Is this teaching biblical?
Houston's claim that Muslims and Christians serve the same God is a direct contradiction of the New Testament's most foundational truth: that God is fully revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. Islam explicitly denies that God has a Son. The God of the Bible is Trinitarian — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Allah as defined in the Quran is explicitly non-trinitarian and denies Christ's divinity, crucifixion, and resurrection. These are not the same God by any definition.
What did Brian Houston say?
"Do you know — take it all the way back into the Old Testament and the Muslim and you, we actually serve the same God. Allah to a Muslim, to us Abba Father God."
Speaker: Brian Houston
Source: Sermon: Living for the Master's Well Done, Part 1 (December 2013)
What does Scripture actually teach?
John 14:6
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"
— NKJV
Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father. Islam explicitly rejects Jesus as the Son of God and denies His atoning death. If the only way to the Father is through Christ, and Islam denies Christ, then Islam does not lead to the same Father — regardless of shared Abrahamic roots.
1 John 2:22-23
"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."
— NKJV
John is unmistakably clear: whoever denies the Son does NOT have the Father. Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God. Therefore, by Scripture's own definition, Islam does not have the Father. Houston's claim directly contradicts this apostolic declaration.
Acts 4:12
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
— NKJV
Salvation is found in NO OTHER name but Jesus Christ. Not in 'Allah,' not through Muhammad, not through any path that bypasses the cross. Houston's theological syncretism undermines the exclusivity of Christ and the gospel itself.