Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Last week, we examined the question “Why do you choose to believe the Bible?” I heard from several of you who found the blog entries helpful, and I wanted to pick up with that theme again for the remainder of this week.

Today, we are going to examine the question, “What about all the contradictions in the Bible?” How do we begin to formulate a response?

First of all, you may be surprised to learn that the number of alleged errors or contradictions in the Bible is very small. Second, these alleged contradictions do not involve any major event or key doctrine of faith. If you visit a website written by skeptics which lists all of the apparent errors and contradictions, and if you examine these carefully, you will discover that there are not truly as many discrepancies as many claim. The “contradictions” that do exist are largely grammatical, textual, and sequential. Once again, they are not about key doctrines of faith.

One of the common “contradictions” that skeptics point out is the varying accounts in the Gospels of the wording on the sign above Jesus’ cross. What did the sign read?

§  According to Matthew’s Gospel, it reads, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Mt. 27:37).

§  According to Mark’s Gospel, it is inscribed, “The King of the Jews” (Mk. 15:26).

§  According to John’s Gospel, it reads, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (Jn. 19:19).

Skeptics will say, “They don’t all say the same thing! They don’t line up! Jesus can’t be who He said He was!”

Let’s look at that argument rationally. What do all of these Gospel writers agree upon in their accounts? They all mention Jesus as the one on the cross over whom the sign hung. They all read “King of the Jews.” All of the accounts indicate that a sign was erected. And all of the Gospels agree that Jesus was crucified. We’re haggling over a tiny discrepancy in the order in which things were said—and a word or two left out—when the massive weight is that all of these accounts agree.

This type of argumentation happens over and over and over again when we look at alleged discrepancies or contradictions in Scripture. It is important to point out that the burden of proof is on the one who claims the Bible is full of contradictions and not the one who believes it to be true and accurate. As Christians, we often feel on the defensive when someone comes to us claiming that the Bible is full of errors and contradictions. But the burden on proof is on the skeptic to prove the reason why it is a meaningful contradiction.

Consider another example. When did Jesus first appear to His disciples after His resurrection? All of the Gospels record that He appeared to His disciples, but it seems not all of them say that He appeared the same way. Luke 24 and John 20 mention that He appeared in an Upper Room in Jerusalem. He walks through walls, appears to them, and instructs doubting Thomas to touch him and see that it is really Him and not a ghost.

Matthew, on the other hand, never talks about an Upper Room. Matthew’s first mention of the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to His eleven disciples (for Jesus had appeared earlier to the women at the tomb) is outside of the city of Jerusalem on a mountain in Galilee. What are we to make of this?

When we think of history, we think of a chronological, progressive account. But that is not how the ancient writers wrote history. Matthew doesn’t mention the Upper Room, but he also doesn’t say that it didn’t happen. He never claims that this was the first post-resurrection appearance of Jesus. It’s an argument from silence. What was most important to Matthew was the Great Commission—the appearance of Jesus before He ascended and His command to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

A third example involves Judas’ death. How did Judas die? It depends on what book of the Bible you read. In Matthew 27, Matthew indicates that Judas died by hanging himself. In Acts 1:18, Luke records that Judas fell headlong into the field of blood, and as a result, his insides burst open and spilled out. Which of these two accounts is correct?

There are many plausible explanations for this. One may be that Judas tried to hang himself and failed. I knew of a young man once who attempted suicide by hanging. He was a heavy-set man, and the beam broke. By God’s grace, his attempt failed and he is alive to this day. Maybe Judas was so distraught that he attempted to hang himself, failed, and then cast himself over the edge.

Furthermore, Matthew does not say that Judas died from hanging; he simply writes that Judas hung himself. Maybe the branch broke after he died and his body tumbled into that field and his insides burst open.

We do not know the answer to that question, but we do know that there are enough very plausible explanations to this apparent “contradiction”. These contradictions do not disprove the reliability of the Bible.

Join us tomorrow as we consider the problem of miracles!

Pastor Jeff Frazier