Does Scripture Contradict Itself?

Does Scripture contradict itself?

The Apostle Peter tells us that

no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)

Or, as the Apostle Paul puts it, “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). If the Bible were simply the writings of dozens of men written over the course of hundreds of years, we would expect some writings to contradict others. But if, as Peter and Paul claim, God is behind everything in the Bible, there should be no genuine contradictions.

Sometimes different authors seem to contradict one another. Most famously, Paul in Romans and James in his letter speak in sharp contrast about justification, faith, and works:

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:28)

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)

But there are issues not only between different authors. Jesus Himself sometimes speaks in seeming contradictions. I well remember as a teen being disturbed when encountering these two statements by our Lord:

For the one who is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:40)

Whoever is not with me is against me (Matthew 12:30a)

Which is it, Jesus? Are those who are neutral for You? Or are the neutral ones against You?

Seeing such examples, we might think the Bible needed a good editor who would clean up such statements, modifying what was written in one place so that it is in accord with what was written in another place. Good publishers check book manuscripts for such issues all the time.

However, the seeming contradictions in Scripture are not limited to those written by different authors. Some are clearly intended by the author of a particular book – for they are placed right next to each other. For example, see Proverbs 26:4-5:

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Clearly the compiler of Proverbs is getting at something deeper than giving us a general rule about how we should respond to those who are foolish.

When we begin to look for apparent contradictions, we see them throughout Scripture. Many deal with issues of central importance to the Christian faith, such as our freedom in Christ:

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. (1 Peter 2:16 NIV)

Or our attitude towards “life:”

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35)

Or especially the nature of God, the relationship between God the Father and Jesus:

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

Or the interplay between wrath and mercy, judgment and grace:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. … Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:16, 36)

These and other examples of apparent contradictions right next to each other indicate that these paradoxes are not mistakes in need of a good editor, but intended by the authors of individual books to help communicate their message. And if that is the case, it is reasonable to ask if the Holy Spirit, as the claimed author of the entirety of Scripture, uses the same technique across books of the Bible to communicate His revelation – truths that are best communicated through this literary style.

Such apparent contradictions are hard to understand – but in a book that purports to be the words of the sovereign God of the universe, that is not surprising. Peter himself tells us that:

There are some things in [Paul’s letters] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:16)

Let us not be among the ignorant and unstable, twisting Scripture and thus headed to destruction. Let us instead follow the exhortation Paul gives Timothy after making some of those hard to understand statements:

Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7)

Over the next several months, beginning Sunday January 20, we will do just that: Think over seeming contradictions, all the while praying that the Lord would indeed give us understanding, so that we might know Him better, love Him more, and follow Him more closely. In this sermon series, entitled, “Contradictions? How Delving Into Challenging Topics Unlocks the Riches of God’s Revelation”, we’ll consider issues in salvation and judgment, in living the Christian life, and in understanding who God is. After introducing the series this Sunday, on January 27 we’ll consider the topic of prayer: If God does whatever He pleases, how can our prayers have any impact on what happens?

Join us as we think over what God says. May the promise of 2 Timothy 2:7 prove true, as His Spirit unlocks for us the riches of God’s revelation of Who He is, who we are, and how we can follow Him and grow in Him in this world.

[Biblical citations are from the ESV unless otherwise indicated.]

 

Read the Bible in Its Entirety in 2019

Should you read the Bible?

Jesus says, “Blessed . . . are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28)

How will reading the Bible bless you?

Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

How then should you read God’s Word?

Those same verses from Paul imply that we should read all of it, since every part of it is profitable.

Surely also you should read it daily; in addition you should read it submissively. In Proverbs 8, personified Wisdom emphasizes these points:

“Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death“ (Proverbs 8:33-36, emphasis added).

But what does this look like on a day to day and year to year basis?

If we are to read the Bible daily, with a goal of reading it in its entirety, we will need a plan. I first followed an annual, comprehensive Bible reading plan in 1984. This plan was purely chronological; I began reading with Genesis 1 on January 1 and finished with Revelation 22 on December 31, but in between the plan guided me through Scripture in the order in which events and prophecies occurred. This was eye-opening to me. Though I had grown up in church and in fact had read all of Scripture previously, I had never before seen the overall flow of God’s plan of redemption. In particular, the writings of prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah became much more meaningful to me as I read them in conjunction with the historical books. In addition, many psalms came to life as I read them in the context of surrounding events.

I followed chronological plans several more times in subsequent years. However, there are significant weaknesses in following such a plan repeatedly for your daily devotional reading. First of all, you read nothing from the New Testament for more than nine months of the year. Second, a strictly chronological plan jumps around in the four Gospels. The reader therefore misses what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John communicate through the way they each order and select from the events of Jesus’ life. Finally, following chronological plans requires a lot of page flipping.

So in December of 2000, I developed the Bible Unity Reading Plan, which yields the benefits of a chronological approach while avoiding these weaknesses.  The Bible Unity Plan has two tracks for each day. The longer track – the left hand column in each day’s reading – is chronological. The second track, in the right column, is a shorter reading from another part of Scripture. This second track includes Mark, Luke, and John – read straight through – and several epistles while the chronological track makes its way through the Old Testament; it then focuses on Psalms and Proverbs while the chronological track takes you through the remaining books of the New Testament. And with only two passages to read most days, there is minimal page-flipping. The Plan also follows a helpful feature of the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan, scheduling only 25 days of reading per month. This allows you to read something else on Sundays (which I like to do), or to catch up easily if you miss an occasional day.

I have used this plan (or a variant of it) every year from 2001 to the present. I enjoy beginning each New Year with Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1-3:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

I also enjoy the 14th reading in November, which pairs the message of Acts 15 – those from other nations need not become Jewish to be saved – with the foundation of that message in Psalm 67: “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!”

Every year I look forward to the final day’s readings, which sum up the entire storyline of the Bible:

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” . . . The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. . . . He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:12-13, 17, 20)

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven (Psalm 148:7-13).

I expect to follow this plan, and to finish each year reading those words, as long as I live. I encourage you to join me in 2019.

[A shorter version of the Bible Unity Plan – which covers all the New Testament and about half the Old – is available here.  This Sunday, copies of both plans will be on the table in the foyer. This article is edited slightly from the original, published in December 2012.]