Home > Surah 5 - The Table Spread
Surah 5:46 is the "bridge" verse that connects the authority of the Torah to the authority of the Gospel, presenting Jesus not as a revolutionary who abolished the past, but as a divine messenger whose very book serves as a certificate of authenticity for the Hebrew Scriptures.
Surah 5:46:
And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming that which was before it of the Torah and as guidance and instruction for the righteous.
Surah 5:44 called the Torah "guidance and light," and 5:46 gives the EXACT same title to the Gospel.
If a Muslim argues that the Gospel we have today is "corrupted," they are in a fight with the Quran. The Quran says the Gospel is (was) guidance and light. If God's guidance can be corrupted by men, then God is not the protector of His Word, which contradicts Surah 6:115 and, 18:27.
The verse says Jesus followed the "footsteps" of the prophets of the Torah. This means Jesus accepted the Torah that the Jews had in the 1st century.
We have the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint, which prove the Torah of the 1st century is the same Torah we have today. If Jesus confirmed that Torah, and the Quran confirms Jesus, then the Quran is confirming our current Bible.
If our current Bible is true, Islam's unique claims (like the denial of the Sonship of Christ) are proven false by the very books the Quran confirms.
The verse says the Gospel is "instruction for the righteous."
For the Gospel to be an "instruction," people must be able to read it. This proves that the Injil was not a single, mystical book that flew back to heaven with Jesus. It was a text present "with" the people.
Since Christians in the 7th century were using the four Gospels we have today, and the Quran calls their book "guidance and light," the Quran is effectively endorsing the New Testament.
By asserting that Jesus and his Gospel confirmed the Torah, the Quran creates a stack of authoritative revelations that must all be true for the Quran itself to be true.
This verse is the proof that the Quran does not view the Gospel as a corrupted relic, but as a vibrant, "light-filled" instruction. If that light (the Gospel) shines on the deity and sacrifice of Jesus, then the Quran’s attempt to "confirm" it results in the Quran’s own theological replacement.
Surah 5:47, which immediately follows this will command Christians to actually "judge by" the Gospel.