Apparent contradictions in the Newer Testament

SOMEONE once asked me if it disturbed me when I found contradictions in the Bible. There are many congregations in which this topic would be completely forbidden, but not here! In many Evangelic Christian churches, it is an article of faith that every word in the Bible (especially if it is a King James Version) is the inspired, inerrant Word of God.

The Jewish people have done a remarkable job in preserving the Tanakh (O.T.). The Masorites of old set up a complex system of preserving the Hebrew text of the Bible, in which every word and letter of the Bible is counted. Some letters are written larger than surrounding letters, and some are smaller. There are occasional variant spellings, even misspellings. The Hebrew text was transmitted and preserved incredibly accurately for thousands of years. The ancient Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in late 1940s. When these Hebrew texts of the Bible from over 2000 years old were compared with the modern Hebrew manuscripts, only very few minor variances could be found.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t minor apparent contradictions in the Tanakh. For example, it isn’t easy to reconcile the accounts of the death of Saul in 1 Samuel 31 with 1 Chronicles 10. However, there seems to be more apparent contradictions in the Newer Testament.

One of the problems is that there are many more variant texts of the NT than of the Tanakh, even though the Tanakh is several hundred years older. Christians weren’t nearly as careful in transmitting the texts of the NT as the Jews were in transmitting the Tanakh. Nevertheless, I am amazed and impressed that the Gentile scribes preserved the Jewishness of the NT, which remains an incredibly Jewish document. The original “autograph” texts of the First Century have long since disappeared due to the ravages of time. However, there were “discrepancies,” even in the original Gospel accounts as penned by their authors.

Yeshua’s talmidim (disciples) were expecting Messiah Yeshua to set up the Messianic Kingdom in their lifetimes, as we see in Acts 1:6, when the asked Him: “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the Kingdom to Israel?” This was a very logical question. Israel was under the very oppressive rule of Roman occupation. They no doubt expected Yeshua to return in their own lifetimes to set up this Kingdom. Perhaps for this reason, they waited a couple of decades before writing down the events of the life and times of Yeshua the Messiah. As they wrote their Gospels, they would have to gather information from others. Of the Gospel writers, only Matthew and Yochanan (John) were with Yeshua during his earthly ministry.

Luke and Mark had to rely on their memories of events which had become oral legends in composing their Gospels. According to the early Church Fathers, Matthew wrote his B’sorah(Gospel) in Hebrew.[1] In the 19th Century, liberal theologians came up with the idea that Mark’s Gospel was the oldest. However, the historical evidence for this theory is totally lacking. The Church “Fathers” all agree that Matthew’s Gospel is the first Gospel to be committed to paper. All four Gospels were written in the First Century of the Common Era. Yochanan’s Gospel was the last to be written down, possibly after the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) in 70 CE.[2]

It is beyond the scope of an article this size to delve into all the apparent contradictions in the Newer Testament. I would like to concentrate on the ones surrounding the most pivotal event since Creation: The Resurrection of Messiah Yeshua.

The first ones to go to the empty tomb were the ladies. The men were hiding out, no doubt with locked doors. They had good reason to fear. The occupying Roman army had crucified thousands of Jews in the past, and had just recently crucified their Rabbi Yeshua, who they felt was the Messiah who would deliver Israel from the hands of the Romans. Their hopes were completely crushed. The men might have wanted to go to the tomb to ritually cleanse and anoint the body of Yeshua, but feared that men going out to the tomb would be arrested by the Romans. Women represented less of a threat to the Romans, and were less likely to be arrested.

Since none of the Gospel writers were with the ladies when they went to the tomb, they had to rely on the eyewitness testimonies of the ladies on what they had seen and heard. As the Gospel writers tried to assemble the facts, some minor apparent contradictions with each other arose in their written accounts.

First of all, How many women went to the tomb?

We read in Matthew 28:1 that “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.” It sounds to me like two women, but Mark 16:1 tells us that there were three women. And in Yochanan (John) 20:1, we find only one woman, Mary (Miriam) Magdalene going to the tomb. It is perhaps possible that all of the Gospel writers were aware of three women going to the tomb, but simply didn’t think it necessary to name them all.

When did the woman (or women) arrive at the tomb?

Mark 16:2 says it was at the rising of the sun, whereas John 20:1 says it was still dark.

How many angels (or men) were at the tomb?

Matthew 28:2-5 mentions one angel. Mark 16:5 says it was a young man. Luke 24:4 says it was two men. John 20:12 says there were two angels.[3]

Was the angel (or men) inside or outside the tomb?

Matthew 28:2 tells us that the angel was outside, sitting on the stone. Mark 16:5 tells us that it was a young man, sitting inside the tomb. Luke 24:4-5 tells us that two men were standing inside the tomb. John 20:12 says that one angel was sitting inside the tomb at the head and a second angel was sitting at the feet of where the Messiah had been laid.

To Whom did Yeshua first appear?

Matthew tells us that He first appeared to the women (28:10), and then to the eleven (28:16) talmidim (disciples). Luke mentions nothing of Yeshua appearing to the women, but tells the story of Yeshua appearing to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24:13), which is unique to his Gospel. Then Yeshua appeared to the eleven (24:33). John’s Gospel tells us that Yeshua appeared to Mary only, and then to ten (20:24) disciples. Unique to John’s Gospel, Thomas was absent, and unbelieving, saying he would not believe, “Unless I shall see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my hand in his side (John 20:25).” Hence, the term “Doubting Thomas.”

I find great encouragement in the account about Thomas. He had obviously been greatly discouraged about the events of the previous week. He probably wanted desperately to believe that Yeshua had been resurrected, but after having his hopes dashed to the ground so viciously, he dared not allow his hopes to rise again. However, the reappearance of the resurrected Yeshua changed all that. Thomas eventually made it all the way to India, where he founded a body of believers which was still in existence 1400 years later when the Portuguese began their colonial adventures in India.[4] Thomas eventually died a martyr’s death on what became known as Mount St. Thomas in Madras, India.

It is possible to reconcile some of the various differences in the accounts with inventiveness. Each Gospel writer included events that he felt were significant, leaving out events he felt were not so important. However, it really isn’t important to me if all the events can be reconciled.

Is my faith totally blown away by the apparent contradictions?

No way! Instead, I would be suspicious if they all had the same exact story, verbatim. It would indicate that they all got together and contrived a story. In a court of law, if all the witnesses had the same exact testimony, it would demonstrate a conspiracy of deceit. Each of the witnesses, except for Judas (who hung himself) and Yochanan, died a horrible martyr’s death. They would never have done this to keep a myth alive. The essential truth of the Resurrection gave them the courage to die for their Messiah rather than deny Him. Each Gospel writer tells the same essential truth of the Resurrection. To which I say, “Halleluyah! Because He lives, we can live forever!”

[1] Papias, Irenaeus, and Origen all lived in the 2nd Century AD, writing between 150 CE and 210 CE, testifying that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew. Papias wrote that “Matthew composed the words in the Hebrew dialect, and each translated as he was able.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 3:39.) Epiphanius, writing in 370 CE, wrote, “They (the Nazarenes) have the Gospel according to Matthew quite complete, in Hebrew, for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written, in Hebrew letters. (Ibid.,5:10.)

[2] “Common Era,” equivalent to A.D.

[3] I don’t want to make too big of a deal about whether they were men or angels. The Hebrew word for angels is malachim, which can be human messengers or angelic messengers. Angels normally looked like men in both Testaments.

[4] The Portuguese then began their quest to turn the Indian believers into Catholics.

Author: Richard ‘Aharon’ Chaimberlin, Litt.D.

Source: Apparent Contradictions in the Newer Testament (petahtikvah.com)