The Bible is Full of Contradictions?

No doubt you’ve heard someone emphatically claim, “The Bible’s full of contradictions.” This is a common objection raised by critics of the Bible for why Christian faith is unreasonable. But what is often left out of the discussion is any clear idea of what exactly constitutes a contradiction.

A contradiction should be distinguished from a discrepancy. A discrepancy is where there are seeming but reconcilable inconsistencies between two versions of the same story. For example, Matthew 27:5 says that Judas hanged himself, but Acts 1:18 says that he fell headlong, and “burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” There seems to be a discrepancy between these versions of Judas’ death. But is it a contradiction? Actually no. In this case, the answer seems simple. Judas hanged himself, and his body was left alone to bloat and rot until the corpse finally fell to the ground below.

On the other hand, a contradiction is saying two different and mutually exclusive things about the same thing at the same time: Judas hanged himself; Judas did not hang himself. I am typing at the computer and I am not typing at the computer at the same time in reference to the same thing. That’s a contradiction. But I could be typing at the computer and drinking coffee at the same time. To some, even that would appear as a discrepancy. But it’s not hard to explain, as you might suspect. This is the same kind of thing that happens with many so-called contradictions in the Bible – they turn out to be discrepancies easily reconciled with a little bit of context and thoughtfulness.

A few years ago a very specific question was posed to me in which a man alleged a particular contradiction in the Bible: Did Saul kill himself (1 Sam. 31:4), or did a young man kill him upon David’s request (2 Sam. 1:15)? Following is the answer I gave to him: 

This is a great question and one that just happens to bring up one of my favorite passages in the Bible insofar it reveals once again the depths to which men will often sink in order to advance their own selfish interests. If not for the light of God’s word, we would all remain blind to the sickness that resides in our own hearts (Jer. 17:9-10). In the first account (1 Sam 31:1-6), the Bible says that Saul committed suicide, but in the second passage (2 Sam 1:1-16) it records that a man from Saul’s camp took his life at the dying Saul’s request. While superficially this may appear a contradiction, the resolution is actually rather plain and simple.

The account in 1 Sam 31 is a straightforward historical account of what took place in the battle. Saul, upon recognizing his mortal wound and fearing humiliation and torture at the hands of the enemy, went ahead and took his own life. The account in 2 Sam 1, on the other hand, is the story made up by one of Saul’s men, who upon realizing that his lord was gravely wounded and knowing that David was God’s chosen heir to the throne, thought he could gain favor with the incoming administration by claiming to have personally ensured Saul’s death, thereby securing David’s immediate ascendancy. In other words, he lied about his role in Saul’s death thinking that his self-proclaimed act of heroism would impress David. The problem was that he grossly miscalculated how David would react to the fall of the Lord’s anointed, presuming that David would thereby rejoice and maybe even exalt the one who helped bring it about. But David himself had already passed up several opportunities to kill Saul with his own hands, so it is not surprising that he lamented over the news of Saul’s death, or that he was indignant over the young man’s vain attempt to exploit it for the sake of cheap political points.

There is no contradiction here; only illumination. It should be noted as well that the Scripture never says that the young man killed Saul at David’s request. David’s command in 2 Sam 1:15 is for the young man himself to be executed because of his admission, though evidently false, to have destroyed the Lord’s anointed. 

Six Reasons You Should Study Theology

The word “theology” comes from the Greek words for “God” (theos) and “knowledge” (logos). Theology, therefore, is simply the study of the nature of God. Unfortunately, there is a trend in many Christian churches to ignore or even denounce theology. Such churches, even though frequently they are well meaning, erroneously fear that doctrinal studies will further divide the body of Christ. Thus, they tend to emphasize feeling over truth, and experience over teaching. While feelings and experience are certainly a part of the Christian life, without truth and doctrine we cannot even be sure what constitutes the essence of the Christian faith. In other words, we cannot call our faith Christian if we do not even know what “Christian” is. Many “feelings” churches often place a strong emphasis on worship, and rightly so. But how can worship be truly spiritual if it is not worship of the true God? (John 4:24) And how can we be certain that we are worshiping the true God unless we are committed to the knowledge of the true God? In sum, doctrine is essential to the Christian life. And no doctrine of the faith is of greater importance than the doctrine of the nature of God. As the late A. W. Tozer observed: “What enters our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”[1]

Briefly, there are at least six reasons why we should study the nature of God.[2] First, all basic theological truth depends upon God’s attributes. The biblical command to love our neighbor is rooted in the nature of God, who is love (1 John 4:8). Our understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ, the God-man, is only as deep as our understanding of the nature of God.

Second, we cannot recognize false gods if we do not know the true God. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” (Gal. 4:8) The Apostle John warned his readers to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

Which leads to the third reason: Unless we know the truth about God, we leave ourselves vulnerable to dangerous deceptions that lead to bondage and apostasy. Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have bad consequences. And since no idea is bigger than the idea of God, it stands to reason that bad ideas about God lead to the worst kinds of consequences.

Fourth, our spiritual growth is dependent upon our concept of God. We cannot become more like God unless we know what God is like!

Fifth, as Saint Augustine famously wrote,“Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it rest in Thee.”[3] God created us for Himself. (Rom. 11:36; Rev. 4:11). Thus, apart from living for the true God, we will never find ultimate satisfaction in our lives.

Sixth and finally, Jesus commanded us to love God with all our minds. (Matt. 22:37) It is an act of obedience to conform our thinking about God to the true nature of God. Even though exhaustive knowledge of God is impossible for us, an accurate apprehension of what He has revealed is within our grasp. And to that we should strive, that we may walk in truth so that God may be lifted up and glorified among His people.  


[1] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Walker and Co., 1996), 1,

[2] For an overview of the first five of these six reasons, see Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2003), 17-19.

[3] Paul M. Bechtel, ed., The Confessions of St. Augustine: Books One to Ten (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981), 17.

Three Ways God Has Redeemed Marriage

1. By Elevating Marriage To The Status Of God-Glorifying Mystery

Marriage is regularly degraded in culture. Legal scholar John Witte laments: “[the earlier] ideal of marriage as a permanent contractual union designed for the sake of mutual love, procreation, and protection is slowly giving way to a new reality of marriage as a ‘terminal sexual contract’ designed for the gratification of the individual parties.”1 Comedian Chris Rock expressed this degradation of marriage quite poignantly: “Do you want to be single and lonely or married and bored?”2 Marriage has fallen on hard times. In fact, so diminished has our culture’s estimation of marriage that some have taken to extolling Homer and Marge Simpson as a fine example of marriage commitment. After all, whatever else might be said of Homer and Marge, after twenty-eight seasons (as of 2016), they are at least still together! 

No matter how much disdain our culture might pour upon the institution of marriage, this most basic of human institutions is highly exalted in the pages of Scripture. John Piper, in his excellent book This Momentary Marriage, rejoices over the fact that the Bible takes marriage out of the gutter of the culture and lifts it high above our sinful tendencies. Piper writes: “Marriage exists ultimately to display the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church.”3 This is a great summary of Ephesians 5. God redeems marriage by infusing it with the ultimate symbolism: the man and the wife are not just about themselves, but point to the much greater reality of Christ and the church. Your marriage is not just about you! It is about God’s glory being on display. 

2. By Issuing Commands Aimed at Reversing Effects of Sin

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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lam. 3:22-23)