Isn't the Bible full of contradictions?
The Bible contradicts itself constantly. The Gospels can't even agree on how many angels were at the tomb, how Judas died, or what the sign on the cross said. A book inspired by God wouldn't contain errors like these.
— A common skeptical claim; see e.g. Bart Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted (2009), ch. 2-3
A contradiction means two statements cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. Most alleged contradictions are differences: different details, perspectives, summaries or emphases, the kind you expect from independent witnesses. A few involve likely copying errors in numbers, which ancient scribes and modern translators openly note. Read with the same fairness we give other ancient historians, the Bible's differences point to independent testimony, not fabrication.
What Scripture says
1Many have undertaken to compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed down to us by the initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Luke acknowledges other accounts and writes an orderly one of his own. Ancient authors selected and arranged material for their purposes.
30Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
John says he has left out much; Gospel writers were selective, not exhaustive.
25There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written.
The world could not contain all that could be written. Silence in one Gospel is not denial.
4Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.
Two proverbs side by side that seem opposite but apply to different situations; ancient readers saw no contradiction.
3When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. 4“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.” 5So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 6The chief priests picked up the pieces of silver and said, “It is unlawful to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7After conferring together, they used the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
Judas hangs himself and the priests buy a field with his money.
18(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out. 19This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
Judas falls headlong and the field is linked to his reward. Different angles on the same event, both explaining the name 'Field of Blood'.
15Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
Scripture calls for careful handling, not hasty reading.
The case
What counts as a contradiction?
In logic, a contradiction is when two claims cannot both be true in the same sense and at the same time (Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3). "There was an angel at the tomb" and "there were two angels at the tomb" are different, but not contradictory. If a news report says "the President attended the summit" and another says "the President and the Vice President attended," no one calls it an error.
Applying this standard fairly, most supposed contradictions in lists circulating online disappear. That doesn't mean every difficulty is easy, but it changes the question from "Is the Bible full of contradictions?" to "Are there any real contradictions that can't reasonably be resolved?"
Principles for reading fairly
1. Different isn't contradictory
Witnesses select details. John says plainly that he left much out (John 20:30). One writer naming one person present does not deny others were there.
2. Ancient writers paraphrased and summarized
Quotation marks didn't exist. Ancient historians such as Thucydides said openly that they gave the general sense of speeches (History 1.22). The Gospels' reports of the sign on the cross, or of Jesus' sayings, often give the substance in varied words, which was normal and honest by the standards of the time.
3. Writers arranged material by theme
Matthew groups Jesus' teaching into large blocks; Luke often arranges by journey. Different order is not necessarily a claim about chronology. Michael Licona has shown that ancient biographers such as Plutarch used similar techniques, like compressing events or spotlighting one character.
4. Copying errors, especially with numbers
Some differences are best explained by scribal slips in copying numbers, which were easy to confuse. For example:
| Passage | Parallel | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Kings 4:26 (40,000 stalls) | 2 Chronicles 9:25 (4,000 stalls) | Likely a copying error |
| 2 Kings 8:26 (Ahaziah was 22) | 2 Chronicles 22:2 (42 in the Hebrew) | Many translations follow 22 and footnote it |
These are problems with the copying of the text, not with the original authors. Translators note them openly.
5. Same event, different angle
Judas' death is a classic example. Matthew says he hanged himself (Matthew 27:5); Acts says he fell headlong and burst open (Acts 1:18). Both connect the death to a field bought with his money and called the "Field of Blood". A hanging followed by a fall is a natural way both could be true. Matthew emphasizes the priests' purchase; Luke, writing in Acts, emphasizes that Judas' reward bought his own grave.
6. Understand the genre
Proverbs states general wisdom, not unbreakable laws. "Answer not a fool" and "answer a fool" sit side by side in Proverbs 26:4–5 because wisdom means knowing which situation calls for which.
Differences as evidence
Historians value independent sources that agree on the core and differ in the details. The four Gospels agree on the main events: Jesus' ministry, his arrest, his crucifixion under Pilate, his burial, the empty tomb and his appearances. Their differences show they did not simply copy one story. If they matched exactly, critics would rightly suspect collusion.
Honest about the hard cases
Some puzzles remain, such as Mark 2:26, where Jesus refers to "Abiathar the high priest" in an episode where 1 Samuel 21 names Ahimelech as the priest. Proposed solutions exist (for example, that the phrase means "in the passage about Abiathar"), but scholars disagree about them. Christians need not pretend every difficulty is easy. Being unable to explain something now is not the same as proving an error, and the record of past "errors" later resolved encourages patience.
Why it matters
The Bible does not ask for blind trust. It invites careful reading: Luke wrote "that you may have certainty" (Luke 1:4). The real question isn't whether the Gospel writers phrased things identically. It's whether the Jesus they consistently describe is who he claimed to be.
“But what about…?”
How many angels were at the tomb, one or two?
Matthew and Mark mention one angel (Mark calls him a young man); Luke and John mention two. If two were present, there was certainly one. Writers often focus on the speaker. Neither Matthew nor Mark says there was 'only one'.
What did the sign on the cross actually say?
Each Gospel gives the gist of the charge, 'the King of the Jews', with different wording. John notes it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek (John 19:20), so the versions may also reflect different languages. Ancient historians routinely reported the substance of statements rather than exact wording.
Aren't some contradictions just unexplainable?
A handful of puzzles remain difficult, such as the reference to Abiathar in Mark 2:26. Honest scholars admit this. But a difficulty is not a demonstrated error, and many past 'errors' have been resolved by new evidence or better understanding of ancient conventions.
If God inspired it, why didn't he make the Gospels identical?
Identical accounts would look like collusion. Courts are suspicious of witnesses whose stories match word for word. Four accounts that agree on the core but differ in detail are what we would expect from independent testimony.
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- book · 2017Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn from Ancient BiographyMichael R. Licona
- book · 2007The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (2nd ed.)Craig L. Blomberg
- book · 2014Can We Still Believe the Bible?Craig L. Blomberg
- book · 1982Encyclopedia of Bible DifficultiesGleason L. Archer
- book · 2009Jesus, InterruptedBart D. Ehrman
Sources (4)
- Aristotle, Metaphysics 4.3 (1005b): the law of non-contradiction (same respect, same time)
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.22: ancient historians reported the general sense of speeches
- Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, 1978)
- Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum 11 (1965)
Related questions
Hasn't the Bible been changed and corrupted over time?
No ancient book is better attested than the New Testament. More than 5,700 Greek manuscripts survive, some within a century or two of the originals, plus early translations and quotations by church fathers. Because the copies spread widely and independently, scholars can compare them and recover the original wording with high confidence. Most variants are spelling slips, and the few meaningful ones are openly flagged in modern Bibles. None overturns a core Christian belief.
Why do the Gospel resurrection accounts seem to contradict each other?
The Gospels differ in secondary details but agree on the core: Jesus was buried; on the first day of the week women, including Mary Magdalene, found the tomb empty; angelic messengers announced he had risen; and he then appeared to his disciples. Differences in peripheral details are what we expect from independent witnesses and from ancient biographers who selected and summarized. Historians do not reject an event because accounts of it vary in the details; identical accounts would suggest copying or collusion.
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
A small set of facts is granted by nearly all historians who study the period, including skeptics: Jesus died by crucifixion; his disciples sincerely believed he appeared to them alive; the church persecutor Paul and the skeptic James were converted by what they believed were appearances; and the tomb was very likely found empty. Natural theories each explain one or two of these facts but fail on the rest. The resurrection explains all of them, and it is exactly what Jesus predicted.
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.