Bible Contradictions

There are many Christian blogs and podcasts that say there are contradictions in the Bible. Two reasons for these so-called contradictions amongst self-proclaimed Christians are 1) the words were interpreted wrong and therefore the meaning is incorrect. This goes hand in hand with only the original texts being inspired and not our translated Bible. 2) It is just one of those mysteries because we are not meant to know everything in the Bible. Both reasons are terrible.

Reason one may be the most damaging and tells the most about how a person views the Bible. If words were translated wrong then, the words are not God’s and not protected by God. We have talked about this concept in other blogs and podcasts. The short answer is a person does not have a bible that is the word of God. So, why do you believe any of it if it is just man’s interpretation?

The second reason is a cop-out for not reading and studying the Bible. We quote 2 Timothy 2:15 all the time. If you come across a perceived contradiction, study it to see how to reconcile the issue. This involves time and effort. The other important part of this is word definition. Just because you know what a word means today doesn’t mean that is what the word means in the Bible. You have to study words as well as verses because the biblical definition may fix many of your contradictions.

When one studies the Bible, they realize that many of the people are called by multiple names. Matthew 4:18 tells us Simon was called Peter. A so-called contradiction I’ve found online is Matthew 1:16 versus Luke 3:23. Matthew says Joseph’s dad was Jacob while Luke says he is Heli. The prior verse in Matthew and the later verse in Luke says both their dads are Matthat. It is obvious that Jacob and Heli are the same person which eliminates the contradiction.

1 Samuel 31: 4-6 says Saul fell on his sword and died after being “sore wounded” by Philistines archers. 2 Samuel 21:12 says the Philistines had slain Saul. The archers delivered what we would call a mortal wound. Meaning, a wound that would eventually kill Saul. The word slain is true. However, Saul sped up the process by falling on his sword first. Both scriptures are true if not taken out of context.

Admittedly, there are some so-called contradictions that are harder to reconcile. But when you understand the context and let the Bible define itself, they can all be explained. That is, if you believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God instead of a translated book by man.