Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

Why reject the Bible? Many reject the Bible as the inspired word of God because they do not want to submit to its teaching A frequent reason for rejecting the Bible is the presence of alleged mistakes and contradictions The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy (1995) by Dennis McKinsey contains 550 pages of alleged Bible contradictions Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.

Why reject the Bible? If the Bible contains the word of men only, then it would certainly contain errors; but the Bible is not the word of men only (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-31 Alleged Bible contradictions are in fact presumptions or misinterpretations on the part of the reader Let us consider three principles for dealing with alleged Bible contradictions Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.

#1: Innocent Until Proven Guilty We operate on a daily basis from the premise: innocent until proven guilty We use this regarding: parents, teachers, test- takers, employers/employees, law-enforcement, court cases, history lessons, ancient documents A person is speaking/writing truthfully until we have actual evidence to the contrary John 7:24; 1 Cor. 13:7; 1 Tim. 6:4 Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.

#2: Reasonable Explanations Will Suffice We operate on a daily basis from the premise that there is more than one legitimate, possible reason why something may be written and recorded Example: one robber reviled Jesus (Lk. 23:39) or two robbers (Mt. 27:44; Mk. 15:32)? Acts 21:27-30 (see Paul’s explanation in 22:1 – 26:32); 1 Pet. 3:15 Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.

#3: Context Is Critical We operate on a daily basis from the premise of context; how words are used (“he’s on fire”) Example: Was Jesus mistaken about when he would return (Mt. 24:34)? Unbelievers say “Yes”! 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:16 Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.

#3: Context Is Critical Is the same person or thing under consideration? “Works” in Rom. 3 and “works” in Jas. 2 Is the same time frame under consideration? Jesus crucified the “third” hour (Mk. 15:25) and the “sixth” hour (Jn. 19:14) Is the same word sense under consideration? John was “Elijah” (Mt. 11:14; cf. Lk. 1:17) and John was not “Elijah” (Jn. 1:21) Is the same detail under consideration? One blind man healed (Mk. 10:46ff; Lk. 18:35ff) and two blind men healed (Mt. 20:29ff) Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.

Does the Bible Contradict Itself? No! Have I studied the context above and below? Have I done the proper word studies? (I am reading an English Bible translated from Greek and Hebrew) Have I examined the parallel accounts? Have I examined the historical background? Have I allowed scripture to interpret scripture? Am I looking at literal or figurative language? Tip: Add your own speaker notes here.