BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS: JESUS' TEACHINGS

Here are some additional criticisms of the Bible found on the internet, this time dealing with Jesus' teachings.

Christ warned his followers not to fear being killed. (Luke 12:4)

Christ himself avoided the Jews for fear of being killed. (John 7:1)

In the first place, nowhere in John 7 does it say that Jesus “feared” the Jews. Acting prudently is quite different from living in fear, which is the context of the teaching in Luke 12:4. Most importantly, however, is Jesus' motive for avoiding the Jews, and that is given a few verses later in John's Gospel. John 7:6-8 makes it clear that although Jesus knew that he would be killed by them, he had a number of things in his given ministry to accomplish before then. And, of course, all of the Gospel accounts teach that when the time did come for his death, Jesus went to it voluntarily.

Parenthetically, I should point out that whenever John speaks of the “Jews,” he uses it to refer specifically to the Jewish authorities who were enemies of Jesus. After all, Jesus himself was a Jew, as were almost all of his original followers.

Public prayer is sanctioned. (I Kings 8:22, 54; 9:3)

Public prayer is disapproved (Matthew 6:5-6)

Again, the context is all-important in understanding these verses. The I Kings passages describe King Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple. It is obvious from the context and specifically from I Kings 8:55 that this is not a private prayer of an individual but a prayer by the recognized leader of the whole nation in which he is representing the people on their behalf before God. By contrast, Jesus' warning to his followers in Matthew 6 is that they should not behave like those individuals who purposely chose the most public places for their private prayers in order that others would see how righteous they were. Jesus uses a hyperbolic statement expressing the opposite extreme (go into your closets) to make his point in a striking and unforgettable way.

Importunity in prayer commanded. (Luke 18:5,7)

Importunity in prayer condemned (Matthew 6:7-8)

The parable of Jesus has been much misunderstood, even by Christians. I will later post a more complete discussion of that parable, but at this time let me simply say that:

(a) The unrighteous judge in no way represents God and therefore we do not have to constantly bug him in order to get what we want. The reasoning here is from the lesser to the greater, i.e., if even an evil judge will eventually give in to the widow's pestering, how much more readily will a righteous God listen to our prayers.

(b) The person who formulated this “contradiction” again purposely quoted only the part of the passage that he wanted to and ignored the rest. If he had mentioned the beginning of the story in v. 1 instead of just the conclusion, it would have been obvious that the meaning behind the parable is that we should not be discouraged to the point where we give up on prayer altogether.

By contrast, Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew is a specific criticism of those who “heap up empty words” using elaborate and flowery phrase to impress God (and whoever else is listening) rather than just getting to the point. God obviously knows already what we want before we express it in words.

Taking of oaths sanctioned. (Numbers 30:2; Genesis 21:23-24:31; Genesis 31:53; Hebrews 6:13)

Taking of oaths forbidden. (Matthew 5:34)

There are several ways this “contradiction” can be easily refuted. Let's take each of the passages quoted in turn. Numbers 30:2 just gives the general command to carry out any vows or oaths to God that you make. But it says nothing regarding any person or object that you might swear by in making these oaths.

Genesis 21:22-24: Abraham swears by God at Abimelech's insistence soon after Abraham had deceived him in the previous chapter.

Genesis 31:53: Jacob swears an oath by “the Fear of his father Isaac” (whatever that might mean) at Laban's insistence soon after Laban was convinced that Jacob had stolen Laban's house idols from him.

In both of these cases, one could argue that the patriarchs involved were not known for their honesty, and so the people they were dealing with demanded more than just a simple promise to behave better in the future. And secondly, remember that both of these events occurred before the giving of the Law. Thirdly, God did not endorse either vow.

Now turning to the supposedly contradictory teaching in Matthew 5:34 (but looking at the complete passage), Jesus states that for believers there should be no need to swear an oath by someone or something greater than ourselves since we should be known as honest people whose mere word could be taken at its face value. That speaks to the Genesis 21 and 31 examples above, where obviously untrustworthy people were concerned.

A second reason for Jesus' teaching is given in Matthew 5: we cannot and should not swear by something that does not belong to us, but belongs to God. This is fully consistent with Hebrews 6:13 (alluding to Genesis 22:16-18) passage, alluding back to the event in Genesis 22:16-18, since God is swearing by something that does belong to Him, namely His own person.

Obedience to masters enjoined. (Colossians 3:22-23; I Peter 2:18)

Obedience due to God only. (Matthew 4:10; I Corinthians 7:23; Matthew 23:10)

The Colossians 3 reference should also include verse 24 which makes it even clearer that the slave, in serving his earthly lord well is really serving his heavenly Lord.

I Peter 13-21 as a whole teaches that slaves of earthly masters are first and foremost slaves of God (see. v. 16). However, they should “accept the authority of those put above them, whether the emperor (v. 17) or an earthly master (v. 18). And if they suffer for it, they are actually following Christ's example (v. 21).

Turning to the opposite side of the coin, Matthew 4:10 quotes two parallel lines from an OT verse. Thus, “serving only Him” is the same as “worshiping only God.” The critic has conveniently left out the second line of the quotation which explains the first line.

I Corinthians 7:21-24, taking the whole passage rather than just the one verse given above, teaches that whatever your earthly status (slave or free) remember that you are spiritually free and only ultimately belong to the Lord.

Matthew 4:10 really has nothing to say on the subject at all because it deals specifically with those from whom we should get our spiritual teachings, and the answer is Christ.

Note that in each of the above cases, the critic has (purposefully?) chosen to pick only the individual verses that proved his case and ignored the complete context.