Is the Bible Full of Contradictions

            One often hears people claim that the Bible is full of contradictions.  If this were true, then the inspirational claim of the forty men who wrote it, would well deserve to be placed in the Guiness Book of Records as the greatest hoaxes ever conceived by mankind.  Some of these claims are made by people possessing a lack of understanding between the differences of the Old and New Testaments as well as the failure to take into account the fact that words may have more than one meaning.  There is another area of alleged contradictions within the Bible which have been made by those who are unaware of the plurality of the same names, things, and events written about and by the men who wrote the Bible.

            Some say that anger is and is not a sin ( Colossians 3:8 and Ephesians 4:26 ).  It is true that anger is sin ( Colossians 3:8 ) and it seems that anger is not a sin ( Ephesians 4:26 ).  That is, until one remembers that the Bible writers wrote about two different types of anger.  There is one type of anger which results in temper fits and violence.  This anger is sin.  Then there is a type of anger which nothing more than righteous indignation.  Both God and Christ experienced this type of anger ( Isaiah 5:25 and Mark 3:5 ).  If one were to believe that there was only one type of anger, one would also have to believe that both God and Christ have sinned, which is totally untrue.  Therefore, it must be admitted that there are two types of anger, and Colossians 3:8 and Ephesians 4:26 represent these and subsequently do not contradict one another.

            Others claim what is written in John 8:51 contradicts what is recorded in I Corinthians 15:21-22, because one offers and the other denies the possibility of an eternal physical existence.  John 8:51 truly does say if we will keep the sayings of Jesus we will never die, and I Corinthians 15:21-22 states we will all die.  Now, if the two writers were writing about the same event, or the same death, then these two scriptures would be contradictory.  However, such is not the case.  In Revelation 20:14 and Revelation 21:8 we read of a second death.  Since without a first, a second is impossible, we know the writers of the Bible wrote of at least two deaths.

            Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8; and II Thessalonians 1:7-9 speak of the second death as the Judgment Day, a separation from God of those who refused to obey Jesus.  Whereas, I Corinthians 15:21-22 addresses the first death or the end of one’s physical life here on earth.  So then, John 8:51 is a written statement peculiar to the second death ( or being eternally lost ) and I Corinthians 15:21-22  pertains to the separation of the body and spirit at the end of a physical life.  This is not a contradiction, but rather the declaration of two great truths which are in perfect harmony with what is taught throughout the scriptures as a whole.

            Then there are those who contend that Matthew 7:1-5 and Romans 2:1-2 condemns and that I Corinthians 5:12 and I Corinthians 6:1-4 sanctions the judging of others.

            Now, if all these scriptures were speaking about the same type of judging, then as the critics say, this would be a true example of a Biblical contradiction.  However, such is not the case.  No, the type of judging Matthew 7:1-5 and Romans 2:1-2 condems, is our judging others when we are doing the same thing.  Or in orther words, they are saying, do not judge others before your judge yourself, or clean up your own backyard before criticizing your neighbors.  The first part of  John 7:24 forbids judging according to appearances.  Many times that which is not, appears to be that which is.  Also I Corinthians 2:11 forbids judging the heart of another person.  An individual might know that one has done wrong, but can’t always know why he did it.

            Whereas, I Corinthians 5:12 and I Corinthians 6:1-4 teach that Christians are to judge the outward actions of other Christians, by the word of God, so they may know when they have need of withdrawing fellowship from them ( I Corinthians 5 and II Thessalonians 3 ).

            The lack of awareness on the behalf of some critics that John’s writing of two different laws in John 19:7 and John 18:31 has been responsible for some believing that he taught that it was and was not lawful for Israel to put anyone to death.  It was, as is said in John 19:7, lawful according to Israel’s own laws or the Old Testament, for the people to put some of their own to death ( Deuteronomy 18:20 and Leviticus 24 ).  However, several years before the beginning of the personal ministry of Christ, Archelaus, King of Judea, was banished to Vienna, and that which he ruled became a Roman province.  So, as sujbects of the Roman government, the right of life or death for anyone had been taken out of their hands.

            Therefore, since John’s two statements did not pertain to one and the same law, but one statement referred to one law and the other to another, then it follows there is not to be found a contradiction.

            Others believe what is said in John 20:30-31 contradicts that which was written by Matthew in Matthew 12:38-40.  True, John said Jesus did many signs and Matthew said only one sign would be given.  Here again it is only a contradiction in the mind of those who are unaware that in the Bible one reads of two different types of signs.  In John 20:30-31 and Acts 2:22 one reads about the signs God did through Christ.  Whereas in Matthew 12 and Mark’s parallel account in Mark 8 the sign is one from heaven, directly from God.  Jesus, according to Matthew, said you will receive one requested sign directly from God, when God raises him from the dead.

            Once again, these and many more apparent Biblical contradictions fade away when remembering that the writers of the Bible wrote about a plurality of the same names, things, and events.