Gospels Archives - Bible Authenticity

Do The Gospels Contradict About Who Carried Jesus’ Cross?

March 30, 2025 BibleAuthenticity Comments 1 comment

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The gospels seem to contradict about who carried Jesus’ cross, which critics seize upon.

Seeming contradiction:

Did Jesus bear his own cross?
(a) Yes (John 19:17)
(b) No (Matthew 27:31-32)

THE PROBLEM

Who carried the crossbeam or pole?

· Matthew 27:32 – Simon

Mark 15:21 – Simon

· Luke 23:26 – Simon

· John 19:17 – Jesus

THE EXPLANATION

These divergent details, rather than being contradictions, actually are complimentary, and give powerful evidence the gospel writers are telling the truth, rather than copying from a single fictional account, or writing new fiction, in which the details are harmonized, or smoothed out. read more

Do The Gospels Contradict About What Time Jesus Was Crucified?

March 30, 2025 BibleAuthenticity Comments 7 comments

Skeptics and critics have claimed the gospels contradict about what time Jesus was crucified.

Alleged “contradiction”:

Where was Jesus at the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion?
(a) On the cross (Mark 15:23)
(b) In Pilate’s court (John 19:14)

The issue here is:

What was the time of day when Jesus handed over to be crucified and put on cross:

· Mark 15:25 – “It was the third hour when they crucified him” (ESV). “That is, 9 A. M.” – ESV footnote on Mark 15:25

· John 19:14-16 – “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, ‘Behold your king!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus” (ESV). “That is, about noon” – ESV footnote on John 19:14 read more

Contradiction About When Jesus’ Disciples Returned To Galilee?

March 28, 2025 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Skeptics and critics have sometimes claimed that the gospels have a contradiction about when Jesus’ disciples returned to Galilee.

Alleged contradiction:

When did the disciples return to Galilee?
(a) Immediately, because when they saw Jesus in Galilee “some doubted” (Matthew 28:17). This period
of uncertainty should not persist
(b) After at least 40 days. That evening the disciples were still in Jerusalem (Luke 24:33). Jesus
appeared to them there and told them, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high”
(Luke 24:49). He was appearing to them “during forty days” (Acts 1:3), and “charged them not to depart
from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise … “(Acts 1:4) read more

What Was The Exact Wording On The Sign Above Jesus’ Head?

March 23, 2025 BibleAuthenticity Comments 19 comments

THE INSCRIPTION AT THE CROSS - THE TRUTH STANDS FOREVER

What was the exact wording on the sign above Jesus’ head while he was being publicly executed? Do the four gospels contradict?

Alleged contradiction:

What was the exact wording on the cross?
(a) “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37)
(b) “The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26)
(c) “This is the King of the Jews” (Luke 23:38)
(d) “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19)

This accusation assumes that each gospel writer was required to be exactly precise in his reporting.

A second key point to keep in mind, however, is that all four gospel writers report in agreement that the sign had the words, “The king of the Jews”, at a minimum. read more

Do Gospels Contradict About the Earthquake & the Stone Moved?

March 16, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 34 comments

Is there any evidence for the resurrection? — Do the gospels contradict about when the earthquake occurred and the stone was moved at the resurrection of Jesus?

Critics claim that the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John contradict about the time when the earthquake occurred and the stone was moved at the time of Jesus’ resurrection.

“I am struck by a certain consistency among otherwise independent witnesses in placing Mary Magdalene both at the cross and at the tomb on the third day. If this is not a historical datum but something that a Christian storyteller made up and then passed along to others, how is it that this specific bit of information has found its way into accounts that otherwise did not make use of one another? . . . all of our early gospels–not just John and Mark (with Matthew and Luke as well) but also the Gospel of Peter, which appears to be independent of all of them–indicate that it was Mary Magdalen who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb. How did all of these independent accounts happen to name exactly the same person in this role? It seems hard to believe that this just happened by way of a fluke of storytelling. It seems much more likely that, at least with the traditions involving the empty tomb, we are dealing with something actually rooted in history”—Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene, p 226, by Bart Ehrman read more

Do We Have Eyewitness Testimony in the Gospels?

July 4, 2023 BibleAuthenticity Comments 5 comments

Titles of the Gospels — Did Matthew, Mark, Luke and John really use any eyewitness testimony when they wrote the Gospels? Were any of these four gospel writers eyewitnesses themselves?

Do we have eyewitness testimony in the gospels?

“Even though we might desperately want to know the identities of the authors of the earliest Gospels, we simply don’t have sufficient evidence. The books were written anonymously and evidently not by eyewitnesses”—Bart D. Ehrman

The Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses, nor did they include any eyewitness testimony, so says the popular agnostic Bible scholar, who has quite a following. While such claims were rare prior to the 1800’s, they have been increasing, and ever more so in recent times. read more

Titles of the Gospels – Are They Genuine?

August 2, 2017 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

The Titles of the Gospels

History says Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote the books with those titles. People seem to have a highly variable standard in their assessment of what ancient writings are genuine, especially the Bible. What do we mean? Here is an example:

Most people accept Alexander the Great as a real historical figure. Yet, the two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after the Great One’s death 323 BCE. Legends about him developed centuries after these two writers. Yet, Alexander’s true, accurate history is viewed as being preserved for hundreds of years prior to these legends. read more

Is the Temple Cleansing in John Accurate?

April 14, 2017 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Jesus' Temple Cleansing — Does the temple cleansing in John contradict the Synoptic Gospels?

Critics claim that the temple cleansing in the Gospel of John is either the same temple cleansing reported by the three Synoptics, Matthew, Mark and Luke, or is out of place, therefore constituting a “contradiction” in the Gospels. Below are listed a number of reasons why the temple cleansing in John is accurate and was performed by Jesus around the time of the first Passover after his baptism, which was probably about six months earlier. John clearly states in John 20:31 and John 21:25 that he was highly selective in his reporting on the events of Jesus’ life. The other three Gospel writers had already reported on the second temple cleansing by the time John wrote his gospel. Upon close examination, it seems fairly obvious that John was very familiar with these other three Gospels, and quite possibly had copies of them in his possession as he wrote the fourth Gospel. John filled in many gaps that the Synoptics did not report on. In fact, 92% of his gospel is unique. John reports the following details about the first temple cleansing, that are omitted from the second temple cleansing recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke: read more

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