Explaining "the Son of God" terminology to Muslims

This is a repost of the content of an earlier article I wrote.  In the earlier one, the photo is gone; so I thought I would repost the content here again.  Also, I have added a video of David Wood's at the end that is very good on the issue of dealing with Jesus as "the Son of God" with Muslims.

Bad Witness: Praying to and bowing down to Mary

Someone recently (around September of 2009) called into the Dividing Line Pod-cast Program (Dr. James White of Alpha & Omega Ministries; see www.aomin.org)  and asked for help on witnessing to Muslims. He told of his experience in a Muslim area in Africa (Uganda) and that the Muslims kept saying, “God cannot reproduce!”; How many times have I heard this over the last 26 years in witnessing to Muslims?!: “God cannot have a wife!” “God cannot have a son!” “God did not lust after Mary and marry her and have sex with her!”

To our Roman Catholic and Orthodox readers – see, here we have a living example of recent history of Muslims who still believe the Trinity is “Father, Son, and Mother”. (Surah 5:116) This is very common all over the Muslim world. I know from experience also. So, the Marian dogmas and practices and praying to her and having statues and icons and exalting her too much are still contributing to that mis-understanding. The Qur’an defines for them what we believe – Surah 6:101 – they don’t really care what the official doctrine of the Trinity is. 

“Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth; How can He have a son when He hath no consort [spouse, mate, sexual partner]?” He created all things, and hath full knowledge of all things.” ( Qur’an 6:101, with my own parenthetical comments) 

Pictures of John Paul 2 (and other Popes and other Roman Catholics) bowing down before a giant statue of Mary just confirms in their minds and hearts what the Christians really believe. 

Only very educated Muslims who take the time to read and study find out what the doctrine of the Trinity is; and it is usually their “apologists” who are trained to come to the west to seek to win westerners to Islam.

I would like to suggest that believers in Jesus Christ slow things down a bit for the Muslims and, to use a mathematical learning analogy, instead of trying to teach them Calculus (the eternal Sonship of Christ and the Trinity); we should begin with simple math: like addition, subtraction and multiplication. We will get to Calculus, don’t worry, but don’t move there too quickly. 

1. With passion and conviction, agree with your Muslim friend that it is Blasphemy to think God took a wife !! Get worked up over this and show them with passion that we do not believe this. There is a fun Arabic phrase that many Muslims know and use when someone says something wrong, "Estaqfr'ullah !" استغفرالله   (Literally in Arabic, this means "I seek the forgiveness/pardon of Allah", but it seems to be saying to the person who said something like "Jesus is the Son of God" as a response to that - ie, "May God forgive you!"; "May it never be!") I have used this and it is effective to show how strongly the Bible is against their idea of what "the Son of God" or the Trinity means. Focus like a laser beam and spend time on this with your Muslim friend before you try and explain the “eternal Sonship” of Christ and “eternally begotten” language, or the Trinity.  Most Muslims are so strong in their belief in monotheism, that if you move too fast and try to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, they will not hear what you are saying, because you have not convinced them first of your own monotheism, that there is only one God.   As it is, only the Spirit of God can open people's hearts, whether they are an atheist or Muslim or a teenager American who is the son of a Turkish father and Swedish mother.  (see John 6:44, 65; Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 3:1-8; Acts 16:14; Luke 24:45;  2 Timothy 2:24-26)  Even so, that does not give an excuse for being rude or short with people and for not sincerely trying to explain things to them.  God works through the means of patience, explaining, teaching, suffering, praying, hospitality, non-verbal communication, tone, attitude, etc.  You have to work on these truths first - and show them verses from the Bible -  1. You don’t believe God got married or had sex with Mary; and 2. You don’t believe in three gods. It is also effective to stay on monotheism for a while and quote and use Mark 12:29 (Jesus quoting the Shema in Deut. 6:4). 

Muslims are fun people to witness to! They are willing to talk about God and spiritual things. They believe in right and wrong and heaven and hell, and judgment day. I have had many Muslims say to me, "I respect you Mr. Ken, because you believe in your book as the truth." "Most of the other Christians we meet don't really believe they have the truth." 

They are incredibly hospitable and we need to learn how to reach out in friendship evangelism, along with apologetics and debate; and one time "contact" evangelism. Jesus was the friend of sinners and tax-collectors, eating with them. We need to show Christ's love by being willing to have meals of shish kebab and hummus and drink strong Arabic/Turkish coffee with them. 

Trying to explain the Trinity and the eternal Sonship of Christ too soon for Muslims is like trying to explain Calculus before addition, subtraction, and multiplication. You can and should eventually get to those truths; but it is better to start on the basic issues to help the Muslim overcome them; all the while praying that God will open their eyes and heart to understand and believe. ( John 6:44; Acts 16:14) It may not happen in one setting either. Many missionaries to Muslims have said that the average Muslim usually needs to hear the gospel 100 times over a period of 1 year in friendship with a true Christian. Obviously God can open the heart and draw in only one hearing of the gospel. We are only saying that this is the experience of many missionaries who have spent lots of time with Muslims; including this writer. 

2. Point out that the Qur’an also uses metaphoric language of filial terms, “son” and “mother”.The Arabic phrase, “son of the road” ( Ibn ol sabeel ) = “traveler”, “wayfarer”; “mother of the book” ( um ol kitab ) = source of revelation; “Mother of villages” = Mecca. (Surah 6:93, 42:7, Pickthall’s footnote) In Egypt, the Arabic expression, “son of the Nile” – “one who lives on the Nile River.

“Son of the Road” (Qur’an 2:177; 4:36; 8:41; 9:60), “Mother of Book” (Qur’an 13:39; 43:3-4; 3:7) “Mother of Villages” – (Qur’an – 6:92; 28:59; 42:7)

Can roads, villages, rivers, or books have sex or get married? Asking this question will confound and silence the Muslim for his attacks and lack of listening to our explanations of "the Son of God".

This proves that metaphoric language is used by the Qur'an, and the Muslims should then give respect and a ear to us when we are also using the term metaphorically.

This proves that is not blasphemous to call Jesus, "the Son of God", because the Bible does not mean it in the way that Muslims think when they hear the phrase.

The Qur'an affirms the virgin birth of Christ. (Surah 3:47; 19:19-22) Affirm that Jesus had no human father; therefore, in this sense, God was His Father. 

Luke 1:34-35 sounds very similar to the Qur'anic passages on the Virgin Birth of Jesus. It is powerful to use passages in the Bible that are similar to verses in the Qur'an to begin with to establish understanding, and then go forward. 

3. Show them some specific Scripture. If possible have them read it in their heart language, whether it is Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Urdu, Pushtun, Kazakh, Malaysian, or Fulani.

I have found that Luke 1:34-35 along with Hebrews 10:5 to be very effective in answering the “Son of God” terminology. 

Luke 1:35 - “ . . . for this reason, the Holy offspring will be called the Son of God”
For what reason? Because Jesus had no human father; and because of the “power of the Most High” and “the Holy Spirit” who conceived, unified, joined spiritually inside the womb of Mary – so, it is NOT from marriage and sex; that is blasphemy (and what Mormons and Greek mythology believed). Rather, the phrase “Son of God” describes the close eternal spiritual relationship that the Father and Son have always had from all eternity past, being of the same nature, but in personal relationship. God is personal, not an impersonal force or principle. God is Spirit (John 4:24), so there can be no physical sex or marriage. This is what Surah 112 and 6:101 and 5:72-73 and 5:116 are speaking against, they are speaking against understanding God and terms like “father”, “son”, and “begotten” in a physical, sexual way. 

I have found that Hebrews 10:5 is very effective. - “a body You have prepared for Me”. This shows that Jesus existed before He was born and that God the Father prepared a body for Him. 

4. Then you can go to John 1:1 and 1:14 and proceed from there. John 1:1, 14 are powerful for the Muslims because they clearly are calling Jesus “the Word”. In the Qur’an, Isa (the Arabic Islamic word for “Jesus”) Al Masih is called “the word” in Arabic. (Kalimat’allah) (Qur’an 4:171; 3:45) This is a powerful tool. Focus on “the Word” of God before you focus on the “Son of God”. “Allah’s word was with Him from all eternity, right?” You can ask your Muslim friend these kinds of questions: “Did Allah ever exist without His word (His mind expressing itself)? And what about Allah’s Spirit? Was there ever a time where Allah was without His Spirit?” Jesus is also called “a spirit from Allah”. (Ruh min Allah) in Qur’an 4:171. That verse denies the Islamic understanding of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ and the Sonship of Christ; but it does call him, Al Massih (the Messiah), the son of Mary, the Word, and a spirit from Allah; so it is useful to begin with Muslims from where they are coming from; and then go to Scriptures in the New Testament that we emphasized above. We can communicate the "eternal Son of God" (into the past in relationship with the Father) by focusing on the eternalness of the Word of God in eternity past.

David Wood's excellent video on the issue:

Dr. White's correct rebuke of Dr. Robert Morey (with update - part 2)

Dr. White's correct rebuke of Dr. Robert Morey on the first 26 minutes of the Dividing Line on December 13, 2016. Also, I included Dr. White's Facebook response. This was very needed as clear communication and needed rebuke of Dr. Morey. He lost his credibility a long time ago. I hope many Muslims will see the proper Christian attitude come through here; and that other Christians will learn to pray for Muslims and learn to witness and reach out to Muslims and stop being afraid of them. https://apologeticsandagape.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/dr-whites-correct-rebuke-of-robert-morey/ _______________________ Update: Part 2 of Dr. White's rebuke of Robert Morey.

Dividing Line on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015 - keep your balance !

Dr. White keeps a good balance between the power of prayer and the power of the gospel for Muslims;
and
supporting just war/ self-defense principles against the evils of Islamic terrorism/Jihadism.

It is discouraging to see some Christians and conservatives to just have a response to Islam as "Bomb them all!"

We must keep our balance:

1.  Pray for Muslims.  Pray for God to make more and more Muslims disillusioned with Islam and all the violence and evil of the Global Jihadism, and that more and more regular Muslims will be drawn to the true Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 2:1 says  "first of all" = our first priority should be to pray.  "pray for all men" " 'υπερ παντων ανθρωπων" means "for all kinds of men/people".  (see samples of videos below of prayer for different nations and countries and cultures.)   We usually jump to the praying for leaders and those in authority, but first it says, "pray for all kinds of people".

Matthew 9:36-38 - Jesus' insides turned with compassion for the masses of people that were like sheep without a shepherd; and He exhorted us to pray for God, the Sovereign Lord of the harvest, to send forth more laborers (evangelists, pastors, missionaries, teachers, etc.) into the harvest.

2.  We can be patriotic and desire justice and support just war principles against evil Muslim Jihadist types.

3.  But the gospel is still powerful to reach Muslims, even some who are Jihadist types (though it rarely happens; as their hearts are very hardended; but Dr. White pointed out the guy named Saul in Acts 8-9 who was watching the coats and watching Stephen get stoned.); but more importantly the gospel is powerful to reach other Muslims who are not the Jihadist types; so don't avoid all Muslims and don't think they are all like the Jihadi types.

4.  Don't let fear or anger or prejudice lead you into a heart attitude of "Bomb them all" and hatred and never being willing to reach out to a Muslim.   Remember Matthew 5:21-26 - "If you have anger and hatred in your heart, you are guilty of murder, and liable to go to hell."  "the anger of man does not achieve the justice/ righteousness of God" - James 1:20

"perfect love casts out fear" - 1 John 4:18



In order to understand Dr. White's points, one also needs to read his previous very thoughtful article here.

By the way, it was Marie Harf who said the root cause of the violent Jihad is lack of jobs.  That is not the root cause, (maybe a symptom of why some others join in with them, as in Iraq, the Sunnis were alientated and lost lots of jobs by the Malaki Shiite government, but is the not the root of the leadership of Jihadism, as many Jihadist leaders were rich people - like Ben Laden, Al Zawahiri, the doctors and engineers, who commit suicide bombings, etc.) but liberals in our USA government like to use it as a way of avoiding the religious motivations of people.

Some examples of prayer for other nations by national believers: It is neat to hear people from those countries praying for their own land.   The point is to develop a burden and heart for people and praying for these nations held in bondage by Islamic culture.

Egypt  (there are some Evangelical Coptic Christians)



Iran - many Iranians are disillusioned with Islam today.



Saudi Arabia



See here for many other videos of other countries and prayer for them.

You can pray for places like North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Lybia, Israel, Palestinians, Kurds, Russia, China, India, Ukraine, Nigeria, Somolia, Afghanistan, etc. in the same way.


See also the listing of countries and text information about each country for information for fuel for prayer. 

Turkey

Dr. James White: "Theology Matters"

(video # 1) Beginning at the 14:45 mark to the end for full context and discussion - Yesterday on the Dividing Line (Dec. 16, 2014), Dr. White made an excellent point that Muslims are having a hard time explaining the difference between the theology and usage of Islamic texts (Qur'an, Ahadith, Sira (Life of the Prophet by Ibn Ishaq), Sunnah, Tarikh (History of Islam by Al Tabari), Tafsirs (commentaries)) to support their actions - of Muslims who do terrorism and acts of aggressive violence, for example,against children (Like the Pakistani Taliban attack on a school, killing 145 people, most were children) and Muslims in the west who condemn those actions. In other words, what is the difference between Jihadist Muslims who take action, and other Muslims who believe in the same sources but do not take action. (Jihadist Muslims vs. Moderate Muslims) One answer that they would probably give is that those who don't take action don't have a Caliph/Caliphate that gives them the authority to take action. The secularists and media cannnot approach Islam in a meaningful fashion.

"Fundamentally, the only real solution to all of this is called evangelism." (Dr. White, around the 45 minute mark)

"Muslims are some of the least evangelized in the world; including western Muslims, because Christians are afraid of them."

Yes!! Evangelism and the content of that evangelism - Regeneration - the message that a person must be born-again, - what Jesus said to Nicodemus - "You must be born again!"; that is, they must be changed from the inside out - John 3:1-21 - in Luke's words, "that repentance for forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed to all the nations" (Luke 24:46-47) And, that the only way a person can be born-again is by the Spirit of God acting upon their dead to God souls (Ephesians 2:1-5), giving them a new heart(Ezekiel 36:26-27), but that does not take place unless a person hears the gospel and repents and believes in Christ as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 1:13-14); they must understand that they are rebel sinners against God (Romans 3:9-23) with wicked hearts (Mark 7:20-23; Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Jeremiah 13:23; Jeremiah 18:12; Matthew 5:21-30) and need a new heart, and repent of their sinfulness and efforts of reforming themselves and turn to Christ to save them. (Repent and believe - Mark 1:15) That "repent and believe" is equal to Sola Fide (Justification by faith alone) when one understands what true faith is - that one is justified by faith alone, but true faith does not stay alone (James 2:14-26; Ephesians 2:10; Acts 26:20) (ie, it results in good works, change, fruit, hatred of sin, growth, love for God, for other people, etc.), and true faith necessarily has to have repentance within it, because one does not truly believe in Christ unless he is turning away from his sin, sins, and sinfulness, realizing he is helpless (Romans 5:6-11) to change or reform himself by religion or rituals (Mark 7:1-23) or good works (Galatians 2:16; 1:8-9; 6:13-14; Romans 3:9-28; 4:1-16; 5:1; Philippians 3:9; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:12-13; 5:24; 3:16; 20:30-31; Acts 13:38-39 15:9; 16:31) and turns in heart-felt trust to Christ and His saving work in the incarnation (Hebrews 2:14-18), atonement(Romans 3:25-26; Luke 24:46-47), resurrection (Luke 24:46-47; Romans 10:9-10), and intercession at the right hand of God. (Romans 8:28-39)

Dr. White appealed to people to use 2 videos below, use these in evangelism with Muslims, to publish these 2 recent debates that are on the Alpha and Omega YouTube channel:

I have read the Qur'an. Have you read the Injeel (انجیل ) ?

This was my answer (now with some addition) to a Muslim who left a comment yesterday, encouraging us Christians to read Surah 19 - Maryam, in the Qur'an.  

He said both Mary and Jesus are respected there.  The problem is that denying that Jesus is Lord, the Second person of the Trinity and the eternal Son of God and God in the flesh (John 1:1-5, 14, 18; Philippians 2:5-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:3, 6, 8, John 5:17-18, 8:56-58; 10:27-33; 18:1-6; 19:1-7, 20:28; etc.) and that He died on the cross for sins and that He rose from the dead - all of that denial is not respectful at all; for it denies who Jesus really is. 

________________
Salaam Daawa,  (which means "Invitation" -  for others information.  Probably not his real name.)
"Salaam" = "Peace" (to you) 

Peace to you - true peace is only found in Jesus the Messiah - John 14:27; Romans 5:1, Matthew 11:28-30; Ephesians 2:13-15

I have read Surah 19 - Maryam. 

Daawa, Have you read the Injeel ? انجیل ؟ - Have you read the New Testament? (all the way through - in your heart language ? )  "Injeel" means "gospel" in Arabic and is understood as the revelation or book that was given to Jesus.   It came into Arabic from the Greek word, where we get "evangel" from -  ευαγγελιον. (generally pronounced, "euwangellion") 

I have read all of the Qur'an all the way through at least once, and I still read some of it in order to understand you and your religion better. 

Surah 19:19 indicates Jesus was "pure, faultless, sinless" - on that we agree. 

Jesus the Messiah was without sin.
(2 Cor. 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; John 8:46; Hebrews 7:26)

Luke 1:34-35 - the holy Injeel - also explains the virgin birth of Al Masih and why we call Him "the Son of God"

the angel explains that Mary will have a son, so she asks - 

34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 

35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."

Jesus had no human father - His mother was a virgin. 

God's power and Holy Spirit conceived Jesus spiritually in the womb of Mary - so Jesus' nature was divine. He was 100% God and 100% man - He had 2 natures. 

For more details on how to explain to Muslims what we mean by "the Son of God", see here.  
He is eternal and existed with God the Father from eternity past - John 1:1-5; 1:14; John 17:5

He is and was the "Kalimat'allah" کلمه الله (Word of God) 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

We agree that God did not get married or have sex - that is impossible for God who is Spirit - invisible, unseen, non-physical. 

If Muslims think that Surah 6:101 is teaching what Christians believed, that is wrong. 

Estaqhfr'allah ! استغفرالله 
(May God forgive! perish the thought!) 

that is what the Mormons believe - they are not Christians and are a theological cult, even though they are very nice and moral people and don't drink alcohol (or coffee or tea either !!).

God loved humans out of all nations, languages and cultures (Revelation 5:9) - so He was willing to become a man (Hebrews 2:17; Philippians 2:5-11) and live for around 33 years and let sinful people kill Him voluntarily - 

John 10:18
"No one takes My life from me; I lay it down voluntarily, and I have authority to take it up again."

"God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

But since we are sinners - we must realize we are wicked sinners, helpless, rebellious, prideful, selfish, full of jealousy and anger and malice and lusts, and God condemns our sin and has holy wrath/anger/justice against our sin. we must realize, and repent of our sins and turn to Christ Al Masih as the only savior from sin and only way to God the Father and the only way to heaven; the only truth that leads us to God and heaven. John 14:6

Mark 1:15 - Repent and believe the gospel. 

God's holy anger and wrath against our sin will bring judgement one day on all who don't repent and trust Christ as Savior and Lord. 

Hell is real - Mark 9:48; Matthew 5:21-30; Revelation 20:10-15; Luke 16. 

God's wrath is real - 
John 3:36
Ephesians 2:1-3

Our sin is deep in the heart of our thoughts, motives, imaginations, and desires. 
Genesis 6:5
Mark 7:20-23
Jeremiah 17:9

Only Al Masih, Jesus the Messiah, only He can save you from your sins - 
John 14:6
Acts 4:12

Mark 10:45
Jesus said - 
"The son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

the word "ransom" is the same root word of the concept in the Qur'an in 37:107 - about the substitutionary sacrifice of the innocent ram (or lamb or sheep) for the human - for Abraham's son.

Something to think about - "Why did Allah substitute an innocent ram for Abraham's son?"

A Good Reminder

As we think about our culture and the upcoming election, here is a good reminder from Al Mohler:

Excerpt:

"Parents who raise their children with nothing more than Christian values should not be surprised when their children abandon those values. If the child or young person does not have a firm commitment to Christ and to the truth of the Christian faith, values will have no binding authority, and we should not expect that they would. Most of our neighbors have some commitment to Christian values, but what they desperately need is salvation from their sins. This does not come by Christian values, no matter how fervently held. Salvation comes only by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Human beings are natural-born moralists, and moralism is the most potent of all the false gospels. The language of “values” is the language of moralism and cultural Protestantism — what the Germans called Kulturprotestantismus. This is the religion that produces cultural Christians, and cultural Christianity soon dissipates into atheism, agnosticism, and other forms of non-belief. Cultural Christianity is the great denomination of moralism, and far too many church folk fail to recognize that their own religion is only cultural Christianity — not the genuine Christian faith.

The language of values is all that remains when the substance of belief disappears. Tragically, many churches seem to perpetuate their existence by values, long after they abandon the faith.

We should not pray for Christian morality to disappear or for Christian values to evaporate. We should not pray to live in Sodom or in Vanity Fair. But a culture marked even by Christian values is in desperate need of evangelism, and that evangelism requires the knowledge that Christian values and the gospel of Jesus Christ are not the same thing."

Al Mohler

"Christian Values Cannot Save Anyone"

http://www.albertmohler.com/2012/09/11/christian-values-cannot-save-anyone/

Just one small correction for Carl Trueman

No Co Ever: Episode 1 from No Compromise Radio on Vimeo.

This was a very good video discussion, regarding the problems with modern Evangelicalism and "The Elephant Room 2" and compromises with T. D. Jakes and his modalism and anti-Trinitarian doctrines and his word of faith/prosperity theology, two very dangerous heresies.  And, as Phil Johnson says, "damnable heresies".

I agree with everything these gentleman said on the issues of doctrine and the problems with the Elephant Room 2

. . . except for one small side comment that Carl Trueman made that I think is important for Christians to understand.

The one small comment was one that Carl Trueman made and I am very surprised that he said it.   I really appreciate Carl Trueman, and I enjoy his blog at Reformation 21; and I tried to find his email at the Westminster Seminary Website, but I could not.  I respect him greatly, and his work in church history and historical theology is very important.  So nothing personal is meant here, and I know he is very mature and will take this for the merit of the issue.

When talking about the Christians at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, Professor Trueman said they were Turks.  [around the 31 minute mark] Professor Trueman was right that the men at the Council of Nicea were not "white men", but they were not Turkish either.  They were Greeks and Egyptians and Syrians (The Syrians before the Arabs conquered them in the 600s AD.)  That is an amazing mistake by a church history professor, in my opinion.  They were mostly Greeks, Syrians, 2 Latins from Rome, and Egyptians (Athanasius, for one) and others from around the Roman Empire.  The Turks did not live in what is today called Turkey at the time of the Council of Nicea.   The Turks (Seljuk and Ottomans) did not come to that land until before the Crusades (1071 AD) and they did not completely conquer the area known as Anatolia and Constantinople until 1453 AD.  No Turks lived in these areas in the New Testament days nor in early church history until the 900s AD!  It is possible that there were some Turkic peoples there from the time of Attila the Hun in the 400s, but not that many, and not any in 325 AD.

It is amazing to me that people don't take the time to study what happened to the Greeks and the Byzantine Empire.  The Arabs first attacked after they conquered Syria/Palestine and Persia and N. Africa.  (632-722 AD)  They tried to take Constantinople in the 600s and 700s but failed.

The Arab Muslims converted the Persians by force (Jihad, Qatal, Harb)  from the 630s into the 900s.  Jihad جهاد  (struggle/effort/striving) and Qatal قتل (the word for "slay" or "fight" = "fighting to the death" in battle - Surah 9:5, 9:29) and Harb حرب (War) are integral aspects of Islam from the time Muhammad conquered Medina in 622 AD.

Then the Arab Muslims converted the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, starting in the 600s, and by the 900s AD, the animist Turks had become Muslim.  (Today these areas are called Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghestan, etc.  Tajikistan is mostly a Persian speaking area - ethnically the Tajiks and southern areas of Uzbekistan are Tajik-Persian (Bukhara and Samarqand) ethnically and were part of the old Persian Empire.  The Arab Muslims also converted the Kurds to Islam by force.  Saladin ("Salah e din" = صلاح دین = "genuine religion"), the famous Muslim leader against the Crusaders, was Kurdish.  Today the Kurds are spread throughout western Iran, Northern Iraq, Eastern Turkey, and the top corner of Syria.

The Seljuk Turks were hired as the palace guards and military force for the Arabs in Baghdad.  The Turkic peoples became the dominant fighting force.  the Seljuk Turks attacked the Greek Byzantine Empire in 1071 AD at the Battle of Manzikurt near Van in the east (was part of Armenia).  The Byzantines were defeated by the Seljuk Turks.

This caused the emperor in Constantinople to call for help from the Pope in France.  The Crusades were launched.  (1095-1299)

After the Crusades, the Ottoman Turks became the dominant Turkish people and eventually conquered all of Anatolia and then Constantinople fell in 1453 and it was renamed Istanbul.

So, today, the area known as Nicea (The Turks call it Iznik today, and it is about one hour outside of Istanbul), where the Council of Nicea was held in 325 AD is in the same area as the country of Turkey; but at the time of Nicea there were no Turks there.

The Turks never heard the gospel.  The Crusades are still major stumbling block to Muslims, especially the Turks.  The Crusades were somewhat understandable in the sense of a "just war" and self-defense, but the horrible mistakes, and the slaughter of the Greek Eastern Orthodox by the Latin Crusaders is a major scandal and shame, as was the Crusading against Jews along the way to the "holy land".   Today the Turks are still 99 % Muslim and there is some outreach to them, but not much.  The Arab Muslims have not been evangelized much either in history.  The Persians were not much either.  The ancient Persian church before Islam was mostly the ethnic Assyrians in Mesopotamia (today's Iraq); not the ethnic Persians farther east.  Henry Martyn translated the first complete copy of the Persian NT in the 1800s.  He died in 1812.

Let us reach out with the gospel to Muslims.

Why make such a big deal about a minor comment not related to the main topic?

The reason why this so important to get right is that the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19; Luke 24:46-47) is to peoples, nations, ethnic people groups, not "countries" or "political boundaries".  The Greek word for "nation" is ethna (εθνη) and carries with it the idea of a cultural-ethnic people group that is unified by language and culture.  So even though the land of Turkey (and Egypt and N. Africa and Syria and Mesopotamia) had the gospel in earlier centuries, it was snuffed out by Islam in most of these areas, and eclipsed in places where there is some small evangelical witness left.

This is important because God is saving people from all the nations, peoples, tribes, and tongues, as the gospel goes out.  (see Revelation 5:9 and 7:9)   Some "nations" are spread over several political boundaries (countries) and some peoples/nations are within political boundaries and don't have their own country.  A classic example of this is the Kurdish people, who have never had their own political country and are spread over 4 countries.  (Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria)

The OT background of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 and Luke 24:46-47 is in Genesis 12:1-3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Psalm 2:8, 67:1-7, 96:3-6, 87:4-6, Isaiah 49:6 and many other passages that use the word "families" (Mishpakha = משפחה ) and "nations" = "goyeem" גוימ and peoples  עמימ  ("ameem") .

A good book that explains the Biblical idea of nations and peoples is John Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad! (Baker) and the articles by Ralph Winter and John R. W. Stott and others in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.    The Perspectives book is, overall, a good missions book, but there are some articles in it that I would disagree with, just in case any one wonders.

Addendum: (August 31, 2012)
I want to apologize if it seems I was being too nit-picky on Professor Trueman's statement.  I think if someone reads the whole thing that I wrote above, they can see why I wrote what I wrote, and that it was not meant as a "potshot", but an honest pointing out of the importance of understanding that aspect of church history in relation to missions and the spreading of the gospel among unreached people groups.  A big problem is that missions people are weak in theology and historical theology and church history; but also sometimes theologians are weak in missions.  I noticed that in seminary also, they have their separate disciplines and yet there is a great need for more inter-connectedness of these disciplines because they all come together in the challenge of Islam in today's world.  Islam is what should cause us who believe the Bible to also understand it and evangelize Muslims and also integrate it with church history and historical theology. (and politics, culture, just-war theory, etc.)   The challenge of Islam will force us to deal with the implications of it to all of these areas of study and knowledge.

Someone (D. Waltz) pointed out an article that Professor Trueman wrote, in which he was a little more accurate on the situation:

"Still, let us go back to the fourth century and see how the `middle aged white guy' critique measures up.  Well, at the Council of Nicea in 325, many of the participants were no doubt middle aged -- which Paul in the Pastorals would actually seem to think is quite a good thing in a church leader.  But white?    I suspect they were ethnically more akin to modern day Turks or south eastern Europeans, not that racial categories really meant anything then.  The key category in the fourth century was that of Roman citizenship, not skin color."

The modern Turks are a mixture of many peoples.  But they originally came from Central Asia, and they were not at Nicea in 325 AD and they were not in those lands in NT days that is now called "Turkey"; and they were never reached with the gospel in history; as I pointed out earlier.  They did Islamic wars/Jihads/killing against the Byzantine and Armenian men, and probably took many of the women as wives from the original people groups that lived there.  So, there is probably some Greek, Syrian, Arab, Galatian, Armenian, and other ethnicities within the modern day Turks who live in Turkey.  Today, Turkey is officially 99 % Muslim and very unreached with the gospel.