Problems: Perhaps the most famous alleged Bible contradiction centers on Peter’s triple denial of Jesus and the crowing of a rooster. For years, skeptics have charged that Mark’s account of this event blatantly contradicts the other gospel accounts, thus supposedly “proving” the imperfection of the Scriptures. Even Bible believers have questioned the differences surrounding this event, yet relatively few have taken the time to understand them. Whenever people ask us about Peter’s denials and the differences within the gospel accounts, we often fail to give an adequate answer to their questions (see 1 Peter 3:15). This lack of understanding and poor defense of God’s Word has led skeptics to become more confident in their position (that the Bible is not God’s Word), and has caused some Bible believers to abandon their position on the infallibility of the Scriptures.
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Problem: In Mark 14:51-52, there is a reference to someone who ran away naked after being seized by a large crowd (Matt. 26:47; Luke 47-53). The large crowd appeared to be a Roman cohort that worked with the chief priests and Pharisees (John 18:3-11). So, who was this naked man in Mark? It doesn’t say. Therefore, we can’t say who it was for sure. Though the other Gospels contain the account of Jesus’ arrest, this particular event is found only in Mark. This might be significant. Let’s take a look.
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Problem: In what many consider to be the most well-known prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah, the prophet Isaiah foretold of the sufferings that Christ would endure amid His trial and crucifixion, saying (as if it had already happened):

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed…. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth (53:5,7, emp. added).

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Problem: How can we resolve the apparent differences among the Gospels regarding the number of times the rooster would crow? A passage that sheds light on this question is Mark 13:35, which states the following:

“Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning.”
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Problem: Matthew and John (13:38) say before the rooster crows once, Peter will have denied the Lord three times. But Mark affirms that before the rooster crows twice Peter will deny Christ three times. Which account is right?
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Problem: In Matthew (26:26-27) and Mark’s (14:22-23) record of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus blessed the bread first and then the cup. However, Luke seems to give the opposite order with the cup mentioned first (22:17-19). Is this difference a discrepancy in which the inspired writers contradict each other?
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Problem: When we hear of alleged Bible contradictions, and then carefully examine the passages in question, we find that they are not really contradictions at all. One such supposed contradiction is that the Gospel accounts seem to indicate that Jesus was anointed before and after the Triumphal Entry. If the Gospels are recording a single event, then this would indeed be problematic, but that is not the case. In this article, we’ll examine the four accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and demonstrate that there was not a single anointing of Jesus for his burial, but two or even three separate occasions of a woman anointing Jesus, and the first one was not done as a memorial for his burial.
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Problem: How can we resolve the apparent differences among the Gospels regarding the number of times the rooster would crow? A passage that sheds light on this question is Mark 13:35, which states the following:

Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning.
Continue reading →