Bible Contradictions?

Date: July 10, 2002-Wednesday Night Adult Class
Speaker: Dennis Gruening

One of my favorite subjects to study is the area of so-called “Bible contradictions,” or what might also be called “difficult Bible questions.” Most questions we are asked in terms of Christian doctrine are asked by those who are quite sincere in their desire for truth, but there are many in the world, who seek to destroy the faith of Christians by pointing to places in the Bible where there are seeming contradictions, or they may ask questions to which they believe there is no good answer. Their reasoning is sound in one way — they know that if they can prove that a contradiction exists in the Scriptures, or if they can ask that “unanswerable question,” then the Bible is not infallible and it cannot be the inspired word of God. If the Bible is not the inspired Word of God, then we do not have to be obedient to anything which it says, and we are left to our own desires as to how we should live our lives.

Those who seek to destroy the inspiration of the Bible, however, are using faulty reasoning. Everyone who approaches the Bible in this manner is in some way lacking in knowledge of what the Bible actually teaches. Some take things out of context. Others have little knowledge of the language in which the Bible was originally written. Others twist what the Bible says to make it mean something quite different from what it really teaches. There are hundreds of ways in which people misunderstand what the Bible teaches, confusing those who also have a limited knowledge of Bible truth. This is why we must follow the words of the Bible in regard to our diligent study of what it teaches so that we will be no longer “babes in Christ,” but full-grown in the knowledge of Christ (Heb. 5:12-14).

For tonight’s class period, I’d like for us to look at a couple of these so-called “contradictions” or “unanswerable questions,” so that we might seek to be certain that the Bible can be clearly understood and that it never ever contradicts itself.

The Gift of Salvation

In his letter to the Romans, Paul said that “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Paul also wrote the following in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

There are many who read these words, and focusing on the word “gift,” conclude that redemption is completely dependent on God, and that man is totally without responsibility in the matter of his salvation. What is not realized, though, is the fact that a gift can be conditional, without there being any sort of meritorious effort on the part of the recipient. Notice these examples. First, we’ll read from the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua.

Jehovah promised to give the city of Jericho to ancient Israel: “And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour” (Joshua 6:2). “And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city” (Joshua 6:16).

What is very clear, though, is that they did not receive the victory and the gift of the city until after they had completed their obedience to the divine instructions, “And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him” (Joshua 6:3-5). “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city” (Joshua 6:20).

God had given them the city, hadn’t He? Yet, there were conditions imposed upon that gift, and the gift was not received until those conditions were met.

Let’s look at another example of the conditional nature of God’s gifts. In his journey to Rome, when Paul and his companions appeared to be in danger of losing their lives in a storm, an angel spoke to Paul and said, “Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee” (Acts 27:24). Notice, though, that this gift was not without conditions because Paul warned the soldiers, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31). So, even though salvation is God’s gift, “Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Jesus taught that we are not to work mainly for the bread that perishes; rather, we are to work “for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you” (John 6:27). The context in which these words were spoken makes it clear that working the works of God (in other words, obeying His will), does not conflict with the receiving of His gift of salvation; rather, these two things complement each other. Christ is the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Hebrews 5:9). The gift of God, which is salvation, is a conditional gift, a gift which hinges on the obedience of the one who wishes to receive it.