How does the Quran present Jesus (Isa)? How is that “Jesus” different from the Biblical one?

Believe it or not, the Quran, the basis for Islamic theology, actually presents Jesus in surprisingly favorable terms, and Muslims believe these pictures of Jesus more readily than do many of those who practice a more liberal form of Christianity. In fact, the picture one would get from studying the “Isa” of Muslim theology presents a far superior being than the Mohammad who founded their faith. For instance, Muslims have no problem with the virgin birth of Jesus. They have no problem saying that Jesus lived a sinless life. They have no problem with His being called a “Messiah” or “the Word of God.” They have no problem with His having performed miracles, or with the idea that His body ascended to heaven. They would attribute none of any of these attributes to Mohammad himself. However, all that being said, there are huge differences in how Islam sees Jesus. First of all, Allah (their God) is a one and only with no other, including partners. Their god is not triune (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and to say that Allah has a son would be considered a blasphemy worthy of death. That instantly robs Jesus of all the divinity He both possessed and proclaimed. So it would be blasphemy to say, as Jesus did, I and the Father are one—Jesus Christ, John 10:30. And it would be equally blasphemous to claim, as Jesus did, Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father—Jesus Christ, John 14:9a. And no one would ever dare say, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me—Jesus Christ, John 14:6. The important thing to remember is that, no matter how Muslims view Jesus, He will never be superior to Mohammad—which absolutely contradicts the celebration Paul declared when he said, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father—Paul, Philippians 2:9-11. No Muslim would ever write what Paul wrote concerning Christ to the Colossian church: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him—Paul, Colossians 1:15-19. And lastly, the Allah of Muslim faith is an absolutely transcendent being, meaning that he is so far beyond us that no personal relationship of any kind is even conceivable. What did Christ come to do? Establish a personal relationship between us and God. As Paul wrote, For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!—Paul, Romans 5:10. As a result, [Y]ou are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit—Paul, Ephesians 2:19-22. And finally, Islam teaches that you can never know whether your eternal destiny is heaven or hell (Mohammad said even he did not know) outside of dying as a martyr in a holy war (fatwa). What does the Bible say? We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life—I John 5:9-13. We have relationship with God because of His Son. And we can know what we have to claim . . . and to look forward to. “Isa” is incapable of providing a Muslim any of that.