who did evil to

him are divided among themselves. And he is laughing at their lack of

perception, knowing that they were born blind. The one capable of

suffering must remain, since the body is the substitute, but what was

set free was my bodiless body. I am the spirit of thought filled with

radiant light. The one you saw approaching me is our fullness of

thought, which unites the perfect light with my holy spirit.

 

Conclusion: The Revelation of Peter (Jesus speaks to Peter)

 

The Savior Tells Peter to Proclaim What Has Been Revealed (83,15-

84,14)

 

" You are to present what you have seen to those who are strangers,

[56] who are not of this age.[57] For there will be no grace among

those who are not immortal, but only among those chosen because of

their immortal nature, which has shown it can receive the one who

gives in abundance.[58]

 

" For this reason I have said, Whoever has will be given more, and

this person will have in abundance. But whoever does not have--that

is, the person of this world,[59] who is completely dead,[60] who

derives[61] from the planting of creation and procreation, who thinks

he can lay hold of someone else of immortal nature when such a person

appears--this will be taken away from that person and added to

whatever exists.[62]

 

" So be courageous and fear nothing. For I shall be with you that none

of your enemies may prevail over you. Peace be with you. Be strong. "

 

When the Savior said these things, Peter came to his senses.[63]

 

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (The International Edition)

Edited by Marvin Meyer; Advisory Board: Wolf-Peter Funk, Paul-Hubert

Poirier,

James M. Robinson; Introduction by Elaine H. Pagels

The Revelation of Peter, p.495-497

HarperCollins Publishers - New York

ISBN:978-0-06-052378-7

ISBN-10: 0-06-052378-6

 

Notes:

[49] Or " beside, " here and below.

[50] Lit., " like him, even (or and [m('superscript e')n]) the one

laughing above the cross. " If m('superscript e')n is taken as the

conjunction " and, " then two beings are mentioned in the comparison

with the spiritual Savior, most likely the crucified one and the

laughing Jesus.

[51] Or " interwoven, " as with a garment (Coptic 'seh'). Brashler,

in 'Nag Hammadi Codex VII', 242-43, prefers to emend the text and

read <m>eh, " filled. "

[52] Or, with an emendation of the text, " the one who <is> glorified. "

[53] Or " through revelation. "

[54] According to the 'Testament of Solomon', Solomon confined the

demons in such vessels. Cf. 'Testimony of Truth' 70; perhaps 'On the

Origin of the World' 122. Here these vessels refer to physical

bodies, particularly the physical body that was crucified on the

cross.

[55] Cf. Paul's statements about the cross and the law, e.g.,

in 'Galatians'.

[56] Or " aliens, foreigners " ('niallogenes'). Cf. the use of this term

elsewhere, particularly in the title 'Allogenes the Stranger', from

NHC XI and in the 'Book of Allogenes' from Codex Tchacos.

[57] Or " realm, " " aeon. "

[58] I.e., the spirit.

[59] Lit., " this place. "

[60] Or " who exists entirely as a dead person. "

[61] Or " is taken. "

[62] Cf. 'Matthew' 13:12; 25:29; 'Mark' 4:24-25; 'Luke' 8:18;

19:26; 'Gospel of Thomas' 41.

[63] Lit., " When he said these things, he came to his senses. "

 

 

Islamic view of Jesus' death

 

The issue of Jesus' death is important to Muslims as they believe

that Jesus will return at the end of time. Muslims believe Jesus was

not crucified but was raised bodily to heaven by God, which is in

opposition to the consensus among Western Scholars that he did die[1].

 

Depending on the interpretation of the following verse, Muslim

scholars have abstracted different opinions. Some believe that Jesus

was not on the cross long enough to die, due to circumstantial

reasons, according to the Bible, while others opine that God gave

someone Jesus' appearance, causing everyone to believe that Jesus was

crucified. A third explanation could be that Jesus was nailed to a

cross, but as his body is immortal he did not " die " or was

not " crucified " [to death]; it only appeared so. Also according to

some, God does not use deceit and therefore they contend that simply

no crucifixion occurred. The basis of any of these beliefs is the

following verse in the Qur'an:

 

That they said (in boast), " We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary,

the Messenger of Allah " ;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him,

but so it was made to appear to them [or it appeared so unto them],

and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain)

knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed

him not: Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted

in Power, Wise.

—Qur'an, [Qur'an 4:157]

 

Most Muslims believe Jesus was raised to heaven alive by God.

However, a small minority of Islamic scholars argue that he was

indeed rescued but died before his ascension.[2]

 

On the interpretation of those scholars who deny the crucifixion, the

Encyclopedia of Islam writes:

 

The denial, furthermore, is in perfect agreement with the logic of

the Qur'an. The Biblical stories reproduced in it (e.g., Job, Moses,

Joseph etc.) and the episodes relating to the history of the

beginning of Islam demonstrate that it is " God's practice " (sunnat

Allah) to make faith triumph finally over the forces of evil and

adversity. " So truly with hardship comes ease " , (XCIV, 5, 6). For

Jesus to die on the cross would have meant the triumph of his

executioners; but the Quran asserts that they undoubtedly

failed: " Assuredly God will defend those who believe " ; (XXII, 49). He

confounds the plots of the enemies of Christ (III, 54).

 

On the interpretation of the minority of Muslims who accept the

crucifixion, Mahmoud Ayoub for example states:

 

The Qur'an is not here speaking about a man, righteous and wronged

though he may be, but about the Word of God who was sent to earth and

returned to God. Thus the denial of killing of Jesus is a denial of

the power of men to vanquish and destroy the divine Word, which is

for ever victorious.[3]

 

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_view_of_Jesus'_death

 

References:

1. Crossan, John Dominic (1995). Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography.

HarperOne. p. 145. ISBN 0060616628. " That he was crucified is as sure

as anything historical can ever be, since both Josephus and

Tacitus...agree with the Christian accounts on at least that basic

fact. "

2. Tariq Hashmi. The Second Coming of Jesus. Renaissance - Monthly

Islamic Journal, 14(9). September 2004.

3. The Death of Jesus: Reality or Delusion (Muslim World 70 (1980)

pp. 91-121)

 

 

First Falsehood: “But They Killed Him Not ... But So It Was To Appear

To Them”

 

Islam denies Shri Jesus’ crucifixion contrary to massive scriptural

and historical evidence. This might be quite a shock to non-Muslims,

but it is true. Ask any Muslim and he or she will tell you that

Christ was never crucified. All Muslims firmly believe so, thinking

that the Qur’an says so!

 

That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary,

the Messenger of Allah” —

But they killed him not, nor crucified him,663 but so it was made to

appear to them,

And those who differ therein are full of doubt, with no (certain)

knowledge,

But only conjecture to follow, for a surety they killed him not.

 

surah 4:157 Al Nisa (The Women)

(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’an, Amana Corporation, 1989.)

 

“663. The Qur’anic teaching is that Christ was not crucified nor

killed by the Jews, notwithstanding certain apparent circumstances

which produced that illusion in the minds of some of his enemies.;

that disputations, doubts, and conjectures on such matters are vain.”

 

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an

(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur’an, Amana Corporation, 1989.)

 

The critical words “but so it was made to appear to them” clearly

indicates that humans did see Him being crucified. They saw Him being

crucified and killed (and the body later removed and entombed.) All

this did happen but it was made to appear to them that they had

crucified and killed Him. But in Reality, “for a surety they killed

him not.” This means that they ‘killed’ Him physically, but

spiritually He was alive. He never died because the Spirit is

eternal. So, for sure they never killed Him — just as no human ever

dies as we are all eternal spirits. Shri Jesus was physically

crucified but He did not die spiritually. In other words, He was not

crucified although it was made to appear so. The spirit is eternal

and cannot be crucified, killed, maimed, burnt, or cut, that is, it

is indestructible. This was probably the simplest way of explaining a

very subtle and complex Truth to illiterate tribal folks.

 

Shri Adi Shakti: The Kingdom Of God, 1999, p. 1744