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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Problem: Was the tax collector named Matthew or Levi? While all three synoptic gospels describe Jesus calling a tax collector to come and follow him, they seem to disagree on the name, offering both Matthew and Levi. Is this a contradiction? Let’s take a look.
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Problem: Matthew recorded that Jesus commanded demons to come out of two men (8:29). This account is recorded in all three of the synoptic gospel accounts, but with two different renderings of the name of the place where the miracles occurred. The Greek word commonly accepted in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26 as the basis for the name of the people who inhabited the place where Jesus and the disciples went is rendered Gerasenes in English (Metzger, 1975, pp. 84,145). The Greek word in Matthew 8:28, however, reveals that Jesus went to the country of the Gadarenes (p. 23). Were the writers of the synoptic gospel accounts confused about where Jesus was when He healed the men? Albert Barnes explained the difference between Gadara and Gerasa:
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Problem: Did Jesus meet the demoniacs in Gerasene or Gaderenes? Matt. 8:28, Mark 5:1-2, and Luke 8:26-27
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Problem: How many men came out to meet Jesus in Gerasene? Matt. 8:28, Mark 5:1-2, Luke 8:26-27.  Was it one or two?
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Problem: Jesus referred to Himself most often as the Son of Man. This seems to point to His humanity more than His deity. If He was really the Messiah, the Son of God, why did He use the self-description, “Son of Man”?
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Problem: Jesus described hell as a place of “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12; cf. 22:13 and 25:30). By contrast, the Bible says hell is a place of “fire” (Rev. 20:14) and “unquenchable flames” (Mark 9:48). But, fire and flames give off light. How can hell be utterly dark when there is light there?
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Problem: In comparing the two accounts of Jesus healing the centurion’s servant, Matthew indicates that the centurion came to Jesus personally. At the same time, Luke explains that he sent others to plead with Jesus on his (and his servant’s) behalf. How can both of these accounts be true?
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Problem: A man who instructs a person to refrain from doing something he deems inappropriate, but then proceeds to do the very thing he forbade the other person to do, is considered a hypocrite. A preacher who teaches about the sinfulness of drunkenness (cf. Galatians 5:21), but then is seen a short while later stumbling down the street, intoxicated with alcohol, could be accused of being guilty of hypocrisy. Some have accused Jesus of such insincere teaching. Allegedly, in the very sermon in which He condemned the Pharisees for their unrighteousness (Matthew 5:20), Jesus revealed His own sinfulness by way of condemning those who used a word He sometimes uttered. Based upon His forbiddance of the use of the word “fool” in Matthew 5:22, and His use of this word elsewhere, skeptics have asserted that Jesus (Whom the Bible claims “committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”—1 Peter 2:22; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21), was guilty of hypocrisy.
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Problem: Who brought the Centurion’s request to Jesus as is depicted in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:2-101?
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