Does the Qur'an say Jesus was not crucified?

If you have any experience with Muslim beliefs you will have heard that the Qur'an says that Jesus was not crucified. This is an objection we need an effective answer too. This belief comes from Surah 4:157 "That 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,..."

I was listening to a podcast of a talk by Dr. Michael Green and he pointed out that this verse has some wiggle room. It could be interpreted that the Jews didn't kill Jesus, the Romans did and this verse is a condemnation of the Jews' boasting. He then went to Sura 19:33, a very strange passage where the newborn Jesus speaks to Mary and says in part: ""So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"! Muslims are taught that Jesus didn't die at all but was assumed up to heaven but that would be contrary to this verse which is consistent with the crucifixion. If this is still unclear to the Muslim they should be encouraged not to develop all their beliefs on just two verses written down six hundred years after the event but look to the accounts of the eyewitnesses who loved the prophet Jesus and recorded the events for everyone.

Like many of these possible objections, you don't want to bring this up yourself but just be ready if it does. You can chastise them a bit for not knowing their own scriptures well enough to see this. This should encourage us all to make sure we know our own scriptures well enough to not be chastised in return.

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