Contradictions in the Bible

A: This is a great question and one that has vexed Christians for centuries. However, the answer is really pretty basic!

What may appear as “inconsistencies” are often simple discrepancies that differ in perspective of the writers, or nuances in context rather than “contradictions.” First off, let’s remember that the Bible is written by man and inspired by the Holy Spirit. So if we were to take the example of the story where the six blind men are asked to describe an elephant and each answer differed upon the perspective of which part of the elephant they were touching.

If we look no further than the Gospels, let’s keep in mind that you have two of the original apostles (Matthew and John) and two books written by interpreters (scribes) as we see in the book of Mark (interpreter for Peter), and Luke’s Gospel (interpreter for the Apostle Paul) which is generally considered a part of Luke-Acts and written collectively with Paul. So what we have is the perspectives of five or six different men each of whom has their unique writing style and priorities. What may be seen as an “inconsistency” might better be defined as each individual writing about the issue from the perspective of what they deemed to be important. You and I could sit together and watch the exact same event and report it a bit differently. Does that mean our accounts are inconsistent? Certainly not! It simply means we have prioritized parts of the event differently and written to it as such. When people have difficulty with these differences, the difficulty comes from their assumptions about these historical events. As mentioned above, the Holy Spirit empowered the Gospel writers to write in a way as to show the meaning of events, not events that were “invented.” Each writer had his own human individuality, but God created and raised up the writer (Psalm 139) to be just who he was, and the differences are exactly what God wanted….not what the human writer desired.

Looking at apparent “inconsistencies” in the Old Testament can be a bit tricky as well. It may require a much deeper dive and hermeneutical study. The reconciliation of Old Testament inconsistencies within an inerrant book requires understanding that such inerrancy applies to the original works and translations. Thus, apparent contradictions may come from misunderstandings of context, genre, or translation. When we analyze the historical context utilizing original language we can often see those “inconsistencies” fade away and that differing perspectives are complementary while acknowledging that slightly varied details will strengthen, not weaken, historical credibility!