The Bible is full of contradictions.
This claim gets brought into our apologetic conversations often, but we’ve found the best thing to do isn’t to immediately jump to the Bible’s defense. Instead, we ask for examples. We often find that the one making the claim has a hard time thinking of even one! They feel confident because of a social media post they scrolled past or a teacher or professor who held the same belief strongly. However, sometimes this accusation is rooted in genuine theological confusion, or differing accounts of the same story that even tend to stump believers. Whether you want to be prepared for that apologetic conversation, or you’re searching for answers yourself, I pray this blog offers clarity for three “contradictions” in the gospel accounts.
Why does Jesus have two almost entirely different genealogies?
I know you’ve thoroughly studied those long lists of names at the beginning of Matthew and Luke… you definitely didn’t forget all of them right after you skimmed them… or skip over them completely. So you may have recognized there are very few overlaps in the names included in the two genealogies. Even Joseph’s father is different between the two records! Matthew lists Jacob as Joseph’s father, and Luke ascribes that title to Heli. What do we do with this blatant discrepancy? There are two main options.
- Luke is actually giving Mary’s genealogy, not Joseph’s. Recounting the genealogy of a woman would be very uncommon during this time period, and could be a reason Luke substitutes Joseph’s name instead.
- Joseph’s mother had Joseph with his biological father Heli, Heli died, and his mother remarried to Jacob, making Jacob his legal father. In this case, both genealogies are Joseph’s, but one follows his biological genealogy (connecting to Heli), and one follows his new legal genealogy (connecting to Jacob).
Whether it’s one of these two options or something else entirely, we have good reason to believe meticulous Jewish record keeping accurately ties Jesus to David’s royal line.
How many demon possessed men were at Gerasenes?
Matthew 8, Mark 5, and Luke 8 recount Jesus getting on a boat with his disciples, calming the stormy waters on their journey, and meeting at least one demon possessed man when they reach the shore at Gerasenes (also called Gadarenes). The claim of contradiction in these stories is that Matthew records two demon possessed men meeting Jesus, while Mark and Luke only mention one. Is this a contradiction? Let’s define contradiction to determine our answer. A contradiction is a claim that two different things are true at the same time and in the same way (e.g. I have two brothers and I have only one brother). Based on that definition, the question to answer is this: were the gospel authors making opposite claims about exactly how many demon possessed men met Jesus? The answer: no! Neither Mark nor Luke write that only one man was there. Instead, they choose to focus on one, likely more prominent man, when giving their accounts.
What happened to Judas Iscariot?
In Matthew 27 after Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, he feels so guilty that he goes back to the chief priests and throws his reward into the temple. After this, he goes away and hangs himself. The chief priests use the silver to buy a field where foreigners will be buried.
In Acts 1 Luke writes that Judas buys a field with his reward. There he falls headlong, and all his intestines spill out on the ground. So, did Judas hang himself, or did he burst open in a field he bought? The answer: probably both. When a person or animal dies and their body stays untouched for a while, their body begins to decompose and gases build up inside of it. When left alone for long enough, the body will swell to the point of bursting. If Judas hung himself in a field, he was likely left there until his body fell and burst open from the built up gases. The reason Acts records that Judas bought the field when Matthew records the priests buying it is likely because the priests bought the field with Judas’ money. In one sense Judas could be considered the buyer because it was legally his money, but in another sense, the priests were the buyers because they physically went to buy the field.
While these stories may share different perspectives and confusing details, they can all be true, without any contradictions! Even more importantly, is that the story of who Jesus is and what God did in history always stays the same. Judas betrayed Jesus and suffered a gruesome death as a result, Jesus displayed his awesome power over demons, and he is shown as the rightful heir to God’s eternal kingdom.
Sources
God the Son incarnate : the doctrine of Christ, Stephen J. Wellum (1964)
How did Judas Die? Answersingenesis.org
Why are there two demon-possessed men in the Gerasene tombs in Matthew, but only one in Mark and Luke? gotquestions.org
Who Bought the Potter’s field? apologeticspress.org
Written by Abbey Harley