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Bahá'í vs Islam vs Christian (35:13)

Some Christians might object to Bahá'í beliefs about the resurrection since Bahá'ís also accept the Qur'an as the word of God, and the Qur'an appears to say that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (the central episode in Christianity to most Christians) did not happen. In the Qur'an it states: ".. they [the Jews] said (in boast), 'We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of God';- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them.. for of a surety they killed him not.. Nay, God raised him up unto Himself.." (qur 4:157-158) [-ed] (35:14) see

If the Bahá'ís are correct and the Qur'an is correct, what could have been the intended meaning in the Qur'an? Some Muslims believe that the Qur'an is simply referring to the Jews who believed they had 'killed' Jesus, whereas they really had not - He having instead been physically "raised" back to God. Other Muslims believe that Jesus did not really die while on the cross, and was later resuscitated - or as is most commonly believed, that another person (often assumed to have been Judas) was crucified in Jesus' place. [-ed] (35:15)

Holy books rarely give us a clue as to which portions of the text have a literal, or a spiritual meaning, and even if they did, it would require spiritual discernment to correctly interpret them, as Paul said: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. (1co 2:13-14, see also mat 13:13-15)". Although the outward meanings of scripture are sufficient to help guide the people to 'find' a new Revelation from God, proper understanding of the inner, hidden meanings must await the coming of the next Manifestation. Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh each enlightened the believers of previous dispensations as to the hidden meanings contained within their (previous) text. The purpose of these hidden meanings being to test the spiritual perception of the seeker and to identify the true seeker from the malevolent (please read Notes '17' & '59'). [-ed] (35:16) 17 59 see

Baha'i Quote: The resurrection of the Manifestations of God is not of the body. All that pertains to Them- all Their states and conditions, all that They do, found, teach, interpret, illustrate, and instruct- is of a mystical and spiritual character and does not belong to the realm of materiality.

Such is the case of Christ's coming from heaven. It has been explicitly stated in numerous passages of the Gospel that the Son of man came down from heaven, or is in heaven, or will go up to heaven. Thus in John 6:38 it is said: "For I came down from heaven", and in John 6:42 it is recorded: "And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?", and in John 3:13 it is stated: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."

Consider how it is said that the Son of man is in heaven, even though at that time Christ was dwelling upon the earth. Consider likewise that it explicitly says that Christ came from heaven, although He came from the womb of Mary and His body was born of her. It is therefore clear that the assertion that the Son of man came down from heaven has a mystical rather than a literal meaning, and is a spiritual rather than a material event..(saq2 23:2-4)

Sadly, most interpretations have been made by viewing subjects as "literally true", from a "physical" perspective - the results therefore becoming purely physical in nature. As regards the resurrection of Jesus, the belief was that "Heaven" (or the Next World) was a physical place, and this required the "appearances" of Jesus after the resurrection to be of His physical body. [-ed] (35:17) see

Rarely were interpretations made when the Next World was regarded as a place for spirits. Viewed from such a "literally true", but "spiritual" perspective, the meaning of the resurrection can be seen exactly as reported in the Qur'an: "they killed him not (not His true Self, the Word of God), but so it was made to appear to them (since His physical body was killed)". [-ed] (35:18)

If the intent of the Qur'an statement was to clear-up the physical misconceptions made by both Christians and Muslims, however, it essentially fell on (spiritually) deaf ears, since like the Christians, Muslims persist in seeing the resurrection in strictly physical terms - most Muslims denying the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus altogether (see en. wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Islamic view of Jesus' death). [-ed] (35:19)

When viewed Spiritually, however, the Muslim and Christian texts can be seen in complete harmony. Both Muslim and Christian texts (as well as Bahá'í) make it clear that the reality of Christ (the true essence, the 'Word' for all eternity) was not killed and state plainly that God raised Jesus up. There was no separation between the crucifixion and the resurrection - His Spirit went immediately to God at the time of His body's death (see Note '11') (the Qur'an does not address the Biblical accounts of post-crucifixion appearances). [-ed] (35:20) 11

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