This week we’re continuing to ask and talk about the hard questions, because even if you’ve never voiced them, we’ve all had them. This week we’re asking, “Why is the Bible full of contradictions?” You’ve likely heard people say, “You can’t believe the Bible. It was written by men,” or “It’s full of errors.” These are some big, and seemingly damning, claims lodged against the Bible. But are they accurate?
Many claim the Bible is “full of errors,” but when pressed, most can’t give specifics. When people make broad statements like this, I often press for specifics. Broad statements are easy to make and impossible to defend. If the Bible is full of contradictions, just show me one. This approach will likely resolve the majority of complaints about biblical contradictions.
Christian Apologist, J. Warner Wallace, explains, “Careful reading (with an effort to understand what the original text truly says) will resolve the lion’s share of apparent ‘contradictions’ and ‘errors’ in the Bible.” For any problem verse, look at the verses that come before and after. Look at the theme of the entire book. Look at the writing style of the author. Look at the culture and the time in history in which it was written. Look at the context of the entirety of scripture, and the meaning of a particularly troubling verse will come into focus.
Here are a few principles Wallace uses when considering alleged biblical contradictions. First, begin with a fair attitude. If you set out to find errors, whether it’s with people or written word, you’re bound to find something to complain about.
Second, don’t confuse “imprecision” with “error.” The Bible is not a book of science or math or history. Its purpose is to relay the message of God’s salvation through Christ Jesus. It was written down by ordinary people who did not expect that every word would be scrutinized. Thus, they often rounded, estimated, and gave statements that were generally true rather than specifically true.
Third, Old Testament quotes aren’t meant to be verbatim. Often New Testament writers quote passages from the Old Testament to describe the fulfillment of prophecy. We see this in John 19:37, “Also, another Scripture says: ‘They will look at the one they pierced.’” He’s quoting a passage from Zechariah 12:10 which says, “Then I will pour out a spirit, of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced.”
Is this a case of misquoting scripture? No, we must recognize the quotation marks were added by modern translations. The original text contained no quotation marks or any other punctuation. John was trying to reference Zechariah’s prophecy, not give an exact quote. It’d be like if I told you the Bible says if you sin you have to die. It’s a clear reference to Romans 6:23, but it’s not an exact quote and wasn’t intended to be.
Fourth, perspectives are different than contradictions. We need to be careful not to confuse differences in perspective with biblical error. We see this commonly when discussing the gospels. When reading two different perspectives of an event we need to ask ourselves, “Is it possible both accounts are accurate?” When we put the different perspectives together we find that the perspectives are not contradictory but complementary. They are both true of the same event, but each is told through the lens of different people.
Finally, don’t fret copyist variants. We don’t have any of the original copies of the scriptures. What we have are handwritten copies and copies of copies, vastly more than any ancient text. But, as with any handwritten copy, mistakes are made. These mistakes generally consist of the addition of a letter or number. Most of the time we can weed these out, and modern Bibles will leave a footnote indicating the discrepancy.
The Bible is an ancient text, written in a different time and culture, copied time and time again. There are bound to be copy errors and phrases we don’t understand. But with some careful reading, and truly seeking to understand, we can resolve the vast majority of these “contradictions” and “errors.”
Even with these “errors,” no core doctrine of the church is in error or conflict. Thus, you can rest assured that the message of salvation through Jesus Christ is true. We can discuss and debate all the rest, but in the end, they don’t matter.