It has been said, “the Bible contradicts itself so…” This self-perpetuating myth becomes an excuse to dismiss the Bible and not examine its content. Obviously, I don’t believe this statement, but I do know where it comes from. In this article I want to discuss some of the main, apparent contradictions. These are important because not only are they used against the Bible as a source of truth but they become a source of disparity in doctrine. Understanding the problem helps.
The first apparent contradiction strikes right at the heart of the Christian message. How does somebody receive eternal life with God? Is it a gift or is it something you earn either wholly or in part? The confusion comes from not discerning the difference between cause of salvation versus effect. The problem is that the standard for earning entry into Heaven is so high nobody can get close. It is nothing short of perfection in thought, word, deed, and even genetics. That is why Jesus came. Jesus alone was free from our inherited sinful nature (genetics). He lived the whole course of a human life without sin. The daunting portion of the legal cost of being a sinner, being forsaken by God forever, is absorbed by Jesus on the cross. The only way God keeps His own law and saves any of us is by connecting us to Jesus. So the objective answer to how one receives eternal life is, “Jesus”. We can’t do any of things mentioned above.
Confusion comes from seeing passages that discuss “faith” and “works” as contradictory. For instance,
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? James 2:14 (ESV)
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Matthew 25:34-36 (ESV)
If you see these passages as talking about “cause of salvation” they obviously contradict. From the viewpoint of God, none of them do. Jesus is the cause. When God gets through to us, the normal first thing to happen is that we have faith in the story and promise of Jesus. This spiritual connection to Jesus will produce good actions. If “faith” is nothing more than cognitive agreement then it will not save. Come Judgment Day, which is in view in Matthew 25, our deeds can shine because our sins are forgiven. Without Jesus, we all end up as people who have failed to do good. The various passages about salvation (there are many more) describe the complexity of process necessary to save us. Taken out of context they seem to contradict.
This is also true of the question, “Can a person fall away from grace (i.e. lose their salvation)?” Here are two apparently contradictory passages:
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
John 10:27-29 (ESV)
3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. Galatians 5:3-4 (ESV)
If you start with the first passage and assume that it is comprehensive you conclude that once you are really saved, you are always saved. I don’t know what you do with the second passage and almost 50 others that speak about falling away. These don’t contradict. The top speaks about outside forces pulling you away from God. The other passages all speak about you leaving. You can fall away. If you do, it is all you.
Then there is the apparent contradiction regarding “can you return” after falling away? This one is tougher. Hebrews seems conclusively “no”:
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Hebrews 6:4-6 (ESV)
This verse speaks to the former question. You don’t have this conversation if you can’t fall away. “Contradicting” this is the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11f) and this from Romans describing Jews:
23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
Romans 11:23 (ESV)
They were a part of the tree of God’s people, removed for lack of faith, and potentially grafted back in. God can do it, will He? Complicating this is our inability to understand things from God’s perspective. He knows people’s hearts and the future. Someone could disconnect from God, but God knows they will come back, so how does He see it? Reconnecting with Christ can happen. Like salvation in the first place, it is impossible for us to do. It will take God getting through to us again.
Another contradiction. Can we receive reward beyond admission into eternal life or is it an egalitarian (all the same) existence? The case against reward is the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). The case for it is the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), 1 Corinthians 3:14, and many others. The “no” answer seems isolated. What is Laborers in the Vineyard about then? It is about the Jews status as the people of God versus any Gentile people group. They are first to be employed, my people are middle of the day, those first arriving now are late in the day. We are all saved by grace and loved equally. That is the equal pay and God’s generosity. It doesn’t speak to reward for good stewardship or discipleship.
My final contradiction for this article is, “Can a person be saved posthumously?” Against is from a discussion of whether Jesus has to suffer multiple times for sin:
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27
Pro is within a discussion that includes Jesus’ descent to Sheol:
6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 1 Peter 4:6 (ESV)
I would argue that this contradiction is by pulling something out of context incorrectly. I would also argue that the pro view is more in context than the con. Also influencing this discussion is 2 Peter 3:9. God is slow in bringing Judgment Day because He wants all to come to repentance. Jesus’ work within Sheol after His death was to evangelize people who had been dead since the days of Noah. I think it is an ongoing work, even though this is all the evidence we have.
I suppose we could find other confusing apparent contradictions. Some will be about non-doctrinal facts of a story like what were the order of events on the first Easter. There are answers to all of them. The Bible has some complicated things to explain, but with patience and the Spirit’s help you can understand that there are no contradictions at all.
Giving Christ 