Problem: Through the years, the description of Judas Iscariot’s death has been one of the most popular alleged Bible contradictions. It seems as if every skeptical book or Web site that questions the integrity of the Bible lists Judas’ death as one of the most obvious inconsistencies in Scripture. Whereas Matthew records that Judas “went and hanged himself” after betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (27:5), Luke records that “falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out” (Acts 1:18). Because Matthew only mentions Judas being hanged, while Luke mentions Judas falling headlong and bursting open at his midsection, a “real” contradiction supposedly is staring us in the face.
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Problem: Did Judas Iscariot die by hanging (Matthew 27:5) or did he die by falling and bursting open (Acts 1:18)?
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Problem: 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: At Peter’s denials of Christ, did the rooster crow once or twice, and how does this affect inspiration of Scripture?
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Problem: A concerned Bible student once wrote our offices regarding the apostle Peter’s triple denial of Jesus. It was not the usual inquiry regarding how many times the rooster crowed following Peter’s denials of Christ. Rather, his question focused on the charges made against Peter prior to each of his denials. All four gospel writers first testify that a “servant girl” confronted Peter (Matthew 26:69; Mark 14:66; Luke 22:56; John 18:17). The writers then seem to “go their separate ways.”
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Problem: Did Peter deny Christ in the courtyard of Annas or Caiaphas? According to Matthew, Peter denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of Caiaphas, the high priest (26:57-75). John, however, seems to indicate that Peter was in the courtyard of Annas (Caiaphas’ father-in-law) when he denied Christ (18:13-27). Which is it?
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Problem: If Jesus is God’s “only begotten Son,” then how can angels and Christians also be God’s sons?
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Problem: Three times in the gospel of Matthew, the writer recorded where certain disciples of Jesus were instructed to meet the Lord in Galilee after His resurrection. During the Passover meal that Jesus ate the night of His betrayal, He informed His disciples, saying, “After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:32). Three days later, on the day of Jesus’ resurrection when Mary Magdalene and the other women came to the empty tomb of Jesus, Matthew recorded how an angel told them to notify the disciples of Jesus’ resurrection, and to tell them exactly the same thing they were told three days earlier: “He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him” (28:7). Then, only three verses later, as the women were on their way to inform the disciples of Jesus’ resurrection and the message given to them by the angel, Matthew recorded how Jesus appeared to them and said: “Rejoice!… Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (28:9-10). Sometime thereafter, “the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them,” and “worshipped Him” (28:16).
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Problem: One question that skeptics frequently ask regarding various events in the Bible is “Why?” Why did God create the Sun on day four after creating light on day one? Why did God command the Israelites to walk around Jericho one time a day for six days, and seven times on the seventh day before the city was destroyed? Why did Jesus choose Judas as an apostle if He knew that he would betray Him? And so on. Since skeptics are unable to find legitimate internal contradictions about various occurrences in Scripture that seem peculiar to them, they simply ask questions beginning with “Why…?,” in hopes that doubt will take hold of the Bible reader—seeds of doubt that they hope eventually will grow into full-fledged disbelief in the trustworthiness of the Bible.
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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: According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, before His crucifixion, Jesus sent disciples to prepare the Passover meal, killing the Passover lamb. They note that this task was completed on “the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,” the 14th of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, the day before Jesus’ crucifixion (cf. Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7)—identifying for us that the meal was prepared on a Thursday. In accordance with the Law of Moses, Jesus then ate the Passover meal that evening—Thursday night to the modern mind, but the beginning of the Jewish Friday to the Israelite (the Jewish day began at sunset). Jesus’ crucifixion then occurred the next day on Friday (the same day as the initial Passover meal to Jews), before the Jewish Sabbath Day began Friday evening (the Jews’ Saturday). [NOTE: While some believe the crucifixion, and hence the Passover meal, was earlier in the week, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and Matthew 27:62 indicate that the crucifixion took place on Friday, “the day before the Sabbath,” with Jesus dying as “the Sabbath drew near.” Backing up through the synoptic narratives reveals Jesus being arrested the night before (Thursday night), while Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane immediately after His last supper with the disciples. The resurrection took place on Sunday, “three days” later, according to the Jewish idiomatic reckoning of the chronology (Mark 16:9; Matthew 28:1; Luke 24:1; cf. Lyons, 2004; Lyons, 2006; Bullinger, 1898, pp. 845-847; Robertson, 1922, pp. 289-291).] John, however, seems to indicate that Jesus’ crucifixion actually took place before the Passover even began (John 13:1; 18:28; 19:14). Thomas Nelson’s The Chronological Study Bible says, “The Synoptics [i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke—JM] present the Last Supper as being the Passover meal…. In John’s Gospel, the Last Supper was not the Passover meal” (2008, p. 1217). Jennifer Viegas, writing for Discovery News, said, “The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) indicate that Jesus died before nightfall on the 15th day of Nisan…. John’s gospel differs from the synoptics; apparently indicating that Jesus died before nightfall on the 14th day of Nisan” (2012). Respected biblical scholar J.W. McGarvey highlights the debate over the matter stating that,
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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: The Bible’s teaching on the reality of eternal punishment for unbelievers has perhaps “made” more atheists than any other teaching of Scripture. After expressing that he did not “believe one can grant either superlative wisdom or the superlative goodness of Christ as depicted in the Gospels,” popular early-20th-century agnostic Bertrand Russell indicated that he was not concerned about what other people said about Christ, but “with Christ as He appears in the Gospels.”1 How so? In his widely distributed pamphlet “Why I Am Not a Christian,” Russell argued, “There is one very serious defect in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospel did believe in everlasting punishment.”2
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