the sins of the whole world (1 John ii. 2) and offers salvation to all who truly turn
to Him (Matt. xi. 28; John vi. 37).
With regard to the Prophets and the Apostles we Christians hold that they were men
specially commissioned by God Most High to be preachers and teachers of mankind. Their
commission was not to rule, but to warn men to turn from their sins and serve God. The
Prophets and the Apostles were not sinless, since only one sinless Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has ever lived on earth. Regarding His sinlessness we have the testimony of
Prophets (Isa. liii. 9; cf. John viii. 46), His own disciples (1 Pet. ii. 22; 1 John iii.
5; Heb. iv. 15), and even of those who put Him to death (Luke xxiii. 4, 14, 47). The
Qur'an attributes sin1 to other prophets, but none to Jesus. With this Muslim
Traditions
(احاديث) agree.2 But in delivering their Divinely given message both
Prophets and Apostles were preserved by God's Holy Spirit from teaching any error or
omitting any doctrine necessary for salvation (Matt. x. 20; Mark xiii. 11; John xiv. 26; 2
Tim. iii. 16; 2 Pet. i. 21). We Christians believe that Inspiration
((إلهام) was bestowed on
the writers of the books of the Bible, but we do not believe that the Torah and the Injil
were composed in heaven, ages before the creation of the world, and afterwards dictated
word by word to the Prophets and the Apostles, and written down by them or at their
command. God did not in such a manner use merely the hands and the tongues of these
inspired men; besides this He employed the training and the wisdom which He had given
them, their experience, their learning, their minds, hearts, and spirits as well as their
bodies, in communicating through them His teaching to mankind. Hence
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