Explaining Jesus to Muslims: Jesus As the Word of God

The Qur'an records this comment in Surat an-Nisa’ (4:171):
The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of God and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit from Him.

The Bible records this in the beginning of John's account of the Gospel (John 1:1-3, 14):
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was with God in the beginning. Through (the Word) all things were made; nothing which was made was made apart from (the Word). ... The Word became flesh and camped among us, full of grace and truth.

Both teachings refer to Jesus, one from the Qur'an and one from the Bible. Both call Jesus the Word of God. But the Bible shows what it means to be the Word of God.

What is the Word of God? Does it begin at a certain time or place, or is it as eternal as God himself? Whenever a mind has thoughts that take shape and have form, that is what we call "Word". As long as God has existed, for all ages, God has had thought and wisdom, so God's Word must be eternal.

Is the Word of God less holy than God, or is the Word of God holy because it is purely from God? And if the Word of God is eternal and Holy, then does God have an associate or equal? No, not at all. God's Word is not something separate from God. God's Word is something right from God's very being, the shape of his wisdom, the act of his love. It cannot be separated from God, or understood apart from God; neither can God be understood apart from His Word.

But is God rightly understood from a book alone? Isn't his word living and active? Doesn't his word have power to teach, to heal, to create, to make clean? So when God sent his Word, in many ages he was content to send words to the prophets. But with Jesus, he did not send a book, and the Gospel (Injil, to a Muslim) in its first sense is not a book, but a person: Jesus. The Qur'an affirms that Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus did not simply bring the Word of God or receive the Word of God as the prophets did before him, but he was himself the Word of God, the eternal Word of God's eternal wisdom and love, especially formed into flesh at a certain time and place in history so that the world should see God and know God.

Then does God have an associate or equal? No, not at all. God's Word is not something separate from God. God's Word is something right from God's very being. It cannot be separated from God, or understood apart from God; neither can God be understood apart from His Word, which is incarnate and made flesh in Jesus.

Jesus brought proof that He was God's Living Word: he lived the Word of God perfectly and without sin, as none has before or since. It is impossible to know God fully without knowing God's word: God made the Word to live among us, full of grace and truth. Many have brought laws, but only Jesus brought God's grace.