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Question:
As I understand, Muslims are non-Christians, because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as Son of God, but as a prophet who was before Muhammad. In this context I ought to give up my love for the man I love because he is a Muslim and believe that “my Christian pair will appear at the right time.” I just want to know why Muslims, as a “community more faithful in their God” accept marriages to Christians? Please, I want to understand the meaning of this passage from the Bible: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)”. Non-Christians are not capable to love? What kind of God is mentioned here if an atheist is in love? Is love for this man a blessing or a temptation? Please excuse me for so much curiosity! Thank you in advance!
Christians can marry only in the Lord
It is true, Muslims are not Christians because they do not recognize the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore do not recognize or accept salvation through faith in His sacrifice. There is no other way of salvation. The Lord Jesus said:
“I amthe way, andthe truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)(NASB)
A Christian woman can marry neither a Muslim nor other man of another religion nor even someone who thinks he is a Christian, but is not born again and in covenant with Jesus Christ. She can not marry any of them just because they are not part of the New Covenant with Jesus Christ. I addressed this issue more detailed in the article “The believer can marry only in the Lord”.
Why Muslims accept marriages with Christians?
According to Islamic theology, Quran allows Muslim men to marry women from the “peoples of the Book”, i.e. peoples who had been given the Scriptures before and among them are Jews and Christians. This permission is only for men because in this way they “offer the possibility to women to become followers of Allah”, meaning they will become Muslim and by the very fact that women choose to enter such a marriage they have already accepted Islam. Precisely for this reason the Koran prohibits the marriage of Muslim women with men of other religions, including Christians and Jews, lest these women “are given the opportunity” to become Christian. In fact, the true Christian man will never marry a Muslim woman or a woman of other religion, but only a true Christian woman, because God does not accept marriage as a means of mission.
What does the biblical text from 1 John 4:7-8 refer to?
Apostle John wrote the I Epistle in the context where Christianity was attacked by Gnosticism, a heresy that tried to mix Greek philosophy and Christian teaching. According to the Gnostics, Christians were divided into spiritual and carnal and Gnostics believed they were spiritual because they had received this mysterious “gnosis”, and the other Christians were avoided and thought to be carnal, under the pretext that they might become carnal, too, or that flesh has nothing to do with spirit. Therefore, John writes that he who truly knows God loves his Christian brother, and he who does not love his Christian brother can not claim to be a Christian even if he considers himself very spiritual.
Beloved, let uslove one another, for love is from God; andeveryone who loves isborn of God andknows God. The one who does not love does not know God, forGod is love. (1 John 4:7-8)(NASB)
This passage continues so:
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and Hislove is perfected in us. (1 John 4:9-12)(NASB)
Are Non-Christians incapable to love?
Before I answer this question I must specify that for the words translated into English as “love”, there are three different words in Greek, with different semantic meaning.
STORGE is the first kind of love and it refers to natural love that we have for family members, for those who are close to us and the Bible says that some people will lose this kind of love in the end times, which is fully manifested today.
PHILEO is the second word and it signifies mutual love, love that says “I love you because you love me” and “if you love me no more, I stop loving you, too.”
AGAPE is divine love, unconditional love and the passage in I John 4 refers exactly to this love. This love seeks the highest good of the person and primarily, her salvation. It’s about this love that it is written that it comes from God through the Holy Spirit, whom a man receives when he becomes a Christian at the entrance into the New Covenant.
… and hopedoes not disappoint, because the love of God has beenpoured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)(NASB)
Can a non-Christian have and love with AGAPE love? I let the reader judge for himself …
Is the love of atheists from God?
Atheists were created by God, too, even if they do not admit it, and it is God who gave them natural love STORGE and PHILEO. It is a blessing from God and so all people get marry and found families. Sadly, many of them say that they lose this love and then they easy give up their marriage and divorce easily, saying they have no love for one another. True Christians do not do so because their love is not exhausted, because it comes from God and seeks the highest good of the marriage partner.
There is another sad thing … Many people who do not know God call sexual attraction love (it’s the Greek word EROS) and so they measure their love. Since they do not find their spouse sexually attractive, they say they have no love for him/her and give up their marriage, or, remain in marriage, but choose to have sexual relations outside.
God help you to know AGAPE love, the love that God has for us and that we receive through the Holy Spirit when we enter the New Covenant with Jesus Christ.
Translated by Felicia Rotaru