CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS

 

Here are three more apparent contradictions between the four Gospels proposed by Aaron Wilson for discussion. Before you read my comments on them, you might want to see if you can resolve them yourself or within a group.

“Blessed are those who hunger.” (Matthew 5:6)

“No one who comes to me will ever be hungry.” (John 6:35)

Even in the above highly truncated form of these passages, it is difficult to see how anyone could call this pair a contradiction. The Matthew passage clearly refers to those who are hungry (present tense) while the passage in John describes a future state. A consideration of the more complete texts makes this even more obvious:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

“Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

These are exact parallel statements, not contradictions. In each case, the hungry and thirsty come that way to Christ and leave after accepting him filled with spiritual food and with their thirst quenched.

These next two examples are slightly more challenging, and so I will rely on competent scholars for comment.

“Do not judge.” (Matthew 7:1)

“Judge according to righteous judgment.” (John 7:24)

The rest of the Matthew quote continues with “...so that you may not be judged,” and goes on in verses 2-5 to explain that it is only by first taking care of your own problems first that you can adequately address other people's shortcomings. The setting for this saying was in the Sermon on the Mount where he was talking to a mixed crowd. However, as Ellison states, that crowd was “not under consideration but it is those who arrogate the right of judgment to themselves.” Barbieri calls it “an example of pharisaical behavior,” and Nixon says that “a censorious attitude towards others will bring a divine judgment.”

Henricksen asks “Did he mean that all manner of judging is absolutely and without qualification forbidden..?​” For an answer, he actually cites John 7:24 as well as eleven other NT passages indicating “that no such wholesale condemnation of forming an opinion about a person and expressing it can have been intended.”

Moving on to John 7:24, Jesus is again addressing the Jewish opponents who were tying to get him killed because He had a different view of Scripture than they did. (Blum) “Jesus criticized their whole basis of judgment. They were using the wrong criteria.”

Morris points out that “the aorist imperative, 'but judge', directs urgent attention to the specific example [of them being guilty of wrong judgment]. Jesus is not laying down a general rule.”

Finally, in discussing Matthew 7:1,Van Leeuwen offers a good piece of advice for those of us who demand a black-and-white resolution to all apparent contradictions in the Bible. “Even in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents sayings that on one level or another present conflicting advice (cf. Matt. 7:1 and 7:6 which require the reader to make judgments; also 6:1 and 5:14-16). Rather than forcing us to erase of 'harmonize' the ambiguities and 'contradictions,' biblical wisdom invites us to ponder the nuances and complexities of life; it invites us to become wise.”

“I did not come to judge the world.” (John 12:47)

“I came into this world for judgment.” (John 9:39)

Several scholars have tackled this apparent contradiction and come to basically the same conclusion:

    Hartin: “This paradox finds its resolution in understanding that people, in the very act of rejecting faith in Jesus, pronounce judgment on themselves. The act of believing or not believing in Jesus is one of self-judgment.”

    Guthrie: “Although judgment is determined by the word of Christ, His mission was not primarily for this purpose. Salvation was the objective, judgment but the consequence.”

    Morris: “There is indeed a sense in which Christ judges...But in a very real sense men judge themselves.”

    Borchert: “While his intention in coming to the world was not condemnation, the rejection of him and his mission meant that condemnation was inevitable.”