Do Christians Worship the Same God as Jews and Muslims? Fr. Seraphim Rose Explains

In Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future, Fr. Seraphim Rose addresses a question that has become central to interfaith dialogue: do Christians, Jews, and Muslims worship the same God? Reflecting on a religious gathering in Geneva on April 2, 1970, where representatives of ten major religions prayed “to the same God,” Fr. Seraphim Rose questions this assumption using Scripture and Orthodox theology.

He notes that, although Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim a common origin in Abraham, this shared ancestry does not imply worship of the same God. He writes: “Thus it is a very widespread opinion that since we all lay claim to the posterity of Abraham… we all have as God the God of Abraham and all three of us worship… the same God. And this same God constitutes in some fashion our point of unity and of ‘mutual understanding.’” Yet, he warns, this line of thinking reduces Jesus Christ, His incarnation, Cross, Resurrection, and Second Coming to secondary details, making Him merely “a simple prophet” or even disparaged in some traditions, which is incompatible with authentic Christian faith.

Fr. Seraphim Rose emphasizes that if Jesus Christ is not God, then He cannot be seen as merely a prophet or one sent by God; rather, His claim to divinity means that rejecting Him renders Him an imposter: “if Jesus Christ is not God, we cannot consider Him either as a ‘prophet’ or as one ‘sent by God,’ but only as a great imposter without compare, having proclaimed Himself ‘Son of God,’ making Himself thus equal to God” (Mark 14:61–62).

He also challenges the notion that a superficial monotheistic label unites Christianity with Judaism and Islam. He writes: “According to this ecumenical solution… the Trinitarian God of Christians would be the same thing as the monotheism of Judaism, of Islam, of the ancient heretic Sabellius, of the modern anti-Trinitarians… And nonetheless one would pretend that this was the ‘same God.’” For Orthodox Christians, God is not a single abstract entity but a Holy Trinity, indivisible yet existing as Three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Fr. Seraphim further clarifies the meaning of divine Fatherhood: “Even if all three of us call God Father: of whom is He really the Father? For the Jews and the Moslems He is the Father of men in the plane of creation; while for us Christians He is… the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3), and through Christ He is our Father by adoption (Eph. 1:4–5) in the plane of redemption.” Here, he shows that Christian understanding of God as Father is inseparable from Christ, making it profoundly different from other faiths’ conceptions.

Abraham’s faith, according to Fr. Seraphim Rose, points to Christ, not simply to biological lineage: “Abraham worshipped God not at all in the form of the unipersonal monotheism of the others, but in the form of the Holy Trinity… Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Likewise, Isaac’s miraculous birth, his near-sacrifice, and his role as the progenitor of the faithful are all prophetic types pointing to Christ. Only through Christ do Christians truly partake in Abraham’s promises (Gal. 3:16, 29).

Ultimately, Fr. Seraphim Rose concludes: “No! We do not have the same God that non-Christians have! The sine qua non for knowing the Father, is the Son: He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6, 9). He underscores that God’s ultimate revelation comes through the Incarnation, which non-Christians have not fully received. The immaterial became material for humanity’s salvation; this is the God Christians worship—unlike the conceptions found in Judaism or Islam.

Fr. Seraphim Rose’s teaching reminds Orthodox Christians that their faith is rooted in the living God revealed in Jesus Christ, not in abstract monotheism or cultural ancestry. It calls the faithful to discernment, to remain steadfast in the Church as Mother, and to reject attempts to equate the Trinitarian God with the gods of other religions.

“May He preserve us in the ‘small flock,’ the ‘remainder according to the election of Grace,’ so that we like Abraham might rejoice at the Light of His Face…”