Problem: Some passages say that Jesus came to bring peace, but others declare that he did not. Isn’t this a blatant contradiction? No, actually. Let’s take a look.
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Problem: The Jews were very familiar with persecution throughout their history. Being under the rule of the Roman Empire wasn’t much different. It was in that context that Jesus told the disciples to preach throughout the cities of Israel and that when they were persecuted, flee and go to the next city. The Jewish leaders would not want the message of Christ promoted by the disciples and the Roman Empire did not want any problems in the area. So, the preaching of the disciples in all the cities would have been hindered by both Jews and Romans. Furthermore, there were hundreds of cities and villages in Israel at the time of Christ located over thousands of square miles. Jesus said they would not finish going through Israel until He returned. So, it makes sense to say they did not finish preaching to all the cities.
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Problem: Perhaps the most difficult alleged Bible contradiction that we have been asked to “tackle” was presented to us some time ago by the mother of a dear friend. She asked, “When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles on what is commonly called the ‘limited commission,’ did He instruct them to take staffs or not?”
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Problem: Did Jesus tell His disciples to take a staff or not? Mark 6:8 with Matthew 10:9-10 and Luke 9:3.
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Problem: Did Jesus tell His disciples to take a staff? Or did He tell them to leave them behind?
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Problem: After healing the men who were possessed with demons on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 8:28-34), Jesus passed over to the other side and “came into his own city” (probably Capernaum—Matthew 9:1). Soon thereafter, a man by the name of Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, fell at Jesus’ feet and worshipped Him saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live” (Matthew 9:18). Normally, we would continue telling this wonderful story and rehearse how Jesus raised the twelve-year-old girl from the dead. However, the purpose of this article is to answer the skeptics who claim that a contradiction exists between Matthew’s account of this story and the accounts recorded by Mark and Luke. Whereas Matthew records Jairus telling Jesus, “My daughter has just died” (Matthew 9:18, emp. added), the other two accounts indicate that his daughter was “at the point of death” (Mark 5:23, emp. added) and that “she was dying” (Luke 8:42, emp. added). Critics of the Bible’s inerrancy assert that the difference in these accounts represents a blatant contradiction.
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Problem: Why does Matthew 9:14 say that the disciples of John asked Jesus about fasting, while Luke 5 indicates that the Pharisees and their scribes asked Jesus this question?
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Problem: God’s Word is perfect and cannot contradict itself; therefore, whenever we see two or more passages of Scripture that appear to contradict each other, we need to study the passages in more detail. We must make sure we are examining the same event, do not take words out of context, recognize any figures of speech or poetic language being used, and be aware of any translational issues of words or phrases, from the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek into English.
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Problem: Was Jairus’ daughter alive or dead when he came to Jesus? The gospels seem to give conflicting accounts as to whether or not Jairus’ daughter was already dead when he came to Jesus or if she died later while Jesus was on the way to heal her. Let’s consider the verses:
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