New Testament Contradictions (Part 2)

0. Introduction

The second installment! For my earlier posts on New Testament contradictions see, New Testament Contradictions (Part 1). In this post, I shall describe even more! For similar posts see, Which Day is the Crucifixion?, and Lukan Redaction of Mark. For the first part New Testament Contradictions (Part 1).

1. The Nativity
2. Voice on the Damascus Road
3. The Temple Veil
4. The Death of Judas
5. Crucifixion and Burial Details
6. The Arrival at the Tomb
7. The Resurrection Appearances

1. The Nativity

There two nativity stories in Matthew and Luke vary on many points and the reader need only to list the events of either to see how wildly they differ. But in terms of direct and obvious contradictions there are two examples which stand out in my mind. (compare W.D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Matthew: A Shorter Commentary. T&T Clark, London, 2004, p. 28-36) 

(a) Matthew presents the holy family as residing in Bethlehem when Jesus is born and three magi from the East come to present gifts and worship the child Jesus (Matt. 2:1–12). In Luke there are three shepherds rather than three magi (Lk. 2:8–20), and the holy family are not permanent residents in Bethlehem, they are only visiting for a census (Lk. 2:1–7), a census which never happened historically, during the time Quirinius was governor (Lk. 2:2), which could not have been before 6 CE, which contradicts the chronology given by Matthew who claims Jesus was born during the time of Herod the Great (Matt. 2:1), who died before 6 CE. 

(b) In Matthew the family must flee to Egypt immediately after the birth of Jesus, because Herod begins a genocide of young boys to try and kill the Messiah as a child (Matt. 2:13-16). They remained in Egypt until the death of Herod (Matt. 2:15). However, in Luke they are in Jerusalem only eight days after the birth of Jesus visiting the temple for purification rituals (Lk. 2:22). Did they flee immediately to Egypt or did they go to Jerusalem and reside there? Either they were in Jerusalem eight days after the birth of Jesus or they were in hiding from Herod in Egypt and stayed there until his death.

2. Voice on Damascus Road

According to the author of the Acts of Apostles, Paul came to faith after seeing a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus. However, it is noteworthy that Paul places his own resurrection appearance on par with those of the other apostles. (1 Cor. 9:1; 15:5-8; Gal. 1:1, 12, et al) In Acts of Apostles, those accompanying Paul were “hearing the voice (φωνή) but seeing no one,” (Acts 9:7) but in the retelling “they did not hear the voice (φωνή) of the one speaking.” (Acts 22:9) To harmonize this, translators and apologists tend to claim Acts 22:9 means “understand” some translators even inserting this into the text but this is not in the Greek text and is not based upon any established grammatical rule, after a discussion of the accusative and genitive cases, Horst R. Moehring says in Novum Testamentum Vol. 3 (1959), p. 98: “To insist upon a difference of meaning in Acts ix.7 and xxii. 9 seems, to the present writer at least, impossible.” But the Greek text of course has a direct contradiction claiming the men did not hear the voice, then again claiming they did hear it. Likely this is due to the use of multiple sources within the Acts. (See C. K. Barrett, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of Apostles: Vol. II. T&T Clark LTD, 1998, pp. xxv-xxx.)

3. The Temple Veil

In Mark (15:37-38) and in Matthew (27:50-51) Jesus dies “then” the temple veil is torn in two, but in Luke (Lk. 23:45-46) the temple veil is torn before his death. 

“And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mk. 15:37-38) 

“The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.' Having said this, He breathed His last.” (Lk. 23:45-46) 

Now it cannot be that the veil was partially torn, Mark is clear it was torn “top to bottom” and Luke is clear it was torn “in two.”    

4. The Death of Judas

There are two accounts of the death of Judas Iscariot. In Matthew (27:3-7) he hangs himself and the Jewish priests buy a field for him after his death to bury the corpse. In Acts (1:18-19) it is said that Judas himself bought the field and then died after it was purchased, dying in the field itself, when he “fell headlong, he burst open in the midst and his entrails gushed out.” His dying on the property is why it is called “Akeldama, that is, the field of blood.” Two discrepant modes of death are described, did he hang himself or die by falling? Either the field was purchased by Judas or by the priests. Either the field was purchased before his death or after his death. Either he died on the purchased field, or he hung himself before it was purchased. 

5. Crucifixion and Burial Details

There are various discrepant details surrounding the details of the crucifixion, the time, the events, and the characters involved. I have already considered that the veil was torn before the death of Jesus in Luke but after the death of Jesus in Mark. In the Synoptics, Jesus dies on a different day than he does in the gospel of John, this contradiction I have spelled out elsewhere. 

Simon of Cyrene was made to carry the cross in the Synoptics (Mk. 15:21; Matt. 27:32; Lk. 23:26) however it is Christ himself who carries it in John. (19:17) At his humiliation he was either clothed in a “purple” robe (Mk. 15:17; Joh. 19:2) or in a “scarlet” robe. (Matt. 27:28) In Mark (14:65) and Luke (22:64) he is blindfolded so those who beat him mockingly ask, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck you?” This same taunt is found in Matt. 26:67-68 but there is no mention of blindfolding in this gospel, so the taunt makes no narrative sense. The author of Matthew was using Mark as a source and happened to skip over the phrase about blindfolding leaving this taunt inexplicable if he had his gospel alone. A matter which leads to some controversy in solving the synoptic problem. Matthew (26:34) predicts Simon Peter will deny Christ before the rooster crows but Mark (14:30) claims he will deny him three times “before the rooster crows twice.” Either his denial occurs before the rooster crows once or before it crows twice. There are still more examples which may be cited but it would do the reader good to simply read the gospel accounts of the crucifixion side by side.

The body of Jesus is embalmed to great excess, and the actions of the women make no sense in light of this. In all of the gospels it is Joseph of Arimathea who receives permission from Pilate to take the body of Jesus for burial. (Mk. 15:43-45; Matt. 27:57-59; Lk. 23:50; Joh. 19:38) In John alone, Nicodemus is said to have given about a hundred pounds of spices for the burial and to have joined Joseph of Arimathea in the process of embalming the body. (Joh. 19:38-40) The problem is that in John, the body is quite suitably and lavishly embalmed Nicodemus, however, in Mark 16:1-2 and Luke 23:53-56, the women, after seeing how Joseph of Arimathea prepared the body, thought it was necessary to prepare spices and return to treat the body. (Lk. 23:55) If the claims about Nicodemus were historical, then the women would have no reason to prepare spices and return to anoint the body of Jesus. The body would have already been anointed with over a hundred pounds of spices and if the women knew this, they would have no reason to anoint the body again. Either the body was embalmed by Joseph, or by Nicodemus, or by the women. It cannot be all of them, unless hundreds of pounds of spices were somehow necessary to embalm and repeatedly anoint a single corpse.

6. The Arrival at the Tomb

There are divergent explanations in the gospels of who came to the empty tomb, and when and what they saw when they got there. Some of these are inconsistencies, and others contradictions.

(a) Which of the women go to the tomb?

• In Mark 16:1 “Mary Magdalene, and Mary [mother] of James, and Salome.”
• In Matt. 28:1 “Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary.”
• In Luke we read only of “the women.” (Lk. 23:55; 24:1)
• In John 20:1 “Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone taken away.” 

(b) Is the stone rolled away before or after the women arrive?

• The stone covering the entrance of the tomb had already been rolled away in Mark 16:4; Lk. 24:2 and John 20:1. However Matthew 28:2 claims that a “severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.” The guards faint out of fear but the women stand before the angel ready to receive a divine oracle! (Matt. 28:4, 5) In none of the other gospels is there a word about an earthquake, nor do the women (or woman) see the angel sitting on top of the stone.

(c) Who do the women see, an angel sitting on the rock, a young man, or two angels, or does Mary Magdalene alone find an empty tomb?

• In Mark when the women arrive, there is no mention of any guards, the stone is already rolled away and “a young man” is standing inside of the tomb. (Mk. 16:5, 6)
  
• In Matthew alone is a guard said to be posted outside of the tomb. (Matt. 27:62-66) This is mentioned in none of the other gospels and is likely an apologetic detail added by the author of Matthew. The guard faints because of seeing the glorious angel descending during an earthquake. The angel sits upon the stone he has rolled away, and there he speaks to the women. (Matt. 28:3-8)
• In Luke, the women arrive and “two men suddenly stand near them in dazzling apparel.” (Lk. 24:4) No mention of a young man standing in the tomb, or an angel sitting on a rock. The message delivered by the two men, evidently angels, differs from the message in Mark and Matthew, because it makes no mention of appearances in Galilee. This is not without reason, and we shall see.
• In John, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds it empty and runs back to tell two of the disciples. (Joh. 20:1-2) Mary Magdalene alone is later “standing outside of the tomb weeping,” and she alone is approached by two angels and then by Jesus himself. (Joh. 20:11-17) Nobody else sees these angels or the risen Jesus on this occasion. There is no mention of Salome, or the Mother of the Lord.

(d) What is the reaction of the apostles?

• In Mark, there is none, because the women “tell no one anything.” (Mk. 16:8)
• In Matthew the eleven remaining apostles go to Galilee and receive the great commission! (Matt. 28:16)
• In Luke, the apostles assume the women are “telling nonsense,” (Lk. 24:9-11) So two of them travel seven miles to Emmaus, meet Jesus, and then head back to Jerusalem. (24:13, 28, 50-53) The risen Jesus is very emphatic that they should “stay in the city” of Jerusalem. (24:49) “They returned to Jerusalem with great joy!” (24:52) This all happens on the same day. (24:13, 33-36, 44) No room for trips to Galilee. [Sneaky textual variant at Luke 24:12.]
  Mary Magdalene makes the report, and Peter and the beloved disciple race to the tomb and find it empty! (Joh. 20:2) The other apostles see Jesus that evening and believe. (Joh. 20:18-28) No mention of any trips to Galilee.
• It should be noted that Paul mentions appearances found nowhere in the gospels, namely, one to James, five hundred brethren, and “to the twelve.” (1 Cor. 15:1-8) Note, our gospels are careful to say “the eleven” because Judas had killed himself. (Lk. 24:9, 33; Matt. 28:16) Who then is the twelfth mentioned by Paul? It is also noteworthy that he says Jesus “then” appeared “to all the apostles,” after mentioning the twelve. (1 Cor. 15:7) Who are “all the apostles” that are not numbered after the twelve? Why are none of these narrative details in our gospels? Where would they fit?

7. The Resurrection Appearances

Matthew  (28:1-20) reports that the apostles leave Jerusalem and go to Galilee some eighty miles away to meet the risen Jesus. However, in Luke they never go to Galilee, they go as far as Emmaus, seven miles away, when Jesus commands them to return to Jerusalem and remain there until Pentecost. (Lk. 24:1-53) Either they went to Galilee or remained in Jerusalem, it cannot be both. 

Matthew tells us that the women ran and reported the angelic message to the disciples (28:8) and are greeted by Jesus himself who commands them to go to Galilee. (28:9, 10) The eleven remaining apostles leave immediately for Galilee, see the glorified Christ, and receive the great commission. (Matt. 28:16-20) 

In Luke, the women are not told that the disciples must meet Jesus in Galilee. In fact, there are no appearances in Galilee whatsoever in Luke. In Luke, the disciples remain in Jerusalem until Pentecost and never travel to Galilee, cities which are about eighty miles apart. The women go to the tomb “on the first day of the week, at early dawn.” (Lk. 24:1) They report to the disciples that Jesus is risen. (24:11) They report the resurrection of Jesus on the same day and Peter runs to the tomb to find it empty. (24:12) Jesus appears to them the same day, seven miles from Jerusalem in Emmaus and commands them to “you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Lk. 24:49) Jesus leads them back to Jerusalem, as far as Bethany. (Lk. 24:50) In obedience to Jesus’ commands, the apostles “returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God.” (Lk. 24:50-53) Jesus is quite clear that they are to “stay in the city.” (Lk. 24:49) In the book of Acts, which is by the same author, the apostles remain in Jerusalem for over a month with the risen Christ, who ascends to heaven right outside Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. (Acts. 1:4-12) The disciples must be witnesses of Jesus first “in Jerusalem.” (Acts 1:8) So they remain there until Pentecost when the Holy Ghost is poured out upon them. (Acts 2:1-5) 

It is important to emphasize there are no chronological gaps in Luke’s narrative, on the same “day” the women tell the disciples is when Jesus appears to them. (Lk. 24:13, 33-36) When Jesus appears to them on this day he tells them to stay in Jerusalem and not to leave, and personally guides them back to Bethany on the road returning to Jerusalem. (Lk. 24:44) This all happens the same day. On Easter Sunday, the disciples decided to travel to Galilee and received the great commission there, or they went to Jerusalem and “stayed in the city” until receiving the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. They could not have been in two places at once.