Why does the Quran contain Gnostic stories of Jesus but the New Testament does not?
Dating. The Qur’an was written much later (609 – 632 AD) whereas the New Testament writings were written in the 1st century, the same century Jesus walked the earth (48 – 70 AD majority, with Revelation estimated as late as 95 AD) according to tradition, and many scholars. The Gnostic writings, some of which did include fabricated stories about Jesus, were written in the 2nd century (120 – 180 AD majority with some estimated as late as 250 AD).
The standard, universally-accepted, inspired writings of the Christian church “later called the New Testament” were formulated very early on by first-hand eye witnesses and their direct successors. Many of these successors were the earliest bishops within the church and many of their writings have also been preserved. Their writings, some also as early as the 1st century, point to the authenticity, reliability, and acceptance of the earliest writings.
Many of these earliest writings are compiled and organized as authoritative scripture, and even recorded extremely early on. In the ‘The Fragment of Muratori,’ dated to mid-2nd century AD, Rome, all of the 4 gospels, 13 letters of Paul, revelation, and others currently in the New Testament were deemed authoritative. The 4 Gospels, Acts, and all of Paul’s letters have NEVER been questioned. Each of these early, ancient witnesses points to a non-Gnostic, only-Son-of-God understanding of Jesus. The standard canon of 27 books (how it is now) is recorded in the ‘Letter of Athanasius’ in 367 AD. What is in the New Testament is the books that were either never questioned or deemed reliable after careful scrutiny. The early church rejected the Gnostic writings and other documents written a century or more later that were falsely-attributed to people that lived during Jesus’ lifetime.
The reason the Qur’an contains Gnostic stories about Jesus, is the same reason that the Qur’an also speaks incorrectly about what “the Christians” believe the Trinity to be (Father-Son-Mary). By the time the Qur’an was written, the Christian Church had an established, firmly-accepted and unchangeable canon for almost 300 years! Despite this, there were still small sects spread throughout the Roman Empire that still held various heretical (false) beliefs. The Church had formulated the Nicene Creed in 325 AD, which declares exactly what Christians believe about the Trinity. The exact doctrine of the Trinity was even more-specifically defined in the later Athanasian Creed, written 382 – 542 AD. As the predominate religion in the Roman Empire, likely as high as some 90% of Rome’s 55–65 million population would’ve understood the correct teaching. This doesn’t mean that false teachings weren’t around still (including Gnostic texts) for Muhammed and others to attribute to “Christians”. What the true biblical Christian church believed (those who were genuine followers of the real Jesus Christ) was not necessarily understood by every single person.
The Qur’an, however, claims to come directly from God, without a single error. It stands to reason, and makes the most sense, that if Muhammed encountered false Christians and false Christian beliefs, including some Gnostic teachings, during his lifetime, that he would counter these false teachings and record them in the Qur’an. Christians would agree that if God was going to reveal His will and correct error about Him in the Church He would also correct these false teachings. However, if God did correct this, He would not incorrectly mistake what these small false Christian sects believe as ALL OF CHRISTIANITY and ignore the well-known official creeds of the Church and the vast majority of the Church! This major blemish in the Qur’an is one of many things that have led theologians to determine that the Qur’an is not a perfect word from God.
The reason the Qur’an includes incorrect information about what Christian’s believe—that the historical record itself can prove mainstream Christians never actually believed—is because the messages given to Muhammed, by “an angel claiming to be Gabriel,” recorded in the Qur’an, didn’t come from God.
God doesn’t see things incorrectly, or make mistakes. And neither would a restorationist book directly from Heaven’s vantage point.
The real question, is if the Qur’an isn’t from God, then the angel who spoke to Muhammed wasn’t Gabriel. So then, who was he?
