Both Christians and Muslims view God as an eternal being, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present, yet there is a major difference in the Islamic view of God. Christians know that God has revealed himself in the Bible as one God, yet three distinct, separate Persons—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each Person of the Godhead is fully God, but Christians do not serve three different Gods; we serve one God, the three in one.
We know that God the Son came and has revealed Himself to man at the incarnation (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:14; Colossians 2:9; 1 John 4:1-3). Jesus Christ came to pay the price and penalty for sin (Romans 3:23) by dying on the cross for mankind's sins (Romans 6:23). He was God's perfect sacrifice to cover sin's price once and for all. After Christ rose from the dead, He returned to His Father in heaven. He had promised that when He left, He would send a "helper" (John 16:7; Acts 1:8), in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Christ sent Him, as promised, to be a counselor and comforter to believers (John 14:16-31). The Muslim god is not a triune god. Nor is the Muslim god a god who sacrifices for his own. The idea of a Savior is unknown in Islam.
When Christ first came, it was to be a sacrifice for sins, but there will be a day when He will return. This time He will come as Judge (Acts 10:42-43). Those who have placed their faith in Christ will spend eternity with Him, but those who have chosen to reject Him will spend eternity separated from Christ in hell.
The Trinity is so essential to the Christian faith. Without the Trinity we do not have God's one and only Son coming and being born as a man. And without the incarnation we do not have Christ's death on the cross for mankind's sins, which means we would have no salvation from our sins, leaving us hopeless, lost and separated from a Holy God. Without Christ's death and resurrection we would all be most wretched (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).
So do Muslims and Christians serve the same God? A better question may be do Muslim and Christians have a correct view/understanding of who God is. The answer, of course, is no. There are major differences between the Muslim and Christian views of God that cause these faiths to collide. However, it is obvious that not both of these faiths can be true in their concept and view of God. There is only one God who answers and solves the problem of sin, and provides the remedy for it. This is the God of the Bible.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:16-18).
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